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GHEORGHI ARNAOUDOV
Gheorghi Arnaoudov was born in and grew up in Sofia, Bulgaria, into a musician family. His mother Suzanna Vesselinova-Arnaoudov was a well-known Chamber singer of the 40s & 50s of the XX century and literary translator and his father Assen Arnaoudov was a Violinist and famous Bulgarian Harp player,
one of the adherents of the Bulgarian Spiritual Teacher Peter Deunov - Beinsa Douno.
Gheorghi Arnaoudov graduated in composition with Alexander Tanev and contemporary music with Bojidar Spassov from the National Academy of Music
“Prof. Pancho Vladigerov” and obtained his Doctorate of Philosophy in the New Bulgarian University.While attending the Music Academy, Arnaoudov also studied composition in Florence, where he explored electronic and concrete music. Upon graduation and completion of his studies abroad, Arnaoudov began establishing a reputation as dedicated composer as well as a theorist. Specializing in modern and postmodern aesthetics, communication and semiotics, he also set himself to exploring ancient and Far Eastern musical forms. To date Arnaoudov has produced numerous symphonies, oratorios, concertos and has won several international prizes. He currently teaches in the "Music" and "Theatre" departments of New Bulgarian University as well in the Faculty of Philosophy of the Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski" and in the National School of Music "Lubomir Pipkov" - Sofia. In 2009 he was appointed associate professor in Composition and Harmony and at the New Bulgarian University.
His artistic career started in the beginning of the eighties. At the same time he did research work in the field of musical theory, concrete and electro acoustic music as well as research in the field of ancient and Far-Eastern music. He is author of scientific and theoretical articles in music, as well as of publicist and critical reviews in scientific and musical periodicals, mainly in the sphere of the contemporary arts, the aesthetics of modernism and postmodernism, communications in the music, musical semiotics and the theory of contemporary music.
He has won many international and national awards, including the Grand Prix of the European Broadcasting Union (1985), the Golden Harp Prize(1985), the “Jeunesses Musicales” Prize (1985), the Special Prize of the Union of Bulgarian Composers (1986), the Carl Maria von Weber International Prize of Music (1989), the Composer Award in honor of the Sofia National School of Music Centenary. In 2017 Arnaoudov was awarded with the Ministry of culture’s “Golden Age” - Star award for his contribution to the development and the flowering of the Bulgarian culture and national identity.
Compared in the beginning to composers such as Scriabin, Messiaen or Part nowadays Arnaoudov is known as one of the most distinctive European composers, creating a music of stasis, a new kind of intense minimalism "that tells no conventional stories but rather meditates on an idea. His instrumental works have distinguished him as a modernist innovator, one who looks at musical instruments as total items capable of many sounds, overtones and resonances. Many have commented on the spiritual side of Arnaoudov music, and indeed mysticism and ritual are two elements present in much of his work. Also influential has been art, cinema and literature, with sources of inspiration including Rene Magritte, Tarkovsky, James Joyce or Jorge-Luis Borges.
Gheorghi Arnaoudov’s works have been released on many CDs under the labels Gega New, BNR (Bulgaria), Concord Records, Labor Records (USA).
Bulgarian composer Gheorghi Arnaoudov has forged a profound body of work deeply rooted in minimalism and, at the same time, creating an intensely imaginative, vibrating sound world that constantly defies convention. His vital use of a variety of literary sources, aesthetic ideas, and collaborations
with other art forms distinguish his music in today’s European concert culture. These works, from Bulgaria’s most cosmopolitan compositional voice at
the height of his powers, musically capture the freedom of flight and engage in timeless conversations with poets, philosophers, and folk traditions across
the ages. Gheorghi Arnaoudov speaks a musical language that combines the traditions of European modernism - Western and Eastern - with spiritualism
and esthetic mysticism that comes from Eastern traditions but also takes an intensely personal form.
– Eric Salzman,
"A genuinely surprising and beautiful disc..."
