Vladimir Ampov - Grafa was awarded the Icarus 2025 Award in the category "Author's Music for Theatre" for his impressive work on the performance "Pippi Longstocking" by the Nikolay Binev Youth Theatre. This is his first award for theatre music - recognition for his bold explorations and innovative approach to the performing arts. In the category he was nominated together with the established composers Milen Kukosharov and Milen Apostolov.
The production, directed by Ventsislav Asenov, aroused great interest from its premiere. The show quickly established itself as one of the most watched of the theatre season, and tickets sold out months in advance. The invitation to Graf to compose the music came from the director of the Youth Theatre Mikhail Baykov and the director Ventsislav Asenov.
The soundtrack of Pippi Longstocking impresses with modern compositional techniques, interesting sounds, avant-garde solutions and strong emotionality. The Count uses live instruments and skillfully combines electronic elements with acoustic music, creating a rich, exciting and dynamic soundtrack that also comes to life on stage thanks to the cast.
"The wonderful actors did a wonderful job and made the music come alive and become people's favourite," says Vladi Ampov.
The soundtrack is available on CD and USB media, as well as in digital platforms for music.
Inspired by his theatrical work, Graf also created the song "Synergy", which gives the title to his upcoming album, expected in May 2025.
On November 13, 2025, Graf will perform a large-scale 360° concert in Arena Sofia. After the completely sold-out Arena Hall in 2017 and the spectacular success of the Vasil Levski National Stadium in 2023, the upcoming show promises to define new scales for concerts in Bulgaria. Tickets for the event are on sale in the Eventim network and prices are between 70 and 150 BGN, depending on the selected zone.
