Roumen Balyozov

Rumen Balyozov (1949 - 2019) is a graduate of the Pancho Vladigerov National Academy of Music in Sofia, where he studied in composition with Dimitar Tapkov and cello with Konstantin Popov. Since 1974, he has been a cellist in the Bulgarian National Radio Symphony Orchestra. His music is characterized by experiments with established genre approaches and with various compositional techniques, which, according to critics, connect him with directions characteristic of contemporary musical movements such as free serialism and minimalism, as well as with the aesthetics of postmodernism. His works have been recorded by Bulgarian National Television, Balkanton, Bulgarian National Radio, Radio Bratislava è Westdeutscher Rundfunk Cologne. They have been performed in Europe and America. He is among the founders of the Society for New Music in Bulgaria and chairman of its artistic council in 2000 – 2002.

Rumen Balyozov created four operas, one ballet, four symphonies and other works for symphony and string orchestra. He wrote many chamber works for various instruments and ensembles. He created music for films, theater and television productions. He is the author of articles and studies on music. He also published a collection of theater plays How Important It Is to Be Non-Serious.

Among his works are the opera The Little Prince after Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, the dance theater A Green Play based on the poem of the same name by Ivan Radoev, the Fourth Declamation Symphony, Still Life in Yellow for brass instruments, Still Life with Finger-holes for woodwind instruments, Still Life with Keys for 3 Pianos 12 Hands, Still Life with Batons for Percussion and Piano, Still Life with Bows, Still Life with Strings, Counterpoints for trombone quartet, Ornithophony for soprano, bass and piano, Three Pieces for solo clarinet, Music on Occasion for French Horn Octet, Antique Pastoral and Humoresque for French horn and piano, and many others.