Ivan Svetozarov Gerasimov

     Country: Bulgaria
     Instrument: Bassoon

Ivan was born on 12 December 1988 in the town of Vratsa. He started playing the piano at the age of seven. With this instrument he won awards at the national competitions “Svetoslav Obretenov” in Provadia, “The Earth and the People” in Sofia, and “Coast of Hope” in Bourgas.

For three years Ivan has been playing the bassoon in the class of Peter Kotzev at the National School of Music “Lyubomir Pipkov” in Sofia. In 2004 he participated in the international competition “Young Virtuoso” in Sofia and won first prize with concertos for bassoon and orchestra by Mozart and Danzi.

In 2006 he appeared in a concert with the symphony orchestra of the Ballet Theatre in St. Petersburg, Russia, under conductor Aleksandr Kantorov, performing the Concerto for Bassoon and Orchestra by Carl Maria von Weber. He has also performed in concerts with the Philharmonic Orchestra of Vratsa under the conductors Deyan Pavlov and Dimitur Panov.

Repertoire - Semi Finals

• W. A. Mozart: Concerto in B flat major, 1st mvt. 
• E. Bozza: Recitativ, Siciliana and Rondo