A GLASS OF WINE WITH…
Accompanying programme of Bansko Jazz Festival 2026
in partnership with the Bulgarian National Radio
A Glass of Wine with… is of those special encounters in the programme of Bansko Jazz Festival where music continues to resonate beyond the stage — through memories, stories, archives, personal testimonies and live conversation. In partnership with the Bulgarian National Radio, the format will once again bring together audiences, musicians, journalists and researchers in a series of afternoon meetings dedicated to important figures and themes from the history of Bulgarian jazz and popular music.
In 2026, the programme focuses on major anniversaries, significant names and creative legacies that continue to shape musical memory. Among the themes are the 115th anniversary of the birth of Yosif Tsankov — the “jazz aristocrat” of Bulgarian music; the 75th anniversary of Lyubomir Denev; the presence of Alexander Brazitsov in jazz culture; the dixieland tradition in Bulgaria; the legacy of Atanas Boyadzhiev; the benefit evening for Stefka Onikyan on the occasion of her 75th anniversary; and the memory of Petar Slavov Sr., with the participation of Petar Slavov Jr.
Each meeting will be an opportunity not only to recall facts, names and recordings, but also to feel the spirit of an era — through the stories of people who were part of that history, or who preserve it and pass it on. A Glass of Wine with… is a format of closeness, memory and continuity; a space in which the festival pays tribute to the past and turns it into a living part of the present.
In the informal atmosphere of conversation, the audience will have the opportunity to encounter music as biography, cultural context and personal history — in the way only jazz can connect generations, voices and destinies.
Every evening at 6:00 p.m. at the permanent exhibition Jazz in Bulgaria.
Hosted by: Liliya Goleminova and Vesela Morova