Crossroad Tales
Zhivko Vasilev and Federico Pascucci are among the most vibrant representatives of the new generation of musicians in Bulgaria and Italy. They first met at the Setúbal Jazz Festival in Portugal in 2021, beginning a collaboration that grew into a joint concert project.
Vasilev is one of today’s leading kaval players – a musician, composer, and producer whose style blends folklore, jazz, and contemporary instrumental music. A graduate of Codarts Rotterdam, he has an extensive international career. Pascucci, saxophonist and clarinetist from Rome, studied in Amsterdam and at Santa Cecilia. His music combines jazz aesthetics with Balkan, Ottoman, Romani, Persian, and Indian traditions.
Together, the quartet presents original compositions that unfold as a journey through time, space, and cultures.
Cassie Martin
Cassie Martin is a rising voice in the classical guitar world. Named a “Revelation” by Guitar Classique Magazine, she began guitar at five and earned her Master’s degree at the Paris National Conservatory in 2024. At 23, she already holds major international prizes, including the ICMA-Classeek Award (2024), Silesian Guitar Autumn (Poland), Forum Gitarre Wien (Austria), GuitArt Plovdiv (Bulgaria), and Taiwan International Guitar Competition.
She has performed across Europe, the Americas, and Asia, and joined projects such as Eurostrings, Gautier Capuçon’s Un été en France, and Sergio Assad’s The Woman and the Guitar. Known for her refined, expressive playing, she explores repertoire from early to contemporary music. She is a Savarez artist, playing a 1994 Daniel Friederich guitar.
Damjan Pejcinoski Quintet
Damjan Pechinovski (born October 25, 1984, Ohrid, North Macedonia) is a virtuoso guitarist known for his versatility—from gypsy jazz and fusion to blues, rock, country, and traditional music. He holds a master's degree in jazz from the Pancho Vladigerov National Academy of Music and the New Bulgarian University in Sofia.
In 2009, he was a finalist in Guitar Idol in London, and in 2010, he won two international competitions – Shred This Too and Ziua Chitarelor (Romania). He participated in Eurovision 2010 in Oslo, and in 2013, he was a soloist with the Presidential Orchestra of Belarus. In 2017, he toured China and received a personal award from the mayor of Lanzhou for "Excellence in Performance."
Line-up:
Damjan Pejcinoski – guitar
Dejan Milosavljević – drums
Zoran Jagoridovski – percussion
Goran Gešovski – bass guitar
Gordan Spasovski – piano
As a soloist and with his trio, he has performed and given master classes in Europe, the USA, China, and Australia, and has shared the stage with musicians such as Jennifer Batten, Stu Hamm, Michael Lee Firkins, and others. He teaches at a number of institutions, including as head of the guitar department at the Faculty of Music in Skopje.
Light in Babylon
Light in Babylon is a multicultural music group based in Istanbul, blending Mediterranean and Oriental influences. The band is led by Michal Elia Kamal, an Iranian-Israeli vocalist and songwriter, alongside Turkish and French musicians. Their music conveys messages of humanity, multiculturalism, and women's empowerment, often drawing from Kamal's personal experiences, including her family's escape from Iran after the revolution.
Michal Elia Kamal, born in Tel Aviv to Iranian parents (father from Tehran, mother from Isfahan), is the leading singer, writer, and composer of the group. Her work incorporates sacred Hebrew texts, prayers, and original compositions influenced by Iranian, Middle Eastern, and Mediterranean music. She has performed internationally with Light in Babylon and other ensembles, gaining acclaim for her passionate and heartfelt performances.
Light in Babylon has achieved significant success, with sold-out concerts in Turkey, appearances on Turkish TV, and performances at renowned festivals worldwide. Their YouTube videos have garnered over 30 million views, and they have been featured on platforms like ARTE TV, Euro News, and TEDx. The band is celebrated for its authentic and vibrant music, representing the rich cultural traditions of Istanbul and the Eastern Mediterranean.
Mateusz Kowalski
Mateusz Kowalski is one of the most outstanding guitarists, touted by Classical Guitar Magazine as a "spectacular" musician who performs a vast repertoire ranging from the renaissance to contemporary works with remarkable expertise, stylistic sensitivity, and great musical culture. He has performed in some of the most prestigious concert halls around the world, including the Musikverein in Vienna and the Shanghai Grand Theatre, captivating audiences in cities such as New York, Los Angeles, Paris, and London. His performances have been heard in over 20 countries. Kowalski gained recognition for the first-ever live performance of Fryderyk Chopin’s Piano Concerto in F minor arranged for guitar and orchestra. The premiere took place during the "Chopin and His Europe" festival in 2023 with {Oh!} Orchestra conducted by Martyna Pastuszka. He is the winner of prestigious competitions, including the 2nd EuroStrings International Competition in London - a contest open only to the winners of the most significant European guitar competitions. Kowalski has already released several albums, both as a soloist and chamber musician. The most notable of these - "Polish Romantic Guitar" was premiered in 2021. These recordings were produced in collaboration with the Fryderyk Chopin Institute. This project significantly contributed to the popularization of the works of Bobrowicz, Horecki, Szczepanowski, and Sokołowski, of which Kowalski is a passionate advocate.
