Simo Lazarov


composer, pedagogue, singer

Симо Лазаров

09.03.1948Sofia – Bulgaria

In 1974 he began specialised in electronic and computer music at the Academy of Music in Prague (1974-78), the Studio for Electronic Music in Bratislava (1977-79) and the IRCAM in Paris (1979-82). In 1991 the Technical University in Sofia awarded him a Ph.D. degree for his thesis Composing and Performing Computer Music By Using Personal Computers. In 1992 he specialised at the Lancing University of Michigan (USA) and in 1999 at the International Electroacoustic Institute in Bourges (France). He founded and directed the first Bulgarian Studio for Electronic Music at the Bulgarian National Radio (1973-99). He is one of the leading figures in the field of electronic and computer music in Bulgaria. He taught at the State Academy of Music (1977-88), the Technical University (1983-99), the New Bulgarian University (since 1996) where he currently is lecturer in Computer Systems and Technologies in Music, and also at Sofia University (since 1996) where he was promoted Associate Professor in 1999. Concurrently, he taught at the summer courses organised by the University of Ann Arbor (USA) (1997), at the summer courses of the Lancing University of Michigan (since 1998) and at the University of Tel Aviv (Israel) (since 1998). He created his own school of Computer Composing.

He was co-initiator of the Festival for Electroacoustic, Electronic and Computer Music (FEM) in Gotze Delchev (1989) and of the multimedia forum Computer Space (1993). In 1999 he created, together with the American Howard Wirshil, the international forum The World of Computer Music (its recent editions were held simultaneously in Sofia and Atlanta and were launched on the Internet).

He has an intense pedagogic practice in Bulgaria and abroad. From 1973 to 1999 he was prizewinner at international competitions for electronic music such as Ihtea (1994, Association of Bulgarian Mathematicians); Graviton – for music (1994, Union of Bulgarian Writers); Musica Nova, Prague (for music and Multimedia) (1997); Golden Phenomenon, ASPHEN Association (2002).

A characteristic trend in his creative research is the synthesis of arts. He composed over 300 pieces in a variety of genres and styles, mainly in the field of electronic and computer music, as well as the music to 90 documentaries, shorts and video films, 5 feature films and 80 TV shows and theatre performances. He published 9 LPs, 26 CDs and over 20 audiocassette albums. His works were presented at festivals and competitions in 20 countries throughout Europe and USA. From 1980 to 2003 he gave 1,500 interviews, concerts, synthetic, audiovisual, multimedia performances and mega-performances with electronic and computer music in Bulgaria and abroad.

He published in Bulgaria and abroad numerous studies on technological and creative process problems due to the computerisation of art areas. He published 9 books on electronic and computer music. He edited over 300 radio and TV programmes about the electronic and computer music.

Creativity