site.btaApollonia Arts Festival Artistic Director on Its Succes, 40th Edition Highlights

Apollonia Art Foundation Executive Director Margarita Dimitrova described the Apollonia Arts Festival as "successful" in an interview with the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA) on Monday. The 40th edition of the event took place in Sozopol (on the Black Sea) between August 28 and September 7.

Dimitrova has been working for the Apollonia Arts Festival in Sozopol since its inception in 1984. Since 1991 she has been the Executive Director of the eponymous Foundation and the Artistic Director of the festivals created by the world famous violinist Professor Dimo Dimov.

"There was not a hall that was not packed - whether it was at our literary presentations, whether it was at the classical concerts, whether it was at the cinema, whether it was at the gallery," she said. The high attendance shows that the festival is very successful this year, she added.

"And I cannot stress to you how enthusiastic the artists were [...] Yes, we are preparing it, we are trying to make make sure it is at a very high level. The artists are very important for that to happen," Dimitrova explained.

Highlights of 40th Edition

One of the main highlights of the festival was the concert of the Apollonia Festival Orchestra. "It was Apollonia's idea to create such a phenomenal orchestra. Phenomenal, because these are all concertmasters - Bulgarian performers, people who have worked in Bulgaria since they were children, when they were preparing for the big stage, and now many of them are working abroad," Dimitrova said.

She argued that there is no other such orchestra in the history of musical art. "Thirteen people on stage - each one of them played for the whole band. And I think that's the distinction that sets these musicians apart from everyone else," the Apollonia Art Foundation Executive Director emphasized.

She recalled another highlight of this year's edition: when the Culture Ministry handed over the violins of Prof. Stoika Milanova and Prof. Mincho Minchev to younger artists. Svetlin Roussev received Minchev's  Stradivarius from 1716 and Liya Petrova received Milanova's Guarneri from 1733.

Apollonia Festival Over the Years

Dimitrova believes that the festival has changed a lot in these 40 years. One of the reasons is the emergence of new faces. However, for the round anniversary she decided to invite some of the people who participated in the first edition.

"Pavel Koychev - a phenomenal globally renown Bulgarian sculptor with worldwide significance - he participated in the first edition," she noted and explained that this year he has unveiled two new sculptures. "Figures of a man and a woman who represent the foundation of the world and of our lives," Dimitrova said.

Sozopol Over the Years

"I can say that the town of Sozopol has changed a lot, it has grown a lot, it was quite different at the beginning and we even remembered that the first exhibitions here were held in the houses of the local residents," Dimitrova said.

"And now we are in the town's gallery, which is wonderful - it is located in the building of the old school of the town. There was a famous place in the town - the church, which is in the centre. It was probably the nicest hall for classical music, for jazz. It was not active back then and we held events in it: whether it would be literary readings,  classical concerts or the jazz concerts. Unfortunately, that church is now owned by the Bulgarian Orthodox Church and we can no longer use it," explained the Apollonia Art Foundation Executive Director.

She noted that for more than 15-20 years the festival has been held in small venues. "Unfortunately, no big hall has been built in this city. A theatre hall has not been built. But these are the circumstances in Sozopol and we are forced to invite smaller theatre groups because we don not have the necessary capacity in the local chitalishte [peculiarly Bulgarian educational and cultural community centres functioning as voluntary civil society associations]. But we would love to have a concert hall where our classical musicians, who are really at the highest level possible, could play. The audience would also be much larger. We are dreaming of good things that might be about to happen," she said.

Dimitrova added that even before the finale of each edition, she starts thinking about the next ones and considering which participants to invite. She does not remember anyone turning her down so far.

She noted that an inspiring society has been formed in these 40 years. They say "we are Apollonists". She noted that since 1995 Apollonia has given the Apollo Toxophoros Award, which this year was received by the Bulgarian News Agency.

"We give awards to people and organizations that have deserved to be known in Bulgaria and to be recognized abroad," Dimitrova said.

"This year I am very happy that exactly on the 40th year your agency BTA received our award, because you have actually been our media partner since the very beginning, since the creation of Apollonia. And somehow everything that happens here in Sozopol we owe to you, because you spread it. Not only in Bulgaria, but also in the world. Last night two very nice people told me that they came from the Netherlands and they have been coming for years," she said.

The Price of Success

The Apollonia Arts Festival features the format "The Price of Success". In it, some of the artists featured in the programme talk about their path to great achievements.

As BTA reported, the Apollonia Arts Festival is organized by the Apollonia Foundation. The first edition of the festival was held in 1984. It aims to preserve cultural traditions as well as to support new talents in all kinds of arts, organizers said. BTA is a media partner of the event.