Cellist Nickolai Kolarov joins the Sofia Music Weeks Festival

More than 570 musicians from 16 countries are taking part in the 57th edition of the Sofia Music Weeks festival. The festival runs from May 24 to October 10 at various concert halls across the capital. The motto of this year's edition is simple and straightforward: "Made in Bulgaria". The featured Bulgarian artists are pianist Nadejda Tsanova, clarinetist Rossen Idealov, and cellist Prof. Atanas Kurtev.

The list of musicians invited to take part in the "Made in Bulgaria" series is extensive. These are Bulgarian artists who live abroad and have built successful international careers but are returning to Bulgaria to perform at the festival. Among them are Alexander Wladigeroff, Ekaterina Wladigerova, Konstantin Wladigeroff, Alexander Somov, Vesko Stambolov, Lora Markova, Rossen Gergov, Milen Kirov, Nickolai Kolarov, and many others. This year's countries in focus are Armenia and Greece, while the featured instruments are the woodwinds.

This year's festival will also mark significant anniversaries of renowned composers, including the 250th anniversary of the birth of Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann, the 240th anniversary of the birth of Carl Maria von Weber, and the 150th anniversary of the birth of Manuel de Falla, among others. It also marks the 130th anniversary of the birth of Bulgarian composer Petko Staynov, the 90th anniversary of the birth of Krasimir Kyurkchiyski, and the 100th anniversary of the birth of violin virtuoso Vasko Abadjiev. These anniversaries will be commemorated throughout the festival's nearly six-month programme.

The programme also includes unfamiliar works that will receive their Bulgarian premieres. Today, we will introduce you to one such piece. It comes from the United States together with Bulgarian cellist Nickolai Kolarov, who has been living, teaching, and performing there for more than 30 years.

The premiere of "Trio Noir" for clarinet, cello and piano by American composer Libby Larsen is scheduled for Saturday, June 27, in the Bulgaria Concert Complex. The concert brings together the talents and instruments of three performers with extensive concert careers: Rosen Idealov (clarinet), Nickolai Kolarov (cello) and Ines Simeonova (piano). The programme also features works by Beethoven, Petar Petrov, and Robert Muczynski. Nickolai Kolarov has been in Bulgaria for a month, rehearsing with his colleagues on Bulgarian soil.

"Trio Noir" is music draws on the style of film noir — the work by the American composer is built on the same principle as films in that genre. The piece is highly theatrical, yet at the same time very romantic. That is the intended effect of the entire Trio Noir. We are performing works by Libby Larsen in Sofia for the first time, so this is the Bulgarian premiere and, in fact, the first performance in the European Union. The piece premiered in New York, but the composer herself was not present. She heard the piece live for the first time in a performance by the Balkanicus Ensemble (founded by Nickolai Kolarov in Minneapolis).

We will also perform "Dialogues with Silence" by Petar Petrov. This work is also not well known in Bulgaria. And who is Petar Petrov? He was one of the prominent Bulgarian composers of the 20th century, but unfortunately he is no longer with us. We have tried to include enough contemporary music in the repertoire while ensuring that it remains accessible to a wider audience and is not something excessively avant-garde. This is a concert with a carefully selected programme — ranging from classical to contemporary music, while also featuring one work each by Bulgarian and American composers", says cellist Nickolai Kolarov.

Translated by Kostadin Atanasov