The Pazardzik Symphony Orchestra (PSO) announces the first edition of the “Georgi Atanasov Conducting Competition” open and dedicated to orchestra conductor of any nationality without age limits.
The masterclass will be held in Pazardzik (BG) from December 13th to 17th 2026 and is organized by the PSO.
The Professor teacher will be Mo.Vittorio Parisi, teacher of orchestra conducting at the Conservatory of Milano.
RULES
The 5 full days intensive masterclass will be held in Pazardzik, according to the schedule written below.
1. Eligibility
The masterclass is open to all the conductors, without nationality or age limitations.
2. Application and participation ot the Competition
Starting from June 7tht 2026 the candidates are able to book their place and they have to send their CV and a HD photo, together with the scan copy of their passport or identity card.
The acceptance to the masterclass will be confirmed in maximum 48 hours by our office.
The acceptance is based on the priority of arrival of the applications and it will be confirmed until there are available places.
The Masterclass is structured as follows:
6 hours/daily masterclass alternating rehearsals with PSO (full size orchestra) and piano rehearsals
according to the following schedule
December 13th
3 hours piano rehearsals
December 14th – December 17th
2 hours piano rehearsals and 4 hours full size symphony orchestra rehearsals
All the active participant will have ca. 100 minutes podium (orchestra and piano)
All the active participants will receive an official certificate of participation signed by the Professor and the artistic director of the orchestra
All the sessions of the masterclass will be professionally video-recorded by a professional cameraman, a front camera video will be provided to all the participants (included in the participation fee amount)
The passive participants will be allowed to attend all the sessions of the masterclass
3. Repertoire
The repertoire of the masterclass will be :
Johannes Brahms – Symphony n.1 op.68
Felix Mendelssohn – Symphony n.3 op.56 “Scottish”
Antonin Dvorak – Symphony n.9 op.95 “From the New World”
Bela Bartok – from Concerto for orchestra – “Intermezzo interrotto”
4. Registration
In order to registrate to the competition and book the place, every candidate should send an updated CV, a HD photo and a scan copy of the passport or the ID card to the following email address: (un solo indirizzo email):
5. Participation fee
The active participants after receiving the confirmation will be required to pay the participation fee that consists in € 1.200,00 to be paid according to this schedule:
- € 600,00 at the moment of the application, after receiving the confirmation by our office
- € 600,00 within September 15th 2026
Special offer EARLY BIRD:
The first 5 participant who will confirm their attendance of the masterclass and pay the entire participation fee immediately will benefit of a special discount (€ 1.000,00 participation fee early bird).
Passive participant will be allowed to attend all the sessions and their participation fee is € 200,00
Please contact our office at for all the necessary information regarding the payment of the fees.
6. Transfer and accommodation
Transfers and accommodation are up to the participants;
Our logistic office will help the participants to find the accommodation, if any suggestion is required.
Moreover we will be also able to help the participants also with official invitation letters, when it’s needed in order to get the visa.
8. Media rights
The candidates by submitting their application will hand over all rights of the TV and radio recordings to the Promoter, this includes all pictures taken on and off stage.
The candidates by submitting their application will also give their permission and approval to the Promoter to use the candidates’ names and pictures in press releases.
9. Final rules
The participation to the masterclass implies the full acceptance of the present rules.
The organization reserves the right to modify the development of the project in the event of force majeure. in that case the organization will give prompt notification of any modification that may occur.
For any legal action the English text of the announcement must be considered.
The forum in charge is the forum of Pazardzik (BG)
