Peter Makedonski

Solo trumpet of the Bulgarian National Radio Symphony Orchestra since 2011 and of the Sofia Philharmonic since 2018, Petar Makedonski came to the instrument at ten, late by the standards of his family: his grandfather, Petar Karparov, founded the Bulgarian trumpet school and was the country's first professor of the instrument, and his father, Angel Makedonski, holds the same chair. Born in Sofia in 1988, he had started piano and theory at five at the Lyubomir Pipkov National Music School; he then graduated from the Pancho Vladigerov National Academy of Music in his father's class and completed a doctorate in 2018. Prizes followed at Young Musical Talents, Ohridski Biseri and the Svetoslav Obretenov national competition, and in 2017 he took second prize and the audience award at the Plovdiv International Chamber Music Competition. Alongside the orchestral posts he founded the brass ensemble Mister Brass, co-founded the Fortissimo Family education programme, and teaches at the National Academy of Music. His doctorate dealt with Vassil Kazandjiev's trumpet concerto and its place in the Bulgarian repertoire, and since 2023 he has been assistant professor of trumpet at the academy. As a student he won a competition for the solo trumpet chair at the National Opera and Ballet in Sofia and held it for three seasons; with the pianist Nadejda Tzanova he has played in a duo since 2015, winning five international chamber competitions and, in 2017, Bulgarian National Radio's musician of the year for ensembles. In 2022 he formed Libertrio with Ludmil Angelov and the bandoneon player Stoyan Karaivanov, playing Piazzolla, and he has recorded for the radio's Golden Fund.