"The initiative is carried out with the support of the Bulgarian Consulate in Los Angeles. The idea was to organize a concert with only Bulgarian compositions, to introduce the audience and the diplomatic corps to our national classical music. Antonín Dvořák, Bedřich Smetana and Edvard Grieg are world-famous names, but we have equally brilliant composers such as Pancho Vladigerov, Petko Staynov, Lyubomir Pipkov and Marin Goleminov, whose names are not well known beyond our borders," says Penka Kouneva.

• A Grammy for Bulgarian composer Penka Kouneva

Arriving in the US in 1990, the Bulgarian composer overcame the competition to find her place in the industry as a film composer by drawing on her uniqueness and national identity.

"For me, Bulgarian folklore and our folk tales have always been a great source of inspiration. My very first composition, which was chosen for a film, was influenced by the so-called non-western sounds and tonalities. This made it very successful and I realised that my roots and my culture are very strong and I need to emphasise them in order to progress," says the composer, adding:

"I've continued to do that throughout my work. The album I'm most famous for, which came out 10 years ago - it's called The Astronaut Woman - was also very much influenced by my Bulgarian identity and culture. I would say that Milen Kirov and I stand out here because we are treading on our own very strong roots."

• Milen Kirov and his music – an exciting blend of classical music and “peasant funk”

"Imagine a museum that is very interactive. The exhibits are mainly rockets and spacecraft, but there are also a lot of films to watch, for which I had to write the music".

"I work with visionaries and highly creative artists and I find it very stimulating to communicate with such people. An artist also has to be very organised because it's very difficult to build a career, it's like a marathon. You know, I've been in Los Angeles for 26 years now and how many genres I've tried - television, cinema, video games, theme parks... Each of these genres requires new qualities, learning new musical styles, very flexible thinking, working with people from different countries, with different ways of thinking. It has helped that I have always been very intuitive, flexible and willing to learn new skills," says Penka Kouneva at the end of our interview.

Photos and video: personal archive of Penka Kouneva