Todor Kobakov

Todor Kobakov
Todor Kobakov (left) with Michael Peter Olsen at the 2015 Slaight Music Showcase of the Canadian Film Centre
Background information
Born	(1978-09-19) September 19, 1978 (age 38) Sofia, Bulgaria
Genres	Contemporary Classical, Alternative, Electronic
Years active	1998–present
Labels	88 Calibre
Website	www.todor.ca

Todor Kobakov (born September 19, 1978) is a Bulgarian-Canadian composer, producer, arranger and pianist based in Toronto, Ontario. He is best known for his solo piano album Pop Music, his commercial and film scores and for his collaborations within Toronto's indie music scene.

Kobakov was born in Sofia, Bulgaria, where he was raised by his mother and grandmother. He comes from a family of classical musicians all of whom are bass players. Kobakov's grandmother played in the Bulgarian opera and his mother worked at Bulgarian National Television as a producer of music programming. Kobakov's musical training began at the piano as a toddler. At age seven, he was accepted into the Lubomir Pipkov Music School in Sofia where he studied for ten years. Kobakov moved to Canada at age sixteen and graduated from the University of Toronto Music Faculty Program with a Performance Piano Degree at age twenty.

While in university Kobakov interned at Krystal Music & Sound Design, a commercial music house based in Toronto. The owner, David Krystal, schooled Kobakov on composing music for picture, including the use of production equipment for sound design and mixing. Kobakov landed his first commercial, a Nikon spot, in 2000. He went on to a successful run as a freelance composer landing over a dozen Canadian commercials. In 2007, Kobakov landed his first major international campaign for Vodafone Europe. Other international campaigns followed most notably for Macy's (U.S.), Footlocker (UK) and Robinsons (UK). In 2010, Todor scored Canadian Cancer Society's short film "Fight" which won the Silver Lion at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival.

In 2003, Kobakov wrote the string arrangements for indie pop band Stars critically acclaimed sophomore album Set Yourself On Fire. Kobakov gained considerable attention when Pitchfork Media gave the album an 8.4 rating stating that "it might be the best orchestral pop album of the past year". Kobakov went on to score string arrangements for other prominent Canadian indie artists including Metric,Emily Haines, k-os, Sarah Slean, Lindy, Small Sins and Dan Mangan. Kobakov has toured as a keyboardist with Emily Haines and The Soft Skeleton, Luke Doucet and Small Sins. In 2007, Kobakov and Lindy Vopnfjörð formed the indie rock band Major Maker. Their song "Rollercoaster" was licensed to a television commercial, which propelled the song to a Top 40 radio hit in Canada and a Canadian distribution deal with EMI Music Canada. That same year Kobakov was named "Toronto's Best Keyboardist" by Now Magazine.