Born in 1973, Pande Shahov studied composition with Risto Avramovski, before enrolling at the Ss. Cyril and Methodius University’s Faculty of Music, Skopje, where he graduated in the class of Tomislav Zografski. He also studied jazz harmony privately with the renowned composer and arranger Ilija Pejovski. As a Chevening Scholar of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Shahov completed his Postgraduate Diploma at the Royal College of Music, London, studying with Julian Anderson. In 2013, he was awarded his Doctorate by the Royal Holloway University of London, under Philip Cashian’s supervision.
Shahov lives in England and teaches a range of academic studies at the Royal College of Music, London, and Alton College in Hampshire. His music has been performed by the Macedonian Philharmonic Orchestra, Sofia Philharmonic, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Bolshoi Theatre Symphony Orchestra, Macedonian National Opera and Ballet, New London Chamber Choir, Pro Ars, The Smith Quartet, Saxofonquadrat, as well as the ensembles orkest de ereprijs, Lontano, Ixion, Chroma Ensemble, New Noise, Contemporary Consort, Reconsil, Kokoro, California EAR Unit, ConTempora and Ensemble Horizonte.
Shahov’s collaboration with Simon Trpčeski dates back to the opening recital of the Southbank International Piano Series in London in 2009; Trpčeski commissioned a piece to commemorate the anniversary of Chopin’s birth. Two movements of the suite Songs and Whispers relate to Chopin’s works, whereas the other four are built around Macedonian folk songs. The Guardian praised it as ‘genuinely resourceful and attractive work’, whilst Classical Source wrote that ‘the work is fiercely pianistic, with spiky jazz influences familiar from Stravinsky and Poulenc, and its ebullient virtuosity, very much in Rachmaninov territory, was right up Trpčeski’s street.’ Since its premiere at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, Trpčeski performed the suite at some of the most prestigious concert halls, including the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles and the Auditorium du Louvre in Paris.
