"Wild Roots" brings Bulgarian folk music, a classical choir and a symphony orchestra together on one stage. The concert is on Friday, 30 October, at 7pm at the State Opera in Burgas, said its creator Dimitar Hristov, conductor of the Bulgarian National Radio Folk Music Orchestra.

The project is 10 years old. It was performed in Sliven a few days before the Burgas show.

The idea is to give folk music a new, modern sound, so traditional Bulgarian instruments play alongside the classical choir and the symphony orchestra. The project is innovative in both form and content.

In Burgas, the opera orchestra and choir will take the stage, joined by the orchestra and choir of the Strandzha folk ensemble from Burgas, led by Mario Egov. Tina Beleva plays the gadulka, Petyo Kostadinov the bagpipes, Petar Milanov the guitar and tambura, and Kaloyan Minchev the percussion. All four are members of the Bulgarian National Radio Folk Music Orchestra.

Soprano Maria Stefanova, a final-year student at the Prof. Pancho Vladigerov National Academy of Music, will sing with them.

The first performance was in Sofia, with the Sofia Philharmonic, the Svetoslav Obretenov choir, the Vanya Moneva choir and the Bulgarian National Radio Folk Music Orchestra. The soloists were Teodosii Spasov and Gergana Popova.

"These are four huge ensembles, and nearly 150 of us were on stage," Hristov told Bulgarian National Radio.

He said the concert drew a strong response, and people have asked for a repeat since. This year he decided to stage it again: "This year, for my 50th birthday, I decided it was time for this concert once more."

Updated (29.10, 13:40): Hristina Beleva, not Tina Beleva as first reported, will play the gadulka at the concert, burgas.bg says. The opera chorus will perform under conductor Alexander Chepanov, and two opera concertmasters will join the concerts. Tickets are on sale at the opera box office, at the "Chasovnika" booth in front of Hotel Bulgaria, and through Grabo and Eventim.

Updated (29.10, 16:09): The gadulka at the concert will be played by Hristina Beleva, not Tina Beleva as first reported, conductor Dimitar Hristov says. She is one of the soloists from the Bulgarian National Radio Folk Music Orchestra taking part in the programme.