December 05, 2018 /Wednesday/
18.30 hours Hall “M-Ro G.Atanasov”
Conductor: Grigor Palikarov Soloist: Borislava Taneva– piano
Program:
Alexander Tanev /90 years of his birth/ – Divertimento concertante for piano and orchestra
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky – Symphony No. 2 in C minor, Op. 17
∗∗∗
Grigor Palikarov
Conductor Grigor Palikarov was born in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, in 1971. Graduating from the Dobrin Petkov Music School in Plovdiv, he went on to earn a Master’s degree from the Pancho Vladigerov National Music Academy in Sofia in four different musical specialties. Appointed as conductor of the Sofia National Opera and Ballet in 2001, his current repertoire includes more than 55 operas and ballets. He is also a General Artistic Manager of Symphony orchestra – Pazardzhik (since 2005).
Maestro Palikarov regularly appears as guest-conductor with orchestras and opera companies across Bulgaria, such as the Classic FM Radio Orchestra (permanent conductor since the 2008/2009 season), the Sofia Festival Orchestra, the Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra, Symphony Orchestra of the Bulgarian National Radio, the State Opera Orchestras Plovdiv, Varna, Burgas, Ruse, and Stara Zagora, among others. Mr. Palikarov has also built a career as an international guest-conductor, regularly leading orchestras in Germany, Austria, Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the US, Russia, Slovenia, Poland, Taiwan, the Netherlands, Japan, Korea etc. He has conducted the Royal Belgian Philharmonic Orchestra– Brussels, the National Opera and Ballet in Ljubljana, the “New Tone” Vienna Chamber Ensemble, the Taipei Century Symphony Orchestra (Taiwan), the Opera Circle Cleveland, the Krasnoyarsk State Opera and Ballet (Russia), the Janáček Philharmonic Orchestra (Czech Republic), the Częstochowa and Warmia-Mazuri Philharmonic Orchestras (Poland), the Bari Symphony Orchestra, the Uruguayan National Orchestra and Choir (SODRE), Orchestra Magna Grecia (Italy), the Dnepropetrovsk Philharmonic, the Yucatán Symphony Orchestra, the Monterrey Symphony Orchestra and the Thessaloniki Symphony Orchestra, among many others. In 2014, Mr. Palikarov conducted two concerts at the Europa Kulturtage Festival in Frankfurt, Germany.
In addition to being a conductor, Mr. Palikarov is also a composer, pianist, and Assistant Professor at the National Music Academy – Sofia, where he has achieved a Doctor of Music Degree (in 2017). Some of his works have been performed at a number of festivals and have been recorded. He has received the “Crystal Lyre” Award three times (in 2002, 2012 and 2017), as well as the “Golden Quill” Award. He also served two terms as Chairman of the Bulgarian branch of “Mensa”, an international organization of people with a high IQ.
Borislava Taneva
Borislava Taneva is a pianist, chamber musician, pedagogue, composer and organizer of musical events. Her active role in contemporary cultural life in Bulgaria and abroad is defined by her as a successful broad-spectrum musician. Professor of Piano and Deputy Rector of Art and Creativity and International Activity at the National Academy of Music “Prof. Pancho Vladigerov “. She has exported master classes in Greece, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Singapore, Brazil, Spain, France, Italy, Norway and others. Her students have many times been awarded with awards at international and national music forums and competitions. She is regularly invited as a member of a jury of music competitions in France, Austria, Luxembourg, Greece, Serbia, Malta, Bulgaria. Actively performs throughout Europe, Brazil, Israel. Laureate of international competitions in piano, chamber music and composition in Bulgaria, Italy, Japan, Greece and Luxembourg.
Borislava Taneva is a founder and member of the Swiss-Bulgarian Association for Culture SBAC. In 2014, was awarded the Golden Pen Award for outstanding contribution to Bulgarian culture and art. In 2015 she was awarded the Crystal Lyre Award. Since 2016 he is co-chair of the Pianissimo Foundation.
