Simeon Pironkoff

SIMEON PIRONKOFF  is a composer and conductor, the son of Bulgarian composer Simeon Pironkov. Born in 1965 in Sofia,  in 1985 to 1989 he continued his training at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna, studying composition with Erich Urbanner and conducting with Karl Österreicher. From 1989 to 1992, he appeared as conductor on numerous opera productions, collaborating with several European travelling theatres, contemporary music ensembles and independent stages in Europe  with performances in Germany, Switzerland, Italy, France, Austria, among others. In 1992, he founded the on_line vienna ensemble for new music, reestablished in 2010 under the title PHACE | Contemporary Music ensemble.  His activity is associated with concert formats, musical theater productions and interdisciplinary projects involving dance, theatre, performance, electronics, video, installations. etc. Under his direction as artistic director and principal conductor, the ensemble has established itself as one of the most important contemporary music ensembles of Austria. From 2000 to 2003, Pironkoff was board member of the Austrian section of ISCM. During this time he established and curated the Fokus chamber music series at the Alte Schmiede Hall in Vienna, performing numerous world premieres and Austrian premieres of the most important composers on the international contemporary scene. In 1992, Pironkoff was appointed to professorship at the the Conducting Department of the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna. Since 2002, he has been a professor of conducting. His works have been performed at many major festivals and venues in Austria, Italy, France, Bulgaria, Germany, Hong Kong, China and Japan, among them Wiener Konzerthaus, Wien Modern, Wiener Festwochen, Jeunesse Festival, Klangbogen, Sofia Music Weeks, ZeitTon Festival, Steirischer Herbst, Musikforum Viktring/Carinthia, Nuovi Spazi Musicali (Rome), Salzburg Festival, MaerzMusik Berlin, Monmartre en Europe (Paris, France), bludenzer tage zeitgemaesser musik (Bludenz, Austria), WDR (Essen Philharmonie), INMM Darmstadt, ISCM World Music Days and many more. (Tokyo, Hong Kong, Vienna), Musica Nova Sofia, March Music Days (Rousse, Bulgaria), pianissimo (Sofia), and many others. As a composer, Simeon Pironkoff  is connected stylistically and technologically to the realm of the New Music. His works are in performance at prestigious contemporary music festivals.