A Co-production with

Consulate General of The Republic of Bulgaria in New York American Society for Jewish Music (ASJM) YIVO Institute for Jewish Research Center for Jewish History American Jewish Committee (AJC) Bulgarian Concert Evenings in New York Mannes Sounds Festival

A Commemoration of the 80th Anniversary of the Rescue of the Bulgarian Jews

Thursday, March 30, 2023 | 7:30 PM Center for Jewish History  15 West 16th Street New York City

Burgas Synogogue interior detail

Sofia Synogogue ceiling detail

Interior of the Sofia Synogogue, in Sofia, Bulgaria Sofia Synogogue chandelier detail

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Plovdiv Synagogue

OUR PARTNERS Consulate General of The Republic of Bulgaria in New York Angel Angelov, Consul General American Society for Jewish Music Michael Leavitt, President YIVO Institute for Jewish Research Jonathan Brent, Executive Director&CEO Alex Weiser, Director of Programs Center for Jewish History American Jewish Committee Josh Kramer, Director, AJC New York Brandon Pinsker, Associate Director, AJC New York Francine Port and Bob Weiss, AJC New York Board Members American Foundation for Bulgaria Diko Mihov and Ted Vassilev Bulgarian Concert Evenings in New York Anna Stoytcheva and Lora Tchekoratova, Co-Chairs The New School  Dwight A. McBride, President College of Performing Arts Richard Kessler, Executive Dean and Dean of Mannes School of Music Mannes Sounds Festival Pavlina Dokovska, Artistic Director 3

PROGRAM The Rescue of Bulgaria’s Jews during World War II Dr. Joseph Benatov, Associate Program Director of Jewish Studies, University of Pennsylvania

• “A Question of Survival” Dir. Elka Nikolova 5 minutes excerpt from the film A documentary film about the legacy of the Holocaust in the Balkans, as seen through the eyes - and conflicting memories, of three Bulgarian Jewish survivors in New York.

• Program, performed by members of Bulgarian Concert Evenings in New York and young artists of Mannes School of Music

Pancho Vladigerov (1899-1978)

Jewish Poem



Lora Tchekoratova, piano

Georgy Valtchev, violin,

Selected Sephardic Songs, 1. Angela arranged by Nikolay Kaufman 2. Estrella (1925-2018) 3. Mushon

Eva Volitzer, mezzo-soprano,

Daniel Moreno, guitar, Olivia Chaikin, flute, Georgy Valtchev, violin

Milcho Leviev (1937-2019) Toccatina Georgi Lekov, piano Aaron Copland (1900-1990) Piano Trio “Vitebsk, Study on a Jewish Theme” 4

Vartan Mailyants, violin Tamar Sagiv, cello Vladimir Rumyantsev, piano

Lowell Liebermann (b.1961) “Die Kerze, die ich für dich entzündel habe” from Six Poems on Songs of Nelly Sachs for soprano Kyungeun Lee, soprano

Mariia Kolosova, piano

Joel Mendelbaum (b.1932) Rabbi Azrael’s Prayers for cello and piano (1987) Tamar Sagiv, cello

Vladimir Rumyantsev, piano

Samuel Adler (b.1928) Fragments from the Song of Songs (2005) For mezzo- soprano, clarinet, and piano Elisse Albian, soprano Taig Egan, clarinet Vladimir Rumyantsev, piano

Pancho Vladigerov (1899-1978) Bulgarian Rhapsody “Vardar” Alexandrina Boyanova, violin

Peter Fancovic, piano

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Booklet Design by: Roussina Valkova ©2023

