Phenomenal Success for Ludmil Angelov and the Classic FM Radio Orchestra in Frankfurt

The Bulgarian musicians under the baton of Grigor Palikarov opened the Europa-Kulturtage, organized by the European Central Bank and the Bulgarian National Bank

October 27, 2014
On October 15 in Frankfurt am Main, a gala concert marked the beginning of the 2014 European Cutural Days. This festival has been an ongoing initiative of the European Central Bank, which this year showcased Bulgaria and was organized in collaboration with the Bulgarian National Bank. The concert took place at the prestigious Alte Oper Hall, with close to 2000 people attending. Among the official guests were H. E. Mr. Radi Naydenov, Special Ambassador of the Republic of Bulgaria to Germany, as well as high-ranking officials of several European financial institutions. The gala opened with three short speeches, given by Mr. Mario Draghi, President of ECB, Mr. Ivan Iskrov, Governor of the Bulgarian National Bank, and Prof. Dr. Felix Semmelroth, Deputy Mayor and Director of Culture of the City of Frankfurt am Main. The Classic FM Radio Orchestra under the baton of leading Bulgarian conductor Grigor Palikarov, which was invited to perform exclusively for this forum, presented emblematic works from Bulgaria’s music culture, including Pancho Vladigerov’s Vardar Rhapsody and Petko Stainov’s Ratchenitsa from the Thracian Dances Suite. Due to unforseen ilness of the soloist, Nadia Krasteva, the concert program saw some last-minute changes, which gave pianist Ludmil Angelov the opportunity to demonstrate the full capacity of his talent, experience, and remarkable stamena on stage. In the first half of the concert, Mr. Angelov fascinated the audience with his performance of one of the greatest Bulgarian piano concertos – Pancho Vladigerov’s Third, and in the second half, instead of the programmed arias by Bulgarian and Italian composers, Mr. Angelov performed a solo act of three Chopin pieces and a composition by Moritz Moszkowski. This tremendous concert achievement came as no surprise, as Mr. Angelov has long been known worldwide as a brilliant musician and a Chopin expert, who is capable of maintaining a vast volume of Chopin works. The pianist’s interpretations were received with standing ovations by the German audience, and the orchestra was called for an encore at the end of the concert. In his concert review, Frankfurter Rundschau wrote: “The 53-year-old Bulgarian is a man of the physical, earthly sound, and he approaches Chopin not with an ephemeral elegance, but rather, with a passionate drive, which served him tremendously well… The dark, deep sounds of the Bulgarian compositions were presented with much power, yet humility and preciseness by the Classic FM Radio Orchestra, …which left an excellent impression of its performance.”
On October 18, a chamber version of the Classic FM Radio Orchestra performed a second concert as part of the 2014 European Cutural Days. This concert showcased young Bulgarian talents, violinists Elin Kolev and Lora Markova, and pianist Victoria Vassilenko. At the Alte Oper Mozartsaal, both the soloists and the orchestra under the skillful guidance of conductor Grigor Palikarov played with much passion and stylistic coherence works by Johann Sebastian Bach, František Drdla, Antonio Vivaldi, and Marin Goleminov, and were once again called back for an encore.