Milen Nachev is a Bulgarian/American conductor. He is the Principal Guest Conductor with the Romanian National Radio Symphony Orchestra & Choir. He also served as an Artistic Director with International Symphonic & Opera Workshops, Ltd. .[1]
TEATRO COLON: "Milen Nachev impressed the hall by the firmness of his gesture and his command and control of the orchestra. He showed great precision in the markings, with very clear directives in his choice of tempo, the construction of the phrasings that were impeccably expressed by the musicians of Buenos Aires Philharmonic at Teatro Colon." La Nación, Buenos Aires
Acclaimed throughout Europe, North and South America, Milen Nachev is well known for his strong musicality, his excellent conducting technique, his stylistic faithfulness, and for the richness of his extensive repertoire. Mr. Nachev is the Principal Guest Conductor with Romanian National Radio Symphony Orchestra and Choir. Recently, he was invited as a Masterclass Faculty Professor with Peter the Great Music Academy in Saint Petersburg, Russia. He was also appointed Artistic Director with International Symphonic & Opera Workshops, Ltd.
Milen Nachev was Artistic Director & Conductor of the Bulgarian National Radio Symphony Orchestra (BNR) for eight years. During his tenure with BNR Symphony Orchestra, Nachev created many critically acclaimed recordings, broadcast by the BBC–Radio 3 and Radio France all around the world, and available on EMI/Virgin Classic, Mezzo TV, Amazon.com, Buy.com, CD Universe.com, and Gega New. Together with the BNR Symphony Orchestra, Milen Nachev realized multiple concert tours in France, Italy, Spain, Germany, Greece, and Belgium among others. Mr. Nachev was Music Director & Principal Conductor with Belgrade Radio & Television Symphony Orchestra, Serbia as well. He was also appointed as a Music Director and Principal Conductor of the Balkan Philharmonic Orchestra. In 1989, Nachev was selected to the position of Principal Conductor, Artistic Director and General Manager with the Rousse State Opera Theatre in Bulgaria. Following that, he served as Conductor of Sofia National Opera and Ballet Theatre as well. Milen Nachev was also Principal Conductor with Sofia Youth Orchestra and Professor of Conducting with the Bulgarian State Conservatory.
Milen Nachev’s recent engagement highlights include guest conducting invitations with the Saint Petersburg Philharmonic and Saint Petersburg Academic Symphony Orchestra, Russia; Teatro Colón, Buenos Aires, Argentina; Romanian National Radio Symphony, Bucharest; Mariinsky (Kirov) Theater, Saint Petersburg, Russia; Bogotá National Symphony Orchestra, Columbia; Toronto Philharmonia Orchestra, Canada; Sofia Philharmonic, Bulgaria; Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, Tallinn; Karlovy Vary Philharmonic, Czech Republic; and the Buenos Aires Philharmonic Orchestra, Argentina among others.
Equally talented as an opera conductor, Milen Nachev led an internationally renowned cast, including soloists from Teatro alla Scala di Milano and Bolshoi Theatre in the premiere performances of Verdi’s Don Carlo at Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires. In addition, he realized the East-European premiere of Leonard Bernstein’s Candide with the Sofia National Opera. Milen Nachev’s appearance with the Czech National Opera in Bedrich Smetana’s The Bartered Bride was also highly acclaimed by the critics and audience.
In December 2002, EMI/Virgin released the disc Mozart in Egypt conducted by Milen Nachev. As a result of a very successful collaboration with Hugo de Curson and EMI/Virgin, the disc now is being sold in over 35 countries. The world premiere, conducted by Milen Nachev, took place at the Marseille Festival, and the work was performed immediately at Saint Denis Festival in Paris.
Milen Nachev’s artistic collaboration with internationally renowned artists like Denis Matsuev, Gena Dimitrova, Chucho Valdes, Anna Tomowa-Sintow, Nikola Ghiuselev, Maria Pia Piscitelli, Nikolai Petrov, Vesselina Katzarova, Ludmil Angelov, Darina Takova, Mincho Minchev, Serguei Markarov, and many others was critically acclaimed.
Milen Nachev was invited to perform Mass in B minor by Johann Sebastian Bach during the Vatican Millennium Festival in Rome. In addition, Mr. Nachev went on to lead the Bulgarian National Radio Symphony Orchestra in the opening concert of the EUROPALIA Festival in Brussels, Belgium in 2002.
Milen Nachev was born into an artistic family in Bulgaria. At the age of five, he began studying piano. Milen was accepted into the Bulgarian State Conservatory as a conductor and pianist, and he was selected for a full scholarship to attend the world famous Saint Petersburg Conservatory in Russia. There, he studied with Professor Ylia Mussin and received his Master’s Degree in Symphonic and Opera conducting. During the same period, Milen Nachev actively collaborated with Valery Gergiev, Yuri Temirkanov and Yuri Simonov. Mr. Nachev participated in the Master Conducting courses with Genadii Rojdestvenski at Academia Chigiana in Sienna, Italy as well. Milen Nachev completed his graduate studies with Music Director Internship at the Orchestra of Paris under Semyon Bychkov and Pierre Boulez.
Milen Nachev has been honored for Outstanding Musical Leadership with awards from the City of Vatican in Rome, Foundation Napoleon in Paris, and Bulgarian Ministry of the Culture. In addition, he received a Charter of Gratitude and Recognition from the Bulgarian Parliament.
Today, Milen Nachev is frequently invited as a guest-conductor in Spain, France, Russia, Germany, Italy, USA, Belgium, Serbia, Portugal, Greece, Argentina, Bulgaria, Czech, Turkey, Colombia, and Romania among other countries. Now, Milen Nachev lives in Midland, Michigan with his wife Dr. Antonia Joy Wilson, and with regular guest-conducting engagements throughout Europe, North and South America.
“The conductor was Milen Nachev and he is a star. His conducting style was charged with energy. Every motion was both dramatic and expressive."
American Citizen-Times, North Carolina
Mr. Nachev has been honored for Outstanding Musical Leadership with awards from the City of Vatican in Rome, Foundation Napoleon in Paris, and Bulgarian Ministry of the Culture. Also, he received a Charter of Gratitude and Recognition from the Bulgarian Parliament.