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"Magnificent Five" of BNR Big Band saxophonists take part in "Mr. Sax" concert

A concert entitled "Mr. Sax” will take place on February 15 and is the first of a series in which we can hear all of the musicians in the BNR Big Band. It's no secret that the instrumentalists in the orchestra are among the most popular names of the Bulgarian jazz scene. Many of them are involved in various projects. We can not miss the name of Antoni Donchev - conductor of the Big Band, pianist and composer with many awards and long and successful career. Here are the soloists of the concert - Vasil Enchev, Dimitar Liolev, Petar Momchev, Boris Petrov, and Atanas Hadzhiev.

Here is more from Antoni Donchev:

We initiated a series in which we could focus at the different groups in the orchestra, says Anton Donchev. We start with the saxophone, so I titled the show Mr. Sax. I can proudly say that the five saxophone players fromthe band are among the elite musicians in Bulgaria. I tried to challenge them to present themselves not only as performers, as most of them compose music and release albums. Some of them will perform their plays, arranged especially for the concert. Among them are Dimitar Liolev and Peter Momchev. Others like Vasil Enchev, for example, arranged pieces from their jazz repertoire. Boris Petrov developed the theme of a piece for big band, called "Mastodon". The play by Dimitar Liolev ‘Rhodopology’, that gave the name to his original album will sound orchestrated by Vasil Spasov. With all these wonderful saxophonists I have played in different formations outside the Big Band. I can say that we are very close; I would even use the word friends. This reflects our common work in the orchestra, because every project brings something different enriches musicians and they come to rehearsals at First Studio loaded with new energy.

As revealed by the interview with Antoni Donchev, all the pieces in the program of the concert will sound for the first time, prepared especially for the"Mr. Sax”show. However, soloists have hundreds of recordings in the audio fund of the BNR. We end with a recording of the play "Balkan Surprise" by Vasil Spasov. Soloist is Atanas Hadziev (baritone saxophone), together with the Bulgarian National Radio Big Band.

English: Alexander Markov


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