This year we celebrate the 80th anniversary of Varna Summer International Music Festival. It is the oldest festival in Bulgaria and one of the festivals with the longest traditions in Europe. First Public Music Celebrations in Varna were held in 1926. The festival was later named Varna Summer. During its 80 years of existence it has achieved an international recognition and has been a member of the European Festivals Association since 1987. This year's program includes some special events such as wolrd premiers of two new Bulgarian works and Bulgarian premiers of pieces of foreign composers. This year we also celebrate the Mozart year and 100 year Dmitry Shostakovich as well as two anniversaries of Bulgarian composers: 75 years Pencho Stoyanov, 60 years Milko Kolarov. Three international projects enrich our festival: a Bulgarian-Dutch project, a Bulgarian-Austrian project and a Bulgarian_French one. The leitmotiv of the festival is the contemporary projections of the tradition: from the old Orthodox music to today's masterpieces, from the Baroque and the authentic Mozart hammerklavier to Electra's highly innovative multimedia project.