In the year 1962 thirteen gifted Bulgarian instrumentalists united their talent in a joint artistic thinking driven by the magic of chamber music. Thus, the artistic road of one of the longest existing European chamber orchestras - The Sofia Soloists began. The formation has been among the brightest representatives of the contemporary Bulgarian music for several decades now. The number of music pieces written by Bulgarian composers and later dedicated to the Sofia Soloists Chamber Ensemble is huge.

The idea of forming the chamber orchestra came spontaneously from several excellent musicians from the Sofia State Opera. The audience welcomed with a great enthusiasm the first concert of the ensemble conducted by Mihail Angelov. In the beginning the soloists performed under a different name. Here is what one of the founders of the Sofia Soloists Alexander Popov recalls in an interview from 1975 kept at the BNR Golden Archives:

“We were thinking over the name of the orchestra for a very long time and finally we chose the name Sofia Chamber Orchestra. However, choosing a name was not our first task. We gathered together driven by our infinite love for chamber music.Onthebackgroundofourorchestrawork, we viewed this opportunity as a supreme stimulus for artistic display of another kind.We got acquainted also with authors which were not part of the opera program. Ourfirststepsweretostrengtheningourartisticpotential.”

The broad repertoire of the Sofia Soloists Chamber Orchestra covers the period from the 15^th century until the present day. The chamber formation was the one that set the criteria and taste onfor chamber music among the Bulgarian audience. The next conductor who wrote his name in the history of this orchestra was Vassil Kazandzhiev. Here is part of his speech kept at the Golden Archives of the Bulgarian National Radio:

“The broad audience has been aware of the purpose of the Sofia Soloists since the very beginning. Our main goal is to popularize the masterpieces left by the Baroque period, the Classical Period and Romanticism. We also aim at strengthening the positions of contemporary music. Undoubtedly, the progress of such a formation is based mainly on classical music. Meanwhile, a music formation, which has the ambition to have a broad music repertoire and present national culture in Bulgaria and abroad, must pay a special attention to local music as well. We have used our artistic contacts to convince the authors that the premiere performance of their pieces would be at a very high level.”

Later Vassil Kazandzhiev was replaced by conductor Emil Tabakov in the band. Since 1988 the orchestra has been conducted by Plamen Dzhurov. The Sofia Soloists Chamber Orchestra managed to touch the hearts of millions of music fans. The band held multiple concerts in all countries of the Northern Hemisphere. It also organized dozens of music tours to North and South America, Asia and Australia. Today the Sofia Soloists Chamber Orchestra and its conductor Plamen Dzhurov are a symbol of high professionalism and every single performance of the orchestra turns into a major cultural event in Bulgaria. The band often performs on stage alongside renowned world musicians who hold concerts in Bulgaria. The music ensemble also helps young musicians who make their first steps in orchestra music.

On occasion of their anniversary, the Sofia Soloists Chamber Orchestra received an honorary order of the Sofia Municipality. Moreover, an annual international conductorship competition has been held in this country since 2009 at the initiative of the band. Over 140 composers from more than 30 countries have so far participated at the past three editions of the competition.

English version: Kostadin Atanasov