transmitLIVE 2011 artist:
// Todor Kobakov
Toronto based composer-producer Todor Kobakov has one foot planted in the centre of Canada’s indie-rock pantheon and the other placed deep within the world of classical music. In a city full of talented young musicians, Kobakov is widely recognized as the cream of the crop, or as Metric’s Emily Haines affectionately calls him, “Toronto’s most talented Bulgarian”.
Todor was born in Sofia, Bulgaria into a family of classical musicians. His grandmother was a famous pianist who played in the opera for forty years while his mother was a producer at a music television channel. Training at the piano bench began at just four years old, followed by ten years at the rigorous Sofia School of Music. At age sixteen, Kobakov moved to Canada, graduating from the University of Toronto with a Degree in Performance Piano.
A key “behind the scenes” player in Toronto’s indie music scene, Kobakov has created transcendent string arrangements for the likes of Metric, Stars, Emily Haines, Sarah Slean, Dan Mangan, and Broken Social Scene members Jason Collett and Sam Goldberg. This past July Todor was commissioned by one Mr. Gene Simmons to compose a string arrangement for his new A&R project The Envy.
Kobakov’s tour resume includes keyboard duties for Luke Doucet, Emily Haines, Small Sins, and his own band Major Maker. Fittingly, Kobakov was named “Toronto’s Best Keyboardist” by NOW Magazine.
Kobakov has created vivid soundtracks for dozens of Canadian commercials. More recently his work has hit the international radar including adverts for Footlocker (UK), Aviva (UK), Vodafone (UK/Ireland), Macy’s (U.S.) and Robinsons (UK). His impressive scores for the documentaries Mega Heist and High Impact aired on The History Channel and Discovery Channel, respectively.
An increasingly in-demand film composer, Todor has created memorable scores for Young People Fucking (romantic comedy), Pinkville (psychological drama), Hit List (dark comedy) and Sympathy (grindhouse/thriller) for which Kobakov’s beautifully haunting score garnered unanimous critical acclaim.
A missionary of genius gadgetry, Kobakov has produced dance remixes for Emily Haines and Major Maker in addition to releasing two albums of brooding beats under the moniker Cy Scobie and producing critically acclaimed albums for Major Maker and Small Sins.
In 2009, Kobakov released his solo piano debut, Pop Music, to glowing critical acclaim (“A piano stylist in the gorgeous, whimsical form of Erik Satie” – Globe and Mail). The classically inspired album features vocal collaborations with Metric’s Emily Haines and TV On The Radio’s Tunde Adebimpe.
Up next for Kobakov are string collaborations with Canadian rapper K-OS and Grammy Award nominated producer John O’Mahoney (Coldplay, Metric). Kobakov is also working on his new solo piano album which will be released in the spring of 2011.
Check out Kobakov's composer reel!
based in: Toronto, Canada