Stilian Kirov
“Kirov conducted with great vitality and energy as well as a fine sense of both balance and timing, and got exciting performances from all hands — chorus, soloists, orchestra.”
Recently named a recipient of the 2016 Solti Foundation U.S. Career Assistance Award, Stilian Kirov began the 2015/2016 season as the newly-appointed Music Director of two quite different orchestras: the up-and-coming Bakersfield Symphony Orchestra in California, and New Jersey’s Symphony in C, one of America’s premier orchestras for young professionals (former music directors have included internationally known conductors, such as Alan Gilbert). Having recently completed a highly successful tenure as Associate Conductor of the Seattle Symphony, Mr. Kirov has also served as Associate Conductor of the Memphis Symphony and Music Director of the Memphis Youth Symphony Program.
Mr. Kirov’s recent and upcoming guest conducting engagements include performances with the symphonies of West Virginia, Kalamazoo, South Bend, Tucson, Amarillo as well as the National Repertory Orchestra/Breckenridge and the Illinois Philharmonic, among others. Following his highly acclaimed debut in 2012, he also appears regularly as guest conductor with the Pacific Northwest Ballet in Seattle.
During the 2013/2014 season, Stilian Kirov was engaged as an assistant conductor to Bernard Haitink with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra as well as a cover conductor for Stéphane Denève, the late Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Christoph von Dohnányi, and Andrew Davis, all with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Also during that season, he stepped in to replace Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos with the Seattle Symphony, conducting “spectacular” performances of Orff’s Carmina Burana.
Worldwide, Mr. Kirov has appeared with the Victoria Symphony /British Columbia, Leopolis Chamber Orchestra/Ukraine, Orchestra of Colors/Athens, Orchestre Colonne/Paris, Sofia Festival Orchestra, State Hermitage Orchestra/St. Petersburg, Thüringen Philharmonic Orchestra, the Zagreb Philharmonic, the Musical Olympus International Festival in St. Petersburg, and more.
A prize winner at Denmark’s 2015 Malko Competition, Stilian Kirov is the recipient of numerous awards and prizes, including an Emmy for the Memphis Symphony’s Soundtrack Project, the Orchestra Preference Award, and Third Prize at the 2010 Mitropoulos Conducting Competition, as well as Juilliard’s Bruno Walter Memorial Scholarship and the Charles Schiff Conducting Award for outstanding achievement. He is also the recipient of France’s 2010 ADAMI Conducting Prize, culminating in a showcase concert at the Salle Gaveau with the Orchestre Colonne. Following the performance, Mr. Kirov was invited to conduct the orchestra’s opening concerts of the 2011/2012 season in Paris.
Mr. Kirov is a graduate of The Juilliard School in orchestral conducting, where he was a student of James DePreist. In 2012, he studied at the Aspen Academy of Conducting, and in 2013, was one of three Conducting Fellows at the Tanglewood Music Center. In 2010, he was awarded the Chautauqua Music Festival's David Effron Conducting Fellowship, and returned in 2012 as a guest conductor with the festival orchestra.
Mr. Kirov holds a master's degree in conducting from the Ecole Normale de Musique in Paris, where he studied with Dominique Rouits. He has participated in master classes with such distinguished conductors as the late Kurt Masur, Michael Tilson Thomas, Gianluigi Gelmetti, George Manahan, and Asher Fisch.
Also a gifted pianist, Stilian Kirov was the Gold Medalist of the 2001 Claude Kahn International Piano Competition in Paris.
Learn more and listen at: http://www.stiliankirov.com/