Pianist Ivan Yanukov is one among a few Bulgarian musicians who was enchanted with the land of unlimited opportunity. After he graduated the Lubomor Pipkov National School of Music in Sofia in the 1990s with a major in piano, the talented instrumentalist bought a ticket to New York. For more than ten years he studied in the United States and received an MA at the Mannes College of Music.

In 2001 Ivan Yanukov gave a recital in Carnegie Hall, New York, after winning the Artists International Series Competition. Apart from a tight schedule of concerts in USA, the musician specialized chamber music with the Tokyo String Quartet and with world-acclaimed violinist Pinchas Zukerman.During his studies in New York, parallel to piano, Ivan joined a course in conducting.

Later on he was back to Europe, to Italy, and then moved to London where he spent seven years. He has recently settled in Hong Kong.

He took part in two concerts in Bulgaria this month – on 13 June in Plovdiv at the Chamber Music Festival, and on 18 June in Sofia. Ivan Yanukov was on the playbill of the 19^th edition of the Salon of Arts. More about his program in Sofia, from the pianist:

“I have recently been working on a CD with works by Franz Liszt. I presented part of these works at my concert held in Sofia’s National Palace of Culture on June 18: Sonata in B minor, Mephisto Waltz, Sonnet after Petrarch 104, as well as Liszt’s version of the final scene from the opera Tristan and Isolde, Isoldend Liebestod, by Richard Wagner Liszt’s interpretation of this work of music is quite remarkable. With this experiment he actually tested the potential of the instrument in 19 c.”

Apart from his successful career as pianist, Ivan Yanukov has taken a new direction: conducting. His debut as conductor was with the Czech National Symphony Orchestra several years ago. What inspired him for conducting?

“At first, I started playing the piano as a way to master the art of conducting. But things turned out in a way that I went on playing the piano and embarked on a solo career. This way my plans to become a conductor were delayed in time. In 2010, I decided to go back to this old dream of mine. While I was living in London, I organized a chamber orchestra, London Chamber Players. It is a string orchestra and we sometimes add woodwind or brass instruments. Its repertoire goes across Baroque, classical music, Romanticism and 20 c. music. We recently appeared in Madrid where we closed a big festival. We plan to release a CD by the end of the year.”

Ivan Yanukov has toured more than 30 countries including Japan, China, Hong Kong, Italy, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States. As pianist his concerts have been broadcast by TV and radio channels in Europe and USA.

Contemporary works of music are an important part of the repertoire of Ivan Yanukov:

“Usually in contemporary music we artists have great responsibility”, Ivan Yanukov adds. “Without us it remains on paper. I am happy to have had the chance of communicating with most composers whose music I have played. My premiere at Carnegie Hall was with works by Finnish composer Magnus Lindberg. I have worked with a Turkish composer who lives and works in USA, Çağlar Arsu. My chamber orchestra is going to premiere his works at a festival in Northern England.”

In Bulgaria Ivan Yanukov has been soloist of the Sofia Philharmonic, Sofia Soloists and the Classic FM Orchestra. He has taken part in various music festivals in this country – the European Music Festival, the Salon of Arts, Apollonia and others.

English Daniela Konstantinova

The audio file to this story comprises the following soundtracks featuring pianist Ivan Yanukov:

1/ Sonnet after Petrarch 104by Franz Liszt (fragment), a live recording

2/ Sonata in B minor by Franz Liszt (fragment), a live recording

3/ Isoldend Liebestod by Wagner- Liszt, a live recording