Art of the Baroque festival opens its 20th edition in Sofia

The international Art of the Baroque festival opens its 20th edition tonight at Sofia’s Central Military Club with Love After the Storm, a performance by the British ensemble Saraband.

The anniversary edition brings together early music performers from Britain, Italy, Poland, Israel, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Canada and Bulgaria, with a programme tracing the development of music from the Middle Ages to the late Baroque period. For the first time, the festival – the only one in Bulgaria devoted to historically informed performances of early music – will hold a chamber music competition open to young and professional ensembles from Bulgaria and abroad.

Alongside concerts by leading musicians, the programme includes free Baroque dance sessions, a Baroque singing workshop, educational concerts and special performances for older people.

The main concert programme will close on 20 November with Giovanni Battista Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater, performed by the Italian ensemble Il Pomo d’Oro, led by concertmaster Zefira Valova, with soprano Madison Nonoa and countertenor Cameron Shahbazi as soloists.

Editor: Diana Tsankova