Wednesday, 15th November 2017
The Novi Sad Theatre – Újvidéki Szinház
Plovdiv, Bulgaria
The 2019 European Capital of Culture
Nikolay Karageorgiev, guitar
Miroslav Turiyski, piano
Hristo Minchev, bass
Kristian Jelev, drums
NIKOLAY KARAGEORGIEV, guitar
Nikolay Karageorgiev is a Bulgarian musician, – an accomplished guitarist and a composer. He is equally versed in rock, jazz, funk, blues, classical music and traditional Bulgarian music and is renowned for his amazing improvisations, refined sound and exhilarating solos. Nikolay Karageorgiev was born in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, in 1973. He graduated from High School of Music ‘Dobrin Petkov’ in his home town where his major was violin. He began playing the electric guitar at the age of sixteen and it very soon became his main instrument. During this same period, from 1992 to 1995, he had numerous opportunities to play together with many of the most famous jazz musicians in Bulgaria and he established his name as one of them. These groups and artists are: ‘Beli, Zeleni, Cherveni’ Jazz Band, Asen Doykin, Vasil Parmakov, HristoYotsov, PlamenKaradonev, Angel Zaberski – Junior. Nikolay Karageorgiev realised a lot of band projects on almost all jazz festival stages in the country. After having performed for several years in Bulgaria and abroad, he was granted a scholarship from the oldest European school for jazz “Swiss Jazz School” in Bern, Switzerland, where he was awarded a Master’s degree in jazz guitar performance. During the Bern period, he, together with some of his Swiss colleagues, was invited to become part of the programmes of the International Jazz-festival in Bern, Freiburg Jazz Festival, Jazz Nights Langnau, Bird Eye Jazz Club, Bierhübeli Club, Moods Jazzclub, InnereEngeJazzroom and others. He has played with the Swiss Jazz Orchestra, Lukas Thoeni’s Amygdala, Siphon, New Generation Orchestra, Funky Brotherhood, etc. He has also participated in projects with other well-known musicians, such as Billy Cobham and the trumpeter and composer Markus Stockhausen. Along with the performances on the European jazz scene, Nikolay Karageorgiev has been part of a number of pop projects, among which Stefanie Heinzmann & Band, Sandee, musical “Romeo &Julia”, as well as in the most successful Swiss musical “EwigiLiebi”. Working as a guitarist, he has also had the opportunity to teach at Swiss Jazz School and Jazz Nights Langnau, where he has led workshops on jazz improvisation and guitar performance. After a ten-year stay in Bern, he returned to his home town, where he formed Nikolay Karageorgiev Trio. Now settled in Bulgaria, he plays in a number of projects with famous musicians, such as Teodosi Spasov, Veselin Koychev, Miroslav Turiyski, Aleksandar Lekov, etc. He teaches jazz guitar performance at the Academy of Music, Dance and Fine Arts in Plovdiv and also dedicates time to leading workshops at the “Bee Bop Cafe” Jazz Club, which are attended by both young guitarists and his colleagues with years of experience. All of them – he and the other performers – find these meetings really helpful, communication-provoking and highly inspiring.
MIROSLAV TURIYSKI, piano
Miroslav Turiyski is one of the well-known jazz musicians in Bulgaria.
Since 1999 he has performed in major venues in Bulgaria, Europe and North America presenting his own projects, arrangements and original music.
He is known also as a composer and arranger for contemporary bands.
Since 2010 he has been a jazz piano and improvisation Professor at The Art Academy in Plovdiv.
HRISTO MINCHEV, bass
Hristo Minchev is a graduate of the Academy of Music, Dance and Fine Arts, in the bass guitar master class of Alexander Lekov.
He has taken part in many blues, jazz and pop projects alongside with some of the most popular Bulgarian musicians: Blues Traffic, Villi Kavaldzhiev, The Miroslav Turiyski Trio, The Alexander Lekov and Evelin Demirev Band, Jimmy’s Band, Weselin Koichev, Tsvetan Nedialkov, Hot Club de Plovdiv, Petar Salchev, Vasil Petrov, Tom Sinatra, the Acoustic Jazz Trio and many more.
He currently teaches bass guitar and contrabass at The Paisii Hiliandarski University of Plovdiv.
KRISTIAN ANTONIEV JELEV, drums
He was born on the 19th February 1989 in the family of musicians. At the age of six, he started playing the piano and studding solfeggio. He then, at the age of nine, took part in some concerts held at the local cultural centre. After completing primary school, he moved to Plovdiv to study music in “St. Kiril and Metodi” secondary school. His special musical profile was piano in the class of Diana Kaneva. He took part in many competitions and won a prize on each of them both as a solo and in an ensemble.
At the age of sixteen, he got introduced with drums as a musical instrument and started playing intensively. He now had concerts as a drummer as well as a pianist.
After graduating he started studying a brand new field of specialty at the Academy of Music, Dance and Fine Arts, Faculty of “Pop and Jazz”. He was in the master class of Miroslav Turiysky. He graduated with a Bachelor degree with honors and then did the same with his Master degree in drums in the master class of Ivan Enev.
Presently he is doing his PhD at the Academy of Music, Dance and Fine Arts under the guidance and supervision of Veselin Koichev, also a PhD in the field.
In the early 2016 he took part in recording one of the studio albums of Frank Sinatra’s nephew, Tom Sinatra. He was also invited to play in “The Teachers” project, where he played alongside with Tzvetan Nedialkov /guitar/, Weselin Koichev /guitar/ and Hristo Minchev on bass guitar.
This formation took part in the prestigious music festival “Apolonia” in the summer of the same year and later they recorded a studio album.
He also plays drums in the “Plovdiv Octet”, whose musical director is Miroslav Turiyski.
This octet includes skilled musicians such as: Martin Tashev on trumpet, Venelin Georgiev on alto-saxophone, Dimitar Liolev on tenor-saxophone, Ivan Melin on trombone, Nikolai Karageorgiev on guitar and Alexander Lekov on bass guitar. They made their debut on the great jazz festival “Plovdiv Jazz Fest” in 2015.
His mixture of influences and abilities include many different styles: alternative rock, blues, funk, jazz and hip-hop. He is diverse and participates in many different projects, where he gets to work with some of the best contemporary artists and share the stage with them as well.
Some of the names are: Veselin Koichev, Tsvetan Nedialkov, Vasil Pterov, Vladimir Karparov, Petar Salchev, Alexander Lekov, Nikolaj Karageorgiev, Miroslav Turiyski, Angel Dulgerov, Dimitar Liolev, Martin Tashev, and others.
