KIRIL MANOLOV was born in Sofia. After graduating from the Prof. Pancho Vladigerov National Academy of Music. He specialized in opera singing in Milan and Vienna. He is a laureate of the competitions for young opera singers in Vienna, Warsaw and Barcelona. He was awarded the Golden Ring of Sofia as part of the Grand Prize of the XIV Boris Christoff International Competition for Young Opera Singers, a prize awarded only four times in the 60-year history of the competition. He has also won prizes at the Ghena Dimitrova National Competition for Young Singers, Manuel Ausensi in Barcelona and Stanisław Moniuszko competitions in Warsaw.
He has performed numerous times on the stages of all opera houses in Bulgaria, as well as in opera houses in Rome, Berlin, Barcelona, Chicago, Tokyo, Copenhagen, Budapest, Lisbon, Brussels, Munich, Hamburg, Stuttgart, Parma, Ghent, Belgrade, Skopje, Nicosia, Thessaloniki, Zagreb, Split, festivals in Ravenna, Macerata, Savonlinna, Dubrovnik, Palma de Mallorca, Larnaca, Rhodes, Dubrovnik, etc.
His artistic journey brought him together with some of the greatest conductors and directors in the opera world – Riccardo Muti, Daniel Oren, Carlo Rizzi, Simone Young, Alexander Vedernikov, Damiano Micheletto, Arnaud Bernard, Dietrich Hillsdorf, David McVicker and others.
After his highly successful debut at the Ravenna Festival in the role of Sir John Falstaff in Giuseppe Verdi’s Falstaff, conducted by Riccardo Muti, the Italian critics prased him as the new greatest performer of this role of our time. His performances as Falstaff followed in the opera houses of Hamburg, Wiesbaden and a number of other cities in Germany. Manolov’s long collaboration with Maestro Muti has brought him the privilege of being a frequent and welcome guest in Maestro’s productions around the world.
Kiril Manolov’s extensive repertoire includes operas by Verdi, Puccini, Donizetti, Rossini, Mozart, Gounod, Bizet, Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev and Kurt Weill, cantata-oratorio works by Bach, Beethoven, Faure and Brahms, as well as chamber music by Bulgarian and foreign composers.
His recordings for Bulgarian National Radio, Croatian Radio and Television (HRT), Austrian National Radio ORF, etc. are numerous. CDs of his performances have been released by record companies such as RMM – New York and Harmonia Mundi.
Kiril Manolov is a full-time assistant professor at the Vocal Faculty of the Prof. Pancho Vladigerov National Academy of Music.