March 11, 2021 /Thursday/
18.30 hours Hall “M-Ro G.Atanasov
Conductor: Grigor Palikarov
Soloist: Borislava Taneva – piano
Program:
W.A. Mozart – Overture “Theatrical director”
W.A. Mozart – Piano Concerto No.24 in C minor, K.491
Joseph Haydn – Symphony №103
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GRIGOR PALIKAROV
Grigor Palikarov (born in 1971 in Plovdiv) graduated the National School of Music and Dance Art “Dobrin Petkov” – Plovdiv with the specialty of piano with excellent grades and golden badge award in 1990 and then he graduated the Music Academy “Prof. Pancho Vladigerov” in Sofia with Master’s degrees in four majors: Opera and Symphony Conducting under Acad. V. Kazandzhiev and Prov. Iv. Vulpe; Composition under Prof. D. Tapkov, Piano – under Prof. Kr. Taskov and Choir Conducting under Prof. St. Kralev. He specialized in Composition within two summer courses in Austria with Prof. Erich Urbaner from Vienna University of Musical and Performing Arts.
His debut at the opera stage was when he was still a student (at the age of 22) and conducted Rigoletto in the opera theatres in Pleven and Stara Zagora.
His professional career as a conductor began in the Symphonic Orchestra of the Bulgarian Army Ensemble (1995 – 1997) and from 1997 to 1999 he was Chief Conductor of the Ensemble. In the meantime, he also took the position of conductor and chief artistic director of the renowned Youth Philharmonic “Pioneer” (1998 – 2003). His debut at the National Opera and Ballet Theatre – Sofia was in 1998 when he conducted a Gala Concerto of Gena Dimitrova by her personal request. Since 2001 he was appointed fulltime conductor of the opera and currently his repertoire includes more than 55 opera and ballet works. Since season 2005-2006 Grigor Palikarov is also the Chief Artistic Director and Conductor of the Symphonic-Opera Society at the National Music Academy “Prof. Pancho Vladigerov” – Sofia.
At present, Grigor Palikarov is a frequent visiting conductor of a number of orchestras and opera theatres among which are: Symphonic Orchestra of the Bulgarian National Radio, Classic FM Orchestra – Sofia, of which he is also a permanent conductor since season 2008-2009, Sofia Philharmonic, Festival Orchestra – Sofia, the national Operas in Plovdiv, Burgas, Varna, Ruse and Stara Zagora, the Pleven Philharmonic, etc. A special place among his multiple conducting performances is occupied by the numerous studio records of various works with the Symphonic Orchestra of the Bulgarian National Radio, along with his participations in prestigious national and international music festivals such as Sofia Music Weeks, March Music Days, Laureate Days “Katya Popova” – Pleven, Austrian Music Weeks, New Bulgarian Music, Winter Music Evenings – Pazardzhik, Opera and Ballet Festival – Varna, Contemporary Music Festival – Pula, Croatia, May Opera Nights – Skopje, Macedonia, Dyuni Festival – Matera, Italy, etc. In October 2014, Grigor Palikarov had two concertos with the orchestra of Classic FM Radio at the prestigious Alte Oper (Frankfurt am Mein) from the programme of the festival of European Culture Days organized by the European Central Bank.
Grigor Palikarov regularly performs abroad in countries like Germany, Austria, Belgium, France, Italy, Luxemburg, Russia, the USA, Slovenia, Greece, Poland, the Ukraine, Taiwan, the Netherlands, Great Britain, Portugal, Mexico, Korea, Japan, Uruguay, etc. He has conducted the Royal Belgian Philharmonic – Brussels, the national Opera and Ballet – Ljubljana, Vienna Chamber Ensemble “New Tone”, Century Symphonic Orchestra – Taipei, Cleveland Opera – the USA where his debut was marked as one of the most important music events for 2009 in the state of Ohio, the Krasnoyarsk Opera and Ballet – Russia, Yanacek Philharmonic – Czech Republic, Czestohowa Philharmonic and Varmino-Masuric Philharmonic – Poland, Symphonic Orchestra – Bari, national Orchestra (SODRE) and the National Choir of Uruguay, Magna Grecia Orchestra – Italy, Dnepropetrovsk Philharmonic, Yucatan Symphonic Orchestra and Monterey Symphonic Orchestra – Mexico, Thessaloniki Symphonic Orchestra, and many others.
