SLAVIL DIMITROV is a conductor and composer. He was born in Momchilgrad. He studied piano with the renowned teacher Rositsa Mihaylova in Shumen. During high school, he began composition lessons with Prof. Alexander Raichev and later joined Prof. Georgi Uspensky’s experimental composition class at the State Conservatory in Odessa.
He graduated from the Prof. Pancho Vladigerov National Academy of Music with a degree in choral conducting in 1995 under Prof. Krum Maximov, and in 1998 with a degree in opera and orchestral conducting under Prof. Ivan Bakalov, Prof. Ivan Vulpe, and Acad. Vassil Kazandjiev. He also studied composition in the class of Prof. Alexander Raichev.
Over the years, he has worked with a wide range of ensembles. He has served as conductor of the Angel Manolov Academic Choir in Sofia (at his suggestion, the ensemble now bears the name of its founder and long‑time conductor Angel Manolov). In 2006, he founded the Simeonis Choir in Shumen, where he continues to be the chief artistic director. He is also the chief artistic director of the Shumen Ensemble. He has been conductor of the State Philharmonic Orchestra in Shumen, the choir of the State Opera in Ruse, and the Konstantin Kisimov Music and Drama Theater in Veliko Tarnovo. In Turkey, he served as conductor of the choir and later the orchestra of the State Opera and Ballet in Izmir, and taught at Yaşar University in Izmir, where he established the major in Choral Conducting—the first and only program of its kind in the Republic of Turkey. He was chief conductor of the National Philharmonic Choir at the Sofia Philharmonic from 2015 to 2022. Since 2018, he has been chairman of the Bulgarian Choral Union. He is currently conductor of the Sofia Youth Philharmonic, the Youth Choir at the Lyubomir Pipkov National School of Music, and the Elitsa Folk Choir in Sofia. He also serves as director of the Simfonietta Shumen.
He is the author of instrumental, choral, cantata‑oratorio, and opera music. He has received numerous distinctions, including the First and Grand Prizes at the Stoyanov Brothers Radio Competition (1985, 1986), First Prize at the World Children’s Music Festival (1988) in Nagoya, Japan, the Grand Prize at the All‑Russian Competition in Odessa (1989), and Third Prize at the First Prof. Ivan Spasov Competition in Plovdiv (1995).
In 2005, with his Concerto in SEVEN for piano and orchestra, he won three awards at the Fifth National Competition “Piece in 7/8”—Second Prize (with no First Prize awarded), the Orchestra Prize, and the Audience Prize. He has also received First Prizes in the composition competitions of the Prof. Georgi Dimitrov International Choir Competition in Varna and the National Festival of Christmas and New Year Songs in Haskovo.
He has twice been honored with the Culture and Arts Award of the Municipality of Shumen, and in 2014 the Simeonis Choir also received this distinction. He has been nominated three times for the World Music Award of the International Folklore Association in Ontario, Canada.
He has appeared as a guest conductor with symphony orchestras and opera theaters in Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, Germany, Serbia, Turkey, and Japan.
