Lyubomir Markov Denev composer, conductor, and jazz pianist, was born on September 12, 1951, in the village of Sinagovtsi, Vidin District. His musical interests date back to early childhood when he began taking violin lessons with Petar Hadzhiangelov and sang in the children's choir conducted by Valentin Bobevski, where he also accompanied on the accordion. He continued his musical education at the Sofia Music School in the percussion class of Prof. Dobri Paliev, graduating in 1971. As a student, he played for four years in the Pioneer Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Prof. Vladi Simeonov and participated in several international tours. During this time, he made his first attempts at composition, mainly in jazz and pop music, working as a drummer and arranger for the student orchestra "Metronome."
He completed his military service in the Ensemble of the Construction Troops as a drummer, arranger, and choir conductor.
From 1973, Lyubomir Denev studied at the Music Academy where he took composition classes with Prof. Tsvetan Tsvetanov and Prof. Parashkev Hadjiev. He graduated in 1979 as an orchestral conductor in the class of Prof. Konstantin Iliev. Even as a student, he made a name for himself as an original and active jazz pianist and composer—his jazz trio performed at several prestigious international festivals in the Czech Republic, Poland, Yugoslavia, Hungary, Romania, Cuba, and beyond. Two years before his graduation, in 1977, he won the competition for assistant conductor at… State Music Theatre "St.efan Makedonski"where he worked until 1986, staging numerous classical operettas and contemporary musicals in collaboration with directors such as Leon Daniel, Nikola Petkov, Boris Pokrovsky, Prof. Svetozar Donev, Joachim Franke, and others. He refined his conducting skills at international courses in Siena, Italy, under Franco Ferrara, and in Hilversum, the Netherlands, under Edward Downes. He also continued his composition studies with Prof. Anatol Vieru. In 1983-84, Denev traveled to the United States as part of a cultural exchange program, where he gained firsthand experience of Broadway musical productions and film scoring in Hollywood, while also performing as a jazz musician. USA Cultural Exchange Program, where he became closely acquainted with Broadway musical productions and film music work in Hollywood, he also appeared as a jazzman.
After 1986, Lyubomir Denev became a freelance composer and conductor, frequently invited to collaborate with some of the finest symphony orchestras in Bulgaria, including those in Ruse, Burgas, Varna, Pleven, Plovdiv, and others. With the Bulgarian National Radio Symphony Orchestra, he conducted concerts, premiered numerous new Bulgarian works, and recorded several significant compositions. His international conducting career includes recordings of contemporary Bulgarian music with the Greek Radio and Television Symphony Orchestra (1995) and two compact discs for the American company CONCORD-Records (1996 and 1998). He also gave solo jazz recitals in Paris, Milan, Germany, Slovakia, Hungary, the USA, Serbia, and other countries. In the period 2008-2009, he was invited by the Bavarian Ministry of Culture to the International Cultural Center Villa Concordia - Bamburgerwhere he composed, delivered lectures, and performed concerts.
As a composer, Lyubomir Denev creates works in all musical genres—chamber and symphonic music, pop and jazz, as well as for theater, television, and cinema, including music for children. His music has been performed in many countries across Europe, as well as in Canada, Mexico, India, Russia, Egypt, the USA, and Japan. His musical “The Wasted Efforts of Love” was performed in Cairo (1989) with a production by Bulgarian Chamber Opera - Blagoevgrad, the musical “The Law of the Jungle” (recipient of the award SOFIA 1989had its premiere in a French translation in Paris (1993), while the musical “Alice in Wonderland” was staged in Greek in Nicosia and Larnaca – Cyprus, 2012.
He was a guest composer at the Balkanicus Festival in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 2017 and 2023, where he presented his chamber works, participated in radio broadcasts, and showcased his compositions in a multidisciplinary concert in New York.
In addition to the numerous prizes awarded to L. Denev in our country (ASQUER 2001, Crystal Lyre for Jazz 2006 etc.), he has also been awarded several prestigious international awards: for choral composition ("At the Spring") in Ihlava - Czech Republic, for chamber music at the Intersonantzen Festival in Potsdam - Germany (for "Playing with the Wind"), Competition Award Bösendorfer (Hymns of the Sun for piano), The Golden Chest 2006 for the music to the film "The Sparrows in October", Competition Award SOFIA 2009 ("Concerto nostalgico" for ensemble Sofia Soloists) and others.
BNT made two films dedicated to the work of L. Deneuve: "The music I make" (2000), dir. Galina Kralieva and Smart Village - The Club of Silence (2005), dir. Vladimir Lyutskanov. In 2020, the Ministry of Culture awarded him the "Golden Century" star for significant contribution to the development and promotion of Bulgarian culture. Winner of the Golden Feather 2022. L. Denev is a member of the SBC.
The project is supported by the Ministry of Culture
Here's what Lyubomir Denev has to say about the upcoming WORLD PREMIERE of "ALMA"->
