18 December 2023, the ‘13 Centuries of Bulgaria’ National Endowment Fund loaned a musical instrument—an Evrard violin owned by the Fund—to Stefan Velikov, a second-year student at the Pancho Vladigerov National Academy of Music. He studies violin in the class of Assoc. Prof. Galina Koycheva, PhD, and was nominated by professors in the String Instruments Department of the Academy’s Instrumental Faculty.

According to the decision of the Fund’s Management Council, the violin may be used by the student until he completes his higher musical education (Master’s Degree).

For more than ten years, NEF ‘13 Centuries of Bulgaria’ has been in a partnership with the National Academy of Music in Sofia. Currently, other string instruments owned by the Fund—the Stradivarius violins ‘Sofia’ and ‘Prof. M. Balkanski’—are being used free of charge by students at the National Academy of Music.