Ludmil Angelov, Nadia Krasteva to Open Classic FM Radio Orchestra’s Concert Season on October 13

Orchestra to prepare for major event in Germany

September 18, 2014, Sofia

In less than a month, the Classic FM Radio Orchestra is to open its new concert season with a gala concert under the baton of the orchestra’s Principal Guest Conductor, Grigor Palikarov. On October 13 at 7:30PM at Bulgaria Hall, the elite ensemble along with soloists Ludmil Angelov and Nadia Krasteva is to present a program titled Bulgarian Classics, featuring some of our country’s greatest music masterpieces. This concert is also the opening event of The Concertmasters series, organized by music company Cantus Firmus and financed by Sofia Municipality’s 2014 Cultural Program.

The exquisite Vardar Rhapsody, as well as Rachenitsa from the Thracian Dances Suite by Petko Stainov are the orchestral numbers, which the audience is to expect to hear on October 13. The central piece of the evening is Pancho Vladigerov’s Third Piano Concerto, one of Bulgaria’s milestones in classical piano literature. Brilliant pianist Ludmil Angelov is to render his interpretation of this emblematic work. Mr. Angelov recently recorded the complete (five) piano concertos by Vladigerov for Bulgarian National Radio’s record archive. “All concertos are distinct from one another, and tremendously complex,” Angelov shared. “Of all of them, the third is most popular, and I believe this is so for a good reason – the concerto’s second movement is an absolute masterpiece,” he added.

The October 13 concert will also showcase Bulgarian mezzo-soprano Nadia Krasteva, who has garnered stellar reviews and acknowledgements on opera stages all over the globe. For this program, she has selected a few splendid arias from the operas, Adriana Lecouvreur and Andrea Chénier, as well as an aria from Die Fledermaus, Sineokata song by Georgi Zlatev-Cherkin, and Efrosina’s Aria from Lyubomir Pipkov’s Momtchil. This concert will be Nadia’s first collaboration with the Classic FM Radio Orchestra. In 2004, she was successfully featured as part of the Bulgarian Divas series, and her career has accelerated tremenously ever since.

Born in Sofia, Nadia Krasteva graduated from the Lyubomir Pipkov National Music School and the Pancho Vladigerov National Music Academy. In 2002, she joined the Vienna State Opera, where she made her debut as Fenena in Verdi’s Nabucco and quickly established herself as one of the leading mezzo-sporanos at the Vienna State Opera. Nadia Krasteva went on to perform more than 30 roles at that theater, premiering 10 new opera productions, including Carmen, Eboli, Adaljiza, Leonor de Guzmán, Sara, Maria Gesualdo, Preziosilla, Ulrica, Juliette, Marina Mniszech, Olga, Paulina/Daphnis, Magdalena, Suzuki, etc. Nadia Krasteva has sang one of her star roles – Carmen from Bizet’s Carmen – at Arena di Verona, The Lyric Opera in Chicago, Bolshoi Theater, Deutsche Oper Berlin, De Nederlandse Opera, and at Open-Air Festival St. Margrethen. Due to an overloaded concert schedule, the diva rarely performs in Bulgaria.

Right after the opening concert for this season, which celebrates the 20th anniversary of the Classic FM Radio Station, the Classic FM Radio Orchestra is to travel to Germany, where it is to participate in a prestigious concert tour. The next concert after that is scheduled for November 7, featuring soloists Elin Kolev and Viktoria Vassilenko, once again as part of The Concertmasters series.

You can purchase tickets at Cantus Firmus’s ticket office at Bulgaria Hal, as well as online at www.ticketsbg.com.