Камелия Тодорова

Camellia Todorova is one of the most accomplished vocal performers coming from Bulgaria, as well as one of the leading musicians having developed and popularised the art of jazz in her country. Her mother a classical singer and her father a jazz aficionado, she grew up in a musical family surrounded by the enormous record collection at home. She started singing on stage while pursuing an acting career with director Nikolai Georgiev’s experimental theatre group 4+4, and went on to study singing at the National Music Academy in Sofia in 1976, where she met her future mentors and colleagues. Subsequently, she soon began working with some of the most renowned Bulgarian jazz musicians, including Ludmil Georgiev, Simeon Shterev, Mario Stanchev, Theodosii Stojkov and Peter Slavov. Her first major success as a solo artist came with her debut at the 2nd Annual Jazz Review festival in Sofia in 1978, which at the time was one of the leading festivals for improvised music east of the Iron Curtain.