The Bulgarian oldest top orchestra was established in 1928.
The Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra, one of the leading musical institutions in Bulgaria, was first set up back in 1928. The first conductor and founder as a matter of fact of the Sofia Philharmonic is professor Sasha Popov, who scored his first big successes at the concert stages in Italy, Hungary and the Balkans. This outstanding musical formation discovered, cultivated and developed the talent of a myriad of conductors and musicians, among whom Konstantin Iliev, Dobrin Petkov, Dimitar Manolov, Yordan Dafov, Emil Tabakov, to mention, but a few. Amazing and fruitful professional contacts in the course of the eight decades of existence of the philharmonic orchestra were established and maintained with certain music celebrities of international acclaim, such as Herman Abedrot, Bruno Walter, Charles Bruck, Genadiy Rozhdestvenski, Karlheinz Stokhausen, Sir Neville Marriner, etc.
The programme of the Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra frequently features world premieres, celebrations of anniversaries of famous composers, outstanding musicians and singers. Among these are Svetoslav Richter, Ruggiero Ricci, Andre Navarra, Carlo Zecchi ,Vladimir Spivakov and composer Dmitriy Shostakovich etc. The guest performances of the Sofia Philharmonic abroad have been numerous and this formation has criss-crossed three continents – Europe, America and Asia – being invariably and loudly acclaimed by classical music lovers from the US, Mexico, Japan, South Korea. Some of the brightest stars of Bulgarian opera singing have sung with the orchestra, too, thus rising to fame.

In his long history Some of the outstanding conductors and performers such, Bruno Walter, Charles Bruck, Genadij Rozhdestvensky, Karlheinz Stochkhausen, Sir Nevil Mariner, pianist Dinu Lipatti and among many others.

External link: Sofia Philharmonic's official site