After graduating from the Sofia Conservatoire, the young Bulgarian tenor continued his studies at the Accademia Musicale, Rome, and won first prize at the Jussi Björling Competition, Sweden. He debuted at the Sofia Opera in the role of the Duke of Mantua in Rigoletto, and his first roles included Faust, Werther, Count Almaviva, Lensky, Edgar, Tonio, Alfred, Belmonte, Tamino and Don Ottavio. Recently he has expanded his repertoire with more dramatic roles including Cavaradossi, Erik, Don José, Radames and Calaf, but he also sings the roles of Des Grieux, Pinkerton, Riccardo, Don Carlos and Stiffelio (Verdi). He is a frequent guest singer at many opera houses around Europe: the Vienna Staatsoper, the Deutsche Oper and the Bayerische Staatsoper, Munich, the Hamburg Staatsoper and the Teatro Liceo, Barcelona. He sang the roles of Rodolfo, Edgar and Radames in Atalanta, Don José in Philadelphia, Manricot in Seoul, Turiddu and Canio in Palma di Mallorca and Pinkerton in Amsterdam. He appeared in the role of Cavaradossi at the Terracina Festival, Italy, and sang the tenor solo in Verdi's Requiem in Rome. Kamen Chanev has worked with such outstanding conductors like Lorin Maazel, Nicola Luisotti, Vladimir Jurowski and Paolo Carignani.
