Christo Iliev, born in Sofia, Bulgaria, is a Bulgarian pianist, choir conductor and piano teacher. He is the grandson of the famous musical folklorist, Vasil Stoin, who made an incredible contribution to the research and promulgation of Bulgarian folklore. Christo’s father, Iliya Iliev, is an internationally renowned and distinguished composer who also dabbled in choral conducting. At the age of five, Christo Iliev received his first piano lessons from his aunt, Elena Stoin, who since the second half of the 20th century has been among the most prominent researchers of contemporary Bulgarian folk music.
His career as a concert pianist began in Poland in 1968, and since then he has given concerts and recitals with orchestral accompaniment in Argentina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Germany and the United States. In 1972, Christo Iliev completed his studies with honors at the Bulgarian State Conservatory, after which he continued his studies with professors Vela Savova and Guido Agosti, and even pursued postgraduate studies at the Academy of Music in Prague with composers František Rauch and Josef Paleniček. Christo Iliev also won the Pancho Vladigerov Grand Prize after winning the 6th National Competition for Instrumentalists and Singers in Sofia in 1974. The Bulgarian pianist has given concerts with orchestras in Bulgaria, Ecuador, the Netherlands, Poland, Lithuania and the Czech Republic, performing under the direction of conductors such as Jean Meilan, Emin Chachaturyan, Vasil Kazandjiev, Vasil Stefanov and Ivan Marinov. His rich repertoire consists of over 30 concertos with orchestral accompaniment, as well as a large number of solo works by European, American and Japanese composers, representatives of the Baroque up to the 20th century. In addition, Christo Iliev made many radio and television recordings, and the Bulgarian company “Balkanton” issued his gramophone records.
Christo Iliev has extensive teaching experience, which he acquired both in Bulgaria and abroad. In 1974 he began teaching piano at the Bulgarian State Conservatory, and in 1981 he became head piano teacher at the National Music School in Sofia. Four years later (1985) he left for Quito, Ecuador, where he became head piano teacher at the National Conservatory of Music. The Bulgarian pianist also opened his own music institute in Quito, where he was head piano teacher from 1987 to 1989. In 1991, Christo Iliev became a research supervisor (and later a piano teacher) at the Conservatory of Enschede, the Netherlands, where he spread his knowledge and art until his retirement in 2011. The pianist has given numerous international masterclasses at places such as the National Conservatory in Buenos Aires (Argentina), the Music Academy in Riga (Latvia), the St. Petersburg Conservatory (Russia), and the Music Academy in Sofia (Bulgaria). Since 2001, Christo Iliev has also joined the Bechstein Piano Training Foundation, where he is both coordinator and teacher. In addition, Christo Iliev’s students and pupils, some of whom have won international and/or national awards, have given concerts in Belgium, Bulgaria, Germany, Ecuador, France, Italy, Japan, Holland, Austria, Uruguay, USA and Switzerland.
Christo Iliev’s career as a choral conductor, which developed actively after his departure for the Netherlands in 1991, also occupied a large part of his life . From 1960 to 1985 he was engaged in keyboard accompaniment and leading rehearsals of a large number of Bulgarian choirs, and in 1985 he won first prize with a Bulgarian children’s choir in Arezzo, Italy. Both in Bulgaria and in the Netherlands, Christo Iliev has been director of numerous mixed, ladies’, men’s, children’s, gospel, chamber and church choirs.