On the eve of the Danube Day, the State Opera Ruse invites you to a magical evening where music will tell stories, paint vivid pictures, and touch the heart.

At the conductor’s podium will stand Ukki Sachedina, an Indian-American conductor with an international career, currently living and working in Berlin and Los Angeles. As a guest conductor, he has had the privilege of working with orchestras across Europe and the United States. Ukki has served as assistant conductor of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and Jaime Martín. He is currently mentored by Maxim Eshkenazy, Jorma Panula, and Markus Stenz, and has also studied under Paavo Järvi. Ukki has appeared on the programs of the Bulgarian National Radio and Television. He has been featured on NPR’s From the Top, as well as Young Artist Showcase on WXQR in New York and in New York Concert Review. Currently, Ukki is studying at the Hanns Eisler School of Music in Berlin. Previously, he completed his conducting studies at the Colburn School under Maxim Eshkenazy. He made his conducting debut at the age of 16 with a performance of Aaron Copland's Appalachian Spring with a chamber orchestra he founded himself. In 2022 and 2023, he was twice awarded the McBeth Foundation’s Rising Stars of the Future prize by the South Coast Symphony.

The stage will also welcome the laureate of the National Competition Orpheus of the Future – the young violinist Dara Karagyozova. Dara Karagyozova was born in 2006. She took her first violin lesson at the age of six and has since followed her musical path under the guidance of the inspiring violin pedagogue Blagorodna Taneva, whose class she attended at the National Music School "Lyubomir Pipkov" in Sofia, where she completed her studies in 2025. For 12 years, Dara has been actively involved in the school’s musical life and beyond, successfully participating in numerous national and international competitions. Among her most significant awards are prizes from: the Maria Herrero International Competition (Granada, Spain, 2024), the 32nd International Competition Music and Earth (2024), the National Competition Path to Glory (2020, 2023), Viva Violin (2023), the International Youth Music Competition (Atlanta, USA, 2022, online), Astana Grand Festival (Kazakhstan, 2022), Future Stars Italy (2021), as well as competitions in Niš, Tryavna, and others.

In the program:
J. Sibelius – Symphony No. 1
N. Rimsky-Korsakov – Fantasy "The Golden Cockerel"
C. Debussy – Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune
A. Vivaldi – The Four Seasons – "Summer"