Burgas will mark St Nicholas Day, the city's holiday, on 6 December with music, dance and shows on open-air stages, from the centre to the residential districts. Branches of the arts academies are at the heart of the programme.

The Christmas tree on Troykata square will be lit at 6pm, which will symbolically open the Christmas season in the city. A concert by Mihaela Fileva and Orlin Pavlov follows.

Organisers say Burgas is the only city in Bulgaria that teaches students from all the higher arts schools, and the holiday will mark that achievement. On Troykata, the traditional main stage, the Prof. Pancho Vladigerov National Academy of Music (NMA) and the National School of Music and Stage Arts (NUMSI) in Burgas, which has the same name, will give a joint programme. Prof. Ivan Stoyanov, head of the NMA branch in Burgas, and Dimitar Madzharov, director of NUMSI, prepared it. It has several parts.

It starts at 3.30pm with the NUMSI Brass Band, conducted by Anastas Kamilarov.

Next comes a combo of pupils from the music school and students from the NMA branch, playing world pop and rock and much-loved Bulgarian songs. Assoc. Prof. Vladimir Dimov from Burgas, who teaches at the NMA, will perform solos and duets with his students. Sabina Koseva, a student in the Fortissimo vocal ensemble, is both host and singer.

At 5.30pm the NMA Big Band, led by Assoc. Prof. Mihail Yosifov, will play jazz standards and works by Bulgarian composers.

The Troykata stage comes to life as early as 11am with the show "Groys and Friends" by the Lyuben Groys Theatre College. Besides sketches by students of Mihail Mihaylov and Dimitar Marinov, the show features the duo Paradox, Samuel Manuelyan, Teodora Ilieva, Peni Stavreva, Aleksandra Valcheva, school music groups and the Milka Stoeva Children's Choir. Poems by Yana Valcheva will also be read. The host is actor Dimitar Marinov, who will also play the violin.

The earliest stage opens at 9.30am by the Clock. There, NATFIZ students led by Prof. Penko Gospodinov and Teya Sugareva will give a programme in the spirit of the "Golden Orpheus" contest, with singing actors performing popular pop songs from the recent past. Other NATFIZ students will also perform in Central Park in the Slaveykov district.

From 11am, the Strandzha folk ensemble, led by Mario Egov, will bring folk groups together in St Cyril and St Methodius Square. At the same time, in front of the Mladost sports hall in Slaveykov, the Pencho Slaveykov 1983 chitalishte (community cultural centre) is holding a concert by folk singer Sashka Dimitrova.

In Meden Rudnik, the St Cyril and St Methodius 1985 chitalishte presents the folk group Chinkite from 11am, along with performers from the Gina folk singing school, led by Georgi Dimitrov, and the Primo Vocal Studio, led by Krasimir Petkov. The Zharava orchestra will play, with Zhelyazko Angelov, Krasimir Petkov, Nikolay Chapkanov and Petko Yangyozov, and soloists Lazar Nalbantov and Irena Stankova.

In Izgrev park, the Izgrev 1909 chitalishte will present the Kanatitsa orchestra with soloist Kiti Zhekova, the Zvezdichki children's dance ensemble and the Zornitsa folk dance group, led by Bogdan Georgiev. In front of the Ethnographic Museum is the winter edition of "Ethnosphere", an initiative of the Lyuben Groys Theatre College, with groups from the different ethnic communities in Burgas. Both stages start at 11am.

On 12 November we wrote that the Fortissimo vocal ensemble wins gold medals every year at contests around the world, and that talents from NUMSI "Prof. Pancho Vladigerov" will take part in the Gala Evening of Laureates in the arts held by Burgas council.

An interactive map of the festive venues and a detailed hour-by-hour schedule of St Nicholas Day events will be published. The programme for 1–5 December is yet to be announced.