Video 1: Vladimir Mollov performs a rendition of Richard Galliano’s “A French Touch”. He shares, “Exploring some features of my Roland digital accordion. In this video I use the looper for the drum part and an upright bass to try and approximate the sound of a jazz trio.”

Video 2: “Breeze From Paris” is a French Musette composed by Vladimir Mollov

Accordionist Vladimir Mollov will be joining the fabulous musicians of The Cleveland Orchestra on Thursday, October 5, 2023, at 7:30 PM for a few performances of Johannes Maria Staud’s “Whereas Reality Trembles”. The program also features works by Mozart and Tchaikovsky. Franz Welser-Möst is the conductor.

Vladimir is part of a family of self-taught wedding musicians. Vladimir shares, “As my father is also an accordionist, I was inspired by the sounds of the accordion since early childhood. At eighteen months old, I “played” my little accordion alongside my father at weddings – go to the photo gallery for proof! When I was seven I started taking formal accordion lessons with the nationally recognized pedagogue Nadejda Nicheva in Kazanluk, Bulgaria. Later on I studied with Dr. Peter Marinov at the National Music Academy, the internationally recognized accordion artist Hristina Danova, and Nedelcho Dimitrov, a laureate of national and international accordion festivals and competitions. Looking back I consider this to be a period of great musical growth and inspiration for me.

Thanks to the impeccable guidance of my teachers and long hours of practicing, I received recognition at several Bulgarian and international accordion competitions. At age thirteen I placed fourth in an accordion competition in Vladivostok. Two years later I placed first in the International Competition for Accordion and Guitar in Asenovgrad, Bulgaria, and received fourth place in the World Accordion Competition in Castelfidardo, Italy. I also won first place at the 2002 National Competition for Variety Music and Jazz in Novi Pazar, Bulgaria, and second place with a special award for virtuosic performance of folk music in the National Accordion Competition 2000 in Plovdiv, Bulgaria.

In 2002 I came to the United States to continue my education at Duquesne University. I joined the DU Tamburitzans with whom I performed more than three hundred and fifty shows over a four-year period. I still continue to arrange dance and instrumental music for the ensemble and still keep in touch with the many friends I made there.

The years following graduation have been filled with multiple musical projects and endeavors. In 2009, I recorded my first album, Dreams, featuring all original instrumental pieces based on Bulgarian ethnic music as well as French musette and jazz. I am a founding member of the Argentinean tango quintet, Cuidado, with which I recorded an album featuring traditional and modern tangos as well as two of my original compositions. I have performed with the Kruno Spisic Gypsy Jazz Ensemble, Bulgarika, Daphne Alderson, and numerous other bands and artists. I was also featured as a guest on Babik’s 2008 gypsy jazz album, American Gypsy.”

The October 5 program includes:
Mozart:  “Symphony No. 29”
Johannes Maria Staud: “Whereas the Reality Trembles” [World Premiere; Cleveland Orchestra co-commission}
Tchaikovsky:”Symphony No. 2” Tchaikovsky considered Ukraine a second home and refuge, and he began work on this symphony while staying just outside of Kyiv. One of his most joyful compositions, this symphony creatively incorporates Ukrainian folk songs. The concert features a percussion concerto commissioned for Christoph Sietzen, who has been praised as an outstanding talent, “a refreshingly natural musician notable for his technical mastery and powerful stage presence.”  

This program’s Concert Preview lectures will be presented by James Wilding, Professor of Composition and Theory, The University of Akron 
The program takes place at the Severance Music Center,11001 Euclid Ave, Cleveland, Ohio. For tickets: 216-231-7300

For further information: vmollovmusic@gmail.com