For the 19th time, from 13 to 17 April, Sofia and Plovdiv are hosting a special Nordic edition of the ppIANISSIMO International Festival of Contemporary Piano Music. The event is organized by the ppIANISSIMO Foundation jointly with the Bulgarian National Radio.

Over 5 festival days and 12 events in Sofia and Plovdiv music lovers in Bulgaria can enjoy rarely performed art music pieces from the Nordic countries. Acclaimed performers from Finland, Denmark, Sweden, Iceland and Norway will be guest musicians to the festival and will play with eight renowned musicians from Bulgaria as well as an actor, presenting 20th century classics as well as modern tendencies in solo piano, chamber, experimental electroacoustic and jazz music, alongside poetry from Scandinavia. The idea of the ppIANISSIMO festival is in itself unique, for years it has been the only forum in Bulgaria dedicated entirely to contemporary music. Focused most of all on the endless potential of the piano as a musical instrument, it is something of a contemporary art test lab – a place for established names as well as beginners in music interpretation to study the intricate processes of modern piano aesthetics. As a major international event ppIANISSIMO has been provoking unabated interest abroad for 19 years.

Dr. Ilia Gramatikov, a post graduate student at the University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna who also lectures history and music at the National Music Academy in Sofia has been artistic director of the festival since 2015:

“Our mission through these 19 years has been to popularize contemporary music but also to show how fascinating it can be, even to the untrained ear. Once again, this year the festival will have no entrance fee. ppIANISSIMO will open with a performance by Laura Mikkola, a pianist from Finland. One of the festival nights will be a multimedia performance. Double bassist and performance artist Irina-Kalina Goudeva will be arriving from Denmark and together with music improviser Ejnar Kanding they will be using all means offered by contemporary music, poetry and art to present piano works by Julia Tsenova, Emil Tabakov and Alexander Tanev. Sweden will be represented by composers who are radical trail-blazers in 21st century music. All guests to the festival are foremost pianists of their own generation, but they are also renowned performers internationally. Every year they take part in different contemporary music projects and formats, have repertoires featuring dozens of pieces, including classical and modern music, some composed especially for them. This year some of the works taking part in ppIANISSIMO were written especially for this 19th edition of the festival and their world premieres will take place here, in Bulgaria.”

Prof. Dr. Borislava Taneva, renowned composer, pianist, pedagogue and prominent public figure, lecturer at the Pancho Vladigerov National Music School is co-chair of the ppIANISSIMO foundation as of this year, together with Dr. Gramatikov:

“For me ppIANISSIMO is a cause. It is an opportunity to mould and stimulate authors, composers and performers so they may leave their mark in modern music art for the generations to come. This is especially true of young performers because in our day it is so difficult to find a stage for their talent. Interest in contemporary music and an opportunity for young people to unfold their talent is what the ppIANISSIMO International Festival of Contemporary Piano Music is all about.”

The audio contains the following works:

- Plastic scenes by Hilding Rosenberg, performed by Ines Simeonova;

- Tempo Giusto and Moderato from Plastic Scenes by Hilding Rosenberg

- Cantus Arcticus from Melancholy by Einojuhani Rautavaara

English version: Milena Daynova