The young Bulgarian conductor Danail Rachev takes up the position of Assistant Conductor of The Philadelphia Orchestra in September 2008.
Rachev was appointed Assistant Conductor of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra in 2005, where he continues to lead classical concerts, pops programs, and family concerts, as well as school and outreach programs, throughout the 2007-08 season. Reviewing his main series debut The Dallas Morning News wrote: "One of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra's best concerts of the past year....start to finish, assistant conductor Danail Rachev got the music unfailingly right, and viscerally compelling." In the last year Rachev also led concerts with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland City Music Chamber Orchestra and Dallas' Camerata Winds, with which this season, he began tenure as Artistic Director.
In 2002-03 Danail Rachev was the first ever Conducting Fellow of the New World Symphony where he was fortunate to study with Maestro Michael Tilson Thomas and work alongside him on many occasions. His debut and subsequent appearances in numerous subscription, family, and chamber music concerts were met with consistent critical acclaim. From 2002 he served as conductor of the Juilliard PreCollege Symphony and led performances of Copland's The Tender Land with Baltimore's Opera Vivente. He has also worked as cover conductor of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, assistant conductor of the Columbia Orchestra and assistant conductor for the Baltimore Opera Company in productions of Elektra, Eugene Onegin, and La Cenerentola. In his native Bulgaria Rachev has worked with several ensembles including the Russe State Opera, where he led performances of Donizetti's Don Pasquale and Rossini's Il Barbiere di Siviglia .
During the summer of 2002, Rachev was simultaneously chosen to be an Academy Conductor for the American Academy of Conducting at the Aspen Music Festival and one of four participants in the National Conducting Institute in Washington, D.C., which culminated in his well-received debut with the National Symphony Orchestra.
Danail Rachev was born in Shumen, Bulgaria and trained at the State Musical Academy in Sofia, where he received degrees in orchestral and choral conducting. Rachev moved to the United States to study at the Peabody Conservatory on a full scholarship, graduating in 2001. His conducting teachers have included Gustav Meier, Michael Tilson Thomas, Vassil Kazandjiev, David Zinman, and Leonard Slatkin.
Danial Rachev is represented by Bridget Emmerson at Intermusica
Jan 2008 / 373 words. Not to be altered without permission. Please destroy all previous biographical material