Depeche Mode May 18, Sofia

Vassil Levski Stadium

Tickets: NDK ticket centre

4-8- leva


Depeche Mode, the legendary English band formed in 1980, will perform on May 18 in Sofia at Vassil Levski national stadium. Their phenomenal first show in 2006 in Bulgaria was a smash hit with more than 10 000 tickets sold in less than one hour after the announcement of their release. Organisers are expecting that demand for tickets will again be on a similar scale, so don't dilly-dally!

The show in Bulgaria will be part of their Tour of the Universe 2009, hitting Belgrade and Zagreb, under the umbrella of the Tuborg Greek Fest. Late in April, just before the show in Bulgaria, Depeche Mode are scheduled to release their 12th studio album, which will be promoted in Sofia along with the band's vintage classics.

Tickets are sold at the NDK ticket centre and are priced between 40 and 80 leva.

Depeche Mode are one of the most enduring, most successful and influential bands to have emerged from the New Wave era. They have had 45 songs in the UK Singles Chart, as well as number one albums in the UK, US and Europe. According to EMI, Depeche Mode have sold more than 75 million albums worldwide, as part of total worldwide record sales in excess of 100 million.

In August 2007, during promotion for Dave Gahan's second solo album, Hourglass, it was announced that Depeche Mode were heading back to the studio in early 2008 to work on their upcoming 12th studio album. Rumours surfaced that Ben Hillier would be the producer of the forthcoming album, and in May 2008, the band returned to the studio to work on some songs that Martin Gore had been working on at his home studio in Santa Barbara, California.

At a news conference last October at the Olympiastadion in Berlin, the band officially announced plans for its Tour of the Universe, the group’s first-ever stadium tour in which they will perform in 28 cities across 21 countries throughout Europe, including Bulgaria.


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Kenny G

May 1, 8pm

National Palace of Culture, Hall One, Sofia

World renowned saxophonist, Kenny G, will perform for the first time to the jazz faithful in Bulgaria on May 1 at NDK.

Kenneth Gorelick, better known by his stage name Kenny G, is a Grammy- winning American saxophonist best known for his 1994 classic Forever in Love. His fourth album, Duotones, brought him breakthrough success in 1986. His main instrument is the soprano saxophone, but he also plays alto and tenor saxophone and flute.

He started his music career at the tender age of 17 with Barry White's Love Unlimited Orchestra. He learned how to play under the direction of local trumpeter Gerald Pfister, practising along to his records.

His major breakthrough came in 1988 during Johnny Carson's chat show when he performed his original composition, Songbird. From that point on, there was no turning back and Kenny G's saxophone has now performed alongside legends such as Andrea Bocelli, Whitney Houston, Toni Braxton, Natalie Cole, Michael Bolton, Celine Dion, Aretha Franklin, Frank Sinatra and Barbra Streisand.

Kenny G was named the 25th-highest selling artist in America by the RIAA, with 48 million albums sold in the US as of July 31 2006. In 1994, Kenny G won the Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Composition for Forever in Love.

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Ricchi E Poveri

National Palace of Culture, Hall 1

Tickets: NDK Ticket Centre

May 12, 8pm

One of the most popular Italian bands of all times in Bulgaria will perform in NDK's Hall 1, in an event organised by Art BG. The Italians have created the timeless hits, Che Sara, Se m'innamoro, Mamma Maria, Sara Perche Ti Amo, Made in Italia, Cosi Lontani - among others - in their long career.

As well as in Bulgaria, Ricchi e Poveri have established themselves as a popular Italian pop band, earning themselves fans both in Europe and in Latin America. The band has been active since the late 1960s, selling more than 20 million records to date.

The group was formed in 1967 by Franco Gatti, Angela Brambati, Angelo Sotgiu and Marina Occhiena. Their first public appearance was in Cantagiro 1968 with L'ultimo amore. After gaining momentum and becoming a household pop name in their own right, first in Italy and then abroad, Ricchi e Poveri have participated in the San Remo Music Festival several times since 1970. Ricchi e Poveri also represented Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1978 with song Questo Amore finishing 12th with 53 points.

Ricchi e Poveri has recorded in Italian and Spanish and boasts some of the most popular Italian songs of the 1980s and 1990s such as Mamma Maria, Se m'innamoro, Made in Italy, M'innamoro di te and many others. Their hit Che sara has also been performed by Jose Feliciano and Jimmy Fontana.

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DJ Sasha

Metropolis Party 13 years

May 16, 11pm

Tickets at NDK ticket centre

Following the triumphant night featuring Sven Vath in Universiada Hall, Metropolis subsequently raised the benchmark for memorable parties. Now they're organising another such event for their upcoming birthday. On May 16, starting at 11pm in the Winter Palace of Sport, the electronic crowd in Bulgaria will celebrate its 13th birthday with the participation of DJ Sasha, Steven, Yasen Petrov and Smurfa.

DJ Sasha, a musician and a producer, is enjoying his conspicuous stance in the world of international electronic music, currently occupying seventh place, according to the renowned classification of DJ Mag. Moreover, DJ Sasha has never been out of the top 10 since 1997.

