site.btaMario Hossen and La Scala Virtuosos Give Charity Concert in Plovdiv

Violinist Mario Hossen and virtuosos from Milan's La Scala gave a charity concert at the Plovdiv Drama Theatre on Friday, performing baroque works before a capacity audience.

The annual Christmas and New Year concert "Seasons and Wonders", organized by Holding KCM 2000, raised more than BGN 6,000 for a local school for children with special needs, CEO Rumen Tsonev said. He thanked the audience and wished them peaceful holidays and a successful 2026.

The theatre director, Suzanne Harutyunyan-Vasilevska, noted that this is the first time La Scala virtuosos have appeared in Bulgaria, while Mario Hossen has long been the face of the event. The initiative has become a standing tradition, with ticket revenues donated each year to medical or educational causes.

In the second half of the concert, Hossen highlighted his partnership with fellow Plovdiv-born violinist Evgenia Staneva, a long-standing member of the Milan ensemble. He said he was moved that both were performing together in their home city of Plovdiv, and by the fact that they had landed at Plovdiv Airport, "proof that it is part of a wider European and global family". He wished the audience joyful and blessed holidays before continuing with the programme.

Listeners enjoyed works including The Four Seasons, variations on an aria from Rossini's Tancredi, the "Prayer" from Rossini's Moses in Egypt, and arias by Paganini and Vivaldi, drawing sustained applause.

Prof. Mario Hossen is an Austro-Bulgarian soloist of international acclaim. He has performed with renowned orchestras such as the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the English Chamber Orchestra, the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, the Bruckner Orchestra Linz, the Orchestra Wiener Akademie, the Vienna Chamber Orchestra, the Wiener Concert-Verein, the Sinfonia Varsovia, the Bulgarian National Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra, I Solisti Veneti, the Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra of Moscow Radio. He plays a G.B. Guadagnini Violin (1749), loaned to him by the Austrian National Bank. He is an Honorary Member of the Amici di Paganini Association in Genoa, in recognition of his outstanding contributions to preserving and promoting Paganini's legacy.