Petar Arnaudov – a long-year violin tutor and a deputy principal of the Lyubomir Pipkov National Music School in Sofia was granted post-mortem the Kristalno Ogarlie /Crystal Necklace/ distinction - the highest award of the Union of Musicians and Dancers in Bulgaria . His students traveled a long way to participate in the concert, organized on the occasion in the Bulgaria Hall in Sofia. Bilyana Vuchkova returned for a few hours from Berlin and the two concertmasters of the Thessaloniki State Orchestra – Antonis Susamoglu and Simos Papanas came from Greece. The Angel Stankov and Yosif Radionov violin duo performed its musical greeting as well.

“Petar Arnaudov was really good on stage, but his path as a pedagogue was even more important,” Prof. Angel Stankov said. “The 60 years that he devoted to the education of young musicians are to be researched by scientists, involved in the history of the Bulgarian violin school.”

Petar Arnaudov was born in 1924 in Sofia as the son of renowned folklore expert Academician Mikhail Arnaudov. He studied the violin with Prof. Vladimir Avramov and Prof. Petar Hristoskov. In the period 1988 – 1996 he taught in Thessaloniki . Over a certain period of time his most successful student and laureate of numerous international awards Vanya Milanova also lived there.

Everyone who knew Petar Arnaudov remembers a smiling and positive person. Although he was strict, he never suppressed his students, who sometimes spent over a decade with him and remained thankful for the principles that he taught them.

“I am a student of Petar Arnaudov and I can only say that I became a musician because of him,” Simos Papanas says. “His role in my life is important not only as a tutor. When he came to Greece we were kids and couldn’t realize how great he was, but he hugged us as a father and the only think that he required from us was to be good students and persons. I always hear his voice, especially whenever I am getting ready for concerts. I recall all of his pieces of advice; he made me a personality and changed my life.”

“My name is Andonis Susamoglu and I am also a concertmaster of the Thessaloniki State Orchestra. I was a student of Petar Arnaudov too, as Thessaloniki has had long-year relation with Sofia in the sphere of musical education thanks to a whole bunch of tutors. Petar Arnaudov was one of the most distinguished among them with his methodical manner and patience. He succeeded in making us believe that our next steps would be easy and helped us to succeed. This is the most important thing that he has left me.”

English version: Zhivko Stanchev