The Sofia Synogogue chandelier detail

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EVA VOLITZER is an actress with more than 50 roles in the Bulgarian theater. She sings old Sephardic songs in the Ladino language and has published Jewish Songs in Ladino, recorded albums, produced by ARC Music, registered sales in over 20 countries, global distribution and streaming (iTunes, Amazon Music, etc.). One of the artistes who preserve Ladino culture as part of the world cultural heritage, she is a Fulbright Scholar and has taught acting at Pace University. Prof. Volitzer had a master class on Chekhov at the Lee Strasberg Institute New York. She is the founder of the independent theater “Gallery”. and of the Keshet Jewish Theater at the Organization of Jews “Shalom‚ Sofia”. ALEXANDRINA BOYANOVA is a multi-faceted violinist and violist, teacher, and scholar. Her first CD, Tribute to Vasco Abadjiev, was recently produced and released by the Bulgarian National Radio. She has premiered Oscar- and Grammy-winning composer Tan Dun’s Water Passion in Brussels, Shanghai, Athens, Philadelphia, and New York. Alexandrina earned Bachelor and Master degrees from Manhattan School of Music, and a Doctoral degree from The Juilliard School. www.boyanova.com PETER FANCOVIC is an award winning pianist whose performances have taken him to play in concert halls around the world to three continents. His chamber music proficiency was highlighted when he received Helen Cohn award for chamber music at Manhattan School of Music in 2012. He participates in opera productions and has assisted music directors, and was coaching and directing vocal ensembles. He won a full scholarship to the Manhattan School of Music and earned two degrees, a Master in Music and a Bachelor in Music, both in Piano Performance under guidance of Dr. Solomon Mikowsky. Pianist LORA TCHEKORATOVA has performed extensively as soloist and chamber musician throughout the United States as well as in Europe. She has appeared with major orchestras in her native Bulgaria and is a recital partner with violinist Georgy Valtchev. She has participated in the Kuhmo, Arijeplog, Bostad, Kneisel Hall, Apolonia, Balchik, Sofia Music Weeks and many other chamber music festivals. She holds the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the Juilliard School and is the artistic director of the Salon de Virtuosi During the summer, she directs a chamber music festival in the village of Kovachevitsa, Bulgaria. GEORGY VALTCHEV has performed on some of the world’s most prestigious stages. In the United States he has appeared as soloist and chamber musician at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall, New York’s Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center in Washington DC, the 92nd Street Y, and Chicago’s Cultural Institute. His artistic projects in Europe include performances in venues, such as Wigmore Hall and the Barbican Centre in London, La Cité de la Musique in Paris, Amsterdam’s Royal Carré Theatre, Teatro Arcimboldi in Milan, and Bulgaria Hall in Sofia. He has toured Asia, Australia and Israel with performances in Beijing Cultural Arts Center, Guangzhou Opera House, Sydney Opera House, Tel Aviv Opera House, Taipei Cultural Center Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Suntory Hall in Tokyo. New York native, DANIEL MORENO is a guitarist, lutenist, chamber musician and educator. Some of his appearances include concerts in the recital halls of Opera America, The Morgan Library, New York City Ethical Society, and first Fridays at the Frick Collection. He studied guitar and lute with William Zito, and Stephan Leonard; composition and guitar with Frederic Hand. Daniel is faculty at Vienna Music School where he teaches private lessons, guitar ensemble, and music theory. Daniel holds a Bachelor’s Degree from Adelphi University and his graduate degree from Mannes College of Music at The New School. OLIVIA CHAIKIN is a flutist from Sacramento, California. She has performed as principal flutist in the Colorado College Summer Festival Orchestra, Mannes Orchestra, Westside Chamber Players Orchestra, Sacramento State Symphony Orchestra, Modesto Opera, Sacramento State Wind Ensemble, and Atlantic Music Festival Orchestra. Olivia is a student of Elizabeth Mann at the Mannes School of Music. 6