In 2008, he released the hits Who Killed Sparky? and Mongoose - tracks which won the acclaim and attention of world famous DJ's Dubfire, Sven Vath and John Digweed.
Sasha's latest album, Invol2er, wreaked havoc among his devotees and the fans of electronic music in general, as it was one of the most anticipated releases of 2008, winning over the public and critics. The album has been heralded as a future classic in the branch, with a "breathtaking mix of music legends such as Ladytron, Thom Yorke (Radiohead) and the Spooky duo".

At the annual Winter Music Conference, Sasha won the Best Techno/Trance 12 award (1999) for the Xpander EP, and Best CD Compilation awards for Global Underground: Ibiza (1999, 2000) and Involver (2004). He was also nominated in the categories Best European DJ (2004) and Best Remixer. At the 1999 Ericsson Muzik Awards, he received an award for Outstanding Contributions to Dance Music. Sasha was nominated as the top DJ in his genre every year since 2000 in the DJ Awards, but did not win. However, in 2008, he was selected as the best DJ in the progressive house category.



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The Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra

Bulgaria Hall

May 7, 7pm

Fifth Seasonal Concert

Conductor, Eraldo Salmieri, Italy

On the programme:

Carl Maria von Webber

Overture: Magical Shooter

Johan Brahms

Hungarian Dances, Numbers 1,5,6 and 10

Robert Schuman

Fourth Symphony.




Bulgaria Hall

May 14, 7pm

Sixth Seasonal Concert

Conductor: Georgi Dimitrov

Soloist: Mincho Minchev, violin

On the programme:

Pancho Vladigerov, composer.

110th anniversary of Brahms's birth, with

violin and orchestra, from Brahms

Second Symphony.



Bulgaria Hall

May 24, 11.30am

Music for the Soul

Special programme by the Sofia Municipality and the Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra.

FREE ENTRY

Soloist, Professor Neva Krusteva, organ

On the programme

Girolamo Frescobaldi - Fiori musicali: Bergamasca, Capriccio

and Johann Sebastian Bach.




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National Opera and Ballet

1 Vrabcha Str, Sofia

Tel: 02/ 9877011

Performed on May 22, 23,24,26,29,30 and 31


Hoffman Stories

Opera in three acts with prologue and epilogue by Jacques Offenbach. The German-born French composer and cellist of the Romantic era was one of the originators of the operetta form. Of German-Jewish ancestry, he was one of the most influential composers of popular music in Europe in the 19th century, and many of his works remain in contemporary repertory around the world - Bulgaria no exception.


Offenbach's numerous operettas, such as Orpheus in the Underworld, and La belle Helene, were extremely popular in both France and the English-speaking world during the 1850s and 1860s. They combined political and cultural satire with witty grand opera parodies. His popularity in France declined during the 1870s. Consequently, he fled France, but during the last years of his life his popularity rebounded and several of his operettas are still being performed.


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New Symphony Orchestra, Sofia

www.nsobg.com/

1 Bulgaria sq., NDK, Administrative Building, 16 fl.

Sofia 1463, Bulgaria

E-mail: nso@nsobg.com

Tel. +3592 916 6585

Tel./fax +3592 9515571

Mob. +3598 78 417606



May 22, Friday

Petko Dimitrov, conductor

Mussorgsky Prelude to Khovantchina

Shostakovich Cello Concerto No.1

Staimir Todorov, soloist

Tchaikovsky Symphony No.6, b moll, Op. 74, (Pathetique)


Tickets are available either by phone, on +359 2 951 5571, or through the internet at www.ticketstream.bg as well as the box office of Bulgaria Hall

Tickets are nine, 15 or 25 leva, according to seating arrangements. VIP area tickets are available at 40 leva. Tickets, once booked, can be delivered to your address by the end of the next working day via courier.







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Guano Apes

Universiada Hall

May 30, Saturday, 7.30pm

Tickets: from 45 to 60 leva


Record label Most of Evil Music have organised this treat for fans in Bulgaria of Guano Apes, who will hit the stage in Sofia as part of their reunion tour. The cult German nu-metal band will perform in Sofia in their original line-up, their first official concert in this format since 2004. This concert is set to generate international interest as fans come from abroad to see the band play indoors, something which hasn't happened since the group's earliest days. The other band's shows in Europe, following the Sofia gig, will be staged at big outdoor festivals: Rock In Park, Rock Am Ring, and Nova Rock.

The Guano Apes were formed in 1994 in Goettingen, Germany, by guitarist Henning Rumenapp, bassist Stefan Ude and drummer Dennis Poschwatta. Lead singer Sandra Nasic joined the band later the same year. The band's career took off in 1996 after they won a contest for local unsigned bands with their song Open Your Eyes. The song was also their first and most successful single, followed by the release of their 1997 debut album Proud Like a God. Open Your Eyes also appears in the Warren Miller movie, Fifty (1999).

Following that, the band released in 2000 their second full-length album, Don't Give Me Names. The singles Big in Japan (an Alphaville cover) and No Speech received a lot of airplay and the album was certified gold in Germany. Walking on a Thin Line was released in 2003 and spawned the hit single Quietly. The band broke up after the release of their best of album Planet of the Apes and a final tour in February 2005.

The first 500 promotional tickets are priced at 45 leva, with the regular price at 50 leva. On the day of the show tickets will be priced 60 leva.

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