PRESS RELEASE

Muzikalni Zografi – The Sound of the City

Music, cinema and visual arts across Sofia from 18 October to 15 November 2026

The festival turns the city into a stage

The Muzikalni Zografi – The Sound of the City festival presents a wide-ranging programme that brings music, cinema and visual arts together at venues across Sofia. Between 18 October and 15 November, audiences can enjoy concerts, film screenings, exhibitions, a creative workshop and events featuring established artists alongside emerging talents. An accompanying event will take place in Vratsa on 19 November.

The festival brings together chamber and classical music, jazz, folk and world music, documentary cinema, photography and icon painting. Its programme creates space for unexpected artistic encounters, placing international performers and a new generation of artists in the spotlight.

Events will take place at Sofia Live Club, the Central Military Club and the Central Halls Stage. Admission to some events is free; tickets for the concerts are available through Eventim.

25 Years of Documentary Filmmaking with Nikolay Vasilev

18 October – 8 November · Central Halls Stage · Free admission

The festival opens a film retrospective celebrating 25 years of work by director and screenwriter Nikolay Vasilev. Across several evenings, audiences will see The Formula of Theo, The Socially Strong, The Road to Thebes, Fairy Tales, The Bulgarian Bacterium, High and Vaklush.

Nikolay Vasilev has worked in documentary film and television for more than 25 years. He holds a master’s degree in film and television directing from New Bulgarian University and has written and directed dozens of documentaries and television productions, including work for Bulgarian National Television.

His first documentary, The Path of Wisdom, received a debut award from the Cultura Animi Foundation. In 2010, Fairy Tales won the Jameson Award for Best Bulgarian Short Film at Sofia Film Fest. The Road to Thebes, dedicated to director Ivan Dobchev, won the Grand Prize for Best Film at the Masters of Art festival in 2017. Two years later, Vasilev won the festival’s Grand Prize again with High.

Among his best-known films is The Formula of Theo, about physics teacher Teodosiy Teodosiev. His other works include To Be the Master, a portrait of painter Vladimir Dimitrov–Maystora; Gladiator, about two-time Olympic champion Boyan Radev; and Vaklush, a film made over more than two decades that includes previously unseen archival footage from the life of Vaklush Tolev.

Alongside his film work, Vasilev has spent many years at Bulgarian National Television as a writer and director of documentary and television series, including Little Stories, In Frame and BNT Presents. His work is rooted in documentary observation and real human stories, ranging from social issues to portraits of people in science, the arts, sport and spiritual life.

Aya Aroyo’s Debut Photography Exhibition

20 October, 18:00 · Central Halls Stage · Free admission

Young photographer Aya Aroyo will make her first solo public presentation. The exhibition reflects her interest in movement, stage presence, human emotion and documentary imagery.

Born in 2007, Aya Aroyo studies photography at the Krastyo Sarafov National Academy for Theatre and Film Arts. She works in sports, concert, cultural and documentary photography. Events she has photographed include Rivers of Sofia, the Wizz Air Sofia Marathon, TRI Legend Inn and the Autumn Retro Car Show. She also studies piano and has competitive experience in fencing.

When a Woman’s Soul Celebrates

23 October, 20:00 · Sofia Live Club · Tickets: Eventim

Maria de la Paz and Viktoria Harmandzhieva present a concert performance combining voice, guitar, piano and original arrangements. Together, they create a world of images, colours and emotions in which joy meets sadness, passion gives way to ecstasy, and humour and love become a universal language.

Their artistic partnership began the day before a joint concert at Salle Castillo in Vevey, Switzerland. That meeting grew into a lasting musical dialogue and performances at festivals and events including Verbier Festival, Les Aubes Musicales, Dolce Riviera and Festival des Haudères.

When a Woman’s Soul Celebrates is a performance about the freedom to feel, the unexpected encounters that change our course, and music as a space without borders.

When the Soul Shines Through Melody

26 October, 19:30 · Central Military Club · Tickets: Eventim

Singer Jennifer Stambolieva presents her debut chamber music recital. She will be joined by Yana Lolova and Ina Ivanova on piano and Sophie Stambolieva on violin.

Jennifer Stambolieva graduated from the Lyubomir Pipkov National School of Music, earned a bachelor’s degree in classical singing from New Bulgarian University and completed a master’s degree at the Moscow State Institute of Culture. She undertook further training in Modena, Italy, in a programme associated with the Luciano Pavarotti Foundation. She has won the Grand Prix at the international competition Italian Evenings in Russia and First Prize at the Spring Voices competition in Moscow. Her repertoire spans opera, chamber music and original crossover interpretations of soul and pop.

Soundscapes with Duo Dieci Corde

28 October, 19:30 · Central Military Club · Tickets: Eventim

Ten strings, two outstanding young talents and one poetic dialogue between violin and classical guitar. Yoana Dakova and Teo Nikolov present a chamber programme in which the violin’s lyrical expression intertwines with the guitar’s warm, intimate sound.

Duo Dieci Corde was formed in 2023 at the Prof. Pancho Vladigerov National Academy of Music. Its repertoire focuses on Romantic and contemporary music.

