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Stefan Velkov Guitar Recital
2018-04-19

19 April 2018

Odeion

19:30

Bulgarian-born Stefan Velkov was introduced to music since earliest childhood. His official training in music theory, piano and guitar started at the age of seven.

Stefan received his first music degree as a guitar and light music performer from the Bulgarian State Conservatoire (later renamed to Bulgarian Academy of Music). At this stage (the late seventies of the 20th century) the guitar in Bulgaria was still regarded mostly as a light-music instrument. That is why it was included as a study subject only within the Light Music Department of the Conservatoire. The interest and the knowledge of the classical guitar was still at its infancy, but its popularity was growing fast. This made it necessary for the Bulgarian Ministry of Culture to make a historic decision: for the first time in Bulgarian music history, a decision was made to send a young Bulgarian guitarist to Germany to receive a proper music degree in classical guitar and to return to Bulgaria and introduce classical guitar as a subject at the Bulgarian Academy of Music.

After competing with all the most talented guitarists of the country, Stefan won the competition which enabled him to receive a master's degree in classical guitar from the Berliner Hochschule fur Musik Hanns Eisler. He completed his studies in guitar, piano and composition with a special reward of the Hochshule as one of the five best students. During his studies he also won the competition for the best guitar composition.

During his studies abroad (1981 - 1988) Stefan met and had masterclasses with most of the best guitar professors and guitar maestros of our time: Maria-Livia Sao Marcos (Switzerland/ Brazil), Costas Cotsiolis (Greece), Dieter Kreidler (Germany) and Leo Brouwer (Cuba).

In 1986 he was appointed as the first classical guitar lecturer at the Bulgarian Academy of Music and chairperson of the guitar festivals and competitions. This was the time when his own active concert career began. Stefan's repertoire includes most of the great masterpieces ever written for this instrument, but he became more and more known for his own compositions for guitar which, according to critics, outshine the best known masterpieces created for classical guitar.

Stefan’s arrival in SA (1991), coincided with the search of the Free State Musicon for a qualified guitar lecturer in order to introduce the subject classical guitar as part of its music training programme. He was offered the position of senior guitar lecturer at the Musicon which he holds until present day. During this time he also taught at the University of the Free State (1992 - 1999).

Stefan has given concerts in Bulgaria, Poland, Germany, Czech Republic, England and South Africa.

PROGRAMME

  • Velkov: Summer Dream
    From the golden heritage of the classical guitar:
    • Villa-Lobos: Prelude
  • Two Magnificent Arpeggios
    • Giuliani
    • Brower
  • Two Romantic Pieces:
    • Velkov: Serenade
    • Velkov: Adagio (The Magic Of Love)
  • Velkov: Bulgarian Suite for Guitar
    • I Bulgarian folk dance
    • II Bulgarian folk-singing
    • III Bulgarian folk dance in 7/8
    • IV Bulgarian folk-song
    • V Bulgarian folk dance in 9/8
  • Velkov: Tango
  • Velkov: Two Modern Dances
  • Velkov: The Wild Horse

ADMISSION

  • R120 (adults)
  • *R80 (pensioners)
  • *R70 (UFS staff)
  • *R50 (students, learners and block bookings of 10+)

Tickets available at Computicket or online at http://online.computicket.com/web/

*Please note that tickets for pensioners, students, learners and UFS staff can only be purchased at a Computicket outlet (Shoprite Checkers) or at the doors since a valid card or ID has to be presented to qualify for the above mentioned discount.

ENQUIRIES
Ninette Pretorius (tel. 051 401 2504)


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Die Plaasvervangers (A)

Production: Die Plaasvervangers (A)
Text: Pieter Fourie
Director: Stéphanie Brink

Venue: Wynand Mouton Theatre

Dates and times:
23 March 2010 19h30
24 March 2010 19h30
25 March 2010 19h30
26 March 2010 19h30

Bookings: Computicket (Mimosa Mall and Checkers)

Bookings for block bookings of 10 or more people can be done with Thys Heydenrych (072 235 3191) or Marijda Kamper (051 401 2160)

Die Plaasvervangers is a student production of the Department of Drama and Theatre Arts and is under the direction of Stephanie Brink. The production promises stylized theatre at its best! This piece was chosen in celebration of Pieter Fourie’s 70th birthday as well as the fact that it delivers an important message to our young and floundering democracy of today.

Fourie touches on sensitive political issues stretching from the Anglo/Boer War up to the late eighties and points specifically to the injustices and dangers of Apartheid. The production gives a satirical view on the happenings around the birthday celebrations of the main character namely the Kampmoeder (Camp Mother). This dramatic dark comedy uncovers the falsehood contained in the Afrikaner’s cultural roots. The idea of the big lie, in all its facets, comes to light over 4 generations. Fourie wanted to publicly expose his contempt for the lie that the Afrikaner indulges himself in: the complete uncovering of the hypocritical lie that is the super race, the Afrikaner. The fitting title emphasises the lie as replacement (in Afrikaans: plaasvervanger) for the truth on which the Afrikaner has built his identity in the present. The original rural tour of the production was banned in 1978 because some of Fourie’s insinuations in the play were too extreme for governing bodies, politicians as well as certain critics, who questioned the artistic value of the piece.

The dramatic action centres around the 100th birthday celebrations of the Kampmoeder. She represents the Afrikaner’s idealism and the consciousness of his calling at the beginning of this century. According to legend, the typical Mother of the nation, as is her duty as Afrikaner woman, gave birth to a Boer child in the concentration camp in order to insure the Afrikaner nation’s purity and future. The boy, who was born, becomes a senator and, according to tradition, inherits the family-farm and the duty to raise a new generation of Bonthuyse. The fact is that, unknown to the Kampmoeder, her descendants have left the farm and the brown servant-family has moved into the big farmhouse. But this is not the only secret!

The play opens with the characters in disarray as a result of the lie of what has happened to the farm. The Afrikaner traditions must be reinstated before the celebrations begin! The brown servant-family has four days to restore the house and plant new palms in the place of the lost symbolic ones to complete the fake facade.

Fourie exposes, in a comical way, the lie of each generation of Afrikaner until the Kampmoeder finally reveals the complex intrigue of the original lie – to the great consternation of the pillars of the pre-1994 governments. The play utilizes symbolic scenes and figures as signs of the gradual moral degradation of the Afrikaner nation over the decades.
 

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