Renowned Bulgarian violinist Professor Stoika Milanova is to hold a concert at the National Music School Lubomir Pipkov on October 28. All music fans will have the opportunity to enjoy her performance free of charge. Young pianist Nadezhda Yotsova will accompany Proffesor Milanova on stage for the first time. The music program includes sonatas for violin by Mozart, Grieg and Prokofiev.

 “This concert will be different from the ones I had in the past. I decided to cooperate with Nadezhda Yotsova - a young and very talented Bulgarian pianist. I believe I made a good choice. Our joint work before the concert encourages me a lot. Nadezhda has a wonderful taste of style and brilliant music skills. She learnt a lot during her studies in Germany and is a top class performer. Our duo is very young, but we must perform well to our audience and I hope things will happen the right way on stage.”

Stoika Milanova is a student of celebrated David Oistrakh. She graduated the Moscow State Conservatory. Her first music lessons were held under the guidance of her father Trendafil Milanov.

“I was lucky to live among some of the most-renowned Bulgarian musicians such as Pancho Vladigerov, Lubomir Pipkov and conductors like Vasil Stefanov and Konstantin Iliev, Professor Milanova said. Those people are not among us anymore, but they had a great influence over my music career. I studied in my father's classes until I turned eighteen. He was a celebrated violin pedagogue. I was even luckier to study in the classes of David Oistrakh who later shaped up my music career. When I started to make world tours, I was always told that Bulgarian musicians such as Nikolay Gyaurov, Raina Kabaivanska and other renowned musicians had already been on those stages. I believe that the atmosphere the young musicians live in and the air they breathe, is as important for their careers, as their past achievements. In 1967 I participated at the Queen Elizabeth International Music Competition, which was the biggest and the most-prestigious music contest at that time. I had the pleasure to be among musicians such as Philippe Hirschhorn who won the first prize and Gidon Kremer who won the third place. I won the second prize of the competition. It may sound incredible, but it is true. I had a wonderful artistic cooperation with Yehudi Menuhin who advised me to attend the Carl Flesch International Violin Competition in England where I won the first prize back in 1970.”

Professor Milanova spent a lot of time and energy on her students in the recent years. She is very proud of her alumni who are now members of the Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra and the Symphonic Orchestra of the Bulgarian National Radio.

“I found out that I can be useful to the young people who need the same help and support I needed when I was a student”, Professor Milanova went on to say. I work with a great enthusiasm and they know it. Sometimes I am relentless and sometimes I am very delighted with their music achievements. I had the opportunity to head master classes in Caracas, Brussels, London and Madrid. I also had the pleasure to lecture at the Moscow State Conservatory where I actually graduated years ago. It is very important how the young music generation will be shaped up, because they are the future of our music culture”, Professor Milanova concludes.

The audio file containst the following works:

-   Allegro, Brandenburg Concerto 4, to the rendition of Stoika Milanova, flutists Aurele Nicolet and Peter Reidemeister, Stuttgarter Kammerorchester, conductor Karl Munchiger,

-   Spring concerto from Antonio Vivaldi's Four Seasons, to the accompaniment of the BNR Symphonic Orchestra, conductor Georgi Notev

English version: Kostadin Atanasov