Trakia Association (Plovdiv)

Until 2022 the Plovdiv association had kept to chamber evenings in the Chalakov House in the old town. In September that year it took on something far larger: two nights of the Wiener Symphoniker at the Ancient Theatre, the orchestra's first appearance in Bulgaria, with Beethoven's Coriolan overture, Paganini's First Violin Concerto and Dvořák's New World. Plovdiv Municipality financed the project through its cultural calendar and the Austrian Embassy came in as partner; the violinist Mario Hossen, Plovdiv-born, was the moving force, and Ivan Popov speaks for the association.