Prof. Dr. Dobri Paliev

“Prof. Paliev plays, composes and teaches percussion instruments in a musical style that is valuable to all Europe. He develops in the others the human virtues, which matter most in the Arts.”

                                                                                              Jean-Paul Vanderiche

                                                                                        A quote from the article “The great percussionists” from a French encyclopedia, called “What Do We Know About Percussion Instruments”

Prof. Dobri Paliev PhD (1928 – 1997) was born in Pernik, Bulgaria.

During his study he was appointed as a solo-timpani player in the symphony orchestra of Bulgarian National Radio. At the same time, he was performing a numerous concerts around the world as xylophone virtuoso.

In 1961 (from 1967 as a professor) he starts teaching in the National Music Academy “prof. Pancho Vladigerov” – Sofia, Bulgaria. Paliev had been teaching also in the Music Universities of Strasburg - France, Luxemburg, Hamburg, Wurzburg – Germany, Thessaloniki – Greece, Zagreb – Croatia.

He received two doctor degrees – in 1972 and in 1985 (Bells, Clappers and Shepherd’s bells From Bulgaria)

With the art of his performance Dobri Paliev changed the perception of the possibilities of the percussion instrumentarium and with more than four decades of pedagogical work, he has not only created the Bulgarian percussion school but in a very short time established its high reputation and huge international acknowledgment. Hundreds of his students from Bulgaria and various other countries have won prizes at the most prestigious competitions and became leading performers and distinguished teachers all over the world.

Founder and artistic director of ensemble “Polyrhythmia” (1976) which international performances around the world contribute for the further acknowledgement of the Bulgarian Percussion school. 

As a composer, Prof. Paliev has left behind him a vast heritage. He has created solo, percussion pieces, ensemble works, as well as movie and theatre music. Paliev has also written a big amount of percussion instruments guiding literature.

Dobri Paliev’s most important contribution to the percussion world is elevating the orchestral percussion instruments into the solo ones as we know them today. All of his work is considered to be one of the best written and used all around the world to create outstanding percussionists and musicians.