Jul and Sabina Levi in North Korea

My wife Sabina and I had guest performances with the State Musical Theater in North Korea at the end of the 1970s. I don?t remember the name of the performance. We represented Bulgaria. I can?t say what the bridge was, on which we are standing, my wife and I and our hosts. My wife is the second on the right. The third from the right to the left is the Secretary in Chief of the Union of Music Artists, whose name I don?t remember. I only remember that he played the bassoon in the philharmonic orchestra in Sofia and now plays the bassoon in the Musical Theater in Sofia. I don?t remember the names of the others. This photo was taken after the regular tours in Eastern Europe my wife and I did at the end of the 1960s. For example I went alone to Czechoslovakia around 20 times. Sabina came with me around ten times and we always had a good time. 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.