A concert on the occasion of the 15th anniversary of the accession of Bulgaria and Romania to the EU is taking place in Sofia
The Romanian Youth Orchestra conducted by Christian Mandyal opened this evening the 12th edition of the “Piano Extravaganza” International Festival in Sofia with a solemn concert in the “Bulgaria” hall. The event is held under the patronage of the presidents of Bulgaria and Romania – Rumen Radev and Klaus Iohannis with the support of the Ministry of Culture, the Romanian Embassy in Sofia and the Sofia Municipality.
The musical event was dedicated to the 15th anniversary of the accession of Romania and Bulgaria to the Low Union and the 30th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Good Neighborship between the two countries.
The guests were greeted by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bulgaria Nikolay Milkov, the ambassador of Romania to our country Brandusa Predescu and the artistic director of the festival – maestro Ludmil Angelov.
“I, as a former deputy of Bulgaria in Romania, am doubly committed to this holiday and to these anniversaries. Over the years, our two countries have come a long way to reach today’s extremely good level of bilateral relations. There have been periods where we looked to Brussels, but we don’t look enough to ourselves, we don’t look enough to each other. I think that has been achieved“, said Nikolay Milkov.
“After 1990 both sides made key decisions. And that’s where we are today. We all do more things together. 15 years later we celebrate together. I am very happy that this is happening“, Brandusha Predescu shared in turn.
They were joined on stage by the Mayor of Sofia, Yordanka Fandakova, and the Chairman of the Sofia Municipal Council, Georgi Georgiev, who presented the title of “Honorary Citizen of Sofia” to the pianist Ludmil Angelov for his merits as a performer and teacher and for his contribution to the cultural life of the capital. “I will continue to try to give Sofia good music in the name of the cultural tradition that glorifies us around the world“, thanked maestro Angelov.
He and the violinist Mincho Minchev were soloists at the concert in the “Bulgaria” hall that evening. The program included Sabin Pauca – Romanian Dances, Mozart – Concerto for Violin, Piano and Orchestra in D Major, as well as Antonin Dvořák’s Symphony No. 8 in G Major. At the end of the concert, the audience called the Romanian Youth Orchestra twice for an encore.
The orchestra was founded in 2008 and has given concerts in the biggest concert halls in Europe (Germany, France, Italy, Bulgaria, Moldova and Switzerland) together with leading musicians such as Pinkas Zuckerman, Christian Macellaru, David Garrett, Sarah Chank. In 2018, the alumni of the project made a debut recording with the famous percussionist Christoph Zietzen.
Christian Mandyal has been developing, training and conducting the Youth Orchestra since 2008. A student of Herbert von Karajan in Berlin and Sergiu Chelibidake in Munich, he has conducted concerts on 4 continents in 35 countries and 31 capitals. Christian was the first to stage George Enescu’s Oedipus for British and Italian audiences.
Since 2008 is chairman of the Enescu Society in London. He leads master classes at the Royal Northern Academy of Music in Manchester, at the Tokyo College of Music and at Bloomington and Rutgers Universities in the USA.