Tsenko Minkin studied Composition with Professor Alexander Raychev. Aged 12 he made his first recordings at the Bulgarian National Radio as a pianist performing his own works. At the age of 15 he composed a percussion quartet, which was published by Musica Publishers. When he was 19 years old he had the first concert in Sofia made up of his own music (chamber and symphony works). At the age of 20 he began working as a freelance composer. He composed film and theatre music. From 1995 to 1997, he was an arts consultant at the Sofia-Press Agency. From 1998 to 2006 he has worked as music editor at Balkanton.

In 2003, he participated in the commission for financing film production at Bulgarian National Television.

He is a co-founder of the Musicautor Copyright Agency and a member of the Board of Directors (from 1992 to 2009, and from 2009 to 2012 he was the Chairman of the Management Board of the Association), and in the period from March to June 2009 he was also the executive director of the company.

He was a member of the Management Board of the Union of Bulgarian Composers in the years 1993-1999, 2008-2011, in 2013 he was the General Secretary, and since November 2014 he has been the Chairman of the Union of Bulgarian Composers.

From 2010 to 2014, he was deputy. Chairman of the NF “Culture” at the Ministry of Culture.

He is the author of over 130 chamber, vocal, symphonic works; choral and other works; the music for over 50 feature films and documentaries, of which there are 15 awards from world film festivals. His works have been performed in Italy, France, Germany, Austria, Greece and other countries. He was twice a member of international juries at the film festivals in Budapest (Hungary) and Beijing (China).

Tsenko Minkin is the winner of the awards:
“The Golden Lyre” at the “Sliven Fires” festival (1979);
The UBW award for contribution to Bulgarian literature (1996);
Certificate of Honor of the Ministry of Culture for contribution to the development and popularization of Bulgarian culture (1998);
“The Sofia Award” for music (1989);
The “Golden Quintet” award of the Union of Bulgarian Composers for “Holy Divine Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom” (2005);
Golden Age Award – Star of the Ministry of Culture (2019).

Icarus – the celestial anchor

Concerto for marimba and orchestra

Heterometry

Choral-orchestral:
For mixed choir and symphony orchestra:

Хорово-симфонични фрески “Кипровец 1688” (1988 г.);

A Message, lyrics by D. Hristov (1981);

Cantata “The Bulgarian Language”, poems by Ivan Vazov (2018)

For symphony orchestra:
Symphony N1 Chamber (for small symphony orchestra) (1996);
Scenes from a Soldiers Life (1979);
Symphony Parable “The Dromos Bay” (1997);
Musette for violin and orchestra (2002);
Two plays in memory of Petko Stainov – “Song” and “Rachenitza” (2015);
“Shakona” (2015);
Symphonic Poem (2019).

Concertos:
Concerto for violin (1980);
Concerto for trumpet (1981).
Concerto for marimba (2014).

For string orchestra:
Serenade Capricosa for horn and straich (1985);
Sofia Impressions (1987).;
“Big Concert Tango” (2013);
Two plays in memory of Petko Stainov – “Song” and “Rachenitza” (2015);
“Jewish Poem” for clarinet and string orchestra (2017).

Chamber Music:
Cycle “Bulgarian Dances” for piano (1974);
Quartet for xylophone, glockenspiel, marimba and vibraphone (1975);
“Impression” for piano (1975);
Toccata for piano (1975);
“Apocryphs” for high female voice and percussion on “Antichrist” by Emilian Stanev (1980); “Nocturne” for clarinet, piano and percussion (1981);
“Expression” for brass quintet (1982);
Sonata for Clarinet and Percussion (1983);
Concert Piece for Marimba (1984);
Sonata for viola and piano (1984);
“Lazaritsa” for clarinet, piano and percussion by Yordan Radichkov (1985);
11 sonnets on the love lyrics of P. K. Yavorov for flute, oboe and bassoon (1986);
Flight Test or Cuckoo’s Flight over a Nest by Yordan Radichkov, for violin, double bass, clarinet, trumpet, trombone, drum and piano (1986);
Three Romantic Pieces for Flute, Oboe and Bassoon (1991);
“Little Plastic” for vibraphone and marimba (1992);
“Memory After Autumn Rain” for violin and fibraphone (1993);
Rainbow Escape for violin and marimba (1994);
Three small sculptures “Prelude”, “Arya” and “Tokata” based on sculptures by Vezhdi Rashidov (1995);
“Romansero Incognito” for violin and piano (2001);
Musette for flute and piano (author’s arrangement for violin and symphony orchestra) (2002);
“Recognition” for cello and piano (2005);
The Clown’s Tears for oboe, violin, viola and cello (2006);
Grand Concerto Duet for violin and cello (2008);
“Atonement” for violin and shofar (2010);
“Kaddish” for violin and cello (2010);
“Divertimento rustico” for string quartet (2012);
“Big Concert Tango” for string quartet (2012);
Commedia dell’arte for oboe, violin, viola and cello (2013);
“Heterometria Bulgara” for mandolin quartet (2013);
“Heterometria Bulgara” for string quartet (2013);
“Romansero Ivanov” for cello and piano (2016);
Diptych for three clarinets (2016);
Rainbow Escape for violin and marimba (2016);
Three Animations for Flute and Tuba (2017);
Kaleido for vibraphone and piano (2019), edited for vibraphone and two marimbas;
Suite for Flute and Viola (2019);
Aria for violin and piano (2019);
“At Dawn” for solo flute (2019);
“Ala Bulgara” for violin, viola, cello and piano (2019);
“Pastoral and Dance” for solo viola (2020);
Studio 10/11 for solo marimba (2020).

