BORJAN CANEV

Recently awarded the prestigious Macedonian award "Best music performer", conductor Borjan Canev is one of Macedonia’s finest musicians, permanent guest conductor of the Macedonian Philharmonic Orchestra and professor at the UKIM Faculty of Music in Skopje. A graduate of the UKIM Faculty of Music in Skopje, Canev earned his Master’s degree at the State Academy of Music in Sofia and following his studies, he was immediately appointed conductor of the Macedonian Philharmonic Orchestra, a post he held until 2019. In 2001 he spent a year in London at the Royal College of Music earning his Postgraduate Diploma in Performance -Conducting, during which time, maestro Canev also attended master classes with renowned conductors Sir Simon Rattle, Danielle Gatti, Janos Fürst and was invited to be associate conductor to Sir Colin Davis in Royal College’s production of Mozart’s Don Giovanni. He was awarded the "August Manns" prize for best young conductor at the Royal College of Music and conducted the London Symphony Orchestra as part of the LSO Discovery Conducting Masterclass with Sir Colin Davis. In the following years, Canev conducts numerous concerts with the Macedonian Philharmonic and its Chamber orchestra in Macedonia and abroad (Rome, Paris, Istanbul, Prague, tours in Poland, USA, Kazakhstan etc.), and in the period 2003-2006 was Principal conductor of the "Skopje Soloists" Chamber Orchestra. His successful debut with the Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra in 2004 was followed by consecutive engagements with this highly acclaimed Bulgarian orchestra and in 2006 he is appointed as their Permanent guest conductor. In 2005 maestro Canev had his debut at the Macedonian National Opera and the year after he conducted the new production of Mozart’s "Die Zauberflöte" as part of the 250 centennial of the birth of the composer. Apart from the Macedonian and Sofia Philharmonic Orchestras and the London Symphony Orchestra, Borjan Canev has conducted such orchestras as: Krakow Philharmonic Orchestra, Montenegrin Symphony Orchestra, Arad Philharmonic Orchestra, Wagner Society Orchestra Tokyo, Vojvodina Symphony Orchestra, Macedonian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Sinfonietta - Sofia, Orchestra of the Macedonian Opera and Ballet, the orchestras of the Royal College of Music in London, the State Academy of Music in Sofia and the Faculty of Music in Skopje, the Jeunesses Musicales Macedonia Chamber Orchestra, "Skopje soloists" Chamber Orchestra, the contemporary music ensemble "Alea", Croatian Chamber Orchestra, Zadar Chamber Orchestra, etc. He performed with renowned soloists such as: Ivo Pogorelich, Johannes Moser, Gautier Capucon, Sergei Nakariakov, Sayaka Shoji, Kiril Troussov, Sergio Tiempo, Ilya Gringolts, Akiko Suwanai, Daniel Müller-Shott, Simon Trpceski, Alexei Ogrintchouk, Zhang Zuo (Zee Zee), Tine Thing Helseth, Joseph Alessi, Stefan Milenkovic, Roman Simovic, David Garrett, Yuri Minenko, Stjepan Hauser, Kristof Barati, Monika Leskovar, Xavier Phillips, Janos Balint, Christian Frohn, Emmanuel Ceysson, Peter Lucas-Graf, Branimir Slokar, Antal Zalai, Rabih Abou-Khalil, Ana Durlovski, Blagoj Nacoski etc. He has conducted various performances at renowned festivals in Macedonia such as: Ohrid Summer Festival, Skopje Summer Festival, May Opera Evenings, Days of Macedonian Music, and at festivals abroad including George Enescu, Kotor Art, Zagreb Summer evenings, Varna Summer, NOMUS, World of music Zagreb etc. Borjan Canev has appeared as conductor in USA, Great Britain, Japan, Italy, France, Czech Republic, Poland, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Montenegro, Turkey, Romania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kazakhstan etc. and has recorded music for the Macedonian radio and television, Bulgarian national radio as well as for the F.A.M.E.S. Macedonia. In 2010, the Composers association of Macedonia awarded him the "Georgi Bozhikov" prize for best performance of works by Macedonian composers in 2009. Since 2002, Borjan Canev is a professor at the UKIM Faculty of music in Skopje, while continuing to hold the post of regular guest conductor of the Macedonian philharmonic. In October 2015 he conducted the Macedonian philharmonic orchestra on the orchestra's first tour in the USA, including two concerts in New York at the famous venues like Carnegie Hall and Kaufman music center.

Skip to content