Fortissimo Fest

The Symphony Orchestra (SO) of the Bulgarian National Radio has acquired a leading position in Bulgarian musical culture and in the community of European radio formations. Its musicians are graduates from prestigious Music Academies in Moscow, St. Petersburg, the New York Julliard School of Music, “Prof. Pancho Vladigerov” Sofia National Music Academy.

The profound and extensive development of the orchestra reaching the standards of outstanding professional orchestras started under the great Bulgarian conductor Vasil Stefanov (1913-1991), who took up his duties as a conductor in 1954, and continued working with it for over 30 years. During that time the Symphony Orchestra of BNR turned into a leading cultural institution in Bulgaria.

With contributions of their own to the development and artistic growth of the Orchestra were conductors Vasil Kazandjiev, Alexander Vladigerov (1933-1993), Milen Nachev and Rosen Milanov.

Since 2008/2009 mid-season the outstanding Bulgarian conductor and composer Emil Tabakov has been appointed its principal conductor. The Symphony Orchestra of BNR has extensively toured both in Bulgaria and abroad. The Orchestra has invariably taken part in major international music festivals in Bulgaria: “March Music Days” in Rousse and “Varna Summer”.

The Orchestra has undertaken concert tours in South Korea, France, Spain, Germany, participated in the cultural program of Mondial ’98, (France), had an opening concert at the “Europalia” Festival in Brussels, a concert beneath the Acropolis within the framework of the cultural Olympiad in Athens, participation in “Cypria” – the most outstanding cultural festival in Cyprus.

In January 2008 the Radio Symphony Orchestra had an exceptionally successful concert tour with Rosen Milanov and the Bulgarian opera prima Veselina Katsarova in some of the famous concert halls in Europe – Munich, Dortmund, (Germany), Valladolid, (Spain), and the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, (the Netherlands).

Recording music is among the major activities of the Orchestra. Along with making recordings for the Sound Archives of BNR it is also recording for foreign labels like Phonic, (Belgium), Sound Products, (the Netherlands), Harmonia Mundi, (France), BMG Ariola, (Italy), Pyramid Record, (the USA) and for all Bulgarian music recording labels. The Symphony Orchestra of BNR is actively involved in the international exchanges of the BNR with studio recordings and concerts, broadcast live via the European Broadcasting Union targeting millions of European listeners.

In 2001 the SO of BNR won the Crystal Lyre Award of the Union of Bulgarian Musicians and Dancers for major achievements in music. In 2005 the Orchestra won the “Sirak Skitnik” Prize of BNR

Praised by critics for his passionate expression and dazzling technique, pianist Andrew Armstrong has delighted audiences around the world. He has performed solo recitals and appeared with orchestras in Asia, Europe, Latin America, and the United States, including performances at Alice Tully Hall, Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, the Grand Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, and Warsaw's National Philharmonic. He has performed with such conductors as Peter Oundjian, Itzhak Perlman, and Stanislaw Skrowaczewski, and in chamber music with the Alexander, American, and Manhattan String Quartets, as a member of the Caramoor Virtuosi at the Caramoor International Music Festival, and as a member of the Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players in New York City.

Armstrong’s 2009/10 engagements reflect his steadily growing career, performing with major orchestras, including debuts with the Vancouver Symphony, Omaha Symphony and San Antonio Symphony.

During the 2008/09 season, Armstrong was the soloist in Mozart’s Concerto K.488 at the Chautauqua Music Festival under the direction of Stefan Sanderling, before embracing Bartok’s Piano Concerto No. 3 with both the Fairfax Symphony (Gregory Vajda conducting) and the Nashville Symphony under Günther Herbig. He appeared also with the Toledo, Augusta, Waukesha and Missoula symphonies, as well as the Orquesta Sinfonica Nacional de Mexico.

2007/08 offered an array of engagements with the Florida Orchestra, Louisiana Philharmonic, Boise Philharmonic, and the symphonies of Tallahassee, Charlottesville, Stamford, Harrisburg, Bellevue and Ridgefield, among others. Last summer, he shared the stage with Jennifer Frautschi and Eward Arron to perform Beethoven’s Triple Concerto with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Peter Oundjian conducting. During the summer, he performed a pre-concert recital at the Mostly Mozart Festival.