The artist collaborates with many distinguished musicians such as Martyna Pastuszka, Vaclav Luks, David Garrett, Marek Pasieczny, and Tomasz Radziszewski.
Mateusz Kowalski was born in 1995 in Koszalin, Poland. He began learning to play the guitar at the age of 7 and studied for the next 12 years under the guidance of Dariusz Schmidt at the Grażyna Bacewicz State Music School Complex in Koszalin. He later graduated from the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw in the class of Ryszard Bałauszko, receiving the Magna cum Laude medal. He has honed his skills in numerous masterclasses with renowned musicians such as Sergio Assad, Oscar Ghiglia, and Alvaro Pierri. One of the most important ones remains the Konzertexamen in Darmstadt under Tilman Hoppstock.
Alongside his solo career, Kowalski is also active in education, giving masterclasses at festivals around the world.
Since October 2019, he has been a lecturer at the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw.
The artist performs on both traditional and modern instruments, including those by Jorge Godoy (Martinez) and Philip Woodfield-Oliver Moore. He uses Augustine strings.
Pavle Filipovic
Pavle Filipovic has obtained his bachelor's and master’s degrees at the Faculty of Music in Belgrade as the best student in his department in the class of Prof. Darko Karajić. Among the most notable prizes he won at the competitions are:
In 2018. He performed Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez with the Radio Television of Serbia Symphony Orchestra under the baton of maestro Bojan Suđić.
At the XXIII Guitar Art Festival in Belgrade, he participated in the premiere of the newly composed piece by Jaime Zenamon, “From Balkans with love”, Op. 190, together with Dmitri Illarionov, Julia Trintschuk, Slobodan Milivojević, Alberto Mesirca, and Petar Čulić.
He has given solo recitals on international festivals such as the Guitar Art Festival in Belgrade, Vojvodina Guitar Festival in Novi Sad, Anna Amalia in Weimar, Hamburger Gitarrenforum, Tuzla Guitar Week, Gitarrenfestival Tübingen, Festival Internacional do Tejo in Portugal, and Tremolo International Guitar Festival Skopje.
He has attended masterclasses with many renowned professors, including Hubert Käppel, Eliot Fisk, Gabriel Bianco, Marco Tamayo, Zoran Dukić, Jorge Caballero, Dimitri Illarionov, Pavel Steidl, Dušan Bogdanović, Oscar Ghiglia, Edin Karamazov, Denis Azabagić, Goran Krivokapić, Xuefei Yang, Roman Viazovskiy, Thomas Offermann, Costas Cotsiolis, Judicaël Perroy, and Lorenzo Micheli.
Quintet Colors
One of the most vibrant and innovative contemporary Bulgarian ensembles will present its magnetic "quintet of colors," driven by the energy and inspiration of five exceptional musicians.
Petar Milanov (guitar, tambourine), Hristina Beleva (gadulka), Dimitar Gorchakov (piano), Vasil Hadjigruedev (double bass), and Alexander Deyanov – Skiller (beatbox) – these are the names behind QUINTET COLORS.
Each of them is well known for their strong individuality, creativity, and participation in key projects such as Beleva/Milanov, UnTraditional Duo, Beleva/Hadjigruedev, "Buchimish" (by the choir "The Mystery of Bulgarian Voices"), Clavexperience, and others.
Line-up:
Petar Milanov – guitar, tambourine
Hristina Beleva – gadulka
Dimitar Gorchakov – piano
Vasil Hadzhigrudev – double bass
Alexander Deyanov – Skiller – beatbox
QUINTET COLORS is not just a band – it is a space where tradition meets the contemporary, acoustic purity intertwines with modern rhythms, and sound becomes a story without words. The explosive combination of gadulka and beatbox, jazz piano and folk sensibility, deep double bass and temperamental guitar creates an experience that transcends styles and labels.
Trio Taratsa
Trio Taratsa was established in 2023 in Thessaloniki, bringing together its members' diverse musical backgrounds with a shared desire to explore and express themselves through rebetiko music. The group consists of Nikonas Spiliotakis on bouzouki and vocals, Philopoimen Doulis on bouzouki, guitar, and vocals, and Stavroula Naki on guitar and vocals. Their repertoire spans the broader spectrum of the rebetiko tradition, from its early roots in the pre-war Café Aman scene in Smyrna and Istanbul, to the virtuosic music of the great orchestras of Vasilis Tsitsanis and Manolis Chiotis, that flourished in the major urban centers of post-war Greece.
