Jassen Todorov

Jassen Todorov (Bulgarian: Ясен Тодоров) is a Bulgarian-born American violinist, professor of music, pilot and aerial photographer. He is a professor of violin at San Francisco State University and works in both classical music and aerial photography. His aerial photography, featured by National Geographic, Smithsonian and other publications, includes natural landscapes, renewable-energy infrastructure, industrial sites and areas altered by human activity.

In 2018, Todorov won the Grand Prize of the National Geographic Photo Contest for Unreal, an aerial photograph showing thousands of Volkswagen and Audi vehicles stored in California's Mojave Desert.

Early life and education

Todorov was born in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, into a family of musicians. His father, Nedeltcho Todorov, was a violin teacher, and Todorov began studying the instrument as a child. He attended music schools in Plovdiv and Sofia and graduated from the Lubomir Pipkov National High School of Music in Sofia.

In 1991, he received a scholarship to attend Idyllwild Arts Academy in Southern California.

Music career

Todorov has performed as a classical violinist in Europe, Asia, Australia and the Americas.

He became a professor of violin at San Francisco State University, where he also teaches music theory and music history.

In 2025, Clouds of Gold, an aerial photograph of salt ponds in San Francisco Bay, won the From Source to Sea category of the Environmental Photographer of the Year competition. The photograph was also Highly Commended in the Wetlands: The Bigger Picture category of the 2025 Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition, organized by the Natural History Museum, London.

In January 2026, Smithsonian published another feature on Todorov's aerial photography, including images from the United States, Egypt and other locations. His photograph Symphony of Wings was also shortlisted in the Landscape category of the Open competition at the 2026 Sony World Photography Awards.

Selected awards

2006 – Crystal Lyre, young performer category Bach: Three Solo Violin Sonatas (Gega New, 2013) Three Solo Violin Partitas (Gega New, 2013)