"…Ivo Kaltchev communicates the music with love and respect, his formidable technique always there to help him transform his ideas and feelings into meaningful sounds…" - this review published in the English magazine Piano Journal characterizes the performing talent of the pianist. Ivo Kaltchev was born in Bulgaria and graduated from the Sofia State Academy of Music. He continued his musical education in the Yale University (USA) and then received a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Rutgers University (USA). Currently, he is an Assistant Professor of Piano at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. He is also an active adjudicator and has presented lectures, workshops and master classes at various universities and world forums. Along with his teaching activity, he enjoys a successful performing career. He has performed in musical centres throughout the world, including the Lincoln center's Alice Tully Hall in New York, Teatro di Verdi in Naples, Tel Aviv Museum Recanati Auditorium, Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory Hall, Bulgaria Concert Hall, etc. Also a respected chamber musician, he has collaborated with distinguished artists such as pianist Ilana Vered, tenor Frederick Urrey, Essex Quartet, etc. He has been a featured artist at New York's WNYC and WQXR Radio Stations, Radio Moscow, Radio Free Europe, Bulgarian National TV and Radio, and has recorded for Yamaha Disclavier, MSF Records and World Music Marimba.
His present CD contains works of Florent Schmitt and it is his second album recorded on the Gega New label. (His first CD, GD123, features works of Charles Griffes.) Continually exploring new fields in music, Ivo Kaltchev likes bringing to life long-forgotten composers and works. He admits: "Browsing through the enormous piano literature, I sometimes discover unexplored "lands" with hidden musical treasures." Florent Schmitt's music is such a discovery for him.
Florent Schmitt (1870-1958) made an impressive carrier as a composer and music critic. The leading music dictionaries define him as "the new Berlioz", "an outstanding French composer", "genius innovator"… Having written numerous stage, orchestral, vocal, chamber and piano works, he never became associated with a specific compositional school or group. With his use of untraditional musical expressive means, bitonality, violent ostinatos, etc., he anticipated some future stylistic tendencies in the music of the 20th century. At the same time, his early piano works follow the traditions of 19th century piano music. The works on this CD were written during different periods of the composer's life and present various stylistic features and explorations.
 
Recorded in Bulgaria Concert Hall, Sofia, January 2001