A challenge for them is the piano trio of 20^th century Armenian author Arno Babadzhanyan. He was an excellent pianist, often interweaving in his compositions intonations of the folklore of his homeland. On the question of how they perceive his music, Debora says:

"Our first attempts with the Babadzhanyan trio were really disturbing. I start the second part with a solo and had to rehearse individual phrases a thousand times to achieve the character of the music. Our teacher Mrs. Cherpokova painted for us the following picture - a man standing on top of the Himalayas and admiring the view. In terms of expressive means, I have to pour out all my emotions with the very first note and maintain this atmosphere along with the other two instruments. There are a lot of dialogues between the violin and cello, especially in the third part. This requires that we be very accurate regarding intonation. When first we liked how we sound in this work, we were all very excited."

Despite their young age, all three musicians are winners of international and national competitions. Even the teacher of Debora, Mila and Momchil - Daniela Cherpokova was surprised by the ease with which they work together so well:

"I would call them Experiment trio. This is the first time I see three people gather and start playing together as a piano trio so quickly. The merit also goes to the teachers of Debora and Mila - Blagorodna Taneva and Emilia Kaneva, and the boy is in my cello class. At first I did not believe they would do it, but apparently their desire was great. I hope they will have success so that they could be motivated and continue working together. The competition is a goal, but the most important thing is to keep their desire for chamber music."

The winners of the Concertino Prague will become clear at the end of February, and if the Bulgarian youngsters are among them, they will have the chance to present their program on a tour in the Czech Republic during the summer. All three are convinced that success is achieved through hard work. Here is what Debora says:

"When we start working we do not stop for a long time. Especially Mila and I are very self-critical. We're all perfectionists; also such beautiful music cannot be played badly. Sometimes three hours are not enough. Of course, we rest but we play in a very concentrated manner. Before the recordings we had sometimes to rehearse every day."

According to pianist Mila, although they have to combine their performances and chamber music rehearsals with their school classes, they have time for everything, even for a vacation:

"I think that Lyubomir Pipkov National School of Music allows students to better allocate their time. In schools in Europe students cannot miss classes because of concerts. Our school helps us a lot in this regard."

English Rossitsa Petcova

Part 2 of Piano Trio of Arno Babadzhanyan
Part 3 of Piano Trio of Arno Babadzhanyan
Finale of Piano Trio 1, Op. 8 of Johannes Brahms