Richard Strauss and Mara Belcheva close Sofia Music Weeks festival

German composer Richard Strauss (1864–1949) and Bulgarian poet and translator Mara Belcheva (1868–1937) were at the centre of the closing concert of the 57th Sofia Music Weeks international music festival on Saturday evening (10 October) at Bulgaria Hall in Sofia. The programme, "Richard Strauss and Mara Belcheva – an untold story", combines orchestral music with readings of letters. Simfonieta–Vratsa, conducted by its director Hristo Pavlov, performed with pianist Nadezhda Tsanova, soloist in the Burleske for piano and orchestra and the driving force behind the project. According to the organisers, Strauss dedicated the work to Belcheva. Soprano Evgenia Ralcheva sings vocal works by the composer, while Ruse Opera director Plamen Beykov reads the letters.

The organisers present the letters as private correspondence between the two, made public for the first time by an heir of the poet, with some originals said to be held in private archives. The acquaintance is dated to 1883–1886, when Belcheva, then still Angelova, was at school in Vienna. The reports contain no independent confirmation of this account. A special edition of the letters is also planned. Pavlov told the BTA news agency the idea emerged about two years ago and described the programme as "много силно романтична музика" (very strongly romantic music).

Born in Sevlievo, Belcheva is known in Bulgarian literary history as the companion of poet Pencho Slaveykov. She translated Friedrich Nietzsche's Thus Spoke Zarathustra (1915) and Gerhart Hauptmann's The Sunken Bell into Bulgarian. The concert is part of the fourth edition of the International Festival Orchestra project; it is funded by Sofia Municipality through its cultural events calendar and co-organised by the Ministry of Culture and the Sofia Philharmonic.