Piano Encounters with Romeo Smilkov and Galina Dimova-Georgieva

Technopolis 20 invites you to the classical music concert entitled “Piano Encounters with the famous Bulgarian pianist and Professor Dr Romeo Smilkov and the pianist Dr Galina Dimova at Markideio Theatre, on Wednesday, 12th of April, at 8pm.

Dr Romeo Smilkov has been in Paphos twice in the past, in 2016 and 2018 where the classical music lovers of Paphos had the opportunity to enjoy his concerts at Technopolis 20, with great success. This time the two musicians will present a solo and four hands piano concert. The programme will include works by Girolamo Frescobaldi, Johann Sebastian Bach, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Franz Liszt, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Francis Poulenc, Dimitar Nenov and Petko Staynov.

Entrance: €15/ €7 (students)

Reservations are necessary at: 70002420

A few words about the musicians

Dr Romeo Smilkov was born on the 7th July, 1960 in Chirpan, Bulgaria. A graduate of the National Music Academy “Prof. Pancho Vladigerov” in Sofia, he studied piano with Prof. Luba Encheva and Prof. Milena Mollova. Among his postgraduate studies was a master class with Prof. Vera Gornostaeva (Moscow) at the Varna Festival in Bulgaria. He won numerous international and national prizes such as 1st Prize of the Salerno Piano Competition in Italy (1979); 2nd Prize of the Razgrad Piano Competition, Bulgaria (1984) and 3rd Prize of the Liszt-Bartok Competition (1989), organized by The Hungarian Cultural Center in Sofia. In 2011, he received the Special Prize “Medeniya Tchan” of the Academy of Music, Dance and Fine Arts, Plovdiv. He also participated in the First International Piano Competition in Tokyo, Japan (1980), in the Tchaikovsky Piano Competition – Moscow, Russia (1982) and in the Liszt Competition/Festival in Budapest, Hungary (1986). Romeo Smilkov has given more than 800 concerts in Bulgaria and in eleven countries of Europe and Asia (Russia, Japan, China and others). He appeared as a soloist with numerous orchestras in Bulgaria and abroad.

His passion for teaching brought him to the secondary music schools in Stara Zagora (1983-1989) and in Plovdiv (1994-1997), both in South Bulgaria. He worked as an assistant of Prof. Milena Mollova at her piano classes at the National Music Academy in Sofia from 1991 to 1993.

Since 1991, Romeo Smilkov has been teaching piano at the Academy of Music, Dance and Fine Arts in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. From 2014, he is a piano Professor at the Academy of Music, Dance and Fine Arts and at the New Bulgarian University in Sofia.

In 2012, he obtained his PhD for the theoretical research on the piano compositions of the Bulgarian composer Nikolay Stoykov. He has published three books as a result of his research in the field of the Bulgarian clavier music.

Romeo Smilkov is one of the most outstanding pianists of his generation. His vast repertoire spans from Frescobaldi to Ligeti. He is a passionate performer of contemporary Bulgarian composers such as Dimitar Nenov (c.1902-1953), Pancho Vladigerov (1899-1978), Lazar Nikolov (1922-2005), Ivan Spassov (1934-1996), Nikolay Stoykov (1936), Vladimir Pantchev (1949), Georgi Arnaudov (1957). Many compositions were written especially for him. Romeo Smilkov presented for a first time in Bulgaria compositions by the Austrian composer Christian Utz and the Lithuanian composer Mikalojus Ciurlionis.

Romeo Smilkov released three solo albums for recording companies such as the American MMO, the Danish label Danacord Records and others. In March, 2016 he recorded the piano works of the Bulgarian pianist and composer Dimitar Nenov in Fazioli Hall in Sasile, Italy for the Greek label Arco.

Prof. Smilkov has held piano master classes at the Music Academy in Gdansk, Poland (2009), ‘G. Tartini’ Conservatory in Trieste, Italy (2010), Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre in Vilnius, Lithuania (2011), Music Department of Istanbul Technical University, Turkey (2012), Harbin University in China (2012). Since 2012, he is a Dean of the Department “Piano and accordion” in The Academy of Music, Dance and Fine Arts in Plovdiv.

Dr Galina Dimova-Georgieva was born in Chirpan, Bulgaria. She started playing the piano at the age of seven and attended the "Christina Morfova" Music High School in Stara Zagora for gifted children. She graduated from the Academy of Music, Dance and Visual Arts in Plovdiv with a distinction in Music Education (M.A.). She continued with postgraduate studies in Music Education and Piano Teaching, at the State Academy of Music in Sofia. She has played as a soloist as well as a piano accompaniment, having a large repertoire. In 1994, she formed The Classical Trio, which performed in various countries and released three digital discs. Also, Dr Dimova has collaborated with video artist Giannos Oikonomou as a composer and performer in two short films.

She gave two Piano Solo recitals in Paphos in 2016 and 2017, took part in the concerts Five Steps into the Future (2017) as part of the official program of the European Capital of Culture Paphos 2017, Concert Francophonie (2017), Piano Synergies (2018), J.S. Bach: Brandenburg Concerto No.5 (2019), From Theory to Practice (2019) performed in Cyprus and Bulgaria, Clara Schumann - 200th Anniversary of Her Birth (2019). Galina also started the project 'Musical Bridges: The Piano Quartet' in 2019 and has performed in all major cultural venues in Cyprus. Some of her last participations were 'The Impossible Dream' (2020), 'Homage to Bach' (2021), 'Sonitus Borealis' in Skagaströnd, Iceland (2021), 'Berlin Electric' (2022). She is a regular guest at festivals in Cyprus such as the Winter Music Festival, the Bach Festival and others, while she has been a member of the jury in international piano competitions.

Today Galina is a music teacher at The International School of Paphos and teaches piano at the Paphos Music High School. as well as privately. Finally, she is a doctor of the Academy of Music, Dance and Fine Arts in Plovdiv.