Grigor Palikarov (born in Plovdiv, Bulgaria in 1971) graduated from the National Music Academy, Sofia, with four Master of Music degrees in: Orchestral Conducting with Prof. Vassil Kazandzhiev and Prof. Ivan Voulpe, Composition with Prof. D. Tapkov, Piano with Prof. Kr. Tasskov, and Choral Conducting with Prof. St. Kralev. Later on, he continued his composition studies by attending two Summer Academies in Austria with Erich Urbanner (Professor at University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna).

His debut as an opera conductor was in April 1994, at the age of 22, with Verdi’s “Rigoletto” at two major opera houses in Bulgaria.

During the 1998-99 season, Grigor Palikarov made his debut on the stage of the National Opera and Ballet–Sofia, conducting a Gala-concert with the special participation of the famous Bulgarian opera singer Ghena Dimitrova upon her personal invitation. Later on, he has participated in many concerts and performances with other world-famous Bulgarian opera singers like Anna Tomowa-Sintow, Krassimira Stoyanova, Alexandrina Milcheva, Nadezhda Krasteva, Boiko Tzvetanov, and Nickola Ghjuzelev.

Since January 2001, Mr. Palikarov works as a full-time conductor at the National Opera and Ballet–Sofia, conducting a rich variety of repertoire. It includes more than fifty opera and ballet titles by Mozart, Rossini, Donizetti, Weber, Verdi, Wagner, Ponchielli, Mascagni, Leoncavallo, Puccini, Gounod, Delibes, Bizet, Borodin, Rimsky–Korsakov, Tchaikovsky, Prokofiew, Orff, and Bulgarian classical and contemporary composers.

Since the beginning of the 2005/06 season, Mr. Palikarov has also taken the position of General Artistic Manager and Conductor of the Symphony Orchestra–Pazardzhik. In September 2008, he became the Principal Conductor of “Classic FM” Symphony orchestra–Sofia.

In the following years, he has been able to perform in concerts alongside many famous soloists, including members of the Vienna Philharmonic: Albena Danailova (Concertmaster), Wolfgang Schulz, Franz Bartolomey, Dieter Flury, Robert Nagy, Svetlin Roussev (Concertmaster of the French National Radio Orchestra), Glenn Dicterow (Concertmaster of New York Philharmonic), and others.

Mr. Palikarov is often invited as a guest conductor of many orchestras, opera theatres, and national and international music festivals in Bulgaria and abroad, including countries like Germany, Austria (with Ensemble “New Ton,” Vienna), Belgium (with the National Orchestra of Belgium), France, Italy, Luxemburg, Macedonia, Slovenia (with the National Opera and Ballet-Ljubljana), Switzerland, Taiwan (with Century Orchestra-Taipei), USA (with Opera Circle-Cleveland), Japan, etc. His debut in the USA has been mentioned by the American critics as "one of the most important musical events for year 2009." Grigor Palikarov also makes regular recordings of orchestral pieces, opera arias, and ensembles as a guest conductor of the Symphony Orchestra of the Bulgarian National Radio. Some of his recordings can be found on CDs and DVDs produced by different companies.

In addition to his work as a conductor, Mr. Palikarov composes music and performs as a piano soloist with different orchestras in Bulgaria. Since 2001, he also teaches musical analysis at the State Academy of Music and Dance Arts-Plovdiv as an Assistant Professor. Mr. Palikarov is a prizewinner of many national and international piano and composition competitions. Some of his works were performed at music festivals and recorded at the National Radio- Sofia.