Mario Nikolov

Next door in Plovdiv stood Milcho Leviev's house, the piano audible from it; Mario Nikolov played the violin as a boy and sang constantly, and made his career in operetta. A soloist of the National Musical Theatre in Sofia, he has sung the leading tenor roles of Johann Strauss II, Kálmán and Lehár, and works besides as a director, producer and television presenter, notably on the classical and jazz programme Vechnata muzika. Between 2012 and 2014 he was heard in Kálmán's Die Csárdásfürstin at Burgas and at Rousse, and afterwards in Der Zigeunerbaron with the State Opera Burgas. He marked his sixtieth birthday in 2023 with a concert. He was born in Dimitrovgrad and grew up in Plovdiv and Pazardzhik.