site.btaSvetoslav Borisov Picked for Principal Conductor of Dessau Opera Theatre in Germany

Bulgarian conductor Svetoslav Borisov has been appointed as principal conductor and deputy music director of the opera theatre in Dessau, in the German federal state of Saxony-Anhalt, to serve from the beginning of the 2025-2026 season. The theatre management chose him for the position, which he contested with 170 other applicants, the Bulgarian Cultural Institute (BCI) in Berlin told BG World, a news service of BTA.

Up until now, Borissov has held the same position at the opera house of the state capital Magdeburg, where he will continue to work as guest conductor. In 2023, the classical music magazine Opernwelt nominated him for conductor of the year in Germany.

Borisov studied conducting in Graz, Austria, where he founded the Con Fuoco Chamber Orchestra and remains its artistic director to the present day.

In June 2025, he conducted the concert Die Weberischen, which included music by Mozart and a stage reading of the play Die Weberischen by Austrian playwright Felix Mitterer, the BCI recalled. Two more Bulgarians also contributed to the show, BCI head Borislav Petranov, who directed it, and Maria Sintow-Behrens, who sang the part of Mozart’s wife Constanze. Maria is the granddaughter of the famous soprano Anna Tomowa-Sintow. Performed under the auspices of Graz Mayor Elke Kahr, the concert was one of the first cultural events after the city was shaken in early June by what was Austria’s deadliest mass shooting. The hall was packed, and the orchestra and the actors were rewarded with a long applause, the BCI said.

At the end of June, Borisov had a resounding success conducting the Brandenburg Symphony Orchestra. On August 27, he will conduct the opera Faust, directed by Vera Nemirova, during the “Opera in the Summer Theatre” Festival in the Bulgarian seaside city of Varna.

In 2024, the Bulgarian Culture Ministry awarded Borisov with a diploma and a plaquette for his significant contribution to developing and popularizing Bulgarian culture and art.

His debut in Dessau will be in Mozart’s opera Women Are Like That.