During his 2006/07 season, Armstrong performed Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue with the the Charleston Symphony, Saint-Saëns’ 5th Piano Concerto with the Monterey Symphony in a return engagement, Prokofiev No. 3 with the Bridgeport Symphony, and Mozart’s A-major Concerto K. 488 in his debut with the Columbus Symphony under the baton of Günther Herbig. He also played two concertos at the Peninsula Music Festival (the Chopin F minor Concerto and Prokofiev No. 3 under V. Yampolsky) and Rachmaninov’s massive Concerto No. 3 with the Brevard Symphony, Florida. Earlier in 2006 he was the featured soloist with Naumburg Concerts at New York City’s Central Park (Mozart’s Concerto K. 491). In 2004 he performed the World Premiere of Lisa Bielawa’s “The Right Weather” for piano solo and chamber orchestra with the American Composers Orchestra at the sold-out Carnegie Zankel Hall.

Having performed over 50 concertos, Armstrong has impressed his international audiences with a large repertoire ranging from Bach to Babbit and beyond. Before beginning his career as a concert pianist, Armstrong received over 25 national and international First Prizes. In 1996, he was named Gilmore Young Artist. At the 1993 Van Cliburn Competition, where he was the youngest pianist entered, he received the Jury Discretionary Award. The New York Times wrote, "Armstrong may have been the most talented player in the competition....He's a real musician. We'll hear more from him." As the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported, Van Cliburn himself, "in a rare showing of enthusiasm for an individual competitor," called Mr. Armstrong "Fabulous! Fabulous!"

Andrew Armstrong’s debut CD, featuring Rachmaninov’s Second Piano Sonata and Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, was released in 2004 to critical acclaim. The critic Bradley Bolen opined: “I have heard few pianists play [Rachmaninov’s Second Piano Sonata], recorded or in concert, with such dazzling clarity and confidence” (American Record Guide, Nov/Dec, 2004). His follow-up CD was issued in November 2007 on Cordelia Records and includes works by Chopin, Liszt, Debussy, and the world premiere recording of Bielawa's Wait for piano & drone.

Andrew Armstrong is devoted to outreach programs and playing for children. In addition to his many concerts, his performances are heard regularly on National Public Radio and WQXR, New York City's premier classical music station.

The Colburn Orchestra is the Colburn School Conservatory of Music’s flagship ensemble. Conducted by founding Music Director Yehuda Gilad, the Orchestra consists of outstanding college-age artists who are preparing for performance careers. Founded in 2003, the Colburn Orchestra has performed with renowned guest artists including Joshua Bell, James Conlon, Claude Delangle, Vladimir Feltsman, Leon Fleisher, Jeffrey Kahane, Jaime Laredo, Joseph Silverstein, Michael Stern, and Pinchas Zukerman. The Orchestra has also premiered an original work by Byron Adams. The Colburn Orchestra performs around the Los Angeles area in such venues as Zipper Hall, Walt Disney Concert Hall, Ambassador Auditorium in Pasadena, Orange County’s Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall, the Alex Theatre in Glendale, and Barnum Hall in Santa Monica.

The Colburn School Conservatory of Music offers performance training through accredited degree, diploma, and certificate programs. The exceptional music students who meet its rigorous audition requirements pay no tuition and receive free room and board. Conservatory students are increasingly being recognized in important competitions including the Janaki String Trio’s wins at the 2005 Coleman Chamber Music Competition and the 2006 Concert Artists Guild International Competition. Students have recently won positions with LA Opera, the San Francisco, Detroit, and Fort Worth symphonies, as well as the Minnesota Orchestra. Additionally, the Calder Quartet, comprised of members of the Conservatory’s first graduating class, is now the Colburn School’s Quartet-in-Residence.

The Colburn School also encompasses the open-enrollment School of Performing Arts, which provides outstanding music, dance, drama, and early childhood instruction to young people as early as possible in their lives. The School’s commitment to the community is exemplified by its outreach programs, including Musical Encounter and Summer Encounter, which offer free performances to elementary school students throughout the Los Angeles Unified School District.

