Aleksander Raychev

April 11^th marked the 100^th anniversary of the birth of Aleksander Raychev, one of the most outstanding representatives of his generation, who left a bright trace in the history of Bulgarian musical culture in the second half of the 20^th century with his versatile creative activity. He began his musical studies at an early age, with the support of his older brothers, the famous conductors Romeo and Viktor Raychev. He took composition lessons with prof. Assen Karastoyanov and prof. Parashkev Hadjiev. In 1947 he graduated from the State Musical Academy with majors in piano and composition under prof. Pancho Vladigerov. He then studied composition with János Višky and Zoltán Kodály and conducting with Janos Ferencsik at the Budapest Conservatory from 1949-50. He was a long-standing professor of harmony and composition at the Pancho Vladigerov National Academy of Music and its Rector between 1972 and 1979. Aleksander Raychev built his own school in which several generations of young composers grew up. He was also an active public figure – Member of Parliament in four National Assemblies, President of the Union of Bulgarian Composers (from 1980 to 1990), member of the Union of Bulgarian Film Makers. In 1990 he was elected honorary academician of the Royal Academy of Science and Fine Arts in Brussels (Belgium) and honorary member of the International Association for Contemporary Music in Baden-Baden (Germany). His oeuvre encompasses hundreds of opuses in all genres – six symphonies, a concerto for orchestra, a piano concerto, suites, overtures and various other symphonic works, works for chamber, string and brass orchestras, the operas The Bridge, Anxiety, Khan Asparuh and the radio opera Your Presence, ballets “Haidouk Song” and “The Fountain of the White-legged Woman”, operetta “ The Nightingale of the Orchid”, musical “Beware of the Jaguar”, five children’s operettas and musical tales, oratorios, cantatas, chamber and piano opuses, over 600 choral, mass and children’s songs, scores for theatre productions, documentaries and feature films, etc. These works outlined one of the characteristic trends in Bulgarian music after the 1950s.