Martin Georgiev Georgiev (; born 19 December 1983) is a British-Bulgarian composer and conductor.
Biography Early life and education Georgiev was born in Varna, Bulgaria. He studied music at the National School of Arts in Varna and won over 20 awards and scholarships as a composer, conductor, and percussionist. Amongst them was the Grand Prize for Symphony Composition at the 75th anniversary of the Sofia National Philharmonic Orchestra that he received at the age of 19, and the TACTUS Prize of the International Composer’s Forum in Brussels where he was nominated in 2004, 2008 and 2011.
He graduated from the National Academy of Music in Sofia and the Royal Academy of Music in London, where he studied conducting with Colin Metters, Sir Colin Davis, and George Hurst on an ABRSM International Scholarship. In 2013, he completed a PhD in Composition at the Royal Academy of Music under the supervision of Philip Cashian, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, Sir Harrison Birtwistle, and Julian Anderson, on a scholarship by the Wingate Foundation.
Career In 2012-13 Georgiev was Composer in Residence to the City of Heidelberg, where he composed his symphonic work The Secret and conducted the Heidelberg Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2010-11 he was Embedded Composer with the BBC Symphony Orchestra.
Georgiev has been a member of the conducting staff at the Royal Ballet and Opera, Covent Garden, since 2013 and was promoted to Staff Conductor in 2023. At the Royal Opera House he conducted classical and contemporary productions, such as, Swan Lake, Cinderella, Romeo and Juliet, Mayerling, Giselle, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Woolf Works.
Amongst others, he has appeared as conductor and composer with the Birmingham Royal Ballet, The Australian Ballet, London Mozart Players, Brussels Philharmonic, Teatro dell'Opera di Roma, National Orchestra of Belgium, Netherlands Dance Theatre, Bulgarian National Radio Symphony Orchestra, Northern Ballet, Orchestra Victoria, Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, Varna Opera House, Kammerorkest van het Noorden, Azalea, Ukrainian Festival Orchestra and Cosmic Voices.
Artistic approach and research Georgiev's music blends contemporary techniques with Bulgarian folk music and Byzantine Orthodox chant. Central to his work is the technique Morphing Modality, which he developed during his PhD. In addition to composing and conducting, he remains active as a percussion soloist, has recorded for Bulgarian National Radio, and works as a record producer.
Selected works
Category Work Year Details Reference Compositions Bryag 2023 Symphonic poem (orchestral) The Secret 2012 Orchestral A Seasong 2011 Orchestral Heavenly Reflections 2006 Orchestral Passacaglia on Two Bulgarian Themes c. 2003 Orchestral Violin Concerto 2020 Concerto Percussion Concerto No. 3 Genesis 2011 (rev. 2014) Concerto Piano Concerto 2022 Concerto Cello Concerto 2022 Concerto Percussion Concerto No. 2 Light 2010 Concerto The Mirror 2009 Opera Sonata for Trumpet and Piano Alpha and Omega 2023 Chamber String Quartet No. 1 2010 Chamber Doxologies of Bells and Candlelight 2014 Chamber Discography Genesis 2016–17 Symphonic Triptych No. 1 and Percussion Concerto No. 3, with Tatiana Koleva (marimba) and the Bulgarian National Radio Symphony Orchestra, conducted by the composer (ICSM Records) Violin Concerto 2020 With Vasko Vassilev (violin) and the Covent Garden Soloists
References