Emil Tabakov

EMIL TABAKOV (b. 1947) is one of Bulgaria’s leading conductors and composers. Author of symphonic, vocal‑symphonic, and chamber works, he is a musician of major international renown and has made a significant contribution to the development of the country’s musical culture. Tabakov is among the most authoritative ambassadors of Bulgarian art worldwide. He has toured extensively - both as a guest conductor and with the orchestras under his direction - in nearly all European countries, as well as in the United States, Australia, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, Brazil, Colombia, South Africa, and others. His distinguished international career includes appearances with orchestras such as the Orchestre National de France, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, and the Orchestre National d’Île‑de‑France; the National Orchestras of Lille, Lorraine, Avignon, Nantes, and Cannes; the orchestras of the Arena di Verona, Seoul, Tokyo, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Monterrey, Westphalia, and Bochum; the Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Moscow Philharmonic, and the New Russia State Symphony Orchestra; the Bucharest Philharmonic George Enescu, the Athens Philharmonic Orchestra, the Istanbul State Symphony Orchestra, the Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra, the Presidential Symphony Orchestra in Ankara, among others; as well as performances at major opera houses, including La Fenice in Venice. Born in Ruse, he graduated from the Prof. Veselin Stoyanov Secondary School of Music with a major in double bass, and later from the Prof. Pancho Vladigerov National Academy of Music in Sofia with three specializations: conducting under Prof. Vladi Simeonov, double bass under Prof. Todor Toshev, and composition under Prof. Marin Goleminov. In 1977 he became a laureate of the Nikolai Malko International Conducting Competition in Copenhagen. His conducting career began with the Ruse Philharmonic in 1976. From 1979 to 1988 he served as artistic director of the Sofia Soloists Chamber Ensemble, which under his leadership expanded its repertoire, made numerous recordings, and undertook highly acclaimed international tours. From 1985 to 2000 Emil Tabakov was Music Director of the Sofia Philharmonic. Thanks to his exceptional class as a conductor and artist, the orchestra realized a number of large‑scale recording projects that became landmark events in Bulgaria’s musical life, including the complete symphonies, overtures, and the German Requiem by Brahms; Strauss’s Alpine Symphony; Beethoven’s piano concertos; the complete symphonies of Bruckner and Scriabin; Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra and The Miraculous Mandarin; Verdi’s Requiem; and, notably, the complete cycle of Mahler’s symphonies, released by the renowned German label Capriccio/Delta. From 1994 to 1999, Emil Tabakov served as chief conductor of the Belgrade Philharmonic. In 2000, he became artistic director of the New Year’s Music Festival in Sofia, and since 2002 he has also led the Bilkent Symphony Orchestra in Ankara. From 2008 to 2015, he served as chief conductor of the Bulgarian National Radio Symphony Orchestra, and until 2013, he was also director of the Music Production and Ensembles Department at BNR. In 2012, the department he led received the BNR’s “Sirak Skitnik” Grand Prize for contemporary contributions to the development of Bulgarian culture. With the Radio Orchestra, he recorded a complete set of Dmitri Shostakovich’s symphonies, released by Gega New and highly acclaimed by international critics. Since 2010, he has been a co-founder and permanent conductor of the Ruse Festival Orchestra, composed of musicians from different generations around the world who took their first professional steps at the Prof. Veselin Stoyanov National School of Arts. With the orchestra, he performs annual concerts as part of the March Music Days International Festival. In 2019, they staged the first concert by a Bulgarian orchestra in the famous Athenaeum Hall in Bucharest, Romania, since the end of World War II - a performance that was a resounding success. Emil Tabakov’s exceptionally rich repertoire includes dozens of opera titles and hundreds of symphonic works from all musical eras. From oratorios and concert works by Baroque masters, Classical and Romantic compositions to masterpieces of 20th-century music in the works of Britten, Debussy, Ravel, Bartók, Stravinsky, Shostakovich, Richard Strauss, Gershwin, Honegger, Rachmaninoff, Hindemith, Prokofiev, Shnitke, Kancheli, Schoenberg, and others. He has recorded more than 250 symphonic and operatic works on CDs for EMI and Naxos, for Elan (USA), Capriccio Delta (Germany), Balkanton, Mega-Music, and Gega New (Bulgaria), Pentagon (The Netherlands), and others. Emil Tabakov is the composer of 11 symphonies, a Concerto for Orchestra, instrumental concertos, a Requiem based on a Latin text, and chamber and solo works. Most of these were commissioned by international festivals and renowned performers. They have received national awards and have been performed in Bulgaria, Germany, Russia, Portugal, the United States, Japan, Finland, France, Austria, Turkey, North Macedonia, and others. He is the recipient of prestigious national awards in the field of music - Musician of the Year by the Bulgarian National Radio in 1992, Man of the Year by the International Bibliographic Center in Cambridge, and one of the top 100 professionals according to the International Bibliographic Center for 2012. He is the recipient of the Ministry of Culture’s highest honor, the Golden Age award with a necklace, and the title of Honorary Citizen of Ruse.