Teachers

Todor Kirov

Teaches: Gudulka

Lives in Plovdiv, Bulgaria

Contact info:

todorkirov@yahoo.com
kirovtodor@abv.bg

MySpace

Dr. Kirov, Dean of the faculty of Bulgarian Folk Music and Choreography,
Academy of the Arts, Plovdiv, Bulgaria

Prof. Dr. Todor Kirov was born in the village of Obedinenie, Veliko Turnovo region in North Central Bulgaria, and has been playing gudulka since 1964. He has performed in several folk ensembles, including Iskra in Veliko Turnovo and with the National Folk Ensemble "Trakia" in Plovdiv.

After graduating from the Plovdiv Conservatory in 1976, he became a professor there, and has remained so until the present. Todor is the first professional gudulka teacher in Bulgaria to receive the prestigious title "Professor Doctor." In his 35 years of teaching, he has published many works on gudulka, and also conducts a course in stringed instrument teaching theory.

Prof. Dr. Todor Kirov is a world-renowned specialist in the field of gudulka pedagogy and performance practice. He is also a prolific author. During his long performing, teaching, and research career, he has published vast number of books.

Todor Kirov authored the lecture course and book Methods of Teaching Traditional Bulgarian String Instruments. He has created curriculums for teaching gudullka and stringed instruments at the Academy of Music and Dance Arts, and Junior High and High Schools in Bulgaria. He assists Bulgarian folk music schools in the areas of pedagogy and performance. Prof. Kirov has appeared on many CDs both as a performer and a composer.

He is a founding member of Ensemble "Trakia," has recorded for Bulgarian National Radio and has performed in Bulgaria, Russia, Hungary, Poland, Czech Republic, Germany, Egypt, and the United States. Dr. Kirov has led numerous children's, student, and professional folk ensembles and has written pieces for solo folk instruments, chamber groups, and folk orchestras.

Since 1986 Dr. Kirov has headed the jury at the annual national competiton of gudulka players and singers. Todor Kirov is the first ever gudulka teacher at the college level in Bulgaria. His numerous students have performed all over the world, and have won many awards at festivals and competitions. Some of them work as performers in renowned ensembles, and teachers in Bulgaria and abroad.