Plovdiv Philharmonic Orchestra

When the Plovdiv Philharmonic was established in 1945 it became the first state symphony orchestra outside Sofia, though the city's players had been giving orchestral concerts for decades before that. Dobrin Petkov's years with it are the ones Bulgarian musicians still talk about; Vladi Simeonov, Ruslan Raychev, Dimitar Manolov and Vladimir Ghiaurov also held the post. Richter played with the orchestra, and so did Rostropovich, Szeryng, Kogan and Ricci. It recorded the symphonies of the Danish composer Louis Glass for the Danacord label. In 1999 it merged with State Opera Plovdiv and now forms that company's orchestra, playing opera, ballet and its own symphonic season. Nayden Todorov was music director of the combined institution from 2000 to 2005.