The Principal of the National School of Music (NSM) since 1992, piano pedagogue Milka Miteva, says more about the anniversary:

„It would be a good idea to celebrate this anniversary with 110 events. But even such a fantastic program would fail to fully honor the work of all teachers and their students of many generations. Petko Naumov, violinist and composer, and Nikolay Nikolaev, Chairman of the Managing Committee, laid the foundations of the school. Their example was followed by many other musicians. The core of our school’s legacy is that we have managed to continue the enthusiasm of the founding fathers and more importantly, the professionalism and love in our work. The logo of our school is a flower consisting of music notes. In my imagination, I can see this flower blossoming with the care and affection of all of us. Today, the 110-year-old school is a worthy center of music created by young talent. It is indeed, at the heart of the Bulgarian music education.”

The competition Young Music Talent organized by the National School of Music was part of the anniversary celebration program. More from Mrs Miteva:

„This has been the tenth edition of the competition. It has become part of the European Association of International Competitions. The latest edition attracted contenders from all continents and from more than twenty countries. The international jury is by tradition staffed with renowned musicians, pillars of world culture. We are happy that the new music hall of the school resounds with the performances of musicians who are writing the music history of 21 c.”

It is not possible to name all internationally-acclaimed musicians trained by the National School of Music. It is hard to name all teachers who have trained generations of young musicians.

„We are happy that the large family of the Music School displays remarkable continuity”, Milka Miteva remarks. “The pitch for the scholarship that Pavlina Dokovska has founded to honor her teacher Lydia Kouteva has just closed. This has been a good way to commemorate the legacy of Mrs Kouteva. Her disciple Dokovska is a renowned pianist and leading the piano chair at MannesCollegeofMusic in the United States. To close the pitch we held a concert and one of the solo performers was Asen Tancthev, winner of the Lydia Kouteva scholarship ten years ago. Today he is one of the leading young musicians. We have got mail from across the world: conductor Rosen Gergov has been writing from Vienna, Lia Petrova from Brussels etc. This is a great reward for teachers and an acknowledgement of our inputs in dozens of international careers in music.”

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The audio file to this feature comprises the following soundtracks:

1/ Rutchenitsa Dance by Lubomir Pipkov and the NSM Orchestra led by conductor Deyan Pavlov

2/  Piano Trio, opus 15 by Bedřich Smetana, a fragment from Third Movement in the rendition of Lia Petrova (violin), Anna Stoytcheva (piano) and Hristo Tanev (cello)

3/ Impromptu, opus 90, No. 4 by Franz Schubert in the rendition of Asen Tantchev, piano, a fragment

English: Daniela Konstantinova