ROUSSE PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA

Rousse Philharmonic Orchestra was established in 1948. Some of the best Bulgarian conductors - Konstantin Iliev, Dobrin Petkov, Sasha Popov, Russlan Raichev, Ilia Temkov, Alexander Vladigerov among others, have worked with this orchestra. Since 2000 the chief conductor of the Rousse Philharmonic Orchestra is Maestro Georgi Dimitrov. The first international Music Festival in Bulgaria was established in 1961 on the initiative and the organization of the Rousse Philharmonic, which transforms this Danube city, already famed for its architecture and character, into an attractive and interesting international music center. The “March Music Days” Festival, as the festival is called, held annually in the middle of March, is a gathering point for famous orchestras, singers, instrumentalists, composers and conductors.  In 1966 Rousse Philharmonic was the organizer of “Winter Music Evenings” - the first of its kind festival in Bulgaria. The concert stage of Rousse Philharmonic has welcomed many famous conductors such as Kurt Mazur, Rolf Kleinert, Carol Stria, Carlo Zecchi, Helmut Koch, Valeri Gergiev, Evgenii Svetlanov as well as soloists - Salvatore Accardo, Ruggiero Ricci, Daniel Stefan, Svetoslav Richter, Franco Petraci, Yurii Bashmet, Katya Richarelli, Robert Kohen, Igor Oistrach, Vladimir Spivakov, Jacob Zach, Michail Voscressenski among others. Rousse Philharmonic was pleased to host the famous Russian composer Dmitry Shostakovich in 1958 and in 1965. From 1975 until 1992 Rousse Philharmonic orchestra was an active participant in ‘Accademia Chigia Sienna’, Italy. The names of Franco Ferrara, Carlo Maria Giulini, Genady Rozdestvensky, Bruno Bartolletti, Ferdinand Leitner appear frequently on the concert programs and in the numerous collaborations with the orchestra. The repertoire of the orchestra includes a very broad specter of genres and styles - including works from the early music period and contemporary composers. In the rich performing history of the orchestra one can find major musical pieces such as Prokofiev’s “Ivan Grozny”, “Alexander Nevsky”, Stravinsky’s “Oedipus”, Petrushka”, “The Rite of Spring”, Richard Strauss’s “ Also sprach Zarathustra”, Carl Orff’s “Carmina Burana”, etc. Rousse Philharmonic toured Austria, Germany, Italy, Poland, Romania, Spain, France and Switzerland in addition to its well-appreciated tour programme in Bulgaria. The Philharmonic has recorded with Bulgarian National Radio, ‘Balkanton’ record company and has released many  CD’s.