site.btaMarch 4, 1961: 65th Birthday of Kaval Player Theodosii Spassov

Virtuoso kaval player Theodosii Spassov celebrates his 65th birthday on Wednesday.

Born in Isperih (Northeastern Bulgaria) on March 4, 1961, he started playing the kaval (a shepherd's wooden flute, considered one of Europe's oldest musical instruments) at age 9. Having graduated from Kotel's Philip Koutev National School of Folk Arts and Plovdiv's Academy of Music, Dance and Fine Arts, he worked as an orchestra member and group leader at the Bulgarian National Radio (BNR) (1990-1995) and deputy director of the Philip Koutev Folk Song and Dance Ensemble (1995-1999). Spassov rejoined at BNR in 1999, where he became a chief artistic director of the station's music formations in 2004 and was appointed chief soloist in 2009. During two stints as director of the BNR Music House (2015-2019 and 2021-2023), he was in charge of the radio's six orchestras and choirs and their concert and recording activities. Between 2022 and 2025, he was member of the BNR Management Board.

Spassov pioneered playing jazz on the kaval and mixing traditional folk music with jazz and classical music elements, which forms the core of almost all his original compositions. He has developed a unique playing style of his own. He has also written film and theatre scores (working alongside Ennio Morricone and Carlo Siliotto) and pieces for symphony orchestra and kaval.

Between 1986 and 2010, he released 31 LPs: 17 solo and 14 joint projects. The locally and internationally acclaimed artists, bands and orchestras with whom he has collaborated include Ivo Papazov, Georgi Yanev, Petar Ralchev, Milcho Leviev, Yildiz Ibrahimova, Simeon Shterev, Veselin Nikolov, Petar Petrov, Anatoliy Vapirov, Acoustic Version, Dave Liebman, Andy Sheppard, Jamey Haddad, Albert Mangelsdorff, the Trilok Gurtu Band, Rabih Abou-Khalil, Glen Velez, Dave Liebman, Glen Moore, Mino Cinelu, Paul McCandless, Billy Cobham, Marc Johnson, Kazumi Watanabe, and Bruce Dickinson.

For three years, he was part of the Irish music and dance company Riverdance. His collaboration with conductor Kristjan Jarvi, guitarists Vlatko Stefanovski and Miroslav Tadic for the Balkan Fever Project was jointly presented with the London Symphony Orchestra, the Monte-Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra, the MDR Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra, the BNR Symphony Orchestra, and the Macedonian Philharmonic Orchestra.

In 2000, at the invitation of Prof. Christo Pimpirev, Spassov joined the 28th Bulgarian Antarctic Expedition. He and guitar player Hristiyan Tsvyatkov became the first persons to compose music in Antarctica. Spassov and Tsvyatkov staged a concert at the Juan Carlos I Spanish Base, becoming the world's only second duo after Metallica in 2013 to play on the Icy Continent. That performance made the kaval player the fist to have performed on all continents.

In 1995, Newsweek recognized him as one of the most talented East European musicians in its Best of the East feature, noting that "Spassov is not merely surviving the post-communist cultural wasteland. He has actually invented a new musical genre."

In 1994, he performed with the Sofia Women's Radio Choir which received a Grammy Award for Le Mystere Des Voix Bulgares. 

In 2015, he was designated UNESCO Artist for Peace.

Spassov's long list of honours include the Paris International Academy of Arts Award (1996), Music Artist of the Year Award (1997 and 2002), an Apollo Toxophoros of Sozopol's Apollonia Festival of Arts for contribution to Bulgarian music and worldwide success (2001), the National Film Centre Award for film music (2007 and 2016), and the Dobri Chintulov Award for contribution to Bulgarian culture (2009).

