Off the Beaten Path Chamber Music Festival Featuring Bulgarian Artists to Take Place in New York

The Off the Beaten Path Chamber Music Festival will be presented in New York, US, on December 10, the Bulgarian Consulate General in New York said on Facebook on Sunday, sharing a post by Off the Beaten Path Foundation founder and pianist Lora Tchekoratova.

The musical event will take place at the DiMenna Center for Classical Music, New York.

The programme includes Cobble Tale (2024) by Dobrinka Tabakova, Three Madrigals for Piano Trio (2025) by Kenji Bunch, as well as …when space began to toll… for chamber ensemble and electronics (2024) by Peter Kerkelov.

“Off the beaten path between the Rhodope village of Kovachevitsa and New York, three American premieres of music from Bulgaria reach us!”, the Consulate General wrote.

The performers on stage will be Georgy Valtchev (violin), Alexandrina Boyanova (violin), Kenji Bunch (viola), Moran Katz (clarinet), Ari Evan (cello), Madeline Fayette (cello), Mariana Karpatova (mezzo-soprano) and Lora Tchekoratova (piano).

“The Off the Beaten Path Chamber Music Festival, whose seventh edition took place from July 30 to August 9, 2025, in Gotse Delchev, Dobrinishte, Kovachevitsa and Karpachevo, is not merely a musical event, but a platform for building community and shared experience,” Festival co-organiser Mariana Karpatova told BTA.

The musical event was created by Bulgarian classical musicians who live and work abroad. Among the founders are pianist Lora Tchekoratova and violinist Georgy Valtchev.

The idea for the festival emerged in 2017, with Tchekoratova as its main initiator. The village of Kovachevitsa quickly became the symbolic and organizational centre of the Off the Beaten Path Foundation. In 2018, the first edition of the festival was held, and over the years it has grown thanks to the support of local authorities, cultural institutions and the personal commitment of the organizers.