The BNR Big Band with conductor Antoni Donchev will honour with a special ‎concert this evening (23 February) one of the most emblematic Bulgarian jazz musicians - ‎Milcho Leviev. The event dedicated to the 85th anniversary of the birth of Milcho ‎Leviev will take place in Studio 1 of the BNR, where his stellar career began - from ‎‎1962 to 1966, he was the conductor of the Big Band of the BNR.‎

Born in 1937 in Plovdiv, Milcho Leviev is highly valued as a composer, arranger, ‎performer (pianist, keyboardist and conductor), teacher of classical and jazz ‎music. He worked with some of the biggest world names in jazz, most actively ‎with Don Ellis in the period 1970 - 1977. Milcho Leviev's biography is full of ‎successes, awards and recognition for his musical activity, both in Bulgaria and ‎abroad.‎

A notable place in Milcho Leviev's work is occupied by his compositions in the ‎field of film music. Tonight, Milcho Leviev's music written in the 1960s  for ‎emblematic Bulgarian films will be played in the First Studio of the BNR. The new ‎arrangements were created especially for this concert by Vasil Spasov - a ‎significant representative of the newer generation in the contemporary Bulgarian ‎jazz scene, who specialized in the field of piano and film music at the Berklee ‎College of Music in Boston. 

The programme of the concert will include previously unreleased works ‎such as "Alone" (the theme from the movie "Hot Noon"), "Autumn Sun" (from the ‎movie "Autumn Sun"), "Detour" (from the movie "Detour").‎

A special guest at the concert tonight will be the jazz singer Vicky Almazidou - Milcho ‎Leviev's creative and life partner. ‎