Danail Rachev Heralded as “a musician of real depth, sensitivity, and authority” Danail Rachev is Music Director & Conductor of Eugene Symphony. Since beginning his tenure in 2009, Rachev’s visionary leadership has built on the Symphony’s 50year tradition of artistic excellence in the core repertory while increasing its commitment to music of today. He is credited with commissioning four works over the last six years, and led the Northwest premiere of a fifth work jointly commissioned by a consortium of orchestras. Rachev is recognized for broadening the orchestra’s audiences through creative and innovative programming, as well as for increasing community engagement and education opportunities for the region. Under Rachev, the Eugene Symphony launched its first-ever free summer concert in 2009 reaching a capacity crowd of more than 5,000, including many Symphony newcomers. Now in its eighth year, Eugene Symphony in the Park has become a beloved summer tradition in Eugene, highlighting emerging local talent. For the Eugene Symphony’s 50th Anniversary Season in 2015/16, Rachev envisioned a global cultural journey onstage and off, including three world premieres as well as collaborations with Yo-Yo Ma and André Watts. Rachev’s recent guest conducting engagements have included returns to the London Philharmonic, England’s Bournemouth Symphony, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, and the symphony orchestras of Dallas and Alabama; touring Holland with Het Gelders Orkest; and debuts with the symphonies of Richmond, Spokane, Tuscon, Edmonton, and Turkey’s Presidential Symphony, as well as the Las Vegas Philharmonic and Florida Orchestra. Worldwide, Rachev has returned to conduct the Philharmonia Orchestra and Scottish Chamber Orchestra, and appeared with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, SWR Stuttgart Radio Symphony, Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra, Auckland Philharmonia, Orquesta Sinfónica del Principado de Asturias, Orquesta Nacional do Porto, and the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, which he led on tour in Summer 2013. A champion of new music, Rachev has been dedicated to developing Eugene audiences—and the Eugene Symphony— through commissioning, collaborating with, and programming leading composers of today including John Adams, Mason Bates, Avner Dorman, Steven Stucky, Osvaldo Golijov, John Harbison, Robert Kyr, Roberto Sierra, and Tomas Svoboda.
EUGENE SYMPHONY MUSIC DIRECTORS Lawrence Maves, Founding Conductor (1966–1981) William McGlaughlin (1981–1985) Adrian Gnam (1985–1989) Marin Alsop, Conductor Laureate (1989–1996) Miguel Harth-Bedoya (1996–2002) Giancarlo Guerrero (2002–2009) Danail Rachev (2009–) FEBRUARY – MARCH 2017
MUSIC DIRECTOR & CONDUCTOR Rachev launched his professional career as Assistant Conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra (2008–2010) and the Dallas Symphony (2005–2008), leading and programming numerous public concerts and educational programs. Rachev has often enjoyed working with young musicians, serving as conductor of the Juilliard Pre-College Symphony from 2002 to 2005 and guest conducting the Brevard Music Center Orchestra and Sinfonia and Colorado’s National Repertory Orchestra. Rachev was born in Shumen, Bulgaria and trained at the State Musical Academy in Sofia, where he received degrees in orchestral and choral conducting. Granted a full scholarship, he moved to the United States to continue his studies at the Peabody Conservatory of Music. Rachev was a conducting fellow at the American Academy of Conducting in Aspen and a participant in the League of American Orchestras’ National Conducting Institute, which led to his debut with the National Symphony in Washington, D.C. The first-ever conducting fellow of the New World Symphony, he studied with Michael Tilson Thomas and worked alongside him on many occasions. Other mentors have included Gustav Meier, Vassil Kazandjiev, David Zinman, and Leonard Slatkin. When not in Eugene, Rachev and his wife, arts administrator and soprano Elizabeth Racheva, reside in the Washington D.C. area with their two young daughters, Kalina Louise and Neviana Jean.