Instrumentation:

3.3.3.3.-4.3.3.1.-batt. (x5)-arpa-piano-keyboard-strings

Year:

2022

Dur. (min.):

29

Premiere

20.01.2023 “Bulgaria” Concert Hall, Sofia, Bulgaria

Symphony Orchestra of Bulgarian National Radio
Cond: Konstantin Dobroykov

Info/Program notes:

Commissioned by Bulgarian National Radio

… a flying Icarus. bababadalgharaghtakamminarronnkonnbronntonnerronntuonnthunntrovarrhounawnskawntoohoohoordenenthurnuk! This is how James Joyce describes the utter cracking of thunder. However, it is something more than a mere physical scare fallen from the sky in order to shake the earthly body from the inside.

The thunder is the crushing force into the core of our soul.
The thunder is the fall of Icarus into the depths of the sea.
The thunder is the sinking swell into the ephemeral matter of the dream.

Joyce believed that during sleep man must redeem himself by means of a quest, which takes him beyond himself into a world without definitions. This quest seems to be a dream through a constant process of waking. duermevela (to be awake while asleep (Spanish)) is a dream of sounds, in which different images are superimposed, merged or flowed into one another. The instruments align themselves hectically as if part of a painting by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, in which one could recognize both rumbling thunders and familiar shapes from past and present times. Through their unclear bleak outlines, one could see that they are dancing, singing folkloric tunes, laughing and mourning.

The darkness is illuminated by the light of a single candle. A candle with a flame that could not be put out. A fire which throbs even in the dark blue of the ocean depths, giving me strength to breathe in the morning dawn, strength to flap my wings high to the blinding sun, to the singing choir of birds, to my awakening as if I am…

Instrumentation:

3.2.2.2.-2.2.3.1.-batt. (x2)-arpa-piano-no strings-electronic sounds-
soprano solo-bass solo-two choirs-children choir

Year:

2018-2019

Dur. (min.):

67

Premiere

26.10.2019 “Boris Christoff” House of Culture, Plovdiv Bulgaria

Orchestra, Choir, Children Choir and Ballet of State Opera-Plovdiv
Cond: Dragomir Yossifov
Choreographer/director: Liliya Burdinskaya (Russia)
3D scenography: Petko Tanchev
Artist: Ventzislav Dikov
Costumes: Maria Manuilova (Russia)

Info/Program notes:

Commissioned by State Opera Plovdiv
libretto by Dragomir Yossifov, based on a self-titled story by Gianni Rodari

А summary of the libretto in English download here

09.11.2019 “Boris Christoff” House of Culture, Plovdiv Bulgaria

Instrumentation:

Piano Solo

Year:

2018

Dur. (min.):

10

Premiere

27.04.2018 perf. by Hayk Melikyan (Armenia) in Bulgarian National Radio Concert Hall (during ppIANISSIMO FESTIVAL)

Info/Program notes:

Commissioned by ppIANISSIMO FESTIVAL and written for Hayk Melikyan

Other Performances

10.12.2018 perf. by Hayk Melikyan, Komitas Museum, Yerevan, Armenia
22.12.2019 perf. by Antonii Baryshevskyi, National Philharmonic Concert Hall, Kiev, Ukraine

Instrumentation:

fl. (fl. alto), cl. (cl. basso), accordion, pno (prepared and amplified), vno, vc

Year:

2017

Dur. (min.):

11

Premiere

25.10.2017 perf. by Ensemble CRUSH at Studio 1 in Bulgarian National Radio during Agitato – Sofia Chamber Music Festival

Info/Program notes:

Commissioned by Ensemble CRUSH for Agitato – Sofia Chamber Music Festival
My very first memory is from my baptizing. I must have been about 2-3 years old. I clearly remember the large hand of the priest, the soft but bright light from above my left and the touch of the called water, which made me cry. It took place in “St. Ivan Rilsky” Church in my neighborhood in my hometown of Plovdiv. The memory has popped in and out of my mind through all my life like a shadow. Lately, I have been experiencing the strange sensation of an immense differ-ence and an immense likeness with that small-baptized baby. Somehow, this memory merges two distant moments in time, thus making them into a single small point.
For me music is the only other medium that could bring two moments into one. Therefore, I chose the musical sound to describe this peculiar sensation. In addition, to build and to rebuild my own inner temple through acoustical means – vibration, antiphonic textures, timbre; to write a map with ever-changing dimensions of a sound-space, that one can bathe his own soul in just for the beauty of the process.

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Instrumentation:

3322-223-2perc., pno/celesta, arpa-2 cori femminili, voce solo-9vni, 4vc, 4cb

Year:

2013-2015

Dur. (min.):

22

Premiere

22-26 Feb. 2016 recording sessions at the Bulgarian National Radio Orchestra and Female Stuff from Mixed Choir of Bulgarian National Radio with Reut Rivka Shabi (soprano solo) under Dragomir Yossifov

Info/Program Notes:

“Time Etudes” does not attempt to musically deal with the subject of time as a deep philosophical question – infinity, stillness, immensity. Instead it uses the idea of “human” time – measurable, cyclical, finite… But human in time is far beyond the numbers he creates. It is about observation, childhood memories, rituals – all kinds of vital acts, that need time to unfold and thus we to unfold through them. And that merging of needless measure and foolish emotion is what gives time a true paradoxical beauty. The (close to) equally long studies of this composition are like six identically sized canvases, in which same spaces of density and emptiness are rearranged in different ways. It is a trial of a hopeless plea to understand what to do with “all this time”, to find the connection. But may be at the end of all this Hamlet awaits and retorts: “The time is out of joint”.