Georgi Cherkin was born on July 2, 1977 in Sofia, Bulgaria in a family of musicians. He started playing piano at the age of six and the following year he enrolled at the Lubomir Pipkov National Music School in Sofia, where he was a student of Antonina Boneva until his graduation. In 1996, he was admitted first at the Pantcho Vladiguerov National Academy of Music in Sofia in the class of Prof. Atanas Kurtev. In 1997-1999 he was also admitted at the prestigious Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome, where he was trained by one of the most renowned music professors in Italy, Sergio Perticaroli, graduating cum laude.

He has performed in many prestigious concert halls, such as the Auditorio hall in Rome, Musikhalle in Hamburg, the Convention Center in Okinava, the Kaufmann Concert Hall in New York, Palais des Beaux Arts in Brussels, to name a few. In the past few years, he has been awarded numerous prizes for the popularization and development of culture in Bulgaria, including the Crystal Lyre, the Golden Century, the Golden Muse, and the Golden Quill among others. He has also won top prizes at the Pancho Vladiguerov International Competition in Shoumen in 2003, Premio Sassari (Italy) in 1999, and Young Musical Talents in Sofia, 1994.

His repertoire includes more than 20 virtuoso concertos for piano and orchestra, some of which he has performed as soloist with the Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra, Classic FM M-Tel Orchestra, the Symphony Orchestra of the Bulgarian National Radio, Bilkent Symphony Orchestra (Ankara), the Odessa Philharmonic Orchestra, the Santa Cecilia Orchestra in Rome, among others. He has played uder the batons of Emil Tabakov, Milen Nachev, Georgi Dimitrov, Stanislav Ushev, Yordan Dafov, Horia Andresku, Ovidiu Balan, and Migel Grassa–Mora.

His concert schedule during the 2006-2007 season included a number of recitals in Rome, Paris, Berlin, Prague, Warsaw, Bratislava, as well as very successful appearances in Bulgaria Hall, performing the following concertos for piano and orchestra: P. I. Tchaikovsky Concerto No. 1 with the Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra and Rachmaninov’s concertos Nos. 2 & 3 with the Classic FM M-Tel Orchestra.

The 2006-2007 season began with a special concert at the Royal Castle in Oslo, where he performed Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 9 as soloist of the Classic FM M-Tel Orchestra under the high patronage of His Majesty the King of Norway. With the same orchestra he performed both of Liszt’s concertos for a Christmas Gala concert in Bulgaria Hall. These were followed by performances of Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto and Schumann’s Piano Concerto in A Minor with the Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra.

In season 2007-2008, Cherkin performed for the Gala opening concert of the prestigious Europalia festival in Brussels, where he played Beethoven’s Fantasy for Piano, Chorus and Orchestra with the George Enescu Bucharest Philharmonic Orchestra in the world-famous Palais des Beaux Arts. In 2008, he performed Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 4 as soloist of the Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra and Saint-Saëns’ Piano Concerto No. 2 in G Minor to wide acclaim.

As one of the most distinguished young Bulgarian pianists, in the spring of 2009 Georgi Cherkin presented Bulgaria at the Days of Bulgarian Culture in Russia, performing Vladiguerov’s Concerto No. 3 with the Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra. In the same period he was soloist of the Odessa Philharmonic Orchestra, performing Rachmaninov’s Concerto No. 2. In June the pianist gave a very successful performance of Brahms’ Piano Concerto No. 2 with the Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra before a packed Bulgaria Hall.

Gerry Snyder is a painter whose extensive exhibition history includes the 2002 Whitney Biennial (New York City) and the 2004 Serbian Biennial (Pancevo) and recent solo exhibitions: The Surreal Life, Gerry Snyder & Marco Rosichelli  (the New Mexico Museum of Art, 2010), Fundamental (Claire Oliver Gallery, NYC, 2008), American Idyll (EVO Gallery, Santa Fe, 2007), Special Features (Center for Contemporary Art, Santa Fe, NM, 2005) and Far From Here (Hoffman Gallery of Contemporary Art, Lewis and Clark College, Portland, OR, 2004).  His work is in the permanent collections of the Whiney Museum, the de Young Museum (San Francisco) and the New Mexico Museum of Art (Santa Fe). Snyder’s work has been written about in a wide range of publications, including Art in America, Art News, ArtUS, Flash Art International, among others.

Gerry Snyder is currently a Professor of Art at College of Santa Fe (NM); additionally he is a sought-after visiting artist and lecturer.

