Assen Naydenov

Assen Naydenov was born in Varna on September 12, 1899. In the period 1920–1921 he attended lectures on musicology with Guido Adler at the University of Vienna, studied music theory and composition with Josef Marx and piano with Paul de Cohn. From 1921 to 1923 he studied composition with P. Groener, theory and counterpoint with Stefan Krell, piano with Robert Teichmüller and conducting with Max Hochkofler in Leipzig.

In 1925, Assen Naydenov returned to Bulgaria and became a trainee conductor at the Sofia Opera. In 1926, he was one of the organizers and debut conductor of the first edition of the International Music Festival "Varna Summer". In 1931, he staged his first solo production, Gaetano Donizetti's opera "Don Pasquale", and after it, "Werther" by Jules Massenet. With his help, a number of Bulgarian operas and ballets were staged on the stage of the Sofia Opera, such as: "Nestinarka", "Tsar Kaloyan", "Momchil", "Yanina's Nine Brothers", "Mad Gidiya", "Zmey and Yana", "Zemsko tsarstvo" and others. He was also the first Bulgarian interpreter of Richard Wagner, of "Fidelio" by Ludwig van Beethoven, of a number of operas by Verdi, Puccini, Saint-Saens, Goldmark, Rimsky-Korsakov, Prokofiev, Kabalevsky and others. Giuseppe Verdi's opera "Don Carlos", which Assen Naydenov staged for the first time in our country in Sofia in 1936 together with the director Prof. Dragan Kardzhiev, was conducted by him for more than 30 years in Bulgaria and abroad. He founded and directed the male choir "Rodina" in the period 1933 - 1937. In 1945 he was appointed Chief Conductor of the Sofia Opera, but in 1961 he retired due to reaching retirement age.

Immediately after his retirement in Bulgaria, in 1962, Assen Naydenov was invited to work permanently in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg), where he staged "Othello", "Rigoletto", "Turandot", "The Flying Dutchman" on the stage of the Maly Theater of Opera and Ballet and for three seasons was a guest conductor of the theater. After his stay in St. Petersburg, in 1963 he was invited by the Bolshoi Theater to Moscow, where he first conducted "The Queen of Spades" by P. I. Tchaikovsky, musically staged by Evgeniy Svetlanov. The new concert hall of the Palace of Congresses in Moscow was opened with the premiere of the opera Don Carlos by Giuseppe Verdi under the baton of Assen Naydenov. In 1965, in the concert hall of the Palace of Congresses in Moscow, he conducted Don Carlos with the participation of Nikolay Gyaurov in the role of King Philip.

In 1965, Assen Naydenov returned to Bulgaria, his retirement was canceled and he was reinstated as the chief conductor of the Sofia Opera, a post he held until 1979, after which he remained at the Opera as its Honorary Chief Conductor. In 1970, he toured with the Sofia Opera in Naples, where he conducted the opera Don Carlos by Giuseppe Verdi with the participation of Boris Hristov in the role of King Philip. At the age of 80, he conducted Don Carlos at the Sofia Opera and at the 50th anniversary of Nikolay Gyaurov in 1980, with the participation of Mirella Freni. He has been the honorary conductor of the Festival Orchestra of the Bulgarian National Radio since 1986. He died on September 10, 1995 in Sofia. A number of opera productions and concerts conducted by him, as well as his interviews, are preserved in the Golden Fund of the Bulgarian National Radio.

Assen Naydenov is a laureate of the Dimitrov Award, Hero of Socialist Labor, People's Artist, holder of the orders "Georgi Dimitrov" and "People's Republic of Bulgaria" I degree, as well as the "Golden Lyre" award of the Union of Musicians and Dancers in Bulgaria.