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Instrumentation:

2Vni, Vla, Vc

Year:

2011-2012

Dur. (min.):

18

Premiere

11 Nov. 2012 Diligentia Theater, The Hague on the 100th Anniversary Dutch Chamber Music Society by Ruysdael Kwartet

Info/Program notes:

Commissioned by the Dutch Chamber Music Society.
The Netherlands is a very windy country; this is probably why I got so fascinated by wind chimes. Not only by their sweet, beautiful sound, but also by the idea of sounds randomly winding in an endless circle – is randomness chaos? – or is it in fact a different order? These two radically clashing ideas create the two symphonies – like two worlds, which are so far and at the same time, so close to each other; sometimes it is hard to draw the line between them. And after… -What is after?… After the circle is completed, is there something more? Just like in the Universe – is there an end?- or is there another “post-world of circles”?

Other Performances:

04 Mar. 2013 Union of Bulgarian Composers Concert Hall| Frosch String Quartet-Bulgaria
11-12 Dec. 2013 Recording sessions at the Bulgarian National Radio| Frosch String Quartet-Bulgaria

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Instrumentation:

ob. (cor ingl.), cl. in B (cl. in Es), tr, perc, pno, vla, vc

Year:

2011

Dur. (min.):

13

Premiere

15 Apr. 2011 World Music and Dance Center, Rotterdam by ASKO/Schoenberg Ens. under Bas Wiegers

Info/Program notes:

Written for ASKO/Schoenberg Ensemble within 9×7 project.
Everyone has had at least once this strong thirst to scream. I mean these inner screams which can bring a certain level of purification but for many reasons they never become a real, actual scream. It’s like a very big massive explosion which nobody hears. The screaming for me stays as a symbol of the strong will to reach outer spaces in ourselves. However, this idealistic notion is only a utopia as the human mind is not capable of even touching universes, only imagination is. Therefor I feel that we are inescapably trapped in this inter-space continuum where time is only a memory of the real world and our longing to overcome it, no matter how strong and insane it is, is staying endlessly an attempt – an attempt at screaming – feeling – knowing – living –

Other Performances:

16 Apr. 2011 Korzo Theather The Hague| ASKO/Schoenberg Ens. under Bas Wiegers
17 Apr. 2011 Conservatorium van Amsterdam| ASKO/Schoenberg Ens. under Bas Wiegers
24 June 2011 Union of Bulgarian Composers Concert Hall Sofia| Ensemble Musica Nova-Sofia under Dragomir Yossifov
25-25 Oct. 2011 Recording sessions at the Bulgarian National Radio| Ensemble Musica Nova-Sofia under Dragomir Yossifov
05 Mar. 2015 Chamber hall “Bulgaria” Sofia| Ensemble Musica Nova-Sofia under Dragomir Yossifov

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Instrumentation:

voice/ cymbal and guitar

Year:

2010

Dur. (min.):

18

Premiere

21 May 2012 Korzo Theater, The Hague by Veronique van der Meijden and Yiannis Giagourtas

Info/Program notes:

Written for Duo CaJon

Other Performances:

07 Mar. 2011 Union of Bulgarian Composers Concert Hall Sofia| Olga Mihailova and Valentin Valchev
07 Sep. 2012 Huis a/d Werf Utrecht (during Gaudeamus Music Week)| Reut Rivka Shabi and Peter Kerkelov
30 Sep. 2012 Concert Hall- Beegden, The Netherlands| Veronique van der Meijden and Yiannis Giagourtas
12 Oct. 2012 Waalse Kerk-Berda, The Netherlands| Veronique van der Meijden and Yiannis Giagourtas

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Instrumentation:

el. gtr, cl. basso, perc, keyboard, vc, cb (all instruments amplified)

Year:

2010

Dur. (min.):

7

Premiere

12 Apr 2010 Korzo Theater, The Hague by Bang on a Can-All stars

Info/Program notes:

Written for Bang on a Can-All Stars within New York comes to The Hague Project.
“Horo” (Хоро) is a Bulgarian word for national dance. There are many different types of dances with variety of time signatures, scales, tempo, instrumentation etc. but there is always one thing in common — the dancing is about constant tension and acceleration of the tempo in order to leave the participants in it breathless at its end. In this “Horo” the electric guitar imitates the national bagpipe and the percussion set up (the two sided drum) is an essential imitation of a Bulgarian bass drum called Tupan (Тъпан). In addition there is а sampled bagpipe sound for the keyboard part. Dancing in Bulgaria is much more than a row of complicated moves, it reflects character and devotion to a purifying rhythm.

Other Performances:

20 Oct. 2013 Konzerthaus Wien – Schubert-Saal (100th Anniversary)| Ensemble PHACE under Simeon Pironkoff
23 Oct. 2013 Konzerthaus Wien – Berio-Saal| Ensemble PHACE under Simeon Pironkoff
27 May 2014 Belarus National Philharmony Chamber Hall “Gr. Shirma” Minsk| Ensemble FAMILIUS PLANETARIUM

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