Meet Our Assistant Conductor

Petko Dimitrov

Petko Dimitrov was named the Ridgefield Symphony Orchestra’s Assistant Conductor in September, 2006. He is also the Music Director of the Western Connecticut Youth Orchestra and Principal Guest Conductor of the New Symphony Orchestra in Sofia, Bulgaria. In 2007, the Bruno Walter Memorial Foundation awarded Petko its prestigious emerging conductor award.

Petko was born in 1973. He took his first music lessons at the age of seventeen from his grandfather, a choral conductor, arranger, and composer. He graduated the State Academy of Music in 2000 with a Bachelor Degree in Music Pedagogy. In his native Bulgaria he also studied orchestra conducting with Ivan Bakalov, Vassil Kazandjiev, and Rossen Milanov. Petko made his debut as a conductor with the New Symphony Orchestra, Sofia, Bulgaria, in May 1998, performing a concert with music by Sir Michael Tippet and Henry Purcell, in collaboration with The British Council. Since then he has been an assistant Conductor of the Orchestra and has performed subscription concerts and commissions regularly. He has also been active as a Conductor of a Chamber Ensemble of The New Symphony Orchestra.

Since 2001 Petko Dimitrov has been studying and working in the United States. In 2004 he completed his Master Degree in Orchestra Conducting at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, under the direction of Prof. Kenneth Kiesler. During his time in Ann Arbor, Michigan, he performed concerts with the University of Michigan Symphony Orchestra, Campus Philharmonia Orchestra, and Campus Symphony Orchestra.

Recently, Petko completed his studies with Prof. Gustav Meier at the Peabody Conservatory, John Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD, where he pursued a Graduate Performance Diploma in Orchestral Conducting. As an assistant conductor of the Peabody Symphony Orchestra, Mr. Dimitrov took over a performance of Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring with only three days notice.