Sabina Levi in the Negev

This is my wife Sabina Levi during one of our family trips to Israel. The photo was taken in 1964 in the Negev. I first met my future wife Sabina Diankova when she was performing with the State Musical Theater. That happened in the 1950s when I was still young and went often to the opera or musical theater. One day I noticed a young girl playing wonderfully in a Soviet musical composed by Nikita Bogoslovski. Sabina made everyone happy when they were around her. I said to myself, 'That is a new phenomenon!' Later, I continued to go and see her play some minor parts. At the same time I was invited to compose some ballet scenes for 'Circus Princess' by Imre Kalman for the Music Theater. The young circus dancer, Miss Maydel Gypsun, was played by Sabina. She impressed me with her dancing and her resourcefulness, her immaculate diction. At that time I had worked for five years as a composer in the Theater of Satire. Shortly after my work in the Musical Theater we started rehearsing for the first Bulgarian musical: 'The Girl I Loved' by Nikolay Parushev. I did the music and the conducting. That was in fall 1963. Sabina played the role of Palechko. I was once again impressed by her. Shortly after that we started going out. We got married in 1963. I visited Israel for the first time ten years after my parents and my sister's family had emigrated. I saw how the musicians lived there, in misery. I didn't like the atmosphere in Israel. I also saw that my father, who was a very honest man, could also not stand that atmosphere. I've been to Israel many times since then. I also kept in touch with friends, colleagues and relatives. From my friends and colleagues I mostly kept in touch with Nissim Alshveh, a great musician, and Albert Cohen. From the relatives I kept in touch with my cousin Albert Levi-Pepo, the great poet and painter of Israel. He was born in 1923 and died in 2003 in Haifa. I kept in touch with him all these years.