Instrument Classes

Stoyan Kostov

Stoyan Kostov has been playing Bulgarian tambura for over 50 years. He graduated from the folk music school in Kotel and the Plovdiv Academy of Music and Dance. Stoyan performed with Ensemble Trakiya and played tambura with Harmanliska Troika, and guitar with the Ograzhden ensemble in Sandanski, where he also directed the “N. Vaptsarov” Folk Ensemble. Currently he lives in Phoenix, AZ.

Stoyan was featured on numerous television and radio programs and has toured internationally. He has also performed as a guest musician with the Kolevi Family Orchestra and toured with Bulgarika across the United States in 2018 and 2025. He currently resides in Phoenix, AZ.

Ivan Velev

Ivan is a Bulgarian-born folk dancer, performer, and teacher who has spent about twenty years immersed in Bulgarian and Balkan music and dance traditions. He has performed on tapan (aka davul, goč, or poyk) with Fanfare Zambaleta, Meraklii, the Saul Goodman Klezmer Band, and Orchestra Euphonos. He has studied with renowned percussionists including Rumen-Sali Shopov, Enis Alimanovski (Kocani), Orfei Dzavakov (Dzambo Agusevi), Jerry Kisslinger, and Matt Moran, and is well versed in a range of styles: South Serbian and Macedonian brass band, Bulgarian bitov folklore, and klezmer. As a dance teacher, experienced folk dancer, and melody player on kaval, Ivan brings the full context that percussive playing needs — his teaching is informed by the music, the dance, and the melody all at once.

Ivan adjusts his approach for all levels of experience and tailors his technique and learning advice to each student. The class will be a review of various drumming styles and rhythms and will go wherever the class wants it to go, as deep as it needs to. If you have specific requests, please reach out to Ivan ahead of camp.

Last but not least — not Ivan’s own words, but he likes them: “Ivan Velev’s tapan playing, like his spirit, is joyous and playful. He’s also a charismatic Balkan folk dance leader. Originally from Bulgaria, he brings a deep love and connection to Eastern European music and dance traditions and always makes it FUN!”

Angel Dobrev

Angel Dobrev was born in the town of Omurtag in Bulgaria. He plays the gadulka (Bulgarian: гъдулка), which is a traditional Bulgarian bowed stringed instrument. He started taking private gadulka lessons at age 8. Angel graduated from of the famous Folk-Art Music School “Philip Kutev” in Kotel, and later earned his Masters Degree specializing in gadulka and folk ensemble conducting from the Academy for Music and Dance Arts in Plovdiv. Angel was a soloist and performer with the of the Academy Folk Orchestra during his studies.

Angel has performed with ensembles and groups at various international folk Festivals in Greece, Italy, Moldova, Macedonia, Turkey, and at the International Folk Festival in Branson, MO. Since 2001 Angel has lived in Chicago, where he is very happy to help keep the heritage of Bulgarian folk music alive. He performs with the “Balkanski Ritmi” band, and participates annually in the Chicago Spring Festival organized by Balkanski Igri.

Valeri Georgiev

Valeri Georgiev is from the Bulgarian Danube town of Ruse. He studied kaval in Kotel with Stoyan Chobanov and Georgi Penev, and graduated from the Plovdiv Academy of Arts with a BA degree in folk-ensemble conducting.

After completing his education he returned to Ruse and joined the band of the Folkdance Theatre “Naiden Kirov,” and later became its musical director. With the dance ensemble, Valeri was featured on many TV and radio programs and toured all over the world.

Since 2000 Valeri has resided in the Washington, DC, area, where he plays and manages the Bulgarian folk band Lyuti Chushki and the duo HaSega!. Valeri was a recipient of the 2008 Maryland Traditional Arts Grant. In 2012 he received the “Sts. Cyril and Methodius” award for the preservation and promotion of Bulgarian culture abroad. He has performed as a guest musician with the Kolevi Family Orchestra, Solomon’s Dream, Balkania Orchestra from Toronto, Trio Traki from Madrid, and the Locrea Project.