Pavel Zlatarov

Leading the Sofia Philharmonic from the first desk since 1994, Pavel Zlatarov studied with Mincho Minchev, Dora Ivanova and Lyudmila Ivanova, graduated from the Pancho Vladigerov National Academy of Music, and later took a master's qualification in conducting through the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music in London. Orchestral leadership is the centre of his work but not the whole of it: he plays solo and chamber repertoire — the Vivaldi Four Seasons with the Dianopolis chamber orchestra in 2020 — he conducts, and he has put sustained effort into the Fortissimo Family concerts, which bring orchestral music to children and their parents. Between 2002 and 2014 he was deputy chair of the Union of Bulgarian Music and Dance Professionals. He took the concertmaster post by competition at twenty-four and has played as a soloist with the Plovdiv Philharmonic and the orchestras of Shumen, Pazardzhik, Vidin and Burgas, and on two Japanese tours, in November 2005 and October 2007, under Mitsuyoshi Oikawa. He founded the Helios string quartet, whose first violin he is, and recorded a quartet by Milcho Leviev for that composer's disc. In 1999 he took third prize at the Pancho Vladigerov competition in Shumen, and his conducting studies began in 2003 with Vasil Kazandjiev, ending in the FRSM he defended with distinction in 2008. On 24 September 2009 he led the orchestra at Bulgaria Hall for the gala concert of Raina Kabaivanska's masterclass under Nayden Todorov, and he was guest concertmaster of the Fondazione Toscanini in Parma between 2002 and 2005.