Elin Kolev and Victoria Vassilenko to play in The Concertmasters series

In October, the talented young musicians alongside the Classic FM Radio Orchestra successfully represented Bulgaria and its culture in Frankfurt

October 31, 2014, Sofia
In less than a week, two talented young musicians are to be presented as soloists of the Classic FM Radio Orchestra in Sofia. On November 7 at 7:30PM at Bulgaria Hall, the orchestra conducted by Grigor Palikarov is to present charming 17-year-old violinist Elin Kolev and pianist with an exquisite sound Victoria Vassilenko. The concert is to feature an all-Beethoven program, including the Coriolan Overture, the magnifiscent Violin Concerto – a true challenge for any violinist – as well as the First Piano Concerto. This concert is organized by music company Cantus Firmus, as part of The Concertmasters concert series, and is financed by the 2014 Cultural Program of the Sofia Municipality.
Less than a month ago, Mr. Kolev and Ms. Vassilenko alongside the Classic FM Radio Orchestra conducted by Grigor Palikarov, performed a highly prestigious concert in Germany. This was the opening event of the 2014 European Cultural Days – an 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 Alte Oper Mozartsaal in Frankfurt am Main – one of the most prestigious classical music stages in Germany. The German audience was won over by the original interpretations of the young Bulgarian musicians.
Born in Germany, Elin Kolev made his debut as orchestra soloist at the tender age of 8. At the age of 10, he was admitted as an exceptionally gifted young student to the Felix Mendelssohn–Bartholdy Leipzig University of Music and Theatre, and since 2010, he has been studying at the Karlsruhe Music University under Prof. Josef Rissin. At the age of 12, he made his Carnegie Hall debut. In addition to his musical accomplishments, Mr. Kolev has successfully appeared as an actor. In 2010, he was cast as the lead in Marcus Rosenmueller’s film Wunderkinder. In 2011, Mr. Kolev took part in a documentary film (a USA/Israel production) about the life of Bronislaw Huberman and the creation of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. Mr. Kolev is the First prize winner at the Eugène Ysaÿe International Violin Competition in Austria. He is also the recipient of the Best Young Musician and Pablo Sarasate Award in Italy, as well as the 2010 Young Talent of Europe Award presented by the European Cultural Foundation in Germany. Elin Kolev made his solo debut in Sofia in May 2013, also as part of The Concertmasters series. For that concert, he performed Mozart’s Third Violin Concerto.
Some of Victoria Vassilenko’s first appearances on the big stage are connected with the Classic FM Radio Orchestra. She made her debut with the orchestra in 2009, still as a student of Prof. Stella Dimitrova-Maystorova at the Lyubomir Pipkov National Music School. Since September 2011, Ms. Vassilenko has been a student at the Reina Sofia Music Academy in Madrid, Spain, in the piano studio of world-renowned Russian pianist and pedagogue Prof. Dimitri Bashkirov. She has also been parallelly enrolled as a student at New Bulgarian University since 2014. In June 2013, Ms. Vassilenko won the Most Promising Young Pianist of the Year Award, as a student of Prof. Bashkirov. The award was personally presented to her by HM Queen Sofia of Spain. Ms. Vassilenko has been awarded first, second, and special prizes at a number of national and international piano competitions in Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, the Czech Republic, and the UK. In November 2012, she won Second prize at the James Mottram International Piano Competition in Manchester, UK.