site.btaBulgarian National Radio Symphony Orchestra to Open 40th Edition of Apollonia Art Festival

The Orchestra of the Bulgarian National Radio, conducted by Konstantin Ilievski, will mark the opening of the Apollonia Art Festival in Sozopol (on the Black Sea) on August 29. The festival will continue until September 7. This year’s edition of the festival will feature concerts, cinema, theatre, exhibitions and literary events.

On August 29, mezzo-soprano Svetlina Stoyanova will perform on stage with the Bulgarian National Radio Symphony Orchestra. Among the musical performers are also Stefan Valdobrev and The Usual Suspects, Vladimir Ampov-Grafa, Beloslava and many others.

The surprise in the festival's programme is Apollonia Festival Orchestra formed of 13 of the best Bulgarian musicians, concertmasters from all over Europe, the organizers note. They are Albena Danailova, Svetlin Rusev, Valya Dervenska, Liya Petrova, Nikolay Minchev, Rumen Tsvetkov, Alexander Somov, Galina Koycheva, Stefania Yankova, Kalina Hristova, Dimitar Ivanov, Stoimen Peev, and Ivan Lalev.

Artworks by Pavel Koychev and Greddy Assa will be part of the Apollonia exhibitions. "The literary programme, which will be opened by Ivan Teofilov, will be attended by a number of talented and beloved Bulgarian authors such as Ivan Landzhev, Alexander Sekulov, Zahari Karabashliev, Ani Ilkov and others. An important part of the programme is a master class in creative writing with Georgi Gospodinov", the team said.

Three film premieres will be screened during the festival, Klopka (The Trap) directed by Nadezhda Koseva, Windless and the first episode of the film series All About My Son by Pavel Vesnakov. The programme includes productions by Varna and Plovdiv Drama Theatre, Little City Theatre Off The Channel, Aleko Konstantinov Satirical Theatre, and Valentin Stoychev Theatre 199.

The Bulgarian News Agency (BTA) is a media partner of the Apollonia Arts Festival 2024 and will launch two events within the festival programme. On August 30, the third part of the books dedicated to the 125th anniversary of the Agency will be presented. The edition collects one news story from the world and one from Bulgaria for each of the 125 years of the BTA from 1898 to 2023. On September 7, the 2024 issues of LIK magazine will be presented, some of them directly related to the themes of Apollonia.

The Apollonia Arts Festival is organized by the Apollonia Foundation, established in 1991. The first edition of the festival was held in 1984. The festival aims to preserve cultural traditions, as well as to support new talents in all kinds of arts, the organizers note.