Snyder’s degrees, a BFA (painting) from University of Oregon and an MA (Art & Media) from New York University, indicate his early and continued interests in both the tradition of painting and contemporary forms of storytelling.  This exhibition in Sofia brings together these ideas imaginatively and tangibly in the installation Snyder has created for the festival.

Hermes Ensemble was founded as a trio, but it’s a free-floating chamber structure. In Sofia Maxim and friends – coming from different parts of America and different periods of his life – will play works by Arthur Foote and Amy Beach. The members of Hermes Ensemble for Fortissimo Fest are: Flute – Evelyn Loehrlein, violin – Mark Reneau, violin – Maxim Eshkenazy, cello – Diego Miralles.

Linda Swanson is Chair of the Art Department and Professor at the College of Santa Fe (Santa Fe, NM) and an artist who has shown her paintings and drawings nationally in the United States, including Dwight Hackett Projects (Santa Fe, NM), 667 Shotwell (San Francisco), Art in General (NYC), Art Galaxy (NYC), Schmidt Contemporary Art (Los Angeles), The Newark Museum (NJ) and the Robeson Center Gallery (Rutgers University); her work is in the permanent collections of The Newark Museum and The Brooklyn Museum (NY). A book of Swanson’s drawings with the poems of Valerie Martinez will be published in 2010.

The Sofia Philharmonic, the oldest established symphony orchestra in Bulgaria, was founded in 1928, on the initiative of the renowned violinist, conductor and pedagogue Prof. Sasha Popov. The creative development of the orchestra is related to the names of the outstanding Bulgarian conductors Konastantin Iliev, Dobrin Petkov, Vladi Simeonov Dimiter Manolov, Yordan Dafov, Emil Tabakov, and Julian Kovatchev, Нayden Todorov.

The Sofia Philharmonic organization has its own concert hall, the Bulgaria Concert Hall, where it unites the symphony orchestra of 120 musicians, the National Philharmonic Choir “Svetoslav Obretenov” of 80 singers, “Sofia” string quartet”- leader Angel Stankov, and various other chamber formations.

Since May 2002 General Director of the Sofia Philharmonic is  Mr. Yavor Dimitrov - pianist and composer, Principal conductor is Alexei Kornienko from Austria, / since 2009/ ,Conductor is  Martin Panteleev / since 2009/, who lives in Germany. Conductor of the National Philharmonic choir is Luba Pesheva.

The Sofia Philharmonic has worked with many celebrated guest conductors and soloists including Herman Abendrott, Kurt Masur, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Igor Markevic, Yuri Temirkanov, Gyorgy Lehel, Karl Osterreicher, Jean-Bernard Pomier, Carlo Zechi, Mstislav Rostropovich, Neville Marriner, Uros Lajovic, Leonid Kogan, Alexis Waisenberg, Svyatoslav Richter, Andrew Marriner, Julian Rachlin, Alexander Knyazev, Bernd Glemzer to name a few.
The Sofia Philharmonic’s repertoire covers a wide spectrum of music - from the popular classics to the latest in contemporary pieces, but giving special prominence to works by Bulgarian composers. In recent years, the Orchestra’s programmes have contained a significant emphasis on large - scale symphonic works and they have performed the complete cycles of works by Bruckner, Mahler, and Beethoven, and the most important works of Scriabin, Rachmaninov and R. Strauss, and since 2002 the new management of the Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra realizes premiere performances in Bulgaria of important pieces of music of new symphonism of Penderetski, B.Martinu, A.Roussel, N.Rota.

The Sofia Philharmonic has a busy touring schedule- successful tours   in USA, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Taipei, Morocco, Spain, France, England, Turkey, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, Italy, Croatia, Slovenia, Greece, Portugal, Malta and so on.

The Sofia Philharmonic has realized a lot of records of compact discs for Balkanton /Bulgaria/, Elan /USA/Capriccio /Delta / Germany/, Mega-Music/Bulgaria/ Pentagon /Holland/ Gega-New/Bulgaria/, as follows:
Mahler - All symphonies - 15 CD set/ Capriccio /Delta, Brahms - all Symphonies and Overtures, German Requiem, Richard Straus - Alpine Symphony,
Rimsky-Korsakov - Shecherazada, Scriabin - all Symphonies,
Beethoven - all Piano concertos, Bartok – Concerto for orchestra, 
The Miraculous Mandarin, Verdi  - Requiem, Highlights from Il Trovatore, Rigoletto, Un Ballo in Maschera, La Forza del Destino and others.

