4 July

 

MILCHO LEVIEV Award winning composer, arranger, performer (pianist, keyboardist, conductor) and educator of classical and jazz music. Doctor Honoris Causa at the Academy of Music and Dance, Plovdiv, Bulgaria (1995) and the New Bulgarian University (NBU), Sofia (1998). Order Stara Planina - 1997, Bulgaria. La Medaille d’or de Academie Internationale des Arts, Paris. Lecturer, the jazz studies department at University of Southern California in Los Angeles. Teacher at the GROVE music school, LA 1974 - 1992. Arrangement of Blue Rondo a la Turk, (Dave Brubeck), recorded by Al Jarreau’s Grammy winning album of 1982, Breakin’ Away. Grammy nomination for Best Vocal Arrangement of Charlie Parker’s Confirmation, recorded by Manhattan Transfer, 1981, on their album Mecca for Moderns. Co - leader of the jazz-classical quartet Free Flight vouted Best Combo of the Year 1982, Los Angeles Times. Contracted compositions, arrangements and performances for: the American Jazz Philharmonic, Beverly Hills Symphony, Sofia Philharmonic, the Bulgarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, etc. Music Director for the Big Band and the pop Symphony of the Bulgarian National Radio & TV, 1962 1966. Critic’s Prize, Montreaux Jazz Festival, 1967. Leader and pianist, jazz quartet Focus ’65 (1965 70). Music director and composer-in-residense, State Drama Theater in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, and teacher, chamber music at the State Music School in the same town (1960 - 62). Second Prize, International Youth Festival Composition Competition, Vienna,1959.

GANKA NEDELCHEVA graduated at the State Academy of Music in Sofia. She is the laureate of the International Competition in Salerno, Italy, 1981 (first prize), Svetoslav Obretenov National Competition, 1984 (first and special prize), Music and the Earth International Competition, 2000 (first prize for quartet of pianists). She is a pianist with broad activities as a soloist and chamber performer. She has premiered over 100 works in Bulgaria and has played with eminent Bulgarian and foreign instrumentalists. G. Nedelcheva has been the soloist in many concerts with symphony orchestras in Bulgaria. She has also taken part in all prestigious Bulgarian festivals and has given concerts in Germany, France, Italy, Russia, Greece, Macedonia and USA. She has recorded 3 CDs and has over 30 recordings for The Bulgarian National Radio as a soloist and ensemble player. She was awarded the prize of the Union of Bulgarian Composers Golden Staves, 2004. At present she is a Professor at St.Kl.Ohridsky University of Sofia.