Toncho Russev (1932 - 2018)

Toncho Russev is one of the most beloved Bulgarian composers who created more than 1000 songs. He was born on April 20, 1932 in Bourgas. He graduated from the Academy of Music, specialty "Trumpet", in the class of Professor Karparov in 1955. He worked as a orchestra performer in the symphony orchestras of Burgas, Pernik and the Sofia Opera. In 1957 he was one of the founders of the Satirical Theater Orchestra. For more than four decades, his songs have been performed by most famous Bulgarian singers, especially his close cooperation with Lili Ivanova, Vasil Naydenov, Veselin Marinov and others. His songs are performed by Sofia Rotaru, Philip Kirkorov, Dagmar Frederick, Farra Maria and others. Most of his songs are based on lyrics of Bulgarian poets such as Elisaveta Bagryana, Ivan Vazov, Vanyo Valchev, Dora Gabe, Atanas Dalchev, Damyan Damyanov, Kalin Donkov, Georgi Dagarov, Petya Dubarova, Evtim Evtimov, Pavel Matev, Hristo Fotev, Boris Hristov. He is a member of the Union of Bulgarian Composers (UBC). He is also the author of children songs, music for theater performances, television, children's musicals and film music. His songs were released in the United States, England, France, Spain, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Russia and all former socialist countries. He died at the age of 85 on April 10, 2018 (Source: bg.wikipedia.org, Photo: www.avtora.com)