Vocal-instrumental music:
Antiphon, Psalm and Polyelei, three chamber sacred pieces for soprano, flute, clarinet, violoncello, harp and vibraphone (1983);
Three songs “Gibel”, “Edelweiss”, “Sphinx” text Alexander Gerov, for bass, vibraphone and cello;
Two songs based on text by Emil Simeonov (1984);
Ave Maria for soprano and organ (1985) (also in versions for flute, oboe and bassoon, 1986; for soprano, flute, viola, harp and piano, 1990; for soprano and strings, 1991);
Four songs based on the text of Vasil Sotirov “Song of the Lost Sheep”, “The Dove”, “To Fall from Mars”, “Innocent” (1992-2003);
Ave Maria ІІ for tenor and piano (2000) (also in a version for tenor and double symphony orchestra, 2003);
“The Blue Fireplace” lyrics by Ivan Krastev, for bass and piano (2008);
“One Rose Sings” text by Sabina Tyankova for soprano and piano (2013);
“Gifts” text Elisaveta Bagryana, for soprano and piano (2013);
“Farewell” text N. Y. Vaptsarov for voice and guitar (2020).

Choral music:
For mixed choir:

Ballad about the Ladder, lyrics by Liubomir Levchev, for big mixed choir and percussion (1980);
Divine Concert Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom (2002).
“Blessed are you, Virgin Mary” for male choir (2012);
“Great doxology” (2019);
“On the rivers of Babylon” (2019).

For female voices choir:

“In the quiet spring rain” poems by Nikolay Liliev (2017);
“Women’s Song” verses Ts. Minkin (2017) acapella

For children’s choir:

Drum (1986);
Merry Horo (1991);
“Panis Angelicus” for soloist and children’s choir (2006);
“Ave Maria II” for soloist and children’s choir (2006);
“Blessing” for children’s choir and piano (2018) text Margarit Minkov;
“The starry bells are singing” for children’s choir and piano (2018) text Margarit Minkov.

For traditional music choir:

“Spring cantata” for folk choir and percussion (1998);
“She fell in love” for soprano and folk choir (2002);
The cantata “Profana” (“Butterflies”) for folk choir, bagpipes and drums (2003);
Virgin Mary (2003).

Film music:

Documentary:

