Atanas Ourkouzounov

Atanas Ourkouzounov is a guitarist and composer regarded as one of the most significant composers for guitar of his generation. He grew up in Bulgaria and began his studies with Dimitar Doychinov. He later studied in France with Arnaud Dumond, Alexandre Lagoya and Olivier Chassain. In 1997, he was unanimously awarded First Prize in Guitar at the Conservatoire National de Paris. There he also studied chamber music, ethnomusicology and generative improvisation.

His catalogue comprises more than one hundred works—for solo guitar, duos, trios, quartets, diverse instrumental ensembles and five concertos—published by Doberman-Yppan, Henri Lemoine and Éditions Fougeray. His works have received numerous distinctions at prestigious festivals, including Michele Pittaluga – Città di Alessandria (Italy, 1997), Paolo Barsacchi (Italy, 1997), Il Fronimo – Suvini Zerboni (Italy, 1998), Ciudad de Montevideo (Uruguay, 1998), and Carrefour mondial de la guitare (Martinique, 1998).

His music is performed by many of today’s leading guitarists, including Zoran Dukić, Judicaël Perroy, Denis Azabagić, Goran Krivokapić, Shin-ichi Fukuda, Jérémy Jouve, Scott Tennant, Eduardo Isaac, Pablo Márquez, the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet, Thibault Cauvin, Dimitri Illarionov, Edin Karamazov, Gabriel Bianco, Thomas Müller-Pering and Duo Palissandre.

He gives masterclasses around the world and is frequently invited to serve on international competition juries. He teaches at the Maurice Ravel Conservatoire in Paris’s 13th arrondissement.