Bulgarian pianist GEORGI LEKOV started his musical education at the age of 4 in NSM “Lubomir Pipkov” in Sofia. He holds Bachelor and Master of Music Degrees from the Mannes School of Music. His primary instructors are Pavlina Dokovska, Vladimir Valjarevic, Emiliya Kaneva and Ludmil Angelov. Throughout the years Georgi Lekov has won an impressive number of prizes in competitions and participated in masterclasses and festivals all over the world. In New York, he has performed at Carnegie Hall, Steinway Hall, and Lincoln Center among others. VARTAN MALIANTZ is a virtuosic and dynamic concert violinist, whose masterful performances transport audiences to sublime realms. As a frequent collaborator with esteemed orchestras worldwide and a soloist in prestigious venues, including J. F. Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, and Kauffman Center, Vartan has honed his craft to present innovative solo recitals that enchant and challenge. As an alumnus of the greatest Moscow State Conservatory and a 1-st year PDPL student at Mannes School of Music in the studio of Lewis Kaplan, Vartan has imbibed the finest teachings of both Russian and European schools of music and is a rising luminary destined for greatness. TAMAR SAGIV started her cello studies at the age of 8 in a small village in the northern part of Israel. Tamar attended festivals in Israel, Europe and the US. She performed concerts in Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Alice Tully Hall and the NYPL in NYC. In 2017 she received a certificate of honor from Maestro Zubin Mehta, The Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra and the Buchmann Mehta School of Music for outstanding achievements. Tamar is currently studying at the Mannes School of Music with Prof. Matt Haimovitz. VLADIMIR RUMYANTSEV received both MM and PDPL degrees from Mannes School as a student of Pavlina Dokovska. Prior arriving to New York he graduated from the Moscow Conservatory as a student of Sergei Dorensky. Prize winner of national and international competitions, Vladimir Rumyantsev has been performing internationally at major concert halls and festivals as a soloist and chamber musician. Currently he is pursuing a DMA at the Hartt School of Music in the studio of Jose Santana. Soprano KYUNGEUN LEE is a singer from Seoul, South Korea. She is continuing her studies at Mannes School of Music, majoring in Voice. She got her Bachelor’s degree at EwhaWomans University in Korea, and Master’s degree at Mannes School of Music. She performed as ‘Papagena’ from opera Die Zauberflöte, ‘Fiordiligi’ from opera Cosi fan tutte, and ‘The Dew Fairy’ from opera Hänsel und Gretel. She also covered ‘Susanna’ from opera Le Nozze di Figaro. She is currently studying with Amy Burton and Joshua Greene. MARIIA KOLOSOVA is a collaborative pianist, born in Moscow, Russia. She began playing the piano at the age of 4 and at age 5 she had already won her first competition. Mariia graduated from Moscow Music College of Performing Arts and Moscow State Conservatory (Master degree). After graduating,she started her career at The Moscow Music Theatre and The Bolshoi Theatre as an accompanist. Working with singers inspires her to continue her education at Mannes School of Music. Currently she is a collaborative piano student of Professor Cristina Stanescu (PDPL program). As a passionate soloist and collaborative pianist Mariia plays recitals in Russia, Europe and the U.S. ELISSE ALBIAN Praised as an “opulent soprano” with “rich tones, expressive phrasing, and warm emotion”, Elisse Albian performs regularly with professional ensembles including Seraphic Fire, Clarion, and The Benedict XVI Choir. 2022−23 season highlights include solo appearances in Bach’s St. John Passion and Christmas Oratorio, Handel’s Messiah, Mozart’s Coronation Mass and Vesperes Solennes di Confessore, singing Endimione in Mannes Opera’s production of Cavalli’s La Calisto, and performing several Telemann cantatas for Gotham Early Music Scene’s Midtown Concert series. 7

TAIG EGAN is in his second year of undergraduate studies at the Mannes School of Music for Clarinet Performance. This past summer, he was a fellow at the Aspen Summer Music Festival and the Colorado College Summer Music Festival, and also won first prize in the International Clarinet Association’s Young Artist Competition. Taig is in Jon Manasse’s studio at Mannes, and previously studied privately with Sam Boutris. DR. JOSEPH BENATOV is the Associate Program Director of Jewish Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. He has written on competing national narratives of the saving of the Bulgarian Jews during World War II; Jewish identity politics in Philip Roth’s early fiction; and the sensationalism of U.S. representations of life behind the Iron Curtain. He has translated fiction, poetry, and drama, including several plays staged to wide acclaim in Sofia, Bulgaria. He is also the English translator of the contemporary Bulgarian novel Zift. Every summer Dr. Benatov leads Jewish heritage trips to the Sephardic Balkans. You can find out more at https://sephardicbalkans. com/. ELKA NIKOLOVA was born in Bulgaria and immigrated to the United States in 1994. She studied film and media at The New School in New York. Her first documentary film, “Binka: To Tell a Story About Silence,” 2007, premiered at MOMA in New York and played in many festivals around the world. She co-produced and edited the documentary film “Angel Wagenstein: Art is a Weapon” in 2017. She recently completed “A Question of Survival” (2021) documentary about the complex legacy of the Holocaust in the Balkans as seen through the eyes of three Bulgarian Jewish survivors from New York. Her next project is the documentary “The Dressmaker”, which expands on this theme exploring the complexity of the experiences of one Bulgarian-Greek Jewish family from New York.

