Emil Tchakarov

Emil Tchakarov (Bulgarian: Емил Чакъров), born 29 June 1948 in Burgas, Bulgaria; died 4 August 1991 in Paris, was a Bulgarian conductor who had a career both in the concert hall and in the opera house. He also made a series of Russian opera recordings.

Tchakarov began violin lessons at the age of six, entering the Sofia High School of Music in 1962 (violin). From 1967 to 1971 he was a student at the Sofia State Conservatoire where he also conducted the orchestra. In 1971 he won third prize in the 2nd International Herbert von Karajan Conducting Competition in Berlin, acting as Karajan’s assistant in Berlin and Salzburg and continuing his conducting studies in Hilversum and Tanglewood. From 1974 to 1978 he was Chief Conductor of the Plovdiv Philharmonic Orchestra. In 1979 he made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, and other American cities with Eugene Onegin (1979-1980), returning for Il Barbiere di Siviglia (1982–83) and Boris Godunov (1990). Following this he guest conducted many orchestras around the world including the Leningrad Philharmonic, with whom he made several recordings and became guest conductor in the 1989/90 season.

Among operatic engagements for Covent Garden he conducted Eugene Onegin in 1979, in Nice in November 1985 he conducted Simon Boccanegra with Wilhelmenia Fernandez and Piero Cappuccilli, returning in January 1987 for Tosca with Olivia Stapp, Nicolai Gedda and Theo Adam and in Houston in October 1986 he conducted Boris Godunov with Nicolai Ghiaurov in the title role, and in January 1990 Rigoletto with Maureen O'Flynn, Marcello Giordani and Leo Nucci. In 1983 he conducted Tannhäuser at the Florence Festival.

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