SVETLIN HRISTOV was born in 1991 in Sofia. He studied at Prof. Vesselin Stoyanov National School of Arts in Ruse with the renowned teacher Evgeni Zhelyazkov. He graduated from the Prof. Pancho Vladigerov National Music Academy with piano – in the class of prof. Atanas Kurtev, composition – in the class of Prof. Velislav Zaimov and orchestral conducting under Prof. Plamen Djourov and Assoc. Prof. Georgi Patrikov. He specialized in piano at the P. I. Tchaikovsky under Alexander Vershinin and orchestral conducting at the University of Music in Vienna in the class of Prof. Simeon Pironkoff. He has participated in master classes in piano with Evgeny Bojanov, Ludmil Angelov, Bozhidar Noyev, Maria Gambaryan, Pavel Egorov, Mamiko Souda, Natalia Deeva, etc. and in conducting with Georgi Dimitrov, Denis Rouget, Markus Utz, Uroš Lajovic, Yuval Weinberg, etc.
He has won prizes at the competitions “Hopes, Talents, Masters” (Dobrich, Albena), “Franz Schubert” (Ruse), “Carl Filch” (Sibiu, Romania), “Chopin” (Varna), “Scriabin – Rachmaninoff” (Sofia), “Classics and Modernity” (Stara Zagora), etc.
He frequently performs as a pianist and chamber musician, and has been a soloist of the Rousse Philharmonic Orchestra and the Academic Symphony Orchestra. He has appeared as a conductor with the ASO, Vidin Symphony Orchestra, Classica Chamber Orchestra, and in 2022 and 2023 conducted the Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra at the Sofia Symphonic Summit Festival. He has participated in the festivals “Maria Gambaryan” (Moscow-Peredelkino, Russia), “Piano à Vitteaux” (Vito, France), “ppIANISIMO”, “Slavyanskie Vstrechi” (Moscow-Balashikha, Russia), “Sofia Music Weeks”.
His music has been performed at the festivals “ppIANISIMO”, “Plovdiv Fresh Festival” and other concert programmes in Bulgaria, Croatia and Russia. In 2019, his piece “Monologue for Four” was selected to represent Bulgaria at the International Rostrum of Composers in Argentina, and in 2021 he won an award for best film music for the short film “Good Night, Lily” directed by. Petar Valchev at the International Festival “On the beach” in Sozopol. In 2022 he performed a concert with original music at the Prof. Pancho Vladigerov National Music Academy.