This Sunday night on “The Lost Chord,” we’re off to Bulgaria.

Pancho Vladigerov – despite his Mexican-sounding first name and Swiss birth – was a seminal figure in Bulgarian music. He was the country’s first major composer to harness the idioms of Bulgarian folk traditions to classical forms.

Fairly well known in Central Europe during the 1920s, when he was an associate of the theatrical impresario Max Reinhardt, Vladigerov had many of his works published by Universal Edition and recorded by Deutsche Grammophon. He was a composer of opera, ballet, symphonic music, five piano concertos, two violin concertos, chamber music, songs, choral works and piano pieces.

We’ll be listening to a generous selection from Vladigerov’s “Bulgarian Dances” of 1931.

Also on the program will be American composer Derek Bermel’s musical recollections of his studies in the region, his “Thracian Echoes” of 2002. Bermel served as artist-in-residence at Princeton’s Institute for Advanced Study from 2009 to 2013. His “Thracian Echoes” was performed locally,by the Princeton Symphony Orchestra, in 2011.

Join me tonight for “The Lost Chord,” as we seek the cream of Bulgarian music – “Bulgar Wheat.” The show airs at 10 ET, with a repeat Friday morning at 3. Or you can listen to it later as a webcast, at http://www.wwfm.org.

Be sure to don colorful national costume!