Александър Крунев

Krunev sang his first Germont at the Plovdiv Opera on 16 January 1990, while still a student. Trained at the Lyubomir Pipkov National Music School and then at the Pancho Vladigerov State Academy of Music with Iliya Yosifov, he worked further with the tenor Nikola Nikolov, the baritone Sabin Markov and the soprano Ghena Dimitrova. Small parts at the Sofia Opera came first, then engagements as a company soloist at the National Opera in Sofia, at Burgas, at Rousse and, since 2015, at State Opera Stara Zagora. The Italian and French repertoire includes Rigoletto, Escamillo, Iago, the title role in Falstaff alongside the Russian roles and a concert repertoire reaching from Beethoven and Mozart to Stravinsky and Orff. He sang in the Bulgarian National Radio recording of Carmina Burana under Emil Tabakov, and has toured with the Bulgarian companies through Italy, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Spain, Japan and South Korea. His years at Plovdiv and Rousse coincided with Nayden Todorov's tenures at both houses, and the two have worked together since 2001. The Plovdiv debut brought an immediate soloist contract with that house, and the guest work has reached Belgium, England, Denmark, Poland, Romania and Macedonia as well, including appearances at the Deutsche Oper Berlin and in the Berlin Philharmonie. He has made studio recordings for Bulgarian National Radio and Bulgarian National Television. He has also sung with the touring company Opera Verdi Europa. His Verdi parts extend beyond Rigoletto to Nabucco, Il trovatore, Un ballo in maschera, La forza del destino, Ernani and Don Carlos, and his repertoire takes in Manon Lescaut, Don Pasquale, Lucia di Lammermoor, Turandot and Bernstein's Candide. He joined the State Opera in Burgas as a soloist in 2008, and Scarpia, Figaro and Don Giovanni stand among his parts.