"On December 8 university students celebrate my birthday” Vili Kazasyan loved to joke, as he was born on this day. He was one of the emblematic conductors, composers, arrangers and pianists in Bulgarian music. His contribution for the development of the BNR Big Band was exceptional and nearly 4 decades of his life were related to the formation. He was also one of the engines of the Golden Orpheus International Festival for pop songs, also of the Melody of the Year annual rankings for Bulgarian pop songs, the Studio 1 TV show and Trombata na Vili (Vili’s Buzzer) – the predecessor of today’s talent discovering formats… The musician passed away 8 years ago and we will remember him as a person of high spirit and of great sense of humor, no matter the numerous obstacles and troubles in his life. The great concert, dedicated to him, which was prepared by his daughter – jazz singer Hilda Kazasyan and other prominent musicians is scheduled exactly on the date of his 82^nd birthday.

“This concert has been on my mind for more than 4 years,” Hilda says. “I even feel a bit guilty, as someone would constantly propose to me to organize together some event in his memory. I am thankful to Director of the National Palace of Culture Miroslav Borshosh and his team for providing the chance everything to happen just as I have pictured it in my mind – within the scale and the quality that my dad deserves. Over the past few months we have been working really hard together with my cousin and great musician Hristo Yotsov. We found it essential to take out of the BNR and BNTv archives those pieces that were unknown but worth listening to. Daddy has created music that even we haven’t heard of. A Schoolbook in Film Music – that was what Hristo called my father’s work in this area. I decided to invite soloists who would fit into his music taste and who were close to him – Vasil Petrov, Orlin Goranov, Bogdana Karadocheva and others. I am happy that I managed to convince the Studio B vocal formation founded by my dad, where my mom participates to get involved. The Big Band of the BNR will be onstage all through, alongside the trio that I have been privileged to work with over the past three years – Hristo Yotsov /drums/, Zhivko Petrov /piano/ and Dimitar Karamfilov /contrabass/. The romantic suite compiled of four film tracks is among the surprises and clarinet player Borislav Yotsov will be the soloist. My daughter voiced to me her wish to play in this concert, dedicated to her grandpa and that makes me even more excited.”

Hilda Kazasyan also spoke on the role of Antoni Donchev, the current conductor of the BNR Big Band who had been more than persistent about the organization of this concert:

“Actually he was the one with the initiative, saying that he was indebted to my father who was the orchestra’s emblematic name. One of my father’s greatest achievements in my opinion was the fact that he managed to open the door to jazz in years when even intelligent people didn’t quite get it… Quite a number of musicians have built up their expertise and good taste for music thanks to him. Hristo and I used to live in a parallel reality over these months, listening to music 8 – 10 hours per day, in order to select the pieces for the concert. Hristo’s arrangements are magnificent. I wanted to show what dad used to do back in time and also that part of him has been growing up inside us. They say there are no irreplaceable people, but irreplaceable persons do visit this world. My dad was one of those. He had so many exceptional qualities as a musician and a human being – he made it all look like a joke, but without any compromise with professionalism. I see the life of such a man as an event… As to the program - it will be a surprise, but I am sure you are going to like it.”

English version: Zhivko Stanchev