Joseph Gerdzhikov

JOSEPH GERDZHIKOV is one of the most committed and outstanding interpreters of Baroque music in the country. His artistic output includes diverse performances related to his extensive presence on the music scene. In addition to being a conductor who has premiered large-scale cantata-oratorio works in Bulgaria, he is also a singer, pianist and talented teacher. His upbringing is connected with the Bodra Smiana Choir, his studies at the Lyubomir Pipkov National School of Music and the Prof. Pancho Vladigerov National Academy of Music, from which he graduated with a degree in Choral and Orchestral Conducting under prof. Lilia Giuleva and prof. Vasil Kazandjiev. Joseph Gerdzhikov is the founder of the Hendel Society in Bulgaria in 1991, concurrently beginning his teaching activities. He is one of the co-founders of the Luben Groys Theatre College, where he teaches to this day. Since 2004 he has been teaching at the Theatre Department of Paisii Hilendarski Plovdiv University. He is the founder of the vocal formation Bulgarian Voices, and was invited to lead the Yulangelo Vocal Formation, performing all over the world for fifteen seasons already. As a conductor and singer Joseph Gerdzhikov maintained an active recording career with a series of CDs and entries for the Bulgarian National Radio fund. The conductor is a co-founder of the Bach Society in Bulgaria, an ensemble of which interprets the most famous works of J. С. Bach: the Matthäus Passion, the Johannes Passion, the High Mass in B minor, the Christmas Oratorio, various cantatas, as well as the oratorios Israel in Egypt and Handel's Messiah. Joseph Gerdzhikov's musical involvement is also associated with significant premieres in Bulgaria: a concert performance of Henry Purcell's opera The Faerie Queene (1998), Stravaganza dei Medici (2006) and Bach's Johannes Passion (2011), Handel's oratorio Israel in Egypt (2018), etc.