Burgas Philharmonic Orchestra

Burgas became a state orchestral town in 1947, when the philharmonic was established with Dimitar Karadjov at its head, and it grew into one of the strongest ensembles outside the capital during the long chief conductorship of Ivan Vulpe between 1960 and 1976. Yordan Dafov, Vassil Stefanov, Ruslan Raychev and Mikhail Angelov followed him, and from 1987 Ivan Kozhuharov brought in a younger generation of conductors alongside the established names. The orchestra plays the classical and romantic symphonic repertory, accompanies the opera and ballet productions of the Burgas house, and carries the concert season of Bulgaria's largest Black Sea city. Nayden Todorov was artistic director of the Burgas opera and philharmonic society from 2003 to 2005.