European Music Festival 2017 showcases favorite Bulgarian classical music stars

December 1, 2016, Sofia
Some of Bulgaria’s favorite classical musicians are to partake in the 2017 edition of the EMF, including violinists Vesko Panteleev–Eschkenazy and Mila Georgieva, pianists Georgi Cherkin and Victoria Vassilenko, and conductor Grigor Palikarov, alongside the Classic FM Radio Orchestra. Tickets for three festival concerts go on sale today. The European Music Festival is organized by music company Cantus Firmus and is kindly supported by Sofia Municipality and Bulgaria’s Ministry of Culture. In 2017, the EMF is to take place March through June – for the 17th consecutive year.
The Festival gala opening concert featuring the “Mozart x 3” project is scheduled for March 29 at Bulgaria Hall in Sofia. The Classic FM Radio Orchestra will perform Mozart’s Triple Piano Concerto with Georgi Cherkin and Victoria Vassilenko as soloists. Ms. Vassilenko recently won the prestigious George Enescu International Piano Competition. The third soloist for this concerto is Grigor Palikarov, who is known primarily as a conductor. On this program we will also hear young pianist Emanuil Ivanov – prizewinner at the 2016 Young Virtuosi Competition and recipient of the Cantus Firmus Special Award.
Another Festival highlight is the concert titled “Four Plus Four – The Four Seasons by Vivaldi and Piazzolla”. Listeners will have the opportunity to compare two vastly different composers’ takes of the same theme – all in one concert. Renowned violinist Vesko Panteleev–Eschkenazy, a longtime audience favorite both in Bulgaria and abroad, will be performing “Estaciones Porteñas” by Argentine tango master Astor Piazzolla. He will also take on the role of a conductor, presenting four young and talented soloists to the public, each of whom is to perform one concerto grosso from Vivaldi’s “The Four Seasons”.
The 17th edition of the EMF is also to feature violinist Mila Georgieva – for the first time as a chamber music performer in Bulgaria. Over the years, she has played a number of concerts in Sofia, but only as soloist with an orchestra. She participates annually in chamber music concert series in Stuttgart, where she serves as concertmaster of the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra. After her greatly successful chamber music concerts in Varna (2013) and Plovdiv (2014), Ms. Georgieva is now to perform in Sofia as well, partnering up with Bulgarian-born Belgian top pianist Peter Petrov. The duo is to present a program with works by French composers Ravel, Debussy, Franck, and Saint-Saens. This project was originally planned for last year’s festival, but was postponed because of the arrival of Ms. Georgieva’s third child.
Tickets for all 2017 EMF events go on sale December 1 and can be purchased at Cantus Firmus’s box-office at Bulgaria Hall, or online at www.ticketsbg.com.