Stefan Vratchev

The organ part of Saint-Saëns's Third Symphony fell to Stefan Vratchev when the Sofia Philharmonic played the Thessaloniki Concert Hall on 16 October 2024, on a programme that also held Vladigerov's Seventh Symphonic Dance and Beethoven's Third Piano Concerto with Cyprien Katsaris. A native of Plovdiv, he began the piano at six with Stela Oslekova and finished the music school there in the class of Rositsa Ivancheva before studying with Julia and Konstantin Ganev at the Pancho Vladigerov State Academy of Music in Sofia from 1984 to 1989. He gave his first concert at thirteen and has played as soloist with Bulgarian orchestras and appeared in Greece, Italy, Britain, Germany and the United States. He has been with the Sofia Philharmonic since 1989, at home in repertoire running from the pre-classical to jazz, and in chamber music beside his orchestral work.