Teo Nikolov is a prizewinner at national and international competitions, a former student of Associate Professor Rosen Balkanski, PhD, and a doctoral student in classical guitar at the National Academy of Music. He is active as a soloist, chamber musician and teacher.

Violinist Yoana Dakova has received awards at national and international competitions. She has appeared at festivals including Varna Summer, March Music Days and Apollonia, and has worked with musicians such as Julian Rachlin, Mincho Minchev and Svetlin Roussev.

The Electric Guitar: An Instrument with Many Faces

29 October, 18:30 · Sofia Live Club · Tickets: Eventim

This special evening combines a music workshop with a live concert. Guitarist Hristo Neychev will explore the electric guitar’s many roles in blues, rock, jazz, funk, fusion and country. He will demonstrate techniques, characteristic sounds, instrument choices and the possibilities offered by effects.

The workshop begins at 18:30. At 20:00, the Hristo Neychev Band will bring those ideas to life in concert. The band features Hristo Neychev on electric guitar, Emilio Marholev on bass guitar, Nikolay Kostadinov on keyboards and Viktor Viktorov on drums. One ticket provides admission to both the workshop and the concert.

Light and Passion

1 November, 11:00 · Central Military Club · Tickets: Eventim

This festive concert for Bulgaria’s National Enlighteners Day brings together Lilia Donkova on violin, Viktoria Shishkova on cello and Fanny Koutzarova on piano in a programme featuring music by Claude Debussy, Sergei Rachmaninoff and Astor Piazzolla.

Lilia Donkova and Viktoria Shishkova live and work in Portugal. Over two decades, they have built a musical partnership grounded in trust on stage and extensive chamber music experience. They have performed in Portugal, Italy, France and Spain. Their collaboration with pianist Fanny Koutzarova creates an ensemble in which the long-standing dialogue between violin and cello finds a new voice.

Hesychia: An Exhibition by Katerina Katsarova

1 November, 18:00 · Central Halls Stage · Free admission

Hesychia presents icons and paintings inspired by the Byzantine style of the Palaiologan Renaissance and its relationship with the theological principles of Hesychasm.

Katerina Katsarova was born in Montreal, Canada, in 2003. She graduated from the Iliya Petrov National School of Fine Arts, specialising in graphic art, and pursues an independent practice in painting, printmaking and icon painting. She has held solo exhibitions at the Boris Christoff House Museum, the Small Basilica in Plovdiv and the It Is Truly Meet International Festival of Orthodox Art. She has participated in international events in Venice and Houston and has received awards for iconographic, portrait and anatomical drawing.

Alongside her artistic practice, Katerina is an active competitive powerlifter and a national, European and world champion.

Kaleidoscope

5 November, 20:00 · Sofia Live Club · Tickets: Eventim

Piano, clarinet, gadulka and voice bring the musical worlds of Bulgaria and France together. Anastasia Lyudmil on vocals, Fanny Koutzarova on piano, Ventsislav Trifonov on clarinet and Martin Vladimirov on gadulka form an unusual ensemble in which Bulgarian songs and dances meet works by Francis Poulenc and Darius Milhaud.

The project was created and performed to acclaim in Calais, France, in April 2026. Its original arrangements reveal connections between classical music and folklore. The gadulka meets the elegance of the piano, the freedom of the human voice and the clarinet’s rich range of colours.

Anastasia Lyudmil is a singer, pianist, teacher and creator of musical performances. She graduated from the Lyubomir Pipkov National School of Music, the Conservatoire de Lille and the École Normale de Musique de Paris. Her artistic path has led from classical singing to jazz, rock and world music. She now teaches at the conservatoires in Calais and Saint-Omer.

Fanny Koutzarova is a concert pianist, chamber musician and teacher. Her artistic work includes premiere performances, recordings for Bulgarian National Radio and Bulgarian National Television, and the creation of unusual chamber ensembles. She founded the Pro Artibus Association and is artistic director of the Muzikalni Zografi festival.

Ventsislav Trifonov is a prizewinner at national and international competitions, recipient of the Grand Prize at the Music and the Earth International Competition, and a soloist with Bulgarian orchestras. He is principal clarinettist of the Stefan Makedonski National Musical Theatre Orchestra.

Martin Vladimirov is a gadulka player, composer and arranger who has received awards at national and international competitions. His work explores new possibilities for the gadulka, bringing Bulgarian tradition together with classical music and contemporary ethno-fusion sounds.

Also in the Programme

7 November, 18:00 – Concert by Ruei Zhu, classical guitar, China. Central Halls Stage. Free admission.

8 November, 18:00 – Concert by Teo Nikolov’s classical guitar students. Central Halls Stage. Free admission.

9 November, 19:30 – Our Children Sing Folk Songs. Central Military Club. Free admission.

15 November, 11:00 – Closing concert. Central Military Club. Tickets through Eventim.

About the Festival

Muzikalni Zografi is a platform for music, visual arts, literature, cinema, cultural heritage and education. The festival provides a stage for young talents, unusual ensembles, Bulgarian artists with international careers and guests from abroad. It is organised by the Pro Artibus Association under the artistic direction of Fanny Koutzarova.

Muzikalni Zografi – The Sound of the City is part of the Sofia Municipality Cultural Events Calendar and is made possible with financial support from Sofia Municipality’s Culture Programme.

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