The Ohrid Summer Festival tonight in the church “St. Sophia” at 9 pm continues the music program with a concert of the Sofia Soloists Chamber Orchestra from Bulgaria, which will perform under the baton of Georgi Patrikov. The soloist on the evening will be the famous Macedonian flute player Straso Temkov.
The Chamber Orchestra “Sofia Soloists” was founded in 1962 by a group of young musicians, then members of the Sofia Opera House. The first concert took place in March 1962 under the baton of Michael Angelov and immediately won the sympathies of the Sofia audience. Three conductors played a significant role in the development of this ensemble and in the creation of their distinctive and recognizable sound: Vasil Kazandzhiev (1964-1978), Emil Tabakov (1979-1988) and the current conductor of the orchestra Plamen Gjurov, who has been managing since 1988. Since its inception, “Sofia Soloists” have played more than 3,000 concerts worldwide.
The ensemble made numerous touring in the European countries, as well as 10 tours to the US, 13 in Japan, 7 in Korea, but also in China, Australia and South America. They performed in prestigious concert halls such as Carnegie Hall in New York, Royal Albert Hall and Barbican in London, Gewandhaus in Leipzig, Gaucho’s Salon in Paris, Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Opera in Sydney, Santori Hall “in Tokyo and” Symphony Hall “in Osaka.
Georgi Patrikov was born in 1979 in Sofia, where he studied at the Pancho Vladigerov music academy and choral conductor. He has mastered a number of master classes in eminent conductors including Jorn Panula. Patrikov is the winner of the Gennady Rhodhenstvensky competition in 2006 and performs as a guest conductor with leading orchestras in Bulgaria including “Sofia Soloists”, the Bulgarian National Radio Orchestra, the Philharmonic Orchestra of Plovdiv and Varna, the opera in Rousse, etc. . His recorded materials include music from Bulgarian composers and are performed for the Bulgarian National Radio.
Macedonian flute player Straso Temkov graduated from the Faculty of Music in Skopje, and received a master’s degree at the Pancho Vladigerov Music Academy in Sofia. Since 1991, as an employee of the Macedonian Philharmonic Orchestra, he regularly performs the spectacular solos of the world orchestral literature. Talent and the desire for artistic realization lead him to the concert podiums – as a soloist with several orchestras, a recital soloist, as well as a member of the renowned Macedonian wind quintet and other chamber compositions. As a soloist with an orchestra he performs with the Philharmonic Orchestra in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam, the Macedonian Philharmonic Orchestra and other chamber ensembles. Strasko Temkov performs at all music festivals in the country and abroad. Temkov is a professor at the Faculty of Music in Skopje, founder of the Aulos Quartet Flute, the Aura Trio and is regularly invited to be a member of the jury at domestic and international competitions. In collaboration with pianist Marija Vrškova has released two CDs, and in 2017 she won the “Golden Lira” prize awarded by the Association of Music Artists for high achievements in the field of music.