Since 2005 started successfully the realization of long-term project of recording of film music together with the Austrian company   Image Performing Arts Promotion GmbH.
Sofia Philharmonic realized successfully projects with national media BNT (Bulgarian National Television), BNR (Bulgarian National Radio), BTV, Nova TV etc., concert programs and musical films.  

“Vesko Eshkenazy is a brilliant violin player” – one of the most popular daily newspapers in the Netherlands “De Telegraaf” wrote in November 2000, after his interpretation of the Frist Violin Concerto by Szymanowski with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam. Eshkenazy is his concertmaster since the beginning of season 1999/2000.

Born in Bulgaria in 1970 in the family of musicians, Vesko showed his talent for leading an orchestra since he was a child. Aged 11, he became concertmaster of the Youth Philharmonic Orchestra of professor Vladi Simeonov. He graduated from the National Music School “L.Pipkov” and the National Music Academy “P. Vladigerov”, where he studied violin with Angelina Atanasova and professor Peter Christoskov.

In 1990 Vesko Eshkenazy went to London where he attended a two-year master class for soloists with professor Ifra Nieman at the Guildhall School, and received a Solo Recital Diploma – 1992. He’s a prize-winner of the international violinist competitions “Wieniawski” (along with Maxim Vengerov), Beijing and “Carl Flesch”, London. He had concerts in Europe, USA, South America, India, China. He took part in the festivals “Midem” at Cannes and Montpellier, and “Altalntic” in France, the music festivals in Nantes and Reims, the New Year’s Eve music festival in Sofia, “Varna Summer”, “Apolonia” etc.

Vesko Eshkenazy has worked as the soloist of the Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the English Chamber Orchestra, the Symphony Orchestra of Monte Carlo, The Symphony Orchestra of Mexico City, the Dutch Philharmonic Orchestra, the Prague Symphony Orchestra, the Irish National Symphony Orchestra, the Bach Chamber Orchestra – Berlin, etc. He had concerts with Monserrat Caballe, Placido Domingo, Alexis Weissenberg, Yuri Bashmet, Mstislav Rostropovich. He played in concerts, conducted by Emil Chakarov, Bernard Haitink, Riccardo Chailly, Emil Tabacov, Kurt Masur, Karlo-Maria Giulini, Seiji Ozawa and sir Colin Davis.

In 1995 Vesko Eshkenazy and pianist Ludmil Angelov created a new sonata duo. The two musicians had a string of concerts in Europe and released a CD titled "Russian Music" via the label Gega new. Their second album "The Fascinating George Gershwin" was released by the Dutch record company Pentatone Classics. Vesko also recorded a CD as the soloist of the Chamber Concertgebouw Orchestra with violin concerts from Mozart, Mendelssohn and Schubert. The album was acclaimed by the critics and the Dutch magazine “Luister” wrote: “Vesko Eshkenazy made history with his superb new audio record for Pentatone Classics of the violin concertos of Mozart and Mendelssohn.” And Michael Liebovitz of “Classics Today” (USA), added: “He attacks Mozart with brilliance, Schubert with confident phrasing… his warm, rounded tone competes the recordings of every other famous violin player…”

Each new concert season is dense and full of events for Vesko Eshkenazy. One of his most notable performances are the violin concerto by Dvorak with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam, conducted by sir Colin Davis, the Mozart Concerto in A, again with the same orchestra, conducted by the chief-conductor Mariss Jansons and his performance in Amsterdam of the Barber concerto with conductor Jaap Van Zweden.

Highly successful and well accepted by the Spanish audience (in the cities Gijon, Toledo and Madrid in 2006) was the project of Vesko Eshkenazy and Ludmil Angelov, playing durign four consecutive nights the Mozart Sonatas for violin and piano (a total of 16 original works). In 2005/2006 Vesko Eshkenazy took an important step, which created new possibilities and open horizons for the him, as he joined the famous Dutch trio “Osiris” and made 50 concerts in the United States and Europe. The musicians of the trio “Osiris” have recorded two CDs with Tchaikovsky and Dvorak.

Since the summer of 2000, Vesko Eshkenazy plays a “Guarneri del Gesu” violin, owned by an anonymous sponsor.

