Emile Naoumoff was born in Sofia on 20 February 1962.  He began to study piano at the age of 5, composition at the age of 6, and at the age of 8, he was discovered by Nadia Boulanger who accepted him as her student for the next ten years until her death in 1979.  At the age of 10, he composed and played his own piano concerto with Yehudi Menuhin conducting.  After his conducting studies with Pierre Dervaux, he became the assistant of Nadia Boulanger in 1979 and in 1980, professor at the École Normale de Musique in Paris.  At the age of 19, Naoumoff received his first prizes (piano, composition, conducting) and was appointed professor first at the American Conservatory and since 1984 at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique, Paris.

His replacing a pianist without rehearsal in 1984, playing Tschaikowskys first piano concerto conducted by Yuri Ahronovitch, secured him the reputation of a world-famous soloist.  Naoumoff got invitations from all over the world, played with numerous important orchestras and collaborated closely with Leonard Bernstein, Igor Markevitch, Nikita Magaloff, Jean Françaix and Henri Dutilleux.  Jacques Chirac honoured him by awarding him the Médaille d’honneur de Paris, he received the Prix de Composition de l’Académie des Beaux Arts, and recently, he was appointed Associate Professor at the School of Music of the Indiana University in Bloomington.  Naoumoff gave master classes in the USA, Spain, Luxembourg and Japan, and he directs his own Music Academy near Paris (Gargenville) teaching after the principles of Nadia Boulanger.

His works at Schott include a.o. a Piano Concert, an instrumentation of Mussorgsky’s "Pictures of an Exhibition" and selected chamber music.

• Emile Naoumoff's Website: www.naoumoff.com