Sofia, Bulgaria: In its 70th jubilee season, the Pleven Philharmonic is again on the poster of the prestigious Sofia Music Weeks International Festival. The concert “Rosen Gergov and Sons”, which the Music Institute presented at the end of last year on the Pleven stage, will sound today, June 5, at 7 pm, in Sofia, in the prestigious “Bulgaria” Hall.
The program features “Piano Concert and Orchestra in Major” by Joseph Haydn, performed by Leo Gergov – piano; “Cello Concert and Orchestra by Camille Saint-Sans” – Ray Gergov – cello; “Violin Concert and Orchestra No. 1 in S M minor by Max Bruch” – performed by Kai Gergov – violin.
Kai Gergov was born in 2010 and plays the violin. Back in 2016, the BNR Symphony Orchestra was his orchestra debut. He is the winner of various awards. In the year 2015, wins the special prize for the youngest participant under age at Henle Piano Competition. In 2016, wins second prize in the same contest.
In 2016 and 2018, wins first prize with distinction at “Prima la Musica” in Vienna, Austria. Back in 2017, wins 2nd prize in violin, being the youngest participant in the Young Virtuoso Competition in Sofia, Bulgaria, and winning the first and the special award for best Bartok interpretation in Graz, Austria, as a young participant; in 2019, won first prize at the International Violin Competition in Brussels, Belgium.
Rey Gergov was born in 2012, plays the cello and made her first debut at the age of 5 – the year is 2020, in one of the most prestigious concert halls in the world, “Carnegie Hall” in New York. In 2018 and it’s 2019, wins first prize at “Prima la Musica” in Vienna, Austria.
Leo Gergov was born in 2014 and debuted at age five as a pianist. In 2022 is also his orchestral debut with the Pleven Philharmonic. In 2020 and 2022, wins first prize with distinction at Prima la Musica in Vienna, Austria, and in 2021, first prize in the Amadeus Mozartian Piano Competition in Brno, Czech Republic. He studied piano at the University of Music and Fine Arts in Vienna, Austria.
Rosen Gergov was born in 1981 in Vratsa. He graduated from the Lyubomir Pipkov National Music School in Sofia, beginning to play the piano under Milka Miteva and later on clarinet with Borislav Yotsov, taking conducting lessons with Mikhail Angelov.
He continues his studies at the Vienna University of Music and Performing Arts in the class of conductor Leopold Hager. Gergov was a laureate of the First International Competition for Conductors “Evgeniy Svetlanov” in 2007.
A year later, he was nominated for a Grammy Award for recording David Chesky’s works with the Norland Opera Symphony Orchestra. There are recordings for the BBC, Bavarian radio and Austrian radio.
Rosen Gergov is a guest of honour on many European stages with an opera and symphonic repertoire. He worked as an assistant to the world-famous conductor Seiji Ozawa.
He conducted the Austrian Radio Symphony Orchestra (ORF) until 2009. is assistant conductor of Tonkünstl Orchester. Back in 2016 debuted at the Mannheim Theater with Hans Werner Henze’s opera “Bassarides” (on Euripides) and with performances at the Teatro Comunale in Bologna.
The Bregenz Festival – Austria conducts “Tosca” and the Austrian premiere of “The Portrait” by Moses Weinberg. He was directed by Y’s “The Bat” by Strauss, Verdi’s Rigoletto in the Vienna Volksoper, Traviata and Figaro’s Wedding at the Miningen Theater, Orpheus in Hell in London, Carmen and Falstaff on the Rousse Stage and more.
His repertoire includes famous works by contemporary authors: Victor Ullmann’s “Kaiser of Atlantis” with “Klangforum – Vienna” and Michael Jarrell’s “Kassandra” with Israel Contemporary players.
He successfully debuted with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra with soloist Tasmin Little, the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra and the Padarevski State Philharmonic Orchestra.
He has worked with the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, the Luxembourg Philharmonic Orchestra, the Montpellier National Orchestra, the BBC Symphonic Orchestra, the Ensemble Modern, the Vienna Philharmonic, the Polish National Radio Orchestra, and the Basel Symphony Orchestra.
This year, the musical trio and their father performed concerts in Bulgaria – in April in Vratsa with the Symphonyeta-Vratsa with a concert, part of the Talent Generation cycle and in June on the stage of the 58th International Chamber Music Festival – Plovdiv with the concert “Stars of Tomorrow”.
The music family and Maestro Gergov, with various orchestras, have concerts this year in the Czech Republic, Vienna, Switzerland, Japan, Bulgaria, and Italy. The Bulgarian Cultural Ministry has planned a next concert 2023 with the Sofia Soloists Association and a new program with the Pleven Philharmonic Orchestra in 2024.
The musical family Gergovi lives in Vienna; everyone in the family is a musician, incl. the mother playing the violin in the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. The different instruments played by the three brothers give them the opportunity to perform both as soloists and chamber trios.
All three of them play the piano, and subsequently, Kai and Ray chose to study violin and cello, respectively. In interviews, the three musicians share that they have an interest in other musical instruments, apart from those which are definitely virtuosos, who have exceeded the level of their peers and are already soloists on prestigious stages around the world.
On the poster of the 54th International Festival Sofia Music Weeks, they are one of the youngest participants selected for the festival program, on par with musicians with decades of more fantastic professional and life experience.
Music criticism identifies them as extremely gifted talents and predicts a bright world career. Today they will be soloists under the conductor baton of their father, Rosen Gergov, with the Pleven Philharmonic Orchestra; the orchestra’s concertmaster is Chavdar Valkov.
Tickets at the Hall “Bulgaria” box office and online on the Eventim network. Children up to 6 years of age enter with free admission. Discount tickets for students and pensioners are active at the box office of Bulgaria Hall.