The Sofia Philharmonic, Bulgaria's oldest surviving symphony orchestra, is on the eve of its 86th concert season. By tradition, the orchestra has invited world-class soloists for its program. The opening night is on 2 October at Bulgaria Hall. The audience will be listening to pianist Maria Meerovitch (Belgium), trumpeter Sergei Nakariakov (Israel) and mezzosoprano Jenny Hou (Austria). The concert also features the Svetoslav Obretenov National Philharmonic Choir which celebrates its 70th anniversary.

Guest-conductors during the season include Nayden Todorov, Ljubka Biagioni and Angel Stankov. The Artistic Director of the orchestra Yavor Dimitrov tells us more about the 2014-2015 playbill:

"Romanian conductor Tiberiu Soare has guest-conducted with us before too. His manner of work is something we appreciate very much. The contact is two-way - both the conductor and the orchestra work with the maximum of desire. Our concept for this season is to present musicians who live and work in Bulgaria. Our soloists will be pianists Borislava Taneva and Daniela Andonova. The program highlights works by Bulgarian composers.”

The new season of the Sofia Philharmonic offers to the lovers of classical music subscription cycles with quite appealing themes: Back to the Future, Between the Earth and Time and Together on Sundays. What are the ideas behind them - Yavor Dimitrov explains:

"It is important to be aware that nothing in  this world is eternal and that art should be recreated time and again and be brought to life, repeatedly. Otherwise, the Earth will turn into a desert. This is in short the message encoded in Between the Earth and Time cycle. Together on Sundays is an expression of our desire to get creative together with the audience. Our programs comprise popular and much loved works. I should like to accentuate an important event - the finals of the international competition for writing a symphony work. In fact, it opens the cycle Together on Sundays on 10 October. The audience is going to decide how to grade nominated compositions. I am happy that the patron of art Georgi Lazarov and his foundation St. George are doing so much for Bulgarian music. I hope that together we will single out a worthy work of music that will have a long life in the treasury of Bulgarian serious music.”

The concerts of organist Velin Iliev, one of the Sofia Philharmonic leading figures continue this season too. He is a musician who works to revive forgotten works and does that in a most intriguing way for the audience.

English Daniela Konstantinova

The audio file contains the following works:

1/ Hora Staccato by Grigoras Dinicu-Pancho Vladigerov performed by the Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra, conductor Emil Tabakov

2/ Morning Serenade by Franz Schubert performed by Daniela Andonova

3/ Fantasy in A Major by Cesar Franck performed by Velin Iliev