MAESTRO BORISLAV IVANOV
Born in Varna, Borislav Ivanov graduated from the First Men’s High School and the newly established Music School in this seaside city. Having discovered once and for all the world of classical music, he specialized in violin and piano, yet his true vocation and destiny turned out to be the career of a conductor. After obtaining his diploma from the Bulgarian State Conservatoire specialising in orchestral conducting, he worked in tandem with the most fruitful Bulgarian opera composer Parashkev Hadjiev and accumulated a vast experience as a conductor, organizer and impresario, including also as the director of Varna opera theatre and the International Music Festival „Varna Summer”.
His professional excellence as a conductor earned him the warm comments by world-renowned figures of authority in the field of music such as the composer Aram Khachaturian and the conductor Kurt Masur, while the theatre and opera director Walter Felsenstein invited him to a training at the Komische Oper Berlin (1963).
This was followed by the first concerts in Erfurt and Mannheim, participation in an international conductors competition in Liverpool (1964) where Borislav Ivanov was the only contestant hailing from beyond the „Iron Curtain” and the only one conducting without a score. The 32-old Bulgarian earned the highest marks of the British music critics.
An important stage in the creative development and international career of Borislav Ivanov commenced after he met the great Herbert von Karajan who characterized the young Bulgarian’s gift with the words:
„Borislav Ivanov possesses great musicality. His manual technique stands out with its precision, clarity, assuredness and routine, and this permits him to interpret with high expressive power.”.
One of the few fortunate ones, Borislav Ivanov was admitted to the creative laboratory of possibly the greatest conductor of the 20th century. Upon Karajan’s recommendation, he was invited to conduct the Berlin Symphonic Orchestra where subsequently he became the General Music Director – a position of much prestige that he occupied for full 40 seasons.
His engagements abroad notwithstanding, Maestro Borislav Ivanov worked in his home country as director of the opera theatres in Varna, Plovdiv and Sofia over a total period of 30 years.
Organizes hundreds of tours during which Bulgarian music is heard for the first time and Bulgarian instrumentalists and singers are presented in Germany, France, Denmark, Belgium, the Netherlands, Portugal, Egypt, Spain, China, Japan, South Korea, Morocco, Malta, etc.
He organized hundreds of tours that were the first opportunity to showcase Bulgarian music as well as Bulgarian musicians and singers in Germany, France, Denmark, Belgium, the Netherlands, Portugal, Egypt, Spain, China, Japan, South Korea, Morocco, Malta, etc. He represented and supported the international careers of opera singers such as Julia Wiener, Nikola Nikolov, Gena Dimitrova, Dimitar Petkov, Alexandrina Milcheva, Anna Tomova – Sintova, Sofia Ivanova, Orlin Goranov and others. Together with them and other prominent Bulgarian soloists and musical ensembles he toured repeatedly in Spain, Italy, Germany, Poland, Russia, Egypt, France, Belgium, Turkey etc.
Maestro Borislav Ivanov initiated the tradition of the Verdi Festival in the Ancient Theatre in Plovdiv. Over 30 years, he was the artistic director of the opera festivals in Palma de Mallorca, Sevilla, and on the island of Rhodes, Greece. He also participated in the opera festivals in Solothurn, Cartuja, Estepona etc. and served as a jury member at international competitions in Italy, Germany, Greece. A doyen of the Bulgarian conductors with the largest number of appearances abroad, over his lifetime he conducted over 4,500 shows on 4 continents, of which 2,500 shows and concerts in Bulgaria and 2,000 concerts and shows all over the world.
An undeniably illustrious artist, Maestro Borislav Ivanov contributed tremendously to the Bulgarian and world music culture. This is evidenced also by numerous awards he was bestowed with among which: Order of Merit First Class of the President of Germany Richard von Weizsaecker; Gold medal for promoting Italian music throughout the world; Honorary gold badge of Auditorium in Palma de Mallorca; „Golden Lyre” of the Union of Bulgarian Musicians and Dancers for his exceptional contribution to the development and the popularization of the Bulgarian art of music; the titles „Honorary Citizen of Plovdiv” and „Honorary Citizen of Varna”; the „Golden Century” award of the Bulgarian Ministry of Culture for his exceptional contribution to the Bulgarian culture; the „Golden Pen” award of the Bulgarian Classic FM Radio and the Makta Art Gallery and others.
Maestro Borislav Ivanov departed from this world just several months after his dignified 90th anniversary marked with a grandiose gala show in the overcrowded Open Air theatre in Varna, conducted by him and three of his pupils. In Memoriam, the eminent conductor was conferred the highest Bulgarian distinction by the President of the Republic of Bulgaria, the „Stara Planina” order, first class. Moreover, the State Opera Varna arranged in collaboration with his family the International Contest for Young Conductors „Maestro Borislav Ivanov” as a sign of recognition of the contribution of celebrated artist and his legacy of intransient artistic values.