Along with his activity as a conductor, Grigor Palikarov composes, performs in concerto playing the piano and teaches at the National Music Academy “Prof. Pancho Vladigerov” where he successfully pursued his Ph.D. degree in Music Studies and Music Art in 2017. Some of his works are being performed at a number of festivals and have been recorded many times. He has won many national and international awards for his successful performance as a composer and pianist at the competitions “Svetosalv Obretenov”, “Albert Roussel”, The Music of the Earth, etc. Three-time laureate of the prestigious award Crystal Lyre of the Union of Bulgarian Musicians and Dancers – 2002, 2012, and 2017, as well as of the ward the Golden Feather.
Within two mandates, Grigor Palikarov has been the Chair of Mensa-Bulgaria – the branch of the worldwide organization of people with high IQ.
BORISLAVA TANEVA
Borislava Taneva is a pianist, chamber performer, pedagogue, composer and organizer of musical events. Piano professor and deputy dean of artistic and international activities at the Pantcho Vladiguerov National Academy of Music She has given master classes in Greece, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Singapore, Brazil, Spain, France, Italy, Norway and others. Students of hers have been many times prizewinners at international and domestic music forums and competitions. She is invited regularly to function as a jury member at musical competitions in France, Austria, Luxembourg, Greece, Serbia, Malta, Bulgaria. Taneva actively engages in concert performances throughout Europe, in Brazil and Israel. Laureate of international competitions in piano, chamber music and composition in Bulgaria, Italy, Japan, Greece and Luxembourg. Her rich repertoire includes works by contemporary composers as well as works by her father Alexander Tanev. Borislava Taneva is the founder and member of the Swiss-Bulgarian Association for Culture SBAC. In 2014, she was distinguished with the Golden Pen Award for her outstanding contribution to Bulgarian culture and art, and in 2015, she was also awarded the award Crystal Lyre Award. From 2016, she acts as co-chair of the Pianissimo Foundation. The Musica Ferrum London publishing house published her piano works for children, distinguished more than once on international forums.
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Dear friends,
In compliance with the decision of the Council of Ministers to ban all public events as a prevention to the spread of the coronavirus – COVID-19,
the concert of the Symphony Orchestra on March 25th, 2021 is canceled.
March 25, 2021 /Thursday/
18.30 hours Hall “M-Ro G.Atanasov
Conductor: Maxim Eshkenazy
Soloist: Georgi Cherkin – piano
Program:
W.A. Mozart – Masterpieces
Overture “Don Giovanni””, K.527
Piano Concerto No.21, K. 467 – II movement
Symphony No.1, KV16 – I movement
Piano Concerto No. 9, КV 271 – I movement
Symphony No. 29, K. 201 – I movement
Piano Concerto No. 21, K. 467 – III movement
Overture “Le Nozze di Figaro”, K.492
Piano Concerto No.23, K 488 – II Movement
Piano Sonata No. 11 , K 331 – III movement “Alla Turka”
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Maxim Eshkenazy
Considered a rising star among today’s generation of young conductors, Bulgarian native Maxim Eshkenazy has been described as a musician of “vigor and intelligence,” who conducts with “complete assuredness and insight.” Called “charismatic and exciting,” by the Los Angeles Times, Eshkenazy marks his fourth season with Pacific Symphony in 2011-12, where he serves as assistant conductor, leading the Family Musical Mornings series and Class Act youth concerts. He also conducts and serves as the music director of Pacific Symphony Youth Orchestra (PSYO). In 2011, Eshkenazy led the PSYO’s first highly successful European tour through Bulgaria, where they performed concerts in the cities of Varna, Plovdiv and Sofia to strong acclaim. Two years ago, with Bakersfield Youth Symphony Orchestra, Eshkenazy completed a successful tour to South Korea, which was also received with great enthusiasm