Piano Recital with Romeo Smilkov

The pianist Romeo Smilkov after two successful recitals at Technopolis 20 during the last years, he is traveling from Bulgaria for one more concert on Thursday, 21st of June 2018 at 8:30pm.

His programme will include works by J. S. Bach, J. Haydn, F. Liszt, S. Rachmaninov, Nikolay Stoykov and a first performance of the work ‘A Prayer’ by Dimiter Nenov.

Entrance: 12 euro/ 7 euro (students)
Reservations are necessary at 70002420 (calls only).

A few words about Romeo Smilkov
Romeo Smilkov was born on the 7th July, 1960 in Chirpan, Bulgaria. A graduate of the National Music Academy “Prof. Pancho Vladigerov” in Sofia, he studied piano with Prof. Luba Encheva and Prof. Milena Mollova. Among his postgraduate studies was a master class with Prof. Vera Gornostaeva (Moscow) at the Varna Festival in Bulgaria.

He counts numerous international and national prizes such as 1st Prize of the Salerno Piano Competition in Italy (1979); 2nd Prize of the Razgrad Piano Competition, Bulgaria (1984) and 3rd Prize of the Liszt-Bartok Competition (1989), organized by The Hungarian Cultural Center in Sofia. In 2011, he received the Special Prize “Medeniya Tchan” of the Academy of Music, Dance and Fine Arts, Plovdiv and in 2018 the “Golden Muse” by the Russian Cultural Center in Sofia.

He also participated in the 1st International Piano Competition in Tokyo, Japan (1980), in the ‘Tchaikovsky’ Piano Competition in Moscow, Russia (1982) and in the ‘Liszt’ Competition/Festival in Budapest, Hungary (1986).

Romeo Smilkov has given more than 840 concerts in Bulgaria and in sixteen countries of Europe and Asia (Russia, Japan, China and others). He appeared as a soloist with numerous orchestras in Bulgaria and abroad.

The last season (2017/2018) Romeo Smilkov gave three recitals in the Concert Hall “Bulgaria”/Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra: ‘Wien Classic – Beethoven’s concert’ (18.11.2017), ‘Works by W. Am. Mozart’ (27.01.2018) and ‘Chamber pieces of J. Haydn’ (31.03.2018). He also presented a concert with piano music of F. Liszt in Chamber Hall / “Liszt” Academy, Budapest/Hungary.

Since 1991, Romeo Smilkov has been teaching Piano Instrumental Art at the Academy of Music, Dance and Fine Arts in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. In 2008 he was appointed Associate Professor in Piano Art. From 2014, he is a piano Professor at the Academy of Music, Dance and Fine Arts and at the New Bulgarian University in Sofia.

In 2012, he obtained his PhD for the theoretical research on the piano compositions of the Bulgarian composer Nikolay Stoykov. He has published three books as a result of his research in the field of the Bulgarian clavier music (Ivan Spassov, Dimiter Nenov).

Romeo Smilkov is one of the most outstanding pianists of his generation. His vast repertoire spans from Frescobaldi to Ligeti. He is a passionate performer of contemporary Bulgarian composers such as Dimitar Nenov (c.1902-1953), Pancho Vladigerov (1899-1978), Lazar Nikolov (1922-2005), Ivan Spassov (1934-1996), Nikolay Stoykov (1936), Vladimir Pantchev (1949), Georgi Arnaudov (1957). Many compositions were written especially for him. Romeo Smilkov presented for a first time in Bulgaria compositions by the Austrian composer Christian Utz and the Lithuanian composer Mikalojus Ciurlionis.

Romeo Smilkov released three solo albums for recording companies such as the American MMO, the Danish label Danacord Records and others. In March, 2016 he recorded the piano works of the Bulgarian pianist and composer Dimitar Nenov in Fazioli Hall in Sasile, Italy for the Greek label Arco.