Multiple groups set to play Dana concert

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

The Dana School of Music will present a Gala Dana Festival Orchestra Concert at 8 p.m. Thursday in Stambaugh Auditorium, 1000 Fifth Ave. Featured guest conductor will be Svilen Simeonov of Bulgaria.

More than 90 musicians from 14 groups will be represented. The groups include Akron Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland Pops Orchestra, Dana School of Music faculty, Greenville Symphony Orchestra, various high school students, New Amici Trio, Salzedo Harp Duo, Westminster College faculty, Warren Philharmonic, Western Reserve Academy faculty, Youngstown Symphony Orchestra, and YSU students, alumni, and graduate students.

The program will include “Bulgarian Rhapsody VARDAR” (The Balkan Anthem) by Pancho Vladigeroff and Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 in D Major, “Titan.”

Tickets are $5 ($4 for senior citizens and students; free for children under 12 and anyone with a YSU ID) and are available only at the door.

Simeonov, an Internationally renowned conductor and teacher, is a regular guest at top performing- arts venues. He has served as music director and chief conductor of the Sofia Amadeus Orchestra since 1994; conductor of the Collegium Musicum Chamber Orchestra since 1999; music manager and conductor of the Burgas Opera and Philharmonic Orchestra Society since 2000; and principal conductor of the Vidin State Symphony since 2001 and of the Vidin Sinfonietta Orchestra since 2010. Since his appointment as chief conductor of the Sofia Sinfonietta in 2003, he has been one of the most sought-after Bulgarian conductors.

Born and educated in Bulgaria, Simeonov is a graduate of Pancho Vladigerov State Academy in Sofia, and Academy for Music and Dance in Plovdiv with degrees in clarinet and conducting.