Grigor Palikarov
Maestro Grigor Palikarov was born in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, in 1971. Graduating from the Dobrin Petkov Music School in Plovdiv, he went on to earn a Master’s degree from the National Music Academy “Prof. P. Vladiguerov” – Sofia in four different musical specialties – Orchestral and Choral conducting,
Composition and Piano. Appointed as conductor of the Sofia National Opera and Ballet in 2000, he stayed there for almost 20 years as a full-time conductor and his current repertoire includes more than 60 different operas and ballets. Nowadays Maestro Palikarov is a full-time Professor and PhD at the National Music Academy “Prof. P. Vladiguerov” – Sofia, teaching opera and symphony conducting. He is also a General Artistic Manager of Symphony orchestra - Pazardzhik (since 2005).
Maestro Palikarov regularly appears as guest-conductor with orchestras and opera companies across Bulgaria, such as Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra, Symphony Orchestra of the Bulgarian National Radio, Classic FM Radio Orchestra (being its permanent conductor since the 2008/2009 season), the State Opera Orchestras in Plovdiv, Varna and Burgas among others.
Mr. Palikarov has also built a career as an international guest-conductor, regularly leading orchestras in Italy, Poland, Spain, Slovenia, Mexico, Taiwan, China, Ukraine, Romania, Uruguay, the Netherlands, Japan, Korea, Germany, Austria, Belgium, France, Luxembourg, USA, Russia etc. He has conducted the orchestra of National Opera and Ballet in Ljubljana, Janáček Philharmonic Orchestra (Czech Republic), Krakow opera, National Opera and Ballet – Skopie, the Częstochowa and Warmia-Mazuri Philharmonic Orchestras (Poland), Symphony Orchestra of the Romanian National Radio – Bucharest, Brasov and Sibiu Philharmonic Orchestras in Romania, the Uruguayan National Orchestra and Choir (SODRE) and Montevideo Philharmonic Orchestra, Sanremo Symphony Orchestra, Bari Symphony Orchestra, FVG orchestra and Orchestra Magna Grecia (Italy), BMIMF orchestra (Korea), the Xiamen Philharmonic Orchestra (China), the Yucatán Symphony Orchestra and Monterrey Symphony Orchestra (Mexico), the Taipei Century Symphony Orchestra (Taiwan), the Cleveland Opera (USA), the Krasnoyarsk State Opera and Ballet (Russia), the Dnipro Philharmonic (Ukraine) and the Thessaloniki Symphony Orchestra, among many others.
In addition to being a conductor, Mr. Palikarov is also a composer and a pianist. Some of his works have been performed at a number of festivals and have been recorded. He has received a “Crystal Lyre” Annual Music Award four times (in 2002, 2012, 2017 and 2022); a “Golden Lyre” Award in 2021 for outstanding contribution to Bulgarian musical art and on the occasion of his 50th anniversary; a “Golden Quill” Award in 2009 and special prize “Emil Tchakarov” in 2019. He also served two terms as Chairman of the Bulgarian branch of “Mensa”, an international organization of people with a high IQ.