∗∗∗
December 13, 2018 /Thursday/
18.30 hours Hall “M-Ro G.Atanasov”
Conductor: Lodi Luka (Italy) Soloist: Alessandro Marano– piano (Italy)
Program:
G. Rossini – Surprise by “Cinderella”
Lodi Luka – SymphoDance
L. van Beethoven – Concerto for piano and orchestra № 5 E flat major , op. 73
∗∗∗
Lodi Luka
Composer, pianist and conductor, Lodi Luka was born in Shkoder (Albania) in 1980 in a musicians family. He performed for various institutions, associations and concert seasons in the most important Italian cities (Milan, Rome, Parma, Turin, Naples, Bari, Messina, Cosenza, Reggio Calabria etc.) and in Spain, Albania, Austria, Greece.
His compositions has been performed in Italy (Festival of the Two Worlds of Spoleto, Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music Rome, Puccini Hall of Milan Conservatoy, XX International Stage of Saxofone in Fermo, Clarinet Festival in Adria, Filarmonica Laudamo Messina, “L.Russolo” Theater in Portogruaro, “A.Rendano” Theater in Cosenza, Chigiana Academy of Siena etc.), Spain (Conservatorio de
Getafe Madrid), Austria (University for Music and the Performing Arts of Graz), USA (Stanford University, Rhode Island University, Colorado Spring College), France (International “SaxOpen” Festival in Strasburg), Albania, Mexico, Poland (Wroclaw Academy of Music), Croatia (World Saxophone Congress – Zagreb University of Music), Kosovo, Canada, Uruguay, Thailand.
In 2017 he won the first prize at the International Composition Competition in Jewish tradition with the composition “Shirah” for viola and strings that was also broadcast on the Raidue TV channel. His compositions are published by Forton Music (England), Preludio Music (Milan) and Da Vinci Pubblishing (Osaka – Japan).
He began his career as a piano soloist and he performing with The Youth Orchestra of Shkoder in 1998 the concerto in D major of F.J.Haydn. He has performed also with the National Orchestra of Moldova and with the Bulgarian orchestras of Vidin and Pazardjik under the direction of Ovidiu Balan, Giuseppe Mallozzi and Valentin Doni.
In 2009 he did an internship as a “maestro collaboratore” at the prestigious Vienna State Opera, collaborating with famous singers and conductors.
He studied Orchestra conducting with Ovidiu Balan at the “European Arts Academy” Trani and attended a master in orchestral conducting for opera at the Academy “Milano Opera Music Master” in Milan with Pietro Mianiti.
He attended the course of film music composition at the Accademia Musicale Chigiana with the Oscar winner Luis Bakalov obtaining the Diploma of Merit.
Alessandro Marano
The Italian pianist Alessandro Marano is one of the most brilliant musicians of his generation. At the same time as studies in the Conservatory of Music “Stanislao Giacomantonio” of Cosenza with Professor Giuseppe Maiorca, he attended the International Piano Courses in the “Paul Hindemith” Foundation in Blonay (Switzerland) where he spent eight years studying with such internationally renowned teachers and performers as Edith Fischer and Paul Badura-Skoda. He completed his musical education studying with Bruno Canino and Aldo Ciccolini.
Being an award winner of a several national and international piano competition, Marano keeps a busy concert schedule presenting solo recitals and collaborating with renowned musician all over Italy and abroad (Spain, Switzerland, Romania, Germany, Greece, Austria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Bulgaria, Russia, Great Britain).
Marano played under the conducting of important conductors such as Ovidiu Balan, Grigor Palikarov, Petronius Negrescu, Valentin Doni; he performed and recorded all the Beethoven Piano Concertos under the conducting of Maestro Lodi Luka, adopting the transcription for string orchestra by Vinzenz Lachner.
He is the Artistic Director of the International Piano Festival in Cosenza (Italy), President of the cultural and musical Association Amici del pianoforte “Franz Liszt”, piano Professor at the “Beato Francesco Maria Greco” Secondary School of Acri (Italy) and teacher-assistant in the Conservatory of Music “S. Giacomantonio” of Cosenza.