BIOGRAPHIES OF THE COMPOSERS



One of the most influential Bulgarian composers, PANCHO VLADIGEROV (1899-1978) was born in Switzerland to a Russian-Jewish mother and a Bulgarian father. Vladigerov grew up in Bulgaria, and started composing and playing the piano at an early age. At 13, he received a scholarship to continue his studies at the Berlin Academy of Arts where he won the Mendelssohn Prize twice. Vladigerov later became the music director of Berlin’s Deutsches Theater, where he worked with the prominent director Max Reinhardt. In 1932, Vladigerov returned to Sofia, and started his more than 40-years long tenure as a Piano, Chamber Music and Composition professor at the State Academy of Music, which was eventually named after him. Vladigerov is part of the so-called Second Generation of Bulgarian Composers and his music style often combines elements of Bulgarian folk music with the established traditions of classical music. His oeuvre encompasses most classical genres, including stage works, symphonic, choral and chamber music, concertos, and many transcriptions for different instruments. Tonight’s program opens with Vladigerov’s Jewish Poem, which is based on a tune that his maternal grandfather taught him. The concert will conclude with Bulgarian Rhapsody Vardar, Vladigerov’s most emblematic and popular piece that brought him international fame.



NIKOLAY KAUFMAN (1925-2018) was a distinguished Bulgarian ethnomusicologist with international fame. His theoretical research and his fieldwork, which includes recordings of over 30,000 folk songs and instrumental melodies, are fundamental to modern Bulgarian folklore science. He was the author of books, collections, and numerous studies and articles. He is recognized as one of the most prominent researchers of the music of Ashkenazic and Sephardic Jews in Bulgaria. 8

N. Kaufman was a professor of the Bulgarian Academy of music as well as a member of the Academy of Science and Culture, the author of over 1,000 arrangements of Bulgarian and Jewish (Sephardic and Ashkenazic) folk songs for various choral and instrumental ensembles; numerous piano pieces including four volumes “Anthology of Bulgarian Metrorhythms” for piano. His works are performed with success by Bulgarian and international musicians. His arrangements of folk songs are included in the world-famous album “Mystery of Bulgarian Voices” by the Swiss producer Marcel Selye. In the second album, which won the GRAMMY award (1990), N. Kaufman had three original choral songs.

Born in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, MILCHO LEVIEV (1937-2019) studied piano and composition at the Bulgarian State Conservatoire with Prof. Andrey Stoyanov and Prof. Pancho Vladigerov. He became conductor of the Big Band of the Bulgarian National Radio at the age of 25. Leviev worked with the Big Band for three years, which gave him time to hone his arranging abilities, and to explore a fusion of jazz with Bulgarian folk music. He also performed as a soloist with both the Plovdiv and Sofia Philharmonic Orchestras. His group “Jazz Focus 65” made a strong impression at European jazz festivals, winning the critics’ award at the 1967 Montreux Jazz Festival. Despite the international success, the group was not warmly received at home. In 1968, Leviev sent recordings to the famous trumpeter, composer and bandleader Don Ellis. Ellis was extremely impressed by the Bulgarian folk tune in 33/16 time, and recorded it as ‘Bulgarian Bulge’. Encouraged by the American and the frustration with the political situation, Milcho Leviev moved to the US in 1970. He enjoyed a rich collaboration with Don Ellis over the next five years. Leviev spent a few years with the Gerald Wilson Orchestra and also recorded a number of albums in his own name and served as faculty at University of Southern California. In 2010, nine years before his death, Milcho Leviev moved to Thessaloniki, Greece, where he was able to get to Bulgaria easily and held summer Masterclasses at New Bulgarian University.

SAMUEL ADLER (b.1928) was born March 4, 1928, in Mannheim, Germany and came to the United States in 1939. He was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters in May 2001, and then inducted into the American Classical Music Hall of Fame in October 2008. In 2018 he was awarded the Bundesverdienstkreuz (first class), the highest civilian award given by the German government . He is the composer of over 400 published works which have been performed all over the world, and is the author of four music textbooks, as well as the autobiographical Building Bridges With Music. His works have been performed lately by the Berlin Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, St. Louis Symphony, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Mannheim National Theater Orchestra; the orchestras of Beijing, Chendu, Frankfurt (Oder), among others. Adler was educated at Boston University and Harvard University, his major teachers were Herbert Fromm, Walter Piston, Randall Thompson, Paul Hindemith and Aaron Copland; in conducting, Serge Koussevitzky. He is Professor-emeritus at the Eastman School of Music and served as chair of the composition department from 1974 until his retirement in 1995. From 1997 to 2017 he was a member of the composition faculty at the Juilliard School of Music. Adler has given master classes and workshops at over 300 universities worldwide, and in the summers has taught at major music festivals such as Tanglewood, Aspen, Brevard, Bowdoin, as well as others in France, Germany, Israel, Spain, Austria, Poland, South America and Korea. Adler has appeared as conductor with many major symphony orchestras, both in the U.S. and abroad. His compositions are published by Theodore Presser Company, Oxford University Press, G. Schirmer, Carl Fischer, E.C. Schirmer, Peters Edition, Ludwig-Kalmus Music Masters, Southern Music Publishers, Kaiser Music, Transcontinental Music Publishers, and Leupold Music. Recordings of his works have been done on Linn, Naxos, RCA, Gasparo, Albany, CRI, Crystal, Parma and Vanguard.

