Elena Doycheva-Dragomir

ELENA DOYCHEVA-DRAGOMIR was born in Stara Zagora. She graduated from the Hristina Morfova Secondary Music School, specializing in piano, and in 2003, from the Prof. Pancho Vladigerov National Academy of Music with a degree in music pedagogy. During her studies, she began privately studying opera singing with Prof. Reni Brambarova and her assistant, Velizara Karayancheva. Since 2004, she has been living and working in Romania, in Dudeștii Vechi (Star Beshenov) and Timișoara. Following a competition held by the Ministry of Education and Science, she was sent as a music teacher and folk dance instructor to the Bulgarian minority in Star Beshenov. To this day, she remains actively involved in traditional Bulgarian dances and the preservation of Bulgarian traditions and folklore among the Bulgarian minority in Banat. She is the director of the Men's Choir, the "Zvanche" Children's Choir, and the "Rachenitsa" Bulgarian Folk Dance Ensemble in Star Beshenov. In 2009, she completed her master's degree in Opera singing at the Faculty of Music at the West University of Timișoara under Prof. Dana Sorina Kifu and Prof. Ionel Pantea. She subsequently joined the faculty as an assistant and accompanist. She has toured extensively throughout Europe, giving concerts and performances in collaboration with the "Banatul" Philharmonic Orchestra of Timișoara and the "Timorgelfest" International Organ Festival. Since 2022, she has been working for the Union of Banat Bulgarians in Romania as a cultural advisor to the Dudeștii Vechi (Star Beshenov) branch. In 2024, she was among the first five nominees and winners of the "Bulgarian Woman of the Year – Sveta Zlata Muglenska 2023" competition, organized by the Executive Agency for Bulgarians Abroad, for her contributions to the dissemination and preservation of Bulgarian spirit and culture among the Banat Bulgarians in Romania.