The International Music Festival “Varna Summer” is the first music festival in Bulgaria, founded in 1926 in the city of Varna.
One hundred years ago, shortly after the official opening of the Varna Sea Baths in 1926 — the first spa center in the seaside city — prominent figures of Varna’s cultural community, including the composers Pancho Vladigerov and Dobri Hristov, laid the foundations of the first national music celebrations in Bulgaria. These celebrations later evolved into the country’s largest International Music Festival.
Having earned both national and international prestige, today the Festival stands as a representative forum for Bulgarian and world musical creativity and performing arts.
The motto of its founders — “to unite the finest musical forces of the country” — continues to guide the Festival’s mission, particularly in promoting Bulgarian musical culture. Numerous Bulgarian works have received their premiere performances within the framework of “Varna Summer.”
The Festival has a multi-genre character and includes the following modules:
• Main Programme – Symphonic and Chamber Music
• International Symposium
• International Summer Music Academy
• Music Laboratory – Varna
• Renaissance and Baroque Music
• Rising Stars
• Open-Air Opera and Ballet
• Crossover – projects at the intersection of classical music with jazz, folklore, electronic music, and other genres
• Intermezzo Programme, in partnership with the International Theatre Festival “Varna Summer” – music, theatre, contemporary dance, performance, video art
• Educational Concert Series “Varna Summer for Children”
• Accompanying Programme – exhibitions, films, conferences, and more
Throughout its 100-year history, the Festival has hosted an impressive array of world-renowned soloists, conductors, symphony and chamber orchestras, choirs, opera ensembles, and ballet companies from across the globe.
Each successive edition strives to present, alongside established names in world musical culture, young artists — the stars of tomorrow — on the stage of the International Music Festival “Varna Summer.”
In 1987, the Festival was admitted to the European Festivals Association (EFA), headquartered in Geneva. Today, EFA is one of the leading non-governmental organizations working at the European level in Brussels on cultural policy. The Association has awarded the International Music Festival “Varna Summer” the prestigious EFFE Label for European Festival Quality for consecutive years from 2015 to 2025.
Since 2019, the Festival’s Artistic Director has been Prof. Mario Hossen (https://www.mariohossen.com).
In September 2019, the International Music Festival “Varna Summer” officially received two prestigious distinctions — the EFFE Label for European Quality Programming and the Audience Award. During a ceremony held at the Centre for Fine Arts BOZAR in Brussels, the European Festivals Association announced the winners of the initiative “Europe for Festivals, Festivals for Europe” (EFFE), supported by the European Commission and the European Parliament.
Official website and social media:
https://varnasummerfest.org
https://www.facebook.com/vnsummerfest
https://www.instagram.com/varnasummerfestival/
