The Bulgarian capital will host the 16th edition of the European Music Festival, which will last between March 28 and June 8.

The festival will begin with a concert by prominent Israeli violinist and conductor Shlomo Mintz who will perform at Bulgaria Concert Hall at 19:30 o'clock (EET) on Monday.

The festival consists of thirteen events with the participation of more than 300 artists from Bulgaria, Italy, Austria, USA and Israel.

Mintz will play Bach’s violin concertos, Tchaikovsky's "Serenade for strings" and "Simple Symphony" by Brittel.

The Israeli will simultaneously play the violin and conduct the Classic FM Radio Orchestra.

Other prominent classic artists such as Bulgarian violinist Vesko Eschkenazy, Bulgarian soprano Ina Kancheva, US violist and conductor Joshua Bell, as well as Bulgaria’s and world’s famous conductor Maxim Eshkenazy, will also perform in front of the Bulgarian audience.

The European Music Festival was founded in 2001, its aim being to present to Bulgarian classic music lovers leading national and international musicians. Over the years, in addition to the most gifted Bulgarian musicians, the festival has also featured some of the world’s prominent and renewed artists such as Pinchas Zukerman, Nigel Kennedy, I Solisti Veneti and the Moscow City Symphony Orchestra.

This year the European Music Festival is organised under the aegis of Bulgarian Interior Minister Rumyana Bachvarova and mayor of Sofia Yordanka Fandakova.

More information about the Festival’s events and tickets can be found here.