He was born in Bulgaria. He graduated from the State Music Academy “Prof. Pantcho Vladigerov” in Sofia and he continued studying opera directing in Germany and cinema directing in Sofia. In 1973, still being a student, he founded the first Chamber Opera in Bulgaria (now the Chamber Opera-Blagoevgrad). He is particularly active and productive, having directed operas in major opera houses of Germany, Switzerland, Serbia, Croatia, Romania, Egypt, Brazil, Poland, Japan, USA and Australia. He directed significant, mainly Italian, lyrical works (Verdi, Puccini, Leoncavallo, Rossini). He founded the organization “Opera on the Square” offering spectacular outdoor productions of lyrical works in Sofia, and he organized productions of Bulgarian opera works on the historic Tsarevets Holy Hill. Together with the bass Boris Christoff he co-founded the Bulgarian Academy for Art and Culture in Rome. He was director of the State Music Academy “Prof. Pantcho Vladigerov” and he became an Academician. He directed many, modern stigma productions around the world and collaborated with world-renowned artists. Since 2007 he is the artistic director of the National Opera of Sofia. An admirer of Wagner, he directed the premiere of Wagner’s tetralogy Der Ring des Nibelungen in Bulgaria and, in general, in the Balkans (2010-14). For his contribution he was repeatedly awarded in Bulgaria, Russia, USA, Serbia, and Brazil. In 2014, the International Association of the Wagner Societies honored him for his special contribution to the broad dissemination of Wagner’s music. At the GNO he directed the operas Turandot (1995-96, Odeon of Harodes Atticus), Il trovatore (1996-97) and Fedora (1998-99, 2002-03). He also directed for the Thessaloniki Opera the operas Il barbiere di Siviglia, The Medium, Gianni Schicchi (2001), and Orfeo ed Euridice (1999). // Last update of the biography: December 2019 - The list of the productions below is complete.