“From the tenth grade I continued my education in the United States. In 1991 the Idyllwild Arts Academy in Southern California offered a full scholarship to me. Well, this was a thrilling experience for me. In fact this is a private specialized school. The Bulgarian state-run music schools have very few analogues across the world.

Jassen Todorov received his bachelor’s degree from the Harid Conservatory in Florida and his master’s degree from the Eastman School of Music, New York. Back at that time he acted as teaching assistant to Professor Oleh Krysa.

“I was his student in the course of five years, a very happy period in my life. I felt how quickly I grew in art. We even held a joint tour in Holland and gave a concert at Concertgebouw Hall in Amsterdam. We also appeared in Washington DC and in Carnegie Hall, New York.”

In 2002 Jassen Todorov received the Eastman School Award for his teaching job there. One of his distinctions is the Crystal Lyre award that he was given in 2006 by the Union of Bulgarian Musicians and Dancers. For more than a decade now, the acclaimed violinist has been a Professor of Violin at San Francisco State University.

Jassen Todorov’s discography includes works by Johann Sebastian Bach, Johannes Brahms and Eugène Ysaÿe. As a matter of interest, for every new disc the violinist has used different instruments. This happened all by chance, Jassen Todorov explains.

“The best from among them is an Antonio Stradivari from the early 18 c. With it I played the Ysaÿe sonatas. I was lucky to use this extraordinary instrument for three years. Now I own a very good, 1778 Tomaso Eberle violin.”

When he talks some time away from teaching and giving concerts, Jassen Todorov has a curios hobby. He is a licensed pilot, owns an aircraft and also works as an instructor. This is a way for me to forget all about the routines on the earth when I am up there in the clouds, he says.

English Daniela Konstantinova

The audio to this file offers the following recordings featuring violinist Yassen Todorov:

1 - Second Movement from Sonata No. 2 by Eugène Ysaÿe

2 - A fragment from First Movement of Sonata No. 1 by Alfred Schnittke, accompaniment by Ganka Nedeltcheva

3 - Fourth Movement from Sonata No. 2 by Eugène Ysaÿe

4 - First Movement from Sonata No. 1 by Johann Sebastian Bach