– Barnaby Rayfield, Fanfare, New York
"Gheorghi Arnaoudov is a Bulgarian minimalist who writes unabashedly spiritual music designed to create “mystical spaces.” While secular music aspiring to religiosity is too-often riddled with clich?s, from “new age” music to “inspirational” film scores—even John Tavener occasionally indulges in sentimentality—the restlessly searching music of Gheorghi Arnaoudov avoids these pitfalls unerringly. Embracing dissonance and finding beauty in the strange, his music remains rooted in the avant-garde, but its elegance and poignancy feel entirely relevant and accessible. Difficult to categorize and impossible to predict, the music of Gheorghi Arnaoudov truly warrants the much-abused description of “unique.”"
– Allen B. Ruch, Shipwrecklibrary, New York
"...Stillness and medieval-tinged mystery..."
– Rob Barnett, MusicWeb International
"In his program notes for this intriguing disc of new piano music, Eric Salzman draws up a laundry list of influences on Gheorghi Arnaoudov that includes Scriabin, Messiaen, Var?se, Penderecki, and P?rt. Webern and Feldman are thrown in for good measure. And remarkably, an astute listener really can hear bits and pieces of these diverse artistic directions. It strikes me that a common stream in the works of these highly distinctive composers is a fascination with extremism. Scriabin was emotionally extreme. Messiaen, Var?se, and Penderecki all explored dynamic extremism (although certainly not exclusively). P?rt, Webern, and Feldman were/are structural extremeists, in their individual ways, in the use of sublimely simple forms to achieve potent expressiveness.
The tendency relates to the romantic impulse inherent in the music of all these men, and it is present in copious measure in the music of Arnaoudov. Note the use of the word “silence” and “light” in the titles of these pieces. In sections, especially the opening of “Ritual I,” Arnaoudov asks the pianist to approach the very limit of audibility (pace Feldman). The quality of light, that is, brightness, is achieved in brilliant, polytonal clusters of chords, usually at the climaxes of extended crescendos (pace Messiaen).
This is consistently dynamic music, calling for considerable muscle and coloristic abilities from the performer, and Angela Tosheva, who, like the composer, hails from Sofia, Bulgaria, delivers in spades.
As unconventional as this music is, it is easy to approach, as the composer speaks in broad, basic swaths of sound. For some, this music will sond noisy, but others will respond to a genuine sense of excitement and passion.
– Peter Burwasser, Fanfare, New York
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Performances and Events
Luxemburg,
Thuesday - 10
March 2020
Foyer Europeen, 7.00 p.m.
CLASSIC AND CONTEMPORARY
Milla Mihova - soprano
Anil Schwall - cello
Borislava Taneva -piano
Gheorghi Arnaoudov - The Valey of the Fables (World Premiere)
more...
Vienna,
Thursday - 01
August 2019
Mariahilfer Kirche, 7.00 p.m.
10-th International Festival Orpheus Vienna
Opening concert - Auf Orpheus Spuren
Camerata Orphica Festival Orchestra
Nayden Todorov, conductor
Gheorghi Arnaoudov - Manuscripta Rubra III "Dromenon" (World Premiere)
more...
Vancouver,
Saturday - 22
June 2019
Orpheum Annex Theatre, 2.00 p.m.
Before and Beyond Time
The Music Artistry of Gheorghi Arnaoudov
On the Boundary of Two Millennia
Gheorghi Arnaoudov - FOOTNOTE
(World Premiere)
Gheorghi Arnaoudov - The Way of the Birds II
(World Premiere)
more...
Immutable Codes: Violin Concertos
Roy Theaker - violin
Bulgarian National Radio Symphony Orchestra
Gheorghi Dimitrov - conductor
Sergei Prokofiev - Violin Concerto No. 2 in G Minor
Gheorghi Arnaoudov - Phantasmagorias I
Concerto for violin, harpsichord, keyboard
instruments, percussions and orchestra
Based on the Book of Imaginary Beings
by Jorge Luis Borges
Apple Music - 505254254, 2017
more at Apple Music...
Sofia,
Friday - 05
April 2019
BNR Concert Studio, 7.00 p.m.
ppIANNISSIMO 2019 Festival
After the Silence
Kersten McCall (DE/NL) – flute
Kamelia Miladinova (BG/NL) – piano
Gheorghi Arnaoudov - "Manuscripta Rubra"
more...
Sofia,
Monday - 22
April 2018
"Bulgaria" Concert Hall, 7.00 p.m.
Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra
Sara Chakarova - percussion
Atanas Paev - percussion
Gheorghi Arnaoudov - "Midnight songs" for two solo percussionists and orchestra
more...
Sofia,
Tuesday - 16
January 2018
The Red House Centre for Culture and Debate "Andrey Nikolov", 7.00 p.m.
Anja Lechner - Cello recital
Gheorghi Arnaoudov - “Three sonnets
of Michelangelo”
Gheorghi Arnaoudov - „Kells“
more...
Sofia,
Monday - 13
November 2017
"Bulgaria" Chamber Concert Hall, 7.00 p.m.
Gheorghi Arnaoudov 60 years
Celebration concert
Simos Papanas - violin,
Borislava Taneva - piano,
Mila Mihova - soprano,
Ines Simeonova - piano,
Atanas Krastev - violoncello,
Quarto Quartet, & Simeon Zlatkov - piano.
more...
Sofia,
Friday - 20
October 2017
Bulgaria Concert Hall, 7.00 p.m.
"Concerto ppIANISSIMO"
for two pianos and orchestra
Bulgarian National Radio Symphony Orchestra
Borislava Taneva - piano,
Lilia Boyadjieva - piano,
Conductor Mark Kadin
more...
Beijing, China,
Friday - 13
October 2017
Beijing Concert Hall, 7.30 p.m.
"Tzu-Yeh Songs" Four Midnight Poems after Ancient Chinese Poets
Forbidden City Chamber Orchestra
more...
Tianjin, China,
Monday - 22
May 2017
Tianjin Grand Theatre Concert Hall, 7.30 p.m.
“The Gates of Dream II” for string quintet
Aja Lechner - cello
more...
Ñîôèÿ,
29 March 2017,
„Collegium” hall of the Ministry of culture
The Minister of culture Rashko Mladenov awarded the eminent composer and pedagogue Gheorghi Arnaoudov with the “Golden Age” – Star, Ministry of culture’s award
More...
Sofia,
April 21 - 23 2017,
Concert Hall of the
National Academy
of Music - Prof. Pancho Vladigerov
The sixth edition of the Vivapiano Competition dedicated to the 60th birth anniversary of the Bulgarian composer Gheorghi Arnaoudov will take place from 21-23 April 2017
more...
Munich,
Wednesday - 5
April 2017, 19.30 a.m.
Schwere Reiter
“Three sonets of Mchelangelo” for cello solo
Aja Lechner - cello
more...
Sofia,
Friday - 3
March 2017, 11.30 a.m.
"Bulgaria"Concert Hall
“Forgotten Songs” for piano
Alexander Vassilenko - piano
more...
Yambol,
Sunday - 5
February 2017 11.30 a.m.
"Saglasie" Cultural club, Blue Hall
“Las puertas del sueno”
Sinfonie silenziose e calme per orchestra
da camera e pianoforte
"Dianopolis" Chamber Orchestra
Polina Antonova - piano
Konstantin Ilievky - conductor
more...
Sofia,
Saturday - 17
December 2016
National Palace of Culture, Hall 6, 7.00 p.m.
“Catalogue of Gadjets, Winds and Sensations”
for violin, violoncello and pianoforte
"Ardenza" Trio
Galina Koycheva - violin,
Konstantin Evtimov - violoncello,
Daniela Dikova - Piano
more...
more...
Sofia,
Monday - 5
December 2016
"Filip Kutev" Concert Hall 7.00 p.m.
“Las puertas del sueno”
Sinfonie silenziose e calme per
orchestra da camera e pianoforte
"Orpheus" Chamber Orchestra
Raicho Hristov - conductor
more...
Gabrovo,
Tuesday - 13
September 2016
City Art Gallery 7.00 p.m.
Phantasmagorias IV "Brahms versus Wagner"
Theodora Hristova - violin, Yordan
Dimitrov - violin
Ivo Krastev - viola,
Hristo Tanev - cello,
Elena Dikova - piano
more...
Pleven,
Saturday - 10
September 2016
"Katia Popova" Hall 7.00 p.m.
“Las puertas del sueno”
Sinfonie silenziose e calme per
orchestra da camera e pianoforte
Pleven Philharmonics
Deyan Pavlov - conductor
more...
more...
Copyright © 2016
Gheorghi Arnaoudov, All rights reserved
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