The Beethoven Project – The Allegra Festival Winter Surprise

After giving classical music fans an unforgettable summer, Allegra Festival throws down the gauntlet with a provocative format this winter – The Beethoven Project.

An ambitious project in which Beethoven’s five piano concertos will be performed by one soloist – the Bulgarian pianist with a successful international career and acclaim – Emanuil Ivanov, over three evenings – two chamber and one symphonic concert, on February 9, 10 and 12 at the Central Military Club.

The idea came to Allegra Festival’s founder and driving force Petar Naydenov, solo double bass player of the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra and professor at the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK), who commented, “Emanuel Ivanov’s name appeared on my ‘radar’ after winning first prize at the Ferruccio Busoni competition. I knew this was a huge achievement because the competition is notorious for the fact that first prize is often not awarded. Even such a titan as the pianist Alfred Brendel receives only fourth prize in this competition. The first recording of Emmanuel I heard was from his recital at La Scala in Milan and I was spellbound from the beginning until the last accord!

“The fact that the concert was broadcast without an audience because of the Covid19 pandemic added something mystique to the atmosphere. I remember enthusiastically circulating the YouTube link to colleagues to boast about what a pianist we had and I knew that sooner or later he would be a guest at the Allegra Festival, of which I am the artistic director.”

With rich history and past editions, the Allegra Festival has established itself as a leading music event and the credit goes to the team who have managed to provide the Bulgarian audience with not only the best of the classical music scene in terms of performers and conductors, but also to challenge the audience and themselves with ambitious formats that bring together the music scene virtuosos with ingenious composers.

“Inventing the format has been my greatest challenge. Internally, I felt I didn’t want it to be the typical classical concert – an overture, an instrumental concerto and a symphony. I wanted Emmanuel to be the centre, the sun so to speak, in a figurative sense, around which the planets revolve. And so came the idea for the cycle with the five piano concertos by Beethoven, performed in three consecutive evenings. One soloist, three evenings, five concertos. The soloist’s partners in this challenge will be the string quintet of Opera Zurich, the Allegra Festival Orchestra and maestro Nicolas Pasquet,” adds Petar Naydenov of his artistic conception.

Anton Dikov is the first pianist in Bulgaria to perform Beethoven’s five piano concertos for piano and orchestra in full. The complete performance of the integral took place in 1980 – for the first time in the city of Rousse, with the Rousse Philharmonic, under the conductorship of Rumen Bayrakov (Nos. 1 and 3) and Alipy Naydenov (Nos. 2, 4, 5), and then in Sofia, together with the Sofia Philharmonic and Konstantin Iliev, in two matinees on 16 and 30 November 1980 in Bulgaria Hall.

Nearly 24 years later, in three festive evenings, Emanuil Ivanov will make a real gift to classical music connoisseurs with his virtuosity and drama with his performance of Beethoven’s five concertos – a complete fusion of Ivanov’s piano and Beethoven’s genius.

Programme

February 9: Piano Concerto N1and N3

February 10: Piano Concerto N2 and N4 ,

The first two nights Emanuel Ivanov will be accompanied by a String Quintet to the Opera Zurich.

February 12: Piano Concerto N 5 “The Emperor”, accompanied by the Allegra Festival Orchestra under the baton of Maestro Nicolas Pasquet, already familiar to the audience in Sofia.

Tickets – https://allegrafestival.com/bg/concerts-winter/ and at the Bulgaria Hall ticket office

Emmanuil Ivanov has attracted international attention by winning the First Prize at the Ferruccio Busoni Piano Competition in Italy, which he deservedly received in 2019. This achievement has been followed by concerts in some of the world’s most prestigious halls, including Teatro alla Scala in Milan and Herculessaal in Munich.

Ivanov was born in 1998 in the town of Pazardzhik, Bulgaria. From an early age he has shown a strong interest and love for music. He considers the presence of symphonic music, especially that of Gustav Mahler, to be an exceptional influence on his musical upbringing during his childhood. He began piano lessons with Galina Daskalova in his hometown around the age of seven. Ivanov studied with renowned Bulgarian pianist Atanas Kurtev from 2013 to 2018. He subsequently studied on a full scholarship at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire under Pascal Nemirovsky and Anthony Hewitt, and is currently an Advanced Diploma student at the Royal Academy of Music in London.

The Allegra Festival is proud to stand on the global classical music festival stage and be the main instigator of introducing to its audience in Bulgaria music that is far from any cliché and is subtle in its vastness. Over the years, the Allegra team has turned the festival participants into one big family that shares the mission and of of music.