On 6 October at the Sofia Opera guest-performers will be: the mezzo-soprano Vesselina Kasarova and the pianist Ludmil Angelov with a recital, reported from the press centre of the Opera.
Vesselina Kasarova is a world-known Bulgarian opera singer with Swiss citizenship (since 1997), a mezzo-soprano. She lives in Zollikon near Zurich. She has performed over 50 roles outside of Bulgaria.
At the age of four, she had her first lessons in piano at the Pionerski Dom Music School. At 14, she began to visit the Hristina Morfova Music Gymnasium. Since 1984, she started studying Singing. Then she graduated her studies in piano and started studying at the “Pancho Vladigerov” Academy of Music in Sofia, where she was taking lessons in Singing in the class of Resa Koleva. She debuted at the Stara Zagora Opera with “Habanera” from the opera “Carmen” by Georges Bizet.
In 1988, Herbert von Karajan discovered her for the world stage and invited her to join the Vienna State Opera. At the same time she began to play roles in productions at the Sofia National Opera like Rosina from “Il barbiere di Siviglia” by Gioachino Rossini – a part, which would turn into her parade role. She graduated in 1989 and started singing at the Zurich Opera, where she signed a 2-year contract. There she began with small and middle roles and acted together with Edita Gruberová and Ann Murray. In 1991, she took part at the Salzburg Music Festival (Salzburger Festspiele), where she performed Annio (from “La clemenza di Tito” by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart). The same year, she debuted also as Rosina at the Vienna State Opera.
Her greatest success was her participation at the Salzburg Music Festival in 1992, when she replaced Marilyn Horne in the role of Tancredi from the opera of the same name. After this participation the Bulgarian won the attention of the audience and received roles in London (Rosina), Munich (Cherubino), Salzburg (Zerlina), Florence (Idamante), Zurich (Charlotte from “Werther”), Paris (Romeo from “I Capuleti e i Montecchi”). She had participation also in the USA – in New York (Romeo) and in Chicago (Idamante).
To her most successful roles count the one of Sesto from “La clemenza di Tito”, which she performed for the first time at the Salzburg Music Festival in 1997 and she acted in the meantime in Zurich, at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, the Opera “La Bastille” in Paris, the Royal Opera “Covent Garden” in London and recently at the Gasteig Philharmonics in Munich.
The label for classical music RCA/BMG released her recordings with arias and duets, as well as whole operas.
She has been working in tight cooperation with the tenor Juan Diego Florez, with whom she achieved some of her greatest successes – “La Cenerentola” by Rossini in Pesaro and London. In summer 2008, she debuted at the Zurich Opera as Carmen, a part, which she sang also in September 2009 at the Cologne Opera. Since then the opera stage knows only her ascent.
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Ludmil Angelov was born in Varna. The pianist graduated at the National Academy of Music by the phenomenal pianist and pedagogue Konstantin Stankovich. Ludmil Angelov was distinguished with awards from the competitions “Virtuosos of the Piano Music”, “Senigallia”, Italy; “Frédéric Chopin”, Poland; the Palm Beach International Competition, the USA; Piano Masters, Monte Carlo and World Piano Masters Tour, France.
Popular all over Europe, the USA, South America, Hong Kong, Korea and Taiwan, Ludmil Angelov has given recitals, concerts with chamber music and was soloist with all the Bulgarian and with many renowned foreign orchestras, under the baton of musicians from the rank of Lawrence Foster, James DePreist, Jean-Bernard Pommier, Marc André, Fedor Glushchenko, George Pehlivanian, Josep Pons, Pedro Halffter, Enrique Garcia Asensio, Ruslan Raychev, Mihail Angelov, Emil Tabakov, Georgi Dimitrov, Vladimir Ghiaurov, Rossen Milanov and others.
In Season 1987/1988, Ludmil Angelov presented in Bulgaria Chopin’s collected works for piano in a cycle of twelve recitals. In 1999, he performed with great success the Integral with Chopin’s music in Madrid and other cities in Spain. His debut recital in New York was in 1990 at Lincoln Center. He played also in the halls of the Berlin Philharmonics, “Pleyel” and “Gaveau” in Paris, “Herkules” in Munich, “Konzertgebau” in Amsterdam, at the Opera in Monte Carlo, in “Brucknerhaus” in Linz, “Auditorio Nacional” in Madrid, “Auditori” in Barcelona, “Palau” in Valencia, the concert halls of the Moscow and the Milan Conservatories, the Palace of Music in Athens, KBS in Seoul and others.
Ludmil Angelov lives in Spain, where he is founder and at present Artistic Director of the Toledo International Music Festival. The pianist has recordings for RСА, Gega New, France Classique, Pentatone, Danacord. His performances were broadcasted by radio and television channels in Bulgaria, France, Great Britain, Spain, Poland, Hungary, the USA, Argentina and Korea. His CD with Rondos & Variations by Chopin was awarded the “Grand Prix du Disque Chopin” by the International Chopin Institute in Warsaw.
Since Season 2011-2012, L. Angelov has been Honoured Professor at the New Bulgarian University. In May 2013, he gave concerts with great success in Montevideo (Uruguay), together with the Montevideo Symphonic Orchestra under the baton of Josep Vicent. Together with the well-known Austrian Artis-Quartet, the pianist played with great success in the hall of “Musikverein”, Vienna in June 2013.
In January 2014, Ludmil Angelov realized with great success the premiere of “Concert for Piano”, a posthumous opus by Maurice Moszkowski. The concert was held in the hall of the Warsaw National Philharmonics, together with the Rzeszow Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Vladimir Kiradjiev. Ludmil Angelov often visits Bulgaria – he gives concerts, teaches and gives advices to the young musicians-pianists. His father is the conductor Mihail Angelov, who deceased this year. The great conductor was expecting with joy the concert of his son with the eminent mezzo-soprano Vesselina Kasarova.