site.btaEastern Eye Quartet Presents Jazz and Balkan Music at Bansko Jazz Festival

The musicians from the Eastern eye quartet gave a press conference on Tuesday in Bansko, Southwestern Bulgaria, about their participation in the 2024 edition of the Bansko Jazz Festival. 

Eastern Eye Quartet unites three of the most remarkable contemporary musicians from East Europe - Pantelis Stoikos, Antoni Donchev and Yiotis Kiourtsoglou, as well as the Swiss drummer Marc Halbheer. This outstanding ensemble plays a fascinating fusion of jazz and Balkan music, it is written on the website of the festival. 

Milcho Leviev was the original piano player of Eastern Eye. The legendary Bulgarian pianist and composer – also known as the “Godfather of Balkan Jazz” – passed away in 2019 at the age of 82. Antoni Donchev, multiple awarded Bulgarian pianist, joined Eastern Eye in 2024 to complete the current lineup, said the host of the press conferences with the participants in the evening concerts of Bansko Jazz Festival, Peter Sevov. 

Switzerland's Marc Halbheer described playing with Eastern Eye as "fantastic" because of the ideas and challenges, the opportunity to travel and explore new cultures and exchange ideas.

The musicians talked about the pieces they play and that the audience in Bansko will hear and said that they think about Milcho Leviev to this day.

In a press conference by the AJS Quartet before they took to the stage tonight, musician Ermal Rodi said that the quartet was proud to be invited to Theodosii Spassov's homeland. Rodi said that when he was young he was impressed by what he was doing, combining Bulgarian folk music with jazz. He was a great inspiration when I started getting into music, Rodi added.

The musicians of the quartet are the most popular jazz group in Albania. They are all part of the academic staff of the University of Arts in Tirana. 

Vinko Mihajlovic from Montenegro, who organizes the Petrovac Jazz Festival as well as other festivals and events, also took part in the press conference. Mihajlovic told BTA that it was his first time in the country and in Bansko, but he was fascinated by the city, the jazz festival and the people. He pointed out that they are considering closer cooperation with the organizers of the Bansko Jazz Festival, which would make the events in Bulgaria and Montenegro more popular, thus increasing tourism to both countries.