Georgi Minchev graduated from the State Academy of Music in 1964 majoring in Composition under Professor Marin Goleminov. He specialised with Rodion Shchedrin in Moscow (1968-70). In 1972 he received a UNESCO music scholarship and studied in the USA, the UK and France. He worked with Olivier Messiaen and Luciano Berio at the ICRAM in Paris. In 1971 he joined the staff of the Bulgarian National Radio. He was promoted chief music editor (1973) and Head of the Music Department (1992). He was Secretary of the Union of Bulgarian Composers (1980-85) and its Deputy Chairman (1985-89). He was Managing Director of the recording company Balkanton (1986-87).

He wrote one ballet; one oratorio; works for symphony orchestra; chamber music, etc. His works are representative of the contemporary Bulgarian music and establish its international prestige. His music was performed in Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Russia, San Marino, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland, the UK, Colombia, Cuba, the USA, Australia and Japan. He won several national and international prizes. His Piano Concerto won the International Record Critics’ Award in the USA (1979) and was ranked first among the recommended pieces for the International Composers Rostrum in Paris (1981). In 1989 he won the art prize Lorenzo Magnifico awarded by the Medici International Academy in Florence for total work and the honorary title Onorevole Senatore of the Academy. He was member of juries at international composers’ competitions in Germany, Greece, Italy, the UK and Russia.

Website: Georgi Minchev

Stage music:

Ballet:

Fahrenheit 451 after Ray Bradbury (1993), premiered at the Sofia Opera, 1997.

 Choral-orchestral:

Oratorio:

Old Bulgarian Chronicles for soloists, lector, mixed choir, female voices choir and symphony orchestra (1971).

h3(red-dot). For voice and symphony orchestra:

Three Poems for mezzo-soprano and symphony orchestra (1973).

For symphony orchestra:

Concert Music (1976);
Symphonic Prologue (1981);
Dynamic Spaces (1991);
Fahrenheit 451, symphonic poem after the ballet (1999);
Contrasts. Music for Orchestra (2002).

Concertos for:

piano (1978);
violoncello “SentiMetal” (in memory of Witold Liutoslawski) (1993).

 Chamber music:

Concerto Breve I for ten wind instruments (1984);
Concerto Breve II “Contempo Retro” for wind quintet (1993).

Intermezzo and Watercolour for two flutes, harpsichord and strings (1970).

Monody for violoncello (1999).

For piano:

Sonogrammes, five concert reminiscences (1980).

Vocal music:

Frescoes, song cycle for soprano, piano and bells (1983);
Three Poems for soprano, strings and percussion (1983).

Film music to:

Love Game, directed by Y. Vazov (1979);
Comparsita, directed by N. Petkov (1977);
Avalanche, directed by H. Piskov (1981);
Forefathers and Descendants, directed by K. Djidrov, R. Georgiev (5-series film, 1983).