Bachfest Leipzig
It's been a wonderful journey, a dream come true for me. Standing ovations filled the hall of the Alte Börse (The Old Stock Exchange) with no empty seats, and the audience relished Bach's music on guitar.
Here is what the Bulgarian journalist Zdravka Andreeva shared about the concert experience in her review:
"I loved every single minute played by Mr. Georgi 'Jojo' Dimitrov!" - exclaimed a lady from Great Britain, from the audience of the concert. And the audience was not at all deterred by the fact that at the same hour, in a neighboring hall 100 meters away, the world star, the famous harpsichordist Andreas Staier, the new winner of the Bach Medal, was playing. And three hours later, in the same place, the beloved Goldberg Variations, performed by another world-famous person, would sound. Christine Schornsheim. This did not stop the audience from filling the beautiful hall of the Old Stock Exchange for a concert by the globally UNKNOWN Bulgarian guitarist Jojo. (The author allows herself this familiarity because of the brevity and prevailing fame).
Let it be known that for the 25 years of existence of the Bachfest, Georgi 'Jojo' Dimitrov (classical guitar) is the only Bulgarian musician with a solo recital at the prestigious forum. It would turn out that he was also the only classical guitarist ever to be commissioned to perform a solo program. This is no coincidence, but it is because in 2022 the musician won the European Bach Prize in Darmstadt, being only 21 years old.
Jojo, the long-haired, cheerful, smiling boy, had chosen a not easy program, only transcriptions of Bach works by the greatest modern masters of the classical guitar - thirsty to touch the work of the "genius with the wig". Georgi 'Jojo' Dimitrov's superb performance proves how convincing Bach's music can sound on the guitar. One of the great challenges of these works, mastered with panache and ease by Jojo, is how to extract important individual lines and individual melodies from the dense tangle of voices in Bach's polyphonic fabric.
Powerful and sonorous, richly nuanced, was the voice of the wonderful Dammann guitar, ringing under the arches of the Old Stock Exchange. The remarkable instrument was loaned to Jojo by the Royal Academy of Music, London, while his own was being repaired. Jojo is currently completing his master's degree at the Academy. The listeners shouted "Bravo!" already in the middle of the program, which is unusual in general, let alone in Saxony. But quite unusual! After the concert, his CDs with works by Bach performed by Georgi 'Jojo' Dimitrov. They were completely sold out.
Old Stock Exchange Hall, June 14, 2024, 11:30 a.m.
Johann Sebastian Bach: Chorale Prelude BWV 645; Prelude, Fugue and Allegro BWV 998; Partitas in D- major B 1006.2; Sonata in G minor B 1001; Ciaccona in D minor BWV1004;
from Leipzig Zdravka Andreeva."
Здравка Андреева
Another important encounter I had in Leipzig was with the journalist for the Bulgarian National Radio, Tatyana Ivanova, reporting for the Bulgarian audience:
"A long-awaited and very prestigious engagement was held by the guitarist Georgi Dimitrov - Jojo, the first winner of the "Olga Kamburova" award, awarded to him by the team of the "Allegro Vivache" broadcast in the "Musician of the Year 2016" poll. On Friday, June 14, he performed a solo recital at the renowned Bach Festival in the German city of Leipzig. His appearance opens a new page for Bulgarian artists in the long history of the forum, as he is the first Bulgarian artist to give a solo recital there. Among the audience in the Old Stock Exchange in the center of the city - the concert hall where the young artists perform - there were also several Bulgarians who came especially to support the debutant."
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Walks in Leipzig were accompanied by constant encounters with my concert-going fans, who stopped me in shops, restaurants, and streets. They shared with me their words of praise for my performance. At the airport, a lady came up to me and hugged me, her excitement at meeting me and the sincere way she spoke about my recital being a sensation, a talk of the evening will forever be a cherished memory of mine.
My experience at the Bach Fest was life-changing and filled with new memorable encounters. I hope to visit the Festival and Leipzig again soon.