“Roman Cities” (1981);
“Roman cities south of Hem”, directed by Iv. Danov (1982);
“Cultural Heritage”, directed by Iv. Danov (1983);
“Egyptian hieroglyphs”, directed by K. Toshev (1984);
“Tsviatko Radoynov”, directed by P. Hadjieva (1984);
“A century or a day”, directed by Zl. Ruseva (1984) – with international awards from the festivals in Oberhausen, Germany and Huesca, Spain;
“The Heroes of Shipka”, directed by Iv. Danov (1985);
“The Judgment”, directed by Anne. Petkova (1986) – the “Golden Rhyton” award;
“The Nine Steps”, directed by St. Shishkov (1987) – a film about the great athlete Stefka Kostadinova. The film won awards at the world film festivals in Turin (1988), Palermo (1988), Bilbao (1989), Beijing (1989), Budapest (1989); the Telefunken Award – Germany (1990), etc.;
“Hair is part of the body”, directed by Yu. Zhirov (1987);
“Every day of life”, directed by Yu. Zhirov (1987) – a film about the atrocities in Bulgarian metallurgy – Kremikovtsi;
“Breathe”, directed by Yu. Zhirov (1988) – the film that was banned because of the gassing of Ruse;
“Kiprovets” 1 and 2, directed by M. Ruseva (1988);
“The War of the Angels”, directed by Yu. Zhirov, M. Ruseva (1989);
“The Rose of the Winds” or “Breathe-2”, directed by Yu. Zhirov (1990);
“Memories from the Boats”, directed by St. Shishkov (1990);
“Melody for hammer and violin”, directed by O. Logofetov (1990) – a film about the death of the great violinist Sasho Sladura;
“Hunting wolves”, directed by Zl. Ruseva (1992);
“The Truth”, directed by A. Petkova (1998);
“The Judgment”, directed by A. Petkova (1999);
“10 years have passed”, directed by St. Shishkov (1999);
“The Verdict”, directed by A. Petkova (2000);
“Saving the Immortal”, directed by Zl. Ruseva (2009);
“Ivan Georgiev – Rembrandt”, directed by A. Petkova (2010);
“People’s House of Terror”, directed by St. Shishkov (2015), Golden Riton Award;
“The Aggression”, directed by A. Petkova (2015), nominated for the Filmmakers’ Award.

Feature Films:

“AkaTaMuS”, directed by G. Dyulgerov (1987);
“Troublesome Shadows”, directed by Al. Rakovski (1988);
“The Big Cop”, directed by Stefan Gardev (1993);
“Traffic”, directed by Ivaylo Jambazov (1994);
“The Night of the Wild”, directed by Ivaylo Jambazov (1995);
“Joseph and Mary”, directed by M. Nikolov (1999) and others.

Animated:

“The Tale of the Confused Kingdom”, directed by P. Odajiev (2004);
“Persimmon”, directed by Vl. Shomov (2014)

Music for theater productions:

“The Taming of the Shrew” by W. Shakespeare, directed by St. Dimitrov-Dragnev (1984);
“Hamlet” by W. Shakespeare, directed by Ivan Dobchev (1987);
“Last Stop” by Hr. Boychev, directed by P. Budevski (1990);
“Shopi” by Ivan Radoev, directed by P. Budevski (1991);
“In the skirts of Vitosha” by PK Yavorov, directed by P. Budevski (1992);
“The Seagull” by AP Chekhov, directed by Iv. Dobchev and M. Mladenova, (1990);
“Uncle Vanyo” by AP Chekhov, directed by St. Mavrodiev (2006) – the music was nominated for “Icarus”;
“Ivanov” by A.P. Chekhov, directed by St. Mavrodiev (2016) and many others.

Music for puppet theater:

“Kose Bose” by Rada Moskova (1981);
“Fun and the Heavenly Dragon” by P. Miladinova, directed by Iv. Markov (2012);
“Pinocchio” by Carlo Collodi, directed by R. Stamenov (2012);
“Sleeping Beauty” by H. K. Andersen, directed by Iv. Markov (2013);
“Fairy Riddles” by Ya. Markova and P. Miladinova, directed by Iv. Markov (2014);
“The Little Mermaid” by H. K. Andersen, directed by Iv. Markov (2014);
“Cinderella” by H. K. Andersen, directed by Yv. Markov (2015);
“The delicious, delicious adventure”, directed by Iv. Markov (2017);
“Teach me to fly”, directed by Iv. Markov (2018);
“The Shoemaker’s Tale” by H. K. Andersen, directed by Iv. Markov (2018) and others.

Others:

“March of the Bulgarian Guardsmen”, text P. Kitinski – Edited for male choir and piano accompaniment, Edited for large wind orchestra (1998);
Orchestration/arrangement of the song “My Country, My Bulgaria”, music by Emil Dimitrov for Placido Domingo’s concert in Sofia (2014);
Orchestration/arrangement of the Anthem of the Republic of Bulgaria performed by Raina Kabaivanska, Nikola Gyuzelev, Orlin Goranov, Sofia Philharmonic and National Philharmonic Choir “Svetoslav Obretenov” with conductor Nayden Todorov (2004);
Anthem of the city of Targovishte for choir and brass band (2017);
“Chiprovsko Horo” for wind orchestra (2017).