Nayden Todorov is one of the most talented contemporary Bulgarian musicians. Born in 1974 in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, he received his first piano lessons at the age of five and at sixteen made his conducting debut. In 1993, Nayden Todorov made his professional debut as a conductor of the Vratsa Philharmonic Orchestra. The same year he graduated with distinction from the Dobrin Petkov School of Music in Plovdiv and continued his studies in conducting at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna. In 1995, he began his first permanent employment as conductor of the Vratsa Philharmonic, and several years later was appointed principal conductor of the Vidin Philharmonic Orchestra.
In 1996, Mr. Todorov was invited by the Leonard Bernstein Foundation, Jerusalem, to undergo a course of advanced studies in Israel. At the same time, he was engaged as trumpet player in the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, where he had the opportunity to work with eminent musicians such as David Shallon, Sergiu Comissiona, Lorin Maazel, Krzysztof Penderecki and many others. In 1998, he received his first permanent international appointment – in Haifa, Israel, with the North Israeli Symphony Orchestra.
In 2000, at the age of 26, he was invited to assume the position Music Director of the Plovdiv Opera and Philharmonic Orchestra, becoming the youngest conductor in Bulgaria to hold such a position. At the Plovdiv Opera, in 2001, he made his operatic debut with Puccini’s Tosca. In 2001, Nayden Todorov had his first appearance on stage with the Sofia Opera Orchestra. Nayden Todorov’s opera debut at the Sofia Opera was in 2002 with Verdi’s Traviata, and several months later he conducted there the premiere of Gounod’s Faust. Again at the Sofia Opera, he had his ballet debut in 2003, with Romeo and Juliet by Sergei Prokofiev. With the Sofia Opera Orchestra, Nayden Todorov recorded for the label Naxos the ballet of Ludwig Mincus Don Quixote, as well as Rachmaninov’s operas Aleko, The Miserly Knight and Francesca da Rimini.
Since 2004, he has been the conductor of the popular production The Night of the Five Tenors, with numerous appearances on major German stages, such as the Berlin Philharmonic, the Herculessaal in Munich, the Laeiszhalle in Hamburg, the Liederhalle in Stuttgart, the Alte Oper in Frankfurt, Meistersingerhalle in Nuremberg and many more. In 2005–2017, Nayden Todorov served as director of the State Opera in Ruse. With the ballet of the Ruse Opera, he undertook tours in Italy, South Korea and Dubai. The production of Katerina Izmailova by Dmitry Shostakovich, directed by Vera Nemirova was covered in a special program on the Austrian television, as well as by the major periodical Die Opernwelt. With the Ruse Opera, he performed many productions in Austria, Switzerland, Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, in collaboration with various Bulgarian and foreign singers.
In 2006, he made his debut with the Berlin Symphony Orchestra, and a year later was invited to conduct the concerts at the orchestra’s tour in Japan. In 2009, he performed his first concert at the Tchaikovsky Hall in Moscow with the Yaroslavl Philharmonic Orchestra, and in 2010 debuted at the Wiener Volksoper, conducting the performances of Tchaikovsky’s ballet The Nutcracker with the Vienna State Ballet. In 2013, he acted as a jury member at the International Blue Danube Competition for Conductors, and in 2016 he was its chairman.
Over the years, Nayden Todorov has worked with all symphony orchestras and opera theaters in Bulgaria, but has a special bond with the Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra, after his first concert with them in 2001. In 2004, he was named its permanent guest conductor, and from the beginning of 2017 was elected its director. In 2005, Nayden Todorov received his first Crystal Lyre for his performance with the Sofia Philharmonic of the Second Symphony by Mahler. In 2009, with the Sofia Philharmonic, he made a debut at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, and the very next year appeared with the same orchestra at the Klagenfurt Summer Festival in Austria.
In his concerts with the Sofia Philharmonic Nayden Todorov has collaborated with some of the most prominent performers in the world, such as Angela Gheorghiu, Sonya Yoncheva, Vesselina Kasarova, Paul Badura-Skoda, Yuri Bashmet, Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Sarah Chang, Maxim Vengerov, Vadim Repin, Julian Rachlin, to name a few. In 2019 Nayden Todorov was voted for the second time Musician of the Year by the listeners of the Bulgarian National Radio.
Nayden Todorov has conducted hundreds of symphonic concerts, opera and ballet performances with various orchestras and opera companies in Austria, Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal, United Kingdom, Romania, Serbia, Macedonia, Kosovo, Poland, Czech Republic, Poland, Czech Republic Slovakia, Turkey, Russia, Israel, Egypt, China, South Korea, USA and others.
