Hailing from Bulgaria, Bozhidar Bozhkilov, recently graduated in the prestigious Accademia Teatro alla Scala, a highly coveted programme for young talents. Bozhkilov has amassed considerable international performance and stage experience as well as many accolades. In 2019, he appeared in the role of Uberto in Paisiello’s La serva padrona in a total of thirteen performances in Bulgaria, Montenegro, Serbia, and Albania, and participated in the Maggia dell’Opera project, organised by Associazione Musicale Tito Gobbi, debuting the role of Selim in Il turco in Italia in Rome. Bozhkilov sang the role of Ibn-Hakia in the production of Tchaikovsky’s Iolanta a spart of the Operosa Opera Festival in 2017, followed by the roles of Zuniga in Bizet’s Carmen, Il Re in Verdi’s Aida, and Don Basilio in Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia, where he partnered on stage with Alfonso Antoniozzi as Bartolo during the inaugural Dionysia Opera Festival in Corfu. His debut on the stage of the Sofia National Opera and Ballet (2016) saw him in the role of Prince Gremin in Eugene Onegin, and in 2016 he made his French debut at the National Opera of Lorraine in Nancy in a production of Gianni Schicchi in the role of Simone. 2014 saw his debut at the State Opera Burgas in the role of Masetto in Don Giovanni, and at the tender age of just nineteen (2013), the young Bass made his debut in Paisiello’s The barber of Seville in both the roles of Don Basillio and the Notary on the stages of the Italian opera theaters in L’Aquila and Sulmona with the Abruzzo Symphony Orchestra. In the same year, he also appeared in La traviata as Dr. Grenville and in Madama Butterfly as Zio Bonzo during the O.M.E.G.A. FESTIVAL, staged as a series in Florence and other cities in the Tuscany region, Italy. In February 2022 he performed the role of Colline in Giacomo Puccini’s “La bohème” in Teatro Regio Torino for the opening of the season.
In addition to these roles, Bozhkilov has appeared in numerous concerts in some of the most prestigious halls in Bulgaria, Italy, Austria, Spain, France, Slovakia, and Russia, including in the Gala concert Maria Callas in Teatro Filarmonico, Verona; a themed concert “In the Footsteps of the Masters” at the Chaliapin House Museum in Moscow; Gala Montserrat Caballé in the Mozart Hall in Zaragoza; Gala Concert at the Mariinsky Concert hall in St. Petersburg; and the New Year’s Gala concert of the Sofia National Opera and Ballet, Teatro alla Scala, etc. By the recommendation of Kammersängerin Krassimira Stoyanova, Bozhkilov has also held a semi-recital in the most prestigious chamber music festival in Bulgaria: Balabanov’s House Music Days International Festival.
Bozhkilov’s numerous prizes and accolades attest to the high esteem in which he is held as an artist. These include first prize and two special prizes at the 4th Andrea Chénier International Vocal Competition (2014). Bozhkilov has also been awarded special prizes at the 29th and 34th Maria Caniglia International Vocal Competition (2012 & 2017), the 29th Ismaele Voltolini International Vocal Competition (2013), the 72nd COMUNITA’ EUROPEA (2018), the 15th Flaviano Labò International Vocal Competition(2019), the 21st Spazio Musica International Singing Competition (2016), and the 10th Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov International Vocal Competition. Other awards include second prize in the 11th Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov International Vocal Competition (2018) and the 5th Pavel Lisitsian International Vocal Competition (2017), and third prize in the 2nd Ljuba Welitsch International Vocal Competition, the 1st Virginia Zeani Grand Prix International Vocal Competition, and the 4th Franco Federici International Vocal Competition. He also won the coveted audience prize at the 1st Jole De Maria International Vocal Competition, as well as special prizes in the competitions Luciano Neroni, Nicolai Ghiaurov and others.
Further accolades include being awarded an honorary sign of the Verona Lirica Music Association and Arena di Verona at the Teatro Filarmonico in Verona, after a Gala concert of finalists of the 2014 Maria Callas International Competition, and the honour of Laureate of the First National Prof. Pancho Vladigerov Awards, in the category Classical Singing, awarded to the most successful young Bulgarian musicians(2015). Bozhkilov was also awarded with the Honorary Gold Medal “100 Years Boris Hristov” by the Republic of Bulgaria’s Ministry of Culture prizes, dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the birth of Boris Christov (2014).
Bozhikov has had the pleasure of studying under Professor Niko Isakov, Stoyan Popov and Maestro Mihail Angelov, and has also completed courses at the International Opera Academy in Sulmona, Italy, a specialization course in Bulgarian Culture Institute (House of Boris Christoff), in Rome with Anna Vandi, Académie du Festival d’Aix – Mozart Residency in 2017, and vocal courses including those by Anna Tomowa-Sintow, Bruna Baglioni, Luciana D’Intino, Montserrat Caballé, Bonaldo Giaiotti, Carlo Colombara, and Larisa Gergieva.