site.btaSofia Soloists Ensemble Marks 60th Anniversary, Signs Partnership Agreement with BTA

The Bulgarian News Agency (BTA) Friday added the Sofia Soloists Chamber Ensemble to its partners. On the eve of the March 19 marking of the ensemble's 60th anniversary, BTA Director General Kiril Valchev and Dr Ivelina Kyuchukova, Director of the Krasno Selo House of Culture Municipal Cultural Institute, signed a partnership agreement in the presence of Plamen Djurov. He has been the ensemble's conductor since 1988.

BTA will provide media support through coverage of the anniversary initiatives with a focus on a cycle of four concerts dedicated to the 60th anniversary. The first concert, in the Bulgaria Hall at 7 pm on March 19, features works from the 1962 concert programme.

"The very idea of performing once again the works played at the ensemble's first appearance before an audience, on March 19, 1962, is an example of how things of value live on in time," Kiril Valchev said, recalling that the ensemble is a model of team continuity. In the past 60 years, a total of 47 people, three generations of soloists, have played in the ensemble, and in the first 16 years its line-up stayed unchanged.

The Sofia Soloists will perform J.S. Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 and Piano Concerto in D minor. The soloist in the Piano Concerto is Viktoria Vasilenko, a laureate of international competitions. The programme also features Arthur Honegger's Chamber Concerto for Flute, English Horn and Strings, with Yavor Zhelev (flute) and Slav Slavchev (English horn), both of them soloists of the Bulgarian National Radio Symphony Orchestra. Lazar Nikolov's Concerto for String Orchestra will also be performed on the occasion of his 100th birth anniversary. Plamen Djurov is conducting the concert.

Djurov thanked BTA for its media partnership, saying it is "an institution that opens a great cultural window to the world." He recalled that the second of the ensemble's anniversary concerts in the Bulgaria Hall is on April 20 under the baton of Georgi Patrikov. Nayden Todorov is guest conductor of the third concert, on May 8. Emil Tabakov will conduct the last concert on May 13.

The events are co-organized by the Krasno Selo House of Culture, Sofia Municipality and the Ministry of Culture.

Ivelina Kyuchukova announced that archive photos spanning the 60-year history of the Sofia Soloists will be displayed at the Bulgaria Hall in May. BTA will contribute photos from its 124-year-old archives to the exhibition.

Sixty years ago to the day, on March 19, 1962, the first public concert of the Sofia Soloists, called Sofia Chamber Orchestra at the time, took place, BTA recalls. A few years later the ensemble was renamed. It took time to build on its success and prove that each of its members could be a soloist, the ensemble said.

In the very first concert, conducted by Mihail Angelov, the ideas for work organization, the professional criteria, the choice of a repertoire and the rules of daily creativity took shape. In its first 16 years the ensemble, led by Vassil Kazandjiev, built a reputation as a quality brand in Bulgaria and worldwide.

Sofia Municipality took the ensemble under its wing, providing conditions for its work. Emil Tabakov took over the baton from Vassil Kazandjiev. The number of concerts and recordings increased, the geographical range of performances expanded - the ensemble has travelled to every continent. Plamen Djurov has led the ensemble since 1988. The style of the repertoire and collaboration with established Bulgarian soloists and choirs and with foreign soloists have grown.

Throughout its 60 years, the Sofia Soloists has had just 47 musicians, which proves the ensemble's stability and generational continuity.