Yosif Yosifov

Yosko Yosifov (Yosif Aleksandrov Yosifov) (1911–2001) was a Bulgarian opera conductor and composer, one of the founders of the Stara Zagora and Varna Operas. He was the brother of the famous tenor Iliya Yosifov and the father of the composer Alexander Yosifov.
He was born in Kazanlak in 1911 into a musical and artistic family. In 1931 he entered the National Academy of Music (then the State Academy of Music), where his teachers were Prof. Dobri Hristov and Prof. Pancho Vladigerov. As a student he wrote the operas "Bilyana" and "Tsar Samuil", as well as other works. He graduated in 1934 and taught for a short time.
From 1939 to 1946 Yosifov worked at Radio Stara Zagora and at the same time collaborated with the local opera amateurs, the city symphony orchestra and the male choir. In 1943, his opera "Bilyana" was staged under his direction. Yosifov assisted in the founding of the Stara Zagora National Opera and from 1946 to 1948 was its chief conductor.
In the period 1948 - 1956, Yosifov was the conductor of the Varna State Symphony Orchestra and the Varna National Opera. Here he created a large part of his most significant works, established himself as an opera and symphony conductor, and had an active and diverse public, musical-educational and pedagogical activity. He reorchestrated and recorded the opera "Gergana" by Maestro Georgi Atanasov in a studio. He conducted opera performances in Poland, Romania, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia with great success.
Since 1971, Yosko Yosifov has lived and worked in the village of Tuzha, Stara Zagora, near his hometown. In 1979 he was awarded the title of "Honored Artist", and in 1986 he received the Order of the People's Republic of Bulgaria - 1st degree.
The creative heritage of Yosko Yosifov includes nine symphonies, musical and stage works, instrumental concerts, chamber and instrumental and choral works, songs, suites. The most famous are his symphonic poem "Sadness", his last symphonies, Concerto for Cello and Orchestra, the symphonic poem "September People", etc.