Prof. Dr. Miglena Tzenova at an International Scientific Conference in Veliko Tarnovo

Prof. Dr. Miglena Tzenova from the “Music Modernity” research group within the Department of Music delivered a compelling presentation and paper titled “Methods and Messages in Tuning the Zheng (筝) in Works by Composers Tan Dun and Assen Avramov” at the International Scientific Conference “Diplomatic, Economic, and Cultural Relations between China and Central and Eastern European Countries”. Drawing upon Chinese theoretical and poetic texts compiled between the 1^st century BCE and the 7^th century CE, as well as academic publications, musical scores, audio and video recordings, composers’ notes, interviews, and unpublished documents from the 20^th and 21^st centuries, the author explores innovative approaches to tuning the zheng in Tan Dun’s Concerto for String Orchestra and Zheng (2007) and Assen Avramov’s Air (The Invisible Form of Things; 【形隐】; 2019).
The conference was held on October 9–10, 2026, organized by the Confucius Institute at St. Cyril and St. Methodius University of Veliko Tarnovo (VTU) for the thirteenth time. The official languages of the forum were Bulgarian, English, and Chinese. In this year’s edition, faculty members from VTU, Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski” (SU), “Prof. Dr. Assen Zlatarov” University of Burgas (BDU), and the University of National and World Economy (UNWE) presented papers on Chinese studies, alongside researchers from the Institute for Historical Studies and the Institute of Art Studies at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (BAS), the Institute of Roses and Essential Oil Cultures in Kazanlak under the Agricultural Academy (AA), and others. The event also featured active participation from Chinese and Bulgarian PhD students and post-doctoral researchers from the National Academy of Music “Prof. Pancho Vladigerov”, the National Academy of Arts, UNWE, VTU, and SU. Among the international institutions represented were the China University of Geosciences – Wuhan, Wenzhou-Kean University (Wenzhou), the University of Bucharest (Romania), and others.
The two-day forum was conducted in two consecutive sessions without thematic divisions, which fostered intersections between diverse research perspectives and stimulated intensive dialogue among participants. The active engagement of PhD students from China and Bulgaria undoubtedly contributes to their further academic advancement.
Scholars from the Institute of Art Studies at the BAS with established research interests in Chinese arts and culture, including Prof. Dr. Andronika Martonova and Prof. Dr. Miglena Tzenova, frequently contribute to this forum and submit papers for publication in the conference’s peer-reviewed journal. The trilingual journal (Bulgarian, English, and Chinese) has been indexed in the European Reference Index for the Humanities and Social Sciences (ERIH Plus) since the beginning of 2023. Furthermore, a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) is assigned to each published paper, ensuring a permanent and direct URL link to the publication via the international Crossref registry.
[Link to official photos from the conference.]