Milen Nachev

Milen Nachev (Милен Начев)(born 1957 in Bulgaria) is a Bulgarian/American orchestra conductor.

Biography
TEATRO COLÓN: "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, and the construction of the phrasings that were impeccably expressed by the musicians of Buenos Aires Philharmonic at Teatro Colon." La Nación, Buenos Aires

Since 2012, Milen Nachev was appointed as a conductor of Shen Yun Performing Arts – a company based in New York. He conducted over 1200 performances of Shen Yun Performing Arts dance program tours in the North and South America, Europe, Asia, New Zealand, and Australia, reaching multi-million audiences. In addition, he was leading rehearsals, concerts, and tours with the Shen Yun Symphony Orchestra, performing at world class venues like Kennedy Center in Washington DC, Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center in New York, Chicago Symphony Hall, Jones Hall for Performing Arts in Houston, Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center in Dallas, Boston Symphony Hall, Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco, Tokyo Opera City Concert Hall, among others.

Milen Nachev has been recognized for his strong musicality, his excellent conducting technique, his stylistic faithfulness, and for the richness of his extensive repertoire. Mr. Nachev was Principal Conductor of the Bulgarian National Radio Symphony Orchestra (BNR) for eight years, and Principal Guest Conductor of the Romanian National Radio Symphony Orchestra. He was also Music Director & Conductor of Belgrade Radio & Television Symphony Orchestra, Artistic Director of International Symphonic & Opera Workshops, Ltd., and Music Director and Principal Conductor of the Balkan Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2011, he was invited as an Artistic Director and Faculty Professor of International Symphonic Masterclass with Peter the Great Music Academy in Saint Petersburg, Russia.

During his tenure with BNR Symphony Orchestra, Nachev made many critically acclaimed recordings, broadcast by the BBC–Radio 3, Mezzo TV and Radio France around the world, and available on EMI/Virgin Classic, Albany Records, Amazon.com, Buy.com, CD Universe.com, and Gega New. Nachev and the BNR Symphony Orchestra had multiple concert tours in France, Italy, Spain, Germany, Greece, and Belgium, among others. In 1989, Nachev was appointed Principal Conductor and Director of the Rousse State Opera Theatre in Bulgaria. Following that, he was invited as a Conductor of Sofia National Opera and Ballet Theatre as well.

Milen Nachev’s guest-conducting engagements have included appearances with, among others, the Saint Petersburg Philharmonic and St. Petersburg Academic Symphony Orchestra, Russia; Teatro Colón, Buenos Aires, Argentina; Romanian National Radio Symphony, Bucharest; Toronto Philharmonia, Canada; Bogotá National Symphony Orchestra, Columbia; Sofia Philharmonic, Bulgaria; Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, Tallinn; Karlovy Vary Philharmonic, Czech Republic; Rousse State Opera Theatre, Bulgaria, and Buenos Aires Philharmonic Orchestra, Argentina.

He has frequently been invited as a guest conductor in Spain, France, Russia, Germany, Italy, United States, Belgium, Serbia, Portugal, Greece, Argentina, Czech, Turkey, Colombia, and Romania, among other countries. Equally talented as an opera conductor, Milen Nachev led an internationally renowned cast in the premiere performances of Verdi’s Don Carlo at Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, including soloists from Teatro alla Scala di Milano and Bolshoi Theatre. In addition, he conducted the Eastern 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.

Mr. Nachev has engaged in 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, Dario Volonte, Kimiko Hata, Serguei Markarov, and many others, for which he has additionally received critical acclaim.

In December 2002, EMI/Virgin released the compact disc Mozart in Egypt, which was conducted by Nachev. As a result of the very successful collaboration with Hughes de Courson and EMI/Virgin, the disc is being sold in over 35 countries. The world premiere, also conducted by Nachev, took place at the Marseille Festival, and the work was performed at the Saint Denis Festival in Paris.

During the Vatican Millennium Festival in Rome, Mr. Nachev was invited to conduct J.S. Bach’s Mass in B minor. 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 made his debut as a pianist. Milen was accepted into the Bulgarian State Conservatory as a conductor and pianist, and was offered for a full scholarship to attend the world-famous Saint Petersburg Conservatory in Russia. There, he studied with world-renowned Professor Ylia Mussin and received his Master’s Degree in Symphonic and Opera conducting. Mr. Nachev participated in conducting master classes with Gennady Rozhdestvensky at Academia Musicale Chigiana in Sienna, Italy as well. He completed his graduate studies in 1992 with a Music Director Internship at the Orchestra of Paris.

Mr. Nachev has been honored with awards for Outstanding Musical Leadership by the City of Vatican in Rome, Foundation Napoleon in Paris, and the Bulgarian Ministry of the Culture. In addition, he received a Charter of Gratitude and Recognition from the Bulgarian Parliament.

“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