Bulgarian bassoon player Alexander Hadzhiev is a young, talented and innovative musician. A month ago he organized a festival for contemporary classical music, entitled "180" /180 degrees/. After completing his secondary education in Sofia, Alexander continued his music education at the "Folkwang University of the Arts" in Essen / Germany / in the class of Malte Refard. He aims at breaking up stereotypes and frames that have become unnecessary in contemporary music.

"When I went to study in Essen I realized that the way of presenting classical music on stage seems boring and uninteresting to a large number of people. I thought this was the case only in Bulgaria. But it turned out that many people in other European countries view this art in the same way. When I moved to Germany I became interested in ways to change this. I had a strong desire to participate in these changes. I was already learning to compose and use various computer programs and technology. Seeking information I accidentally stumbled upon the master classes of the International Ensemble Modern Academy.  This is a world renowned orchestra, performing contemporary music. They have joint projects with some of the most popular composers of our time like Steve Ray, Karl-Heinz Stockhausen, Pierre Boulez and others. I applied for the one-year program of Ensemble Modern, in order to study new methods of interpretation. In addition, the ensemble has concerts all across the world. I had the opportunity to be part of this master class. I am actually the first Bulgarian admitted to the finals after a very hard competition. There I first became acquainted in detail with contemporary music performed in an incredible way by the musicians. We work intensively with contemporary composers, who write new works for us. The contact between author and artist is very important since performers help composers create their piece. This is the most precious to me - the opportunity to play with true artists."

Alexander Hadzhiev is winner of various music competitions in Bulgaria - "Young Talents" /2001/ and "Young Virtuosos" /2006/. The talented musician is highly valued around the world. In 2010 he was invited to participate in the World Expo in Shanghai, China with "Young Euro Classics".

Alexander Hadzhiev also says that contemporary music pays close attention to the way in which a work is presented. Therefore, he also had to learn to be an actor in addition to being a musician. This way one becomes a complete artist.

"Two years ago I graduated from the academy of Ensemble Modern, but I continue to perform with the ensemble in the new season", Alexander Hadzhiev further explains. "I also received my master’s degree for performance of contemporary music at the Music University in Frankfurt /Hochschule für Musik und darstellender Kunst Frankfurt am Main "/,  I also applied and was admitted to study producing at the Academy of popular art in Mannheim. I decided to study this in order to learn to fully use latest technologies in music. I also deal with educational projects targeted at young people. Here it is popular for artists from various art spheres to work with high-school students for a period of three months. Thus we help young people express their creativity. Finally we stage performances together. This way students get acquainted with the kind of art they may like to get involved with in the future. I like this idea very much.”

Alexander continues to take part in various projects, produces and composes electronic music. He also works with dancers, DJs, actors, etc.

English: Alexander Markov

The audio file contains the following works:

2/  “Monologue for bassoon” by Isang Yun 

 3/ "Sakre" by Alexander Hadzhiev