Vladimir Valek (L) – Ludmil Angelov (R) – lighting up Córdoba.
Back over to Spain this week for a concert by Orquesta de Córdoba, led by Vladimir Valek and featuring Ludmil Angelov, piano. The concert was recorded at el Gran Teatro de Córdoba during the Rafael Orozco Festival on November 19, 2009 and broadcast by Radio Nacional España.
Featured on the program are Beethoven’s Leonora Overture number 3 – and then Chopin’s Piano concerto Number 1 with Ludmil Angelov, solo. And the concert concludes with another Beethoven work: Symphony Number 7.
Vladimir Válek was chief conductor of the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra from 1985 to 2011, touring Europe and Asia extensively. From 1996, he was conductor of the Czech Philharmonic, touring Japan, Germany, Denmark and the United States. He was the Principal Conductor of the Slovak Philharmonic from 2004 until 2007, when he was succeeded by Peter Feranec. Válek conducted radio orchestras in Austria, Germany and the Netherlands, and other major orchestras in Europe and the Far East, including the Osaka Symphony Orchestra [ja], the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, the Gewandhausorchester of Leipzig, the Orquesta sinfonica de Barcelona, the Tonkünstler Orchestra of Vienna, the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Japan Philharmonic Orchestra and the Yomiuri Symphony Orchestra, among others. He participated regularly in the Prague Spring Festival, for example conducting Smetana’s Má vlast at the festival’s opening concert in 2002.
From 2002, Válek lectured conducting at the Academy in Prague.
In 2000, Válek was awarded the inaugural Hanno R. Ellenbogen Citizenship Award jointly with Vladimir Ashkenazy, Ken’ichiro Kobayashi, and Charles Mackerras, given by the Prague Society for International Cooperation. Válek was awarded the Medal of Merit from President Václav Klaus in 2010, and the Classic Prague Awards for Lifetime Achievement in 2021.
Válek died on 16 February 2025, at the age of 89.
Ludmil Angelov was born in Varna, Bulgaria, he graduated at the Pancho Vladigerov State Music Academy in Sofia. His teachers were Viktoria Spassova, Ludmila Stoyanova and the phenomenal pianist and pedagogue Konstantin Stankovich, former assistant of Pancho Vladigerov in his piano classes. He won prizes and diplomas at international competitions, including the Senigallia (Italy, 1976), Fryderyk Chopin (Poland, 1985), Palm Beach International Competition (USA, 1990), Piano Masters (Monte Carlo, 1994) and World Piano Masters Tour (France, 1997).
The music of Chopin has been a constant of his performing career. During the 1987–88 season he performed the complete solo-piano works by Chopin in a cycle of twelve recitals, a unique event for which he received the prize of ‘Young Musician of the Year in Bulgaria’. He has also participated in some of the most significant Chopin festivals in Europe, including “Chopin and his Europe” Festival in Warsaw. In 1999 he presented, in a cycle of recitals, the complete works of Chopin in Madrid and other cities of Spain; ten years later, in the 2009–10 season he again performed the complete Chopin in Spain and Bulgaria. In 2000 his recording of Chopin’s Rondos and Variations was awarded a Grand Prix du Disque Chopin by the NIFC in Warsaw.
Ludmil Angelov teaches at New Bulgarian University in Sofia, where he is a Honorary Professor since 2013. He gives masterclasses all over the world and has served as a Jury member at many International Competitions, including F. Chopin Competition in Warsaw (2010, 2015 & 2021). In November 2011 he was awarded the Gloria Artis medal by the Polish Ministry of Culture for his contribution to the international promotion of Polish music. In 2022 he was honored with the highest award of the Bulgarian Ministry of Culture – Golden Century.
He is a member of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of Toledo, Spain, where he directed Toledo International Music Festival for 21 years. He is also the founder of the festivals Piano Extravaganza and Cameralia in Sofia.
Sit back and relax – enjoy the concert.
