site.btaSofia to Host International Cameralia Festival September 21 to October 9

The sixth edition of the international festival Cameralia will run from September 21 to October 9 in Sofia, Ludmil Angelov, chairman of the Piano Extravaganza Foundation and artistic director of the event, said on Wednesday. He announced the schedule for the five concerts at a press conference held at BTA, the primary media partner.

The opening concert, Romeo and Juliet vs West Side Story, will feature prominent performers, including flutist Mila Pavlova, oboist Valentin Metodiev, clarinetist Venelin Piperov, bassoonist Evgeni Tonev, French horn player Yasen Teodosiev, soprano Stephanie Krasteva, tenor Emil Pavlov, and actors Lea Dashkova and Yasen Kadiev as Juliet and Romeo. On September 24 and 29, all of Richard Strauss's chamber music for strings and piano will be performed by violinists Lia Petrova, Viktor Trenev, and Stoimen Peev; cellists Gabriel Ureña (Spain) and Atanas Krastev; violist Rumen Cvetkov; and pianists Donka Angacheva and Ludmil Angelov.

The concert on October 5, featuring the Italian chamber duo Gennaro Cardaropoli on violin and Alberto Ferro on piano, was presented by Maria Mazza, Italian Institute of Culture. The duo will perform works by Giuseppe Martucci, Henryk Wieniawski, Claude Debussy, and Igor Stravinsky. The closing event on October 9 is a jazz concert by Miroslava Katsarova on vocals and Miroslav Turiyski on piano.

"This festival is backed by the Spanish Embassy in the spirit of promoting culture. The embassy and the Cervantes Institute have supported both the Cameralia and Piano Extravaganza festivals for years. This is largely due to Maestro Angelov's strong connection with Spain," said Miguel Heine, a counsellor at the Spanish Embassy.

"These festivals create and attract an enlightened audience in the fields of culture and music, raising the creative and spiritual level of Sofia's cultural life," said Georgi Lozanov, director of the LIK Directorate at BTA.

"The atmosphere of the Sofia City Art Gallery enhances the experience of listening to chamber music," said Petar Dimov, representative of the gallery, which is the host of the festival.