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AARON COPLAND (1900-1990), known as the “Dean of American Composers,” became one of the most highly regarded composers of the 20th century and an iconic figure in American music with scores like “Appalachian Spring”, the Third Symphony, “Rodeo”, “Lincoln Portrait”, and “Fanfare for the Common Man.” In addition, his work as teacher, conductor, writer, and spokesman for the “new,” made him one of the most influential artists of America, as well . As contemporary composer Ned Rorem has confirmed, “Thanks to Aaron, American music came into its own.” Aaron Copland taught at The New School between 1927-1930 and 19351938 and his lectures eventually appeared in the form of two books: What to listen for in Music and The New Music: 1900-1960. After three years of studies with the legendary Nadia Boulanger at Fontainebleau, Copland found his point of departure as a composer in the Neoclassicism of Stravinsky, who was his hero and favorite 20th century composer. Copland passed through a number of phases as he responded to the variant dominant forces in his milieu: Jazz, folklore elements such as cowboy songs, New England and Quaker’s hymns, Latin-American rhythms, and later on the serial techniques of the 12-tone system. Copland wrote the film scores for 5 films. In 1948 he received an Oscar for the film “The Heiress”.



LOWELL LIEBERMANN (b.1961) is one of America’s most frequently performed and recorded living composers. He has written over one hundred thirty works in all genres, several of which have gone on to become standard repertoire for their instruments, such as his Sonata for Flute and Piano and Gargoyles for piano, each of which have been recorded over twenty times on CD. He has been commissioned by a wide array of ensembles and instrumentalists, including the Philadelphia Orchestra, Emerson Quartet and flutist Sir James Galway. His full-length ballet Frankenstein was co-commissioned by London’s Royal Ballet and the San Francisco Ballet and has been released on Blu-Ray and DVD. Mr. Liebermann has written two full-length operas, both enthusiastically received at their premieres: The Picture of Dorian Gray, the first American opera commissioned and premiered by L’Opéra de Monte-Carlo, and Miss Lonelyhearts, after the novel by Nathanael West, commissioned by the Juilliard School to celebrate its 100th anniversary. Mr. Liebermann served as Composer-in-Residence for the Dallas Symphony Orchestra for four years, a role he also pursued with the Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo, Japan; the Saratoga Performing Arts Center, and many other organizations. He joined the composition faculty of Mannes School of Music of the New School in 2012, where he founded the Mannes American Composers Ensemble, devoted to performing works of living American composers. He was appointed head of Mannes’s Composition Department the following year. Among his many awards are a Charles Ives Fellowship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, awards from ASCAP and BMI and a Grammy nomination. He was the first winner of the Van Cliburn Invitational Composers Competition, and in 2014 became the inaugural recipient of the Virgil Thomson Award for vocal composition. JOEL MANDELBAUM (b.1932) is Professor Emeritus at Queens College where he has taught since 1961. The exorcism scene from his opera The Dybbuk, from which today’s transcription has been culled, can be seen on his website joelmandelbaummusician.com. His later opera, The Village, based on the true story of a Holocaust survivor in France whose Jewish identity was not disclosed to German occupying forces, was recently performed in Hamburg. He has spent most of his lifetime trying to understand why the power brokers in the field of New Music insist that the beautiful tonal language of major and minor keys exhausted itself from overuse in the 19th Century and can no longer support authentic new works. At 90 years of age he is yet to find a reason he considers valid.

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1st grade students at school.

Robert Bakish with his extended family in Sofia.