Nikolay Kaufman
Nikolay Yankov Kaufman was a Bulgarian musicologist, folklorist and composer, sometimes cited as Bulgaria's foremost scholar in his field.
Kaufman was born in the Danubian town of Ruse to an Ashkenazi History of [the Jews in Bulgaria|Jewish Bulgarian] family. In 1952, he graduated in trumpet and music theory from the National [Academy of Music (Bulgaria)|National Academy of Music] in Sofia.
From 1952-88, he worked at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences' Institute of Music; he then moved to the Institute of Folkloristics. Beginning in 1978, he was a lecturer at the National Academy of Music. He was awarded a doctor's degree in 1973.
Kaufman's compositions include over a thousand arrangements of Bulgarian, Ashkenazi and Sephardi Jewish folk songs, his own songs composed in a Bulgarian folk style and piano pieces. Some of the Bulgarian [State Television Female Vocal Choir]'s recordings were based on Kaufman's arrangements of Bulgarian folk songs, including some in the choir's Grammy Award-winning album Le [Mystère des Voix Bulgares (album)|Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares, Vol. II].
Kaufman's work as a musicologist covers the recording of over 30,000 Bulgarian folk songs and tunes, the result of his theoretical and field studies. He produced a number of books, collections and articles. Since 1997, he had been a corresponding member of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and an academician since 2003. He received a number of professional prizes and awards.