by audience and press alike. Eshkenazy returned to Pacific Symphony’s Summer Festival to conduct the season finale, “Tchaikovsky Spectacular,” following last summer’s “Cirque de la Symphonie,” and his summer debut in 2009 with the Symphony in collaboration with the Orange County affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure, which saw record-breaking attendance. The 2010-11 season also marked the inception of Fortissimo Fest, where Eshkenazy served as music director. The newly-founded festival, underwritten entirely by the America for Bulgaria Foundation, took place in his home town of Sofia, and includes most of the major Bulgarian orchestras as well as orchestras and soloists from the United States. The Fortissimo Fest is a cultural bridge builder and Eshkenazy is pleased to be an ambassador for the arts and integral link between the two nations. At the Colburn School of Performing Arts in Los Angeles, Eshkenazy is the music director and conductor for the Colburn Chamber Orchestra and music director and conductor of the Colburn Orchestra. Members of the Colburn Orchestra traveled with Eshkenazy to Fortissimo Fest in September 2010. Eshkenazy received his early musical training at the Sofia Conservatory before moving to the United States to pursue a double masters’ of music degree in conducting and violin performance at the University of Southern California. He is an alumnus of several world-class conducting schools and workshops including the Pierre Monteux School in Maine, and he was awarded a coveted Conductor’s Fellowship to the newly established American Academy of Conducting at the Aspen Music Festival in the summer of 2000.
Eshkenazy lives not far from the Pacific Ocean in Orange County, Calif. He is an airplane pilot and also has a helicopter license.
Georgi Cherkin
Cherkin was born in Sofia, Bulgaria in a family with a great music tradition (his grandfather Georgi Zlatev-Cherkin was a famous Bulgarian composer and vocal pedagogue). He started playing the piano and composing at the age of six, and the following year he enrolled in the Liubomir Pipkov National Music School in Sofia, where he was a student of Antonina Boneva. In 1996, he was admitted to the Pancho Vladiguerov State Music Academy in Sofia in Prof. Atanas Kurtev’s class. A year later, he was also admitted at the prestigious Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome, where he was trained by one of the most renowned music professors in Italy, Sergio Perticaroli, graduating cum laude.
He has performed as a soloist with symphony orchestras more than 100 times, and played in many prestigious concert halls, such as the Auditorio Hall in Rome, Musikhalle in Hamburg, Convention Center in Okinawa, Seoul Arts Center, Palais des Beaux Arts in Brussels, Invalides Hall in Paris, Kaufmann Concert Hall in New York to name a few. During the past few years, he has been awarded numerous prizes for popularizing culture and art in Bulgaria, including “The Crystal Lire”, “The Golden Century”, “The Golden Muse”, and “The Golden Quill” among others. He has also won top prizes at the following international competitions – Pancho Vladigerov in 2003, Premio Sassari (Italy) in 1999, and Young Musical Talents in Sofia, 1994.
Cherkin’s repertoire includes more than 25 concertos for piano and orchestra, including all the concertos by Rachmaninoff and the most difficult ones of the romantic period, which he has performed as a soloist of the Sofia Philharmonic, the Symphony Orchestra of the Bulgarian National Radio, Classic FM Orchestra, Santa Cecilia Orchestra, Incheon Philharmonic Orchestra, Orquestra de Câmara de Cascais e Oeiras, National Radio Orchestra of Romania, and Bilkent Symphony Orchestra, under the batons of Emil Tabakov, Georgi Dimitrov, Milen Nachev, Horia Andreescu, Francesco La Vecchia, Shungo Moriyama, Ovidiu Balan, Miguel Grassa–Mora and many others. His concert schedule during recent years has included a series of very successful piano recitals in Rome, Paris, Berlin, Brussels, New York, Seoul, Warsaw, Prague, Sofia, and Bratislava.