VLADIMIR KIRADJIEV was born in Plovdiv and has lived in Vienna since 1989. He graduated in orchestral and choral conducting, as well as composition, from the Prof. Pancho Vladigerov National Academy of Music in Sofia. During his studies, he took part in masterclasses in Weimar with Kurt Masur (1983), in Siena with Franco Ferrara (1985), and in Varna with Karl Österreicher (1987), who subsequently invited him in 1988 to pursue postgraduate studies at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna.
He served as assistant conductor at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, working under Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos for Boris Godunov in 1995 and under Jiří Kout for Eugene Onegin in 1996. During this period, he collaborated with director Götz Friedrich and singers René Kollo and Matti Salminen. He also conducted Mussorgsky’s one‑act opera The Marriage.
In 1991–1992, Kiradjiev served as Artistic Director of the Vienna Residence Orchestra. In 1994, he conducted works by Alfred Schnittke at the renowned Lucerne Festival. Since 1996, he has been a regular guest at the Opera Festival in Sigulda (Latvia), where he has conducted stars such as Anna Netrebko, Elīna Garanča, Maija Kovaļevska, Nadia Krasteva, and Marcelo Álvarez, with many of whom he continues to collaborate to this day. He frequently works with leading opera directors including Yuri Alexandrov, Michał Znaniecki, and Peter Sellars.
Vladimir Kiradjiev has conducted the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, the Lithuanian State Symphony Orchestra, the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra, the Sofia Philharmonic, I Pomeriggi Musicali, the Hungarian Festival Orchestra, the Gdańsk Philharmonic; the symphony orchestras of Lublin, Wrocław, Łódź, and Białystok; the Silesian Philharmonic in Katowice, the Berlin Symphony Orchestra, Klangforum Wien, and the Slovak Chamber Orchestra in Žilina; the symphony orchestras of UANL Monterrey (Mexico), Colombia, and Shenzhen (China); the Sendai Philharmonic (Japan), and the Bucheon and Wonju Philharmonic Orchestras (Korea).
Among the most distinguished soloists with whom he has performed are Rafał Blechacz, Krzysztof Jabłoński, Ludmil Angelov, Sharon Kam, Andrei Korsakov, and many others. He has also worked with the National Opera in Riga, the Sofia Opera, the Komische Oper Berlin, the Metropol Theater Berlin, the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Graz Opera, the Volkstheater Rostock, the Tatar State Opera in Kazan, as well as with nearly all major opera houses in Poland.
In addition to the Lucerne Festival and the Sigulda Opera Festival, Kiradjiev has appeared at the Warsaw Autumn Festival, the Wiener Festwochen, and Musica Electronica Nova in Wrocław. From 1994 to 2011, he served as Music Director of the festival in Röttingen, Germany.
From the beginning of the 2008/2009 season until 2013, he served as Artistic Director of the State Philharmonic in Rzeszów (Poland), and from the 2014/15 season he assumed the position of Principal Guest Conductor at Opera na Zamku in Szczecin (Poland).
His discography includes recordings of works by contemporary composers, as well as symphonic and operatic repertoire. In 2015, together with pianist Ludmil Angelov, he recorded Moritz Moszkowski’s Piano Concerto in E minor, Op. 3—a work they rediscovered after 140 years—with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. His long‑standing collaboration with numerous orchestras and opera houses in Bulgaria earned him the Crystal Lyre Award from the Union of Bulgarian Musicians and Dancers for Best Conductor of 2015.
Vladimir Kiradjiev teaches opera conducting and score reading at the Conducting Institute of the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna. For several years, he has supervised the artistic diploma projects of numerous conducting students, as well as concerts featuring young talents—soloists of the International Summer Academy of the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna. He also teaches conducting courses in Austria, Poland, Bulgaria, and Mexico.