Lyubomir Denev Jr., son of the Bulgarian jazz pianist and composer with the same name, was born in Sofia in 1988. Since 2010, Denev has been the principal conductor of the Pioneer Youth Philharmonic, the oldest European youth orchestra, with which he has performed at festivals and halls throughout Europe and Bulgaria, including the Young Euro Classic at Konzerthaus Berlin in 2016, Vienna’s Musikverein, MuTh, and Minoritenkirche in 2022 and 2023, as well as concert halls in Hungary, Serbia, Turkey, Greece, and Bulgaria. Under his direction, the orchestra has won several national awards. Denev was the principal conductor of the Shumen State Symphony for two seasons until 2024. In 2023, Denev was invited to become a conductor at the Film Scoring Academy of Europe (Ranked One of the World’s Best Schools to study film scoring by Hollywood Reporter).
In 2014, Denev co-founded the Four For Music company with George Strezov, Boris Radilov, and George Elenkov. He was the principal conductor of the company’s Sofia Session Orchestra and Choir from 2012 until 2019 (the orchestra started its history before the company’s foundation). During that time, Denev conducted hundreds of recording sessions for notable composers such as Alan Silvestri, Harry and Rupert Gregson Williams, Thomas Bergersen, Brian Tyler, George Strezov, Mario Grigorov as well as music for the TV series “The Crown”, LEGO Marvel’s Avengers, LEGO Dimensions among many others.
Denev won third prize at the Los Angeles Conducting Competition in 2019 and received the Stefan Linev prize for young Bulgarian conductors in 2021. Denev Jr started his conducting career at the age of 21 after being spotted during the last tour of the Blue Danube International Opera Conducting Competition in 2011. He was invited as a guest conductor with the Rousse State Opera House for Verdi’s “La Traviata” and was invited right after that for “The Elixir of Love” by Donizetti.
Lyubomir Denev has also been a guest conductor with the Sofia Philharmonic, the Bulgarian National Radio Symphony Orchestra and Choir, the Big Band of the Bulgarian National Radio, the Vratsa Symphony, Drop Down Community, the Pazardzik Symphony, the Burgas State Opera House, the New Symphony Orchestra, Vienna’s Schola Cantorum Choir, Vienna’s Mariahilf Choir, and many others.
In 2018, Denev completed the music, lyrics, and orchestration for Agartha: The Opera-Musical. Agartha received its concert premiere in Sofia. The two concerts were highly successful, performed at Studio 1 of the Bulgarian National Radio (BNR). Both performances were sold out, and the audience enjoyed a spectacle featuring 100 singers and musicians on stage. Denev is also the composer of concert music, film music, and numerous orchestrations and arrangements. His original compositions and orchestrations have been performed by many orchestras worldwide, including the London Musical Theatre Orchestra, Philharmonie Salzburg, the Sofia Philharmonic, the String Orchestra of Miami University, The Festival Choir of Madison (USA), the Symphony Orchestra of the Bulgarian National Radio, the Big Band of the Bulgarian National Radio, the Cyprus Symphony Orchestra, the Sofia Session Orchestra and Choir for FPM Music UK, and the student orchestra of Suzhou, China, among others.
Denev started playing the piano at the age of 5. He graduated from the National School of Music in Sofia with the piano under the direction of the world-famous pianist Ivan Drenikov (Arturo Michelangeli’s student). He studied conducting with Deyan Pavlov (Karl Osterreicher’s student), Prof. Colin Metters, Neil Thomson, Dr. Scott Wiss, Jin Wang and Martin Akerwall. Denev also visited workshops with Michael Tilson Thomas and Freddie Tapner. Denev graduated with a Master’s degree in Opera-Symphony Conducting from the National Academy of Music in Sofia and earned his doctoral degree in 2017 with the theme – Conductorial Problems in the Recording Session of the Symphony Orchestra. He also studied orchestration with one of Bulgaria’s most prominent composers, Alexander Tekeliev. Lyubomir Denev has worked with many soloists such as Lisa Gerrard, Sara Davey, Mason Olshavsky, David McCune, Svetlin Roussev, Emanuil Ivanov, Sava Stoyanov, Juan Garcia Herreros, Kaludi Kaludov among many others.