Figures of Plovdiv

Figures of Plovdiv

Ivan Spassov (1934-1996)

Ivan Spassov (1934-1996)

1/1/2012 12:00:00 AM

Ivan Spassov (Jan. 17, 1934, Sofia, - Dec. 22, 1996, Plovdiv), composer, conductor, pedagogue...

Ivan Spassov graduated from the State Academy of Music in 1957, majoring in Composition under Professor Pancho Vladigerov and Choral Conducting under Professor Georgi Dimitrov. He specialised in composition with Kazimierz Sikorski and Stanislaw Wislocki at the Warsaw Conservatoire (1960-62). At his graduation concert, Spassov conducted the Warsaw Philharmonic premiering his First symphony.

Upon his return he was appointed symphony conductor. He founded the Plovdiv Chamber Orchestra and the Plovdiv Musical Youth Society. This gave him the opportunity to premiere works by Penderecki and other modern authors. In 1967 he took part in the summer courses for new music in Darmstadt, where in 1968 the Orchestra of Radio Frankfurt conducted by Gilen performed his Episodes for Four Timbral Groups.

From 1970 to 1991 he was Main Artistic Director of the Pazardzhik Symphony Orchestra, with which he toured and recorded in Bulgaria and abroad. From 1989 to the end of his life in 1996 he worked as professor and Rector of the Academy of Music and Dance Art in Plovdiv.

He lectured in the USA (1982, 1989, 1990). In 1989 he conducted the Symphony Orchestra of Garden Grove (Los Angeles) in New York, where he performed his work 20th Century Mankind, dedicated to the ONU, before the General Secretary of the ONU Xavier Perez de Cuellar. As a conductor, he also premiered a number of works by contemporary Bulgarian and foreign composers.

He was among the instigators and leading figures of the vanguard tendencies in modern Bulgarian music. He composed a mono opera and an opera (unfinished); 4 symphonies; 4 concertos; cantatas; orchestral, instrumental, vocal music; choral and solo songs; music scores to 50 theatre performances and 3 films, etc.

In his music the traditional Bulgarian melody and its rich ornamentation and rhythmical diversity are subject to individual rethinking by means of vanguard techniques such as aleatory, improvisation, etc. His choral songs are well established in the repertoire of the most eminent Bulgarian choral ensembles and are internationally acclaimed. His vocal-orchestral works from 1980s and 1990s are marked by a deeply felt spirituality.

His works were performed in a number of European countries, the USA, Japan and Australia. He recorded for Bulgarian and foreign radio stations and released his music on LP and CD.

Ivan Bogorov, Dr (1818 - 1892)
Ivan Bogorov, Dr (1818 - 1892)
1/1/2012 12:00:00 AM
One of the most eminent encyclopedians of the Bulgarian Revival period - a doctor of medicine by education, he was also very much concerned by business matters, economics, geography, industry, tran...
Kamen Vichev, Father (1893 - 1952)
Kamen Vichev, Father (1893 - 1952)
1/1/2012 12:00:00 AM
Kamen Vichev was born in the village of Srem, Bourgas region, on May 23rd, 1893. He started his theological education in 1912 in Belgium, where he studied until 1918. After recieving his PhD in The...
George Danchov - Zografina
George Danchov - Zografina
1/1/2012 12:00:00 AM
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Stoyo Shishkov (1865 - 1937)
Stoyo Shishkov (1865 - 1937)
1/1/2012 12:00:00 AM
Stoyo Shishkov was born in 1865 in the village of Ustovo near the town of Smolyan. He was a pedagogue, man of letters, ethnographer. Lived in Plovdiv since 1904 as a teacher. He was the <...
Mario Hossen - the Bulgarian &quot;Paganini&quot;  was born in Plovdiv
The following info on this talented young violinist is courtesy of Festival Music Alp webs...
Boris Dimovski  (1925-2007)
Boris Dimovski (1925-2007)
1/1/2012 12:00:00 AM
Boris Dimovski is one of the greatest contemporary Bulgarian artists. Beside being a world-famous caricature artist, he is also a much respected master of water-color paitings, oil paintings, impre...
Radoslav Nikolov - Gianni (born 1954)
The First Bulgarian in The Guinness Book of Records. 53-year-old Radoslav Nikolov (known as Gianni) is the best BG football juggler. He managed to juggle his football on the 20-cm-wide balus...
George Ganchev (born 1939)
George Ganchev (born 1939)
1/1/2012 12:00:00 AM
George Ganchev (whose real name was Georgi Petroushev) was born on August 29, 1939, in Plovdiv. In the early 1960s he emigrated from Bulgaria. He graduated from the British Fencing Academy (he was ...
ASEN HRISTOFOROV (1910 - 1970)
1/1/2012 12:00:00 AM
ASEN HRISTOFOROV – an economist and writer, born on December 16, 1910 in Plovdiv. He studied Economics in London, where he graduated in 1934. He was among the founders of the Statistics Insti...
Tsanko Lavrenov  (1896-1978)
Tsanko Lavrenov (1896-1978)
1/1/2012 12:00:00 AM
Tsanko Lavrenov (1896-1978) - an original Bulgarian artist, who drew experience from the national traditions of old Bulgarian art and from folklore. A highly creative artist, he poeticised...