In 2011, he was presented with the Golden Age Prize (the Bulgarian Culture Ministry's highest honour) for his significant contribution to the advancement and promotion of Bulgarian culture and traditional music. Spassov also holds the Collar of the Order of Sts Cyril and Methodius, First Class (2013), honorary doctorates from Plovdiv's Academy of Music, Dance and Fine Arts (2014) and Varna Free University (2021), and a Crystal Lyre of the Union of Bulgarian Musicians and Dancers (2015).

Spassov was also distinguished with an Askeer Theatre Award of the Bulgarian Army Theatre for theatre music (2021) and a Union of Bulgarian Actors' IKAR Award for contemporary Bulgarian music (2022). In 2025, SoFest and Sofia Municipality conferred on him an award for innovative projects with high artistic value and international significance in the field of culture of SoFest and Sofia Municipality.

The musician is married to actress Boyka Velkova. They have one son.

Following is an English translation of an original news story from 2022 by BTA's Varna correspondent Valentina Dobrincheva, based on an interview with Spassov during his tour in the area:

"'Different Stages Challenge Me, I Love Venturing into New Things,' Says Theodosii Spassov

Varna, August 9 (BTA) - 'I enjoy embarking on things I have not done before, things that are new to me. That is why I agree to perform on all kinds of stages, sometimes even in hard-to-reach places,' musician Theodosii Spassov shared in a BTA interview following his appearances along the Northern Black Sea coast and in Varna.

He did not so many people to flock to his concert in the village of Ezerts near Shabla, where he played with Alexander Lekov (bass guitar) and Nacho Gospodinov (percussion). The Jazz by the Sea event, with free admission, attracted hundreds of spectators on August 6. 'In this pleasant setting of immediate contact with the audience, the best part is meeting fans after the concert, among whom I even spotted people I know from Switzerland. I heard English spoken and saw many people who had come to 'recharge their batteries',' Spassov said. His trio also held a jam session at the end of the concert in Ezerets together with hosts Plamena Kostova (vocals) and Pavleta Prodanova (piano), Frank Nestler from Germany (saxophone), and a local amateur folklore group, with whom they did a folk song. 'We arranged it on the spot in a contemporary style,' the musician said, adding that he is keenly interested in such artistic appearances.

The same face-to-face, almost family-like encounter between musicians and audience can be found at the Jazz in the Village Festival in Kamen Bryag - another beautiful nook on the Northern Black Sea coast, Spassov recalled. He appeared there two years ago with guitarist Vlatko Stefanovski. Such cultural events are staged further south along Bulgaria's Black Sea coast, but there one cannot see the unspoiled nature in the north, he noted.

Another peculiar spot where Spassov has performed is the Blueberry Festival at the Ambaritsa Lodge, at 1,500 m above sea level. Fans, including families with children, reached the site after a four-hour hike, while the musicians travelled part of the way by SUV along a bumpy dirt track and then walked for 20 minutes. The audience camped in tents for several days. The Wake Up! Festival was organized in a similar way - as a camp in a small forest near Plovdiv. The musician greatly enjoyed that event, too.

Forums of this kind are held abroad as well. One of the most memorable for Spassov took place in the inner courtyard of a cathedral in  Tuji Grm, Slovenia, where spectators also arrived from Croatia and Austria. 'Such festivals have a strong impact on regional development,' the musician said, adding that he tailors his programme to the venue where he is about to perform. After many years on stage, he has a precise psychological sense of what to present. His most recent concert was at the Radar Festival in Varna, together with brothers Dimitar and Neyko Bodurov and Ivan Shopov 'with his electronic wizardry', complete with large-screen projections. It was entirely different in style from Ezerets, but, in his view, it was exactly what the audience expected.

'I have performed on large stages and in small spaces, and the feeling is different,' he said. 'In clubs you see people's faces and eyes; in a stadium you don't, but you can sense the power and scale of the audience.'

'At present there is a glut of cultural events due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which in recent years placed artists in a very difficult situation, having to spend more than they can earn, which is what has led to the current heightened activity,' Spassov said. He added that 'the audience is not elastic, it is the same', but hopes that it is delighted with what it is offered."