Born on March,24,1969 in Haskovo where he starts studying music.

Education:
In 1988 he completes studies in the State’s School of Folklore Music Shiroka Laka, majoring Gadulka folklore instrument. In 1990 he starts regular studies in the state Academy of Music “Pancho Vladigerov” in the class of composing with professor Aleksander Tekeliev which he completes with honors in  1997presenting Symphony #1.

Awards:
1993 – Scholarship of the Union of Bulgarian Composers for a most promising young composer
1994.- Award "Alfred Shnihter" for a sonata for piano
2001г- Award "Maestro Dimitar Valchev" for music for the show “Dva sviata” (Two worlds)
2004-Award " Zlatno pero" of Classic FM radio
2004- Award "Musician of the year" for the show “Legendata” (“The legend”)
2004- Special Award of the national palace of culture arts parlor for “Friendship with no limits” project.
2005-Award of the Union of Bulgarian Composers “Golden staff” for symphonic arts.
2008-prizewinner of the competition for composing a piece on Hendel for the Bulgarian national Radio

Professional experience:
From 1992 to 1994 Georgi has been the Director of the representative orchestra and Professor of composing and orchestration in the State’s Folklore Music School in Shiroka Laka.
From 1994 to 1997Composer and Arrangement Master for the Bulgarian national radio
From 1994 to 2000 Director of the orchestra at the national folklore ensemble “Philip Koutev"
From 2000 until present chief director and vice chair of the National Folklore Ensemble Philip Koutev.

A more outstanding pieces:
Horo  - scherzo -скерцо "Kalushari"-1991
Klan Klan Dedoklan – musical for kids-1992
Sonata for piano, 1994                                                                                   
Symphony for a orchestra-1997
Plays for diverse formations and orchestras  ("Priunitsi concert")1999
Music to the show " Two Worlds"-2000
"Aramii" Choreography for symphonic orchestra-2001
Concert for clarinet and orchestra-2002
Music for the show" Legendata” 2002
Concert show "Divi iagodi"2003
Music and dance composition " Jar ot sartseto "2004
Concert for vocals and sympphonic orchestra -2005
Crossroad-2007
Phoenix-Armenian symphony for strings orcehstra-(dedicated to the genocide of the Armenian people in  1915 г).-2008
Story of the horseman – piece for a symphonic orchestra 2009

More than  400 author’s songs and plays for orchestra, choir and soloists.
Vocal, keyboar, choir and chamber rmusic, etc

Neli Andreeva was born in Narechen - Bulgaria

Manifested by a small musical talent, playing the piano, guitar, while saying that calling her to sing. Then apply in Secondary Music School of Folklore in Shiroka Luka, which was completed in 1995.
Her singing teacher was Anka Kushlev the big musical family Kushlev.
1996 in Sofia is constantly engaged in Ensemble Philip Kutev.

Neli has two solo albums : “ Folk Art – Neli” – 1995 and “ On the white wings” - 2009
She is a mother of two children and cope with their growing without interfering with her work

Her voice is heard not only in people Ensemble Philip Kutev during concerts at home and abroad but also in all compositions Gifted to her husband - "Wild Strawberries", "Legend", poem for voice and symphony orchestra "She" and others. It is its beneficial influence on it recognizes Nelly. His music reinforces the effect of her voice, a means of expression claim emotionality - a distinctive feature of her performance.

Neli use to sing at prestigious stages abroad - London, Barbican Centre - London, Paris, UNESCO Hall - Paris, Royal Albert Hall - London, Symphony Hall – Osaka , “Kennedy Center” – Washington DC and many others.

The national folklore ensemble “Philip Koutev” was established in 1951 by the famous Bulgarian composer Philip Koutev. Its mission is to transform the long history of the traditional Bulgarian folklore culture on stage in the form of authentic, recreated or composed songs, dances, orchestral works, customs and traditions. Combined together, the arranged and composed songs by Philip Koutev and the dances by Margarita Dikova, a school that is a fundamental part of today’s ensembles throughout Bulgaria and the world was established. National Folklore Ensemble “Philip Koutev” manages to save, resurrect, broadcast and continue these old Bulgarian customs and traditions. For 59 years, the ensemble had over 6000 performances in Bulgaria, as well as Europe, Asia, Africa and America.