BORJAN CANEV

Recently awarded the prestigious Macedonian award "Best music performer", conductor Borjan Canev is one of Macedonia’s finest musicians, resident conductor of the Macedonian philharmonic and leading this orchestra in notable performances in Macedonia and abroad.

A graduate of the Faculty of Music in Skopje, Canev earned his Master’s degree at the State Academy of Music "Pancho Vladigerov" in Sofia, Bulgaria and following his studies, he was immediately appointed conductor of the Macedonian Philharmonic Orchestra, a post he has held since 1999. 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, tour in Poland 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: 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, David Garrett, Johannes Moser, Gautier Capucon, Sergei Nakariakov, Sayaka Shoji, Ilya Gringolts, Daniel Müller-Shott, Alexei Ogrintchouk, Tine Thing Helseth, Akiko Suwanai, Stjepan Hauser, Kristof Barati, Monika Leskovar, Xavier Phillips, Janos Balint, Christian Frohn, Emmanuel Ceysson, Peter Lucas-Graf, Branimir Slokar, Sergio Tiempo, 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 Festival, Kotor Art Festival, Zagreb Summer evenings, Varna Summer Festival, NOMUS, World of music festival 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 Hercegovina, 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 Faculty of music in Skopje, while continuing to hold the post of resident 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.