site.btaTurkish Conductor Murat Cem Orhan to Perform with Sofia Philharmonic

Brahms’s Concerto for violin, cello, and orchestra in A Minor and Tchaikovsky's Third Symphony will be performed in Bulgaria Hall on February 1 under the baton of Turkish conductor Murat Cem Orhan, the Sofia Philharmonic said. Soloists will be Pavel Berman, who will play the violin that belonged to Oistrakh, and cellist Meehae Ryo.

Orhan, the new General Art Director of the Cemal Reşit Rey Concert Hall in Istanbul, is one of the finalists in the 4th Evgeny Svetlanov International Conducting Competition in Paris in 2018. He graduated in opera singing from the Dokuz Eylul University State Conservatory in Izmir. He also holds master’s degrees from Istanbul University and the Conservatory of Music at Brooklyn College.

He has conducted all state symphony orchestras and opera houses in Turkiye. His most significant appearances as conductor were with Puccini's Turandot, Donizetti's The Elixir of Love, and Beethoven's Fidelio, among others.

Pavel Berman was born in Moscow in 1970. He studied at the Central School of Music and the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory with Igor Bezrodniy. He then went to the Juilliard School in New York, where he studied with Dorothy DeLay and Isaac Stern.

He has performed in prestigious halls such as Carnegie Hall in New York, Théâtre des Champs Elysées, Teatro alla Scala in Milan, among others. In 1998, Berman founded the Kaunas Chamber Orchestra in Lithuania and served as its artistic director until 2005.

He is currently a professor at the Conservatorio della Svizzera Italiana in Lugano and the Accademia Perosi in Biella, Italy.

Meehae Ryo’s technical virtuosity and captivating melody make her the most recognized cellist in the Republic of Korea. She received her first cello lesson at the age of six. When she turned 16, she was accepted at the Juilliard School. Ryo holds a DMA degree from the University of Michigan.

As one of the most acclaimed cellists, she has performed with numerous orchestras, including the Berlin Symphony Orchestra, Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra, and Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra.

Ryo has also participated in several competitions as a jury member, including the George Enescu International Competition, the Khachaturian International Competition, the Antonio Janigro International Cello Competition, Belgrade International, to name a few.

Tickets for the concert on February 1 are available at the Bulgaria Hall and Eventim.bg box offices.