Delyana Lazarova
“Delyana Lazarova gets the most out of this music – thrilling, gripping, a spirited whirlwind. Many movements of classical music bear the title ‘con fuoco’, with fire. That is exactly Lazarova’s approach.
- Tiroler Tageszeitung, October 2023
As a conductor, Delyana Lazarova thinks of herself as a musician among musicians. Collaboration, openness, and sensitivity to the specific sound and character of every orchestra are the foundation of her work; all in service to the music. Orchestras worldwide appreciate her ability to communicate sound and create an environment in which music can simply unfold.
This season, Lazarova commences her position as Principal Guest Conductor of both Utah Symphony and BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, the latter with whom this summer she makes her BBC Proms Debut. Further debuts in the 2025/26 season include with Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra, Japan Century Symphony Orchestra, Colorado Symphony, Orquesta Sinfonica y Coro de RTVE, Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Orquesta Sinfónicade Galicia and Orchestre Symphonique de Quebec. Following their successful first collaborations she will also return to the Minnesota Orchestra, Munich Chamber Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg, Oregon Symphony Orchestra and embarks on a European tour with KammerorchesterBasel.
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Delyana Lazarova’s wide-ranging repertoire has been influenced by her international musical education. Born in Bulgaria, she has a natural affinity to Eastern European and Russian repertoire (Dvořák, Stravinsky, Tchaikovsky, Bartók) but feels equally at home in the Viennese Classical period, influenced by her studies in Switzerland. She is also passionate about music from the 20th and 21 st centuries leading to, in the 2024/25 season beginning her role as Artistic Partner of ROCO in Houston, a chamber orchestra specialising in contemporary music. Further complimenting her rapport with contemporary music, Lazarova’s first CD, recorded with the Hallé, was released in October 2023 and includes works by Bulgarian composer, Dobrinka Tabakova.
In recent seasons, Delyana Lazarova has worked with orchestras such as the Philharmonia Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic and BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, NDR Radiophilharmonie, Netherlands Philharmonic, Münchener Kammerorchester, Orchestre National de Bordeaux, Orchestre National de France, GöteborgsSymfoniker, Orquesta Sinfónica de Navarra, Sinfonieorchester Basel , Klangforum Wien, Musikkollegium Winterthur, Estonian Festival Orchestra, Aspen Conducting Academy Orchestra, and many more.
After winning the inaugural Siemens Hallé International Conductors Competition, Lazarova served as Assistant Conductor to Sir Mark Elder at the Hallé Orchestra and Music Director of the Hallé Youth Orchestra from 2020 – 2023. She also assisted Cristian Măcelaru at the WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln and the Orchestre National de France. In 2020, she won the James Conlon Conductor Prize at the prestigious Aspen Music Festival. Earlier successes include the NRTA Conducting Competition in 2019, and the Bruno Walter Conducting Scholarship at the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music in California in 2017 and 2018.
Lazarova studied conducting at the Zürcher Hochschule der Künste (ZHdK) with Professor Johannes Schlaefli. She has attended numerous master classes with Bernard Haitink, Paavo Järvi, Leonard Slatkin, Mark Stringer, Robert Spano, and Matthias Pintscher among others. In addition to her master’s degree in conducting, she is an accomplished violinist with a master’s degree and performance diploma from the Jacobs School of Music in Indiana, where she studied under Mauricio Fuks and received a scholarship for artistic excellence.
Contacts
Sabine Frank Senior Director, Co-Head of Artist Management | Managing Director HP Munich | Head of International Offices
“Lazarova was attentive to the string section, no doubt due to her experience as a violinist. (…) It follows that the BBC SSO string section sounded excellent, performing with the depth and heart-on-sleeve earnestness required of this symphony.”
“The electrifying concert by the orchestra of Dvorak’s Seventh Symphony under guest conductor Delyana Lazarova at Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall elicited a huge roar! The Bulgarian basically blew everyone away with her mesmerizing talent on the podium.”
“In Sibelius’ third symphony, Delyana Lazarova was once again able to show what she’s made of. She led the DSO through the Finnish composer’s late Romantic soundscapes with wonderful suppleness and precision.”
“Delyana Lazarova gets the most out of this music – thrilling, gripping, a spirited whirlwind. Many movements of classical music bear the title ‘con fuoco’, with fire. That is exactly Lazarova’s approach. Under her leadership, the orchestra celebrates itself with a veritable fireworks display.”
“Lazarova led a spirited performance of Stravinsky’s Rite with utmost assurance and confidence on the podium. A bassoon solo of strikingly pure sound gave way to vicious trombone snarls, while elsewhere brass semiquavers bounced across the stage from horns to trumpets with immaculate ensemble.”
“The excellence of this all-Russian concert suggested a major talent that should go far, and soon. The Tchaikovsky was fastidiously proportioned and finely detailed in ways not heard every day. I can’t think when I’ve heard a performance more perfectly balanced among emotions unsettled (the unstable main theme of the first movement), desperate (climaxes of the same) and almost manic (the finale).”

