Pavel Baleff – the world-renowned conductor of Bulgarian premieres

published on 8/19/25 2:10 PM

Photo: pavel-baleff.de

For three decades, Pavel Baleff has been enjoying an exceptional career in Europe, Asia and America. He is the most respected Bulgarian conductor in Germany and Austria, France and Switzerland, Denmark and Slovakia, Russia and China, Taiwan and Singapore. An intellectual, erudite and workaholic, a holder of prestigious awards, a world-class musician, he never stops repeating that he can be successful only as a Bulgarian.

Although he rarely conducts in his homeland, his contribution to Bulgarian musical culture and the national opera theatre is undeniable – first and foremost with the premieres he has realised in Bulgaria.

After "Das Rheingold" (2010), "Die Walküre" (2011) and "Siegfried" (2012) from Wagner's "Der Ring des Nibelungen" at the Sofia Opera and "The Cunning Little Vixen" by Leoš Janáček in Varna (2023), on August 20, 2025, within the framework of the "Opera at the Summer Theater" festival, Baleff will conduct the premiere of the first Bulgarian production of the opera masterpiece "Rusalka" by Antonín Dvořák.

Pavel Baleff is the first Bulgarian to receive the position of chief conductor in an opera theatre in France. He has repeatedly stated that he presents himself everywhere as a Bulgarian musician.

"I am a European Bulgarian. And I think that as a European Bulgarian, or as a Bulgarian European I can really show more and arouse more interest in something that we can show - from our point of view, with our development, with our mentality, with our upbringing and education. I think that is where our advantages lie, as we are forced to fight and prove ourselves constantly. Only when a person really manages to fight, they can achieve something and we can really do this only with our Bulgarian temper. This is my opinion - I fight as a Bulgarian."

Pavel Baleff was born in Chirpan. He studied at the Music School in Stara Zagora - the city of linden trees and poets, known for its respect for all arts and a special love for opera, as well as for the famous Festival of Opera and Ballet Arts. This year he will conduct the ensembles of the Stara Zagora Opera in the premiere of "Andrea Chénier" by Umberto Giordano at the festival and this will actually be his debut in Stara Zagora.

Baleff is one of the Bulgarian musicians who perform a lot of Bulgarian music and he managed to convince world-famous star Diana Damrau to sing the Prayer of Maria Desislava from the opera “Maria Desislava” by Parashkev Hadjiev. He recently included Vladigerov's Scandinavian Suite in a concert program with the Suzhou Symphony Orchestra in China.

"For a long time I did not think that I was mature enough to take on this responsibility for the interpretation of the Bulgarian works. I needed time. The process was long and complicated, but I prefer the works from Vladigerov's German period, as there he is much more classical, fits into nice frames, manages to curb the creative energy and stylize it in a way that would be successful in the West. I think that we should present him precisely with this European universality of his, which I find in his first opuses, written in Germany."

The German audience also really liked a score by Marin Goleminov in his interpretation - Variations on a Theme by Dobri Hristov. At the moment Baleff has a great desire to perform works by Lyubomir Pipkov because "his musical core is very, very prominent". At the end we ask about the most important meeting in his life. He thinks about it, but then he confidently declares that it was the meeting with his wife. The legendary musician with whom he would like to spend an evening is Mozart. The first thing that comes to his mind when he hears Bulgaria? "I don't know how to formulate it, but it's a... unquenchable, painful love... You could also say 'the pain I can't live without'."