Roman Mints’ recording with Maxim Rysanov, Dasol Kim, and the BBC Concert Orchestra on ECM devoted to the music of Dobrinka Tabakova, Sun Triptych, has won the 2026 BBC Music Magazine Premiere Award!

Bulgarian-British composer Dobrinka Tabakova’s Sun Triptych on ECM, featuring violist Maxim Rysanov, pianist Dasol Kim, violinist Roman Mints, cellist Kristina Blaumane and the BBC Concert Orchestra, has won the Premiere Award – a radiant showcase for the composer’s vivid musical imagination.

“Dobrinka Tabakova’s Sun Triptych, her second release for ECM’s New Series, has been a long time in the making. Following widespread acclaim for 2014’s String Paths, this offering arrived with a quiet sense of assurance, showcasing the sound of a composer deepening her craft and embracing a more active role in shaping it.

‘With this record, I felt far more knowledgeable about what goes into making an album, Tabakova reflects. ‘Many of the soloists from the first album also feature on this one, and weaving all of those friendships into this felt so natural

Sun Triptych also saw Tabakova step into the role of conductor – prompted by the constraints of the pandemic. Despite studying conducting, stepping onto the podium in front of the BBC Concert Orchestra without preparation was daunting. ‘I’m not a conductor, she says, smiling. ‘So going in cold was overwhelming, but having the orchestra’s support meant the world.’

The album’s ‘cornerstones’ are Fantasy Homage to Schubert and the radiant, titular Sun Triptych.

While the former nods to a lifelong influence of Schubert’s repertoire – ‘falling in love with his music inspired me to want to explore writing for myself’ – the latter draws on the impermanence of nature.

‘We live in a fragile landscape, and I find positive inspiration in how beautiful that is, shares Tabakova. ‘But there is also a melancholy consciousness that it might not always be this way.’”