Three graduates of Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts, performed a concert in the area of Vekovni Sekvoi [Centuries-old Sequoias] near Kyustendil, Western Bulgaria, on Sunday. Drummer Martin Ivanov, double bass player Petar Slavov and trumpeter Rosen Zahariev performed in front of three giant sequoias, which have been declared natural landmarks.

The three trees are over 30 metres high and more than 130 years old, making them the oldest sequoias in the country. They are surround by some 100 younger sequoias.

The artists chose to do their concert with no electricity or lighting to “avoid upsetting the trees”. Before the concert, Ivanov shared with BTA: “Even we don’t know exactly what we are going to perform”. The musicians’ improvisations showed their vision of the seven stages of a tree’s development.

The main inspiration for the concert was the book by the German forester Peter Wohlleben, The Hidden Life of Trees, in which the author reveals that trees communicate with each other, are able to smell, hear, think and remember.