On June 24, the Central Military Club hosted a concert of the Sofia Soloists Chamber Orchestra with conductor Plamen Djouroff and soloists Dilyana Momchilova - cello and professor Kevork Mardirossian - violin. Guests heard works by Stefan Dragostinov, Haydn and Vivaldi. The event is part of the 47th edition of the Sofia Music Weeks festival and most of the works presented were dedicated to summer.

Prof. Mardirossian was born in Bulgaria. He is lecturer in one of the most prestigious music schools in the US - Jacobs School of Music - Indiana University, Bloomington. He has won numerous international awards as a performer. He has performed all over the world - France, Germany, Spain, Japan, China, Italy, the USA and Bulgaria. Kevork Mardirossian graduated from the Pancho Vladigerov National Academy of Music and his lecturers were Professor Anton Hadzhiatanasov and Professor Vladimir Avramov. Later he studied under Arthur Grumiaux in Brussels and Yfrah Neaman at the Guildhall School of Music, London.

Here is what Kevork Mardirossian told us before the concert:

"I am very excited as I haven’t performed together with the Sofia Soloists for some 17 years. Half of the orchestra are my former colleagues, students. Plamen Djouroff was the person who helped me for everything that happened to me after finishing my education here. He has always supported me and I am excited too, because years have passed and everyone wants to play better than before. After our first rehearsal, things turned out very well and I hope we would present a great concert. I will be performing Vivaldi's Four Seasons. Dilyana Momchilova will perform Haydn’s Concerto for Cello in D major and "Summer Suite" by Stefan Dragostinov, which will open the concert."

How does professor Mardirossian feel being in Bulgaria?

"Wonderful! I am at home! For me, America remains my workplace, although I spent half of my life there, every time I come back here I feel more nostalgic. One remembers the beautiful years of their youth and the antics. Everything comes back to you with more sentimentality and sincerity. My work is connected with lots of teaching, but I also have twenty concerts each year - chamber music, master classes, etc. For me transformation of new talents into professionals is a very important task. Recently a student of mine has won the award of the Israel Philharmonic, while another one became concertmaster of the Detroit Opera. I gave the name to the Zora Quartet in which my students play. It has this Bulgarian name, while my students come from various countries. I have students from Bulgaria, Spain, Germany, Russia, the US and Asia. Koreans and Chinese have been showing remarkable progress in recent years.”

More from Kevork Mardirossian:

"When I went to London, I had to change a lot of things,” the famous violinist recalls. “Professor Yfrah Neaman helped me start thinking while looking at a composer’s work. He used to say that a piece of music was like a beautiful sweater that you must unravel and then knit it again but use your own vision and character. Musicians must get deep into the musical score. Of course young musicians count more on their instincts while mature musicians focus on the ideas of the composer. That is what I try to teach my students - not just to play the notes perfectly, but to create something. There are a lot of young talents - people like Svetlin Rusev, Lia Petrova and many others, who are truly fantastic. During the upcoming concert I would like to play Vivaldi well and to know that the audience understands me. In Burgas I will have a one-week master class in the framework of Academy of Arts in Sozopol, but my class will be held in the Sea Casino Cultural Center in Burgas. Many children will come from every part of the world. It is interesting that you always see new people and new talents. You are like a gold digger, hoping that you will find something special. "

Audio contains the following works:

.  Concerto for Two Violins by JS Bach, perf. by Kevork Mardirossian and Liana Koteva with Sofia Soloists Chamber Orchestra, conductor Plamen Djouroff

.  Fragment from Claude Debussy’s piano trio in G major, perf. by Kevork Mardirossian –violin, Lee Phillips - piano, F. Farrell - cello

.  Part 1 of Vivaldi’s concerto for two violins in A minor, soloists Kevork Mardirossian and Micho Dimitrov, Conducted by Plamen Djouroff

English: Alexander Markov