Pancho Vladigerov

Pancho Vladigerov

Pancho Haralanov Vladigerov (or Wladigeroff, or Vladiguerov, or Vladigueroff; Bulgarian: Панчо Хараланов Владигеров) (13 March 1899 – 8 September 1978) was a Bulgarian composer, pedagogue, and pianist.

Vladigerov is arguably the most influential Bulgarian composer of all time. He was one of the first to successfully combine idioms of Bulgarian folk music and the West European art music tradition. Part of the so-called second generation of Bulgarian composers, he was among the founding members of the Bulgarian Contemporary Music Society (1933), which later became the Union of Bulgarian Composers. Vladigerov marked the beginning of a number of genres in Bulgarian music, including the violin sonata and the piano trio. He was also a very respected pedagogue; his students include practically all notable Bulgarian composers of the next generation, as well as the pianist Alexis Weissenberg.