Nayden Todorov

Nayden Todorov ranks among Bulgaria’s leading musicians of the present day. His international path has encompassed an unusually wide array of engagements, notably podium appearances devoted to film scores and crossover repertoire.

Born on April 8, 1974, in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, Todorov began piano studies at age five and initially directed his training toward a career as either pianist or trumpeter. During adolescence he turned to conducting, working under Plovdiv Opera conductor Krastyu Marev while drawing influence from composer Alexander Vladigerov and conductor Karl Österreicher. In 1990 he established the Plovdiv Youth Orchestra and led the ensemble on tours throughout Eastern and Central Europe. His debut with a major orchestra occurred in 1993 with the Vratza Philharmonic, after which he pursued further conducting instruction at the University of Vienna. At twenty-one he was appointed principal conductor of the Vratza Philharmonic in 1995 and later assumed leadership of the Vidin Philharmonic toward the end of the decade. In the same years he trained with Mendi Rodan in Israel and performed as trumpeter with the Jerusalem Symphony. He launched Bulgaria’s Thracia Summer Festival in 1997. The following year he was appointed permanent conductor of the North Israeli Symphony Orchestra. In 2000 he became chief conductor of the Plovdiv Opera and Philharmonic Orchestra and shortly thereafter made his first opera and ballet appearances.

Todorov encountered Hollywood composer Jerry Goldsmith in the late 1990s and subsequently conducted numerous film-music concerts, among them an annual Munich series throughout the 2010s and a 2019 China tour devoted to the Star Wars scores. Beginning in 2005 he directed productions at Grand Opera Wichita in the United States. He has appeared as guest conductor with orchestras across four continents. From 2005 to 2017 he served as director of the State Opera in Ruse, Bulgaria, before assuming leadership of the Sofia Philharmonic, the country’s foremost symphonic institution. Todorov has amassed several hundred recordings for the MMO label; for complete scores he has worked with DanaCord, Hungaroton, and Naxos, issuing a 2019 Naxos release of Vladigerov’s Bulgarian Suite.