Work of the Week – Dobrinka Tabakova: Concerto for Accordion and Orchestra

11 May 2025

Composer Dobrinka Tabakova sits at a table with sheet music, wearing a green cardigan with colorful striped sleeves, looking calmly into the camera.

On May 17, 2025, a new work by Bulgarian-British composer Dobrinka Tabakova will be premiered in Stuttgart's Liederhalle: the Concerto for Accordion and Orchestra. The soloist is the Latvian accordionist Ksenija Sidorova, for whom the work was written. The Stuttgart Philharmonic Orchestra will perform under the direction of Michał Nesterowicz. The work was commissioned by several partners: In addition to the Stuttgart Philharmonic, it is the Lake Constance Festival, Dzintaru Koncertzāle, Sofia Philharmonic and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Society for the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra.

An instrument between breath and breathlessness

It was a particular challenge for Tabakova to write a work for accordion and large orchestra. The instrument seems to be breathing and mechanical at the same time—almost like a human voice multiplied by technology. This tension is reflected in the music: between movement and stasis, between intimacy and expansiveness. Tabakova describes the Concerto for Accordion and Orchestra as a musical arc that slowly opens up and draws more and more into the light. The music is carried by breathing figures in which the expressive power of the accordion unfolds.

The accordion has fascinated me for a very long time: a folk instrument and an integral part of a variety of European and global folk music on the one hand, a black mechanical box with a breathing center on the other. These characteristics inspired me in my student composition The Accordion, which I wrote for an ensemble in which the instrument did not appear at all. “A machine with a soul” was my working title at the time, and this line inspired the new accordion concerto at a crucial time for our humanity. A time when our society is grappling with the concept of technology dictating our cultural diet, when algorithms and artificial intelligence are trying to replace genuine connection and curiosity, while our souls long for affection and understanding. (Dobrinka Tabakova)

Bridges of sound between countries

The composer is known for her colorful, emotionally dense style, which combines Western and Eastern European influences. The new Concerto for Accordion and Orchestra also picks up on this bridge-building - both geographically and musically. Tabakova sees music as a connecting language between cultures. Her choice of the accordion as the central instrument is an expression of this attitude: an instrument that is at home in many musical traditions and takes on new, unfamiliar dimensions in this work.

A work goes on tour

The world premiere will be followed by national premieres in several countries: on May 19, 2025 in Dornbirn, Austria, as part of the Lake Constance Festival, on June 19 in Sofia, Bulgaria, on July 18 in Jūrmala, Latvia, and in the 2025/2026 season with the Royal Liverpool Orchestra as the first performance in the United Kingdom. The work will thus travel through Europe - a musical journey in keeping with the intercultural spirit of the work.

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