The Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra is to mark the 10th anniversary since Bulgaria joined the EU with a special concert. On January 19th in the Bulgaria Hall people would hear the performance of Clara-Jumi Kang and her Stradivarius violin from 1708 in Concerto No2 by Henryk Wieniawski, known with his virtuosity. Clara-Jumi Kang is a laureate of several international competitions, including "Tchaikovsky," "Tibor Varga," "Sendai." She is often a guest artist to orchestras in Asia, USA and Europe with conductors such as Yuri Temirkanov and Valery Gergiev. Clara-Jumi Kang’s successful career puts her among the 100 most influential people in Korea.

Focus in the concert will be Symphony-Cantata №2, Hymn of Praise, by Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, which will sound under the baton of the great conductor Uros Layovits, who has conducted more than 90 orchestras in over 1500 concerts worldwide. Prominent singers Silvana Pravcheva, Nina Veselinova and Milen Bozhkov are also to take part in the performance.

"Hymn of Praise" is composed in a similar structural way to the Ninth Symphony by Beethoven. The fourth part of the symphony - cantata will be performed by the Svetoslav Obretenov National Philharmonic Choir, conducted by Slavil Dimitrov.

Maestro Slavil Dimitrov graduated in choral conducting and opera and orchestral conducting from "Prof. Pancho Vladigerov" National Academy of Music." He studied in the experimental class in composition at the State Conservatory in Odessa under prof. Georgy Uspensky and Acad. Alexander Raichev. He is winner of the Grand Prix of the Odessa music contest and winner of three prizes at the Irregular Meter National Contest. He was nominated for "World Music Award" by the Ontario International Folk Art Association. Since 2015 Slavil Dimitrov has been conductor of the “Svetoslav Obretenov” National Philharmonic Choir.

Here is what the maestro told us about the upcoming concert:

"Our participation in this concert is in the Symphony №2 by Mendelssohn, which gave the name of the whole concert - Hymn of Praise. It is a significant symphonic and choral work. Orchestra and choir are nearly equivalent in this work. Soloists are Silvana Pravcheva, Nina Veselinova and Milen Bozhkov. "

Here is more from Slavil Dimitrov:

"Maestro Uros Layovits is an often guest to Bulgaria. I have worked with him in performance of cantata oratorio works that he conducted with the participation of the National Philharmonic Choir. He is a conductor of high European level and it is always a pleasure to work with him, as I have a lot to learn from him and he also enriches the performance of the choir.”

Speaking about the challenges the choir faces, Maestro Dimitrov added: "We want to reach a world-class quality and offer programs that appeal to the audience. The repertoire is rich. Our choir is to participate in playing music to the movie "Harry Potter" in February; there will be an acapella concert part of the "Music of the West” series. On May 9 there will be a joint performance with the choir and the Symphony Orchestra of the Radio when we are to perform War Requiem by Benjamin Britten.

English: Alexander Markov

Audio features the following works:

1  Violin Concerto n° 2 in D Minor - H. Wieniawski, Sofia Philharmonic conducted by Yurii Yanko, soloist - Fuga Miwatashi

2  Symphony №2 BDur, op.52 - "Alles was Odem hat" by Mendelssohn - SF conducted by Leopold  Hager with Svetoslav Obretenov choire, conducted by Lyuba Pesheva

3  Symphony №2 BDur, op.52 - "Ihr Voelker, bringet her dem Herrn” - SF conducted by Leopold Hager with Svetoslav Obretenov choire, conducted by Lyuba Pesheva