Stanislav Stanchev gets popular with online videos

Young composers from all over the world are sending him their latest works in the hope that he will play their music

published on 1/29/24 5:19 PM

Photo: Facebook /Станислав Станчев

His music is heard all over the world, and his YouTube channel has over 108 thousand subscribers. Stanislav Stanchev is probably the most popular Bulgarian pianist online.

Apart from the hackneyed phrase "work and talent" and his presentation of the music, he explains the interest in him with... his hands, which he focuses on in the videos. "Beautiful hands, big but elegant - I get a lot of comments like that. Piano hands are generally beautiful, and fortunately for me people are interested in them," says the pianist.

Stanislav Stanchev performs works written for piano as well as transcriptions of works for orchestra and various solo instruments. His main focus is on classical music, but his repertoire also includes jazz and film music.

"I won't touch music that I don't feel and like," he declared firmly. - The music closest to my soul is that of Bach, Beethoven, Liszt, to some extent Rachmaninov and Chopin. In other words, the so-called high music of the Classical and Romantic periods, and that's what I prefer to play.

But the pianist is also open to modern music, which has literally been created in the last few days. Young composers are contacting him and sending him their latest works in the hope of hearing them interpreted by the popular web artist. So far, this has happened with composers from Italy, Brazil and Russia.

The path...

Stanislav chose his musical path at the age of four, after seeing the piano in his kindergarten. Most teachers refused to give him lessons because he was too young, until he met his first teacher, Maria Petrova. "It was like love at first sight and since then I love the piano, I love playing, I love music and it's what I like to do," he told Radio Bulgaria.

During his penultimate year at the Sofia Music School, Stanislav began taking piano lessons from Prof Anton Dikov, who became a major source of inspiration for him.

"Unfortunately, I was with him for only one year," says Stanislav Stanchev, "I would have continued in the 12th grade, but he died after a car accident. For me, Anton Dikov was the best Bulgarian pianist and teacher. He pushed you to do your best, and he was not only an incredible musician, but also an amazing person".

After winning many music awards as a student and completing two master's degrees at the Pancho Vladigerov Academy of Music, the pianist worked for four years on a cruise ship performing classical repertoire in collaboration with a Ukrainian violinist. He became a teacher and joined the Pyrgos Trio in Germany. "We gave concerts every day in the morning and in the evening, we were like a small three-piece orchestra," he recalls. But he decided to return to Bulgaria because he felt he couldn't live anywhere else.

"I truly miss my homeland," Stanislav Stanchev expresses. "No matter how many times I've travelled abroad, it was always with the intention of returning".

Even though he is rooted in his home country, the global feedback he receives for his Internet activities makes him feel connected to the world. His motivation for creating a channel was to share his music in the hope of inspiring more people to engage with it.

"What pleases me as a pianist is that so many people choose to listen to me," says Stanislav Stanchev, "many people write to say that thanks to me they have rediscovered the piano and their desire to play - some of them have stopped playing and others who had never touched the instrument have decided to start. All in all, changing people's lives in a positive direction makes me very happy, because it gives the whole thing a greater meaning".

While he is working hard to bring new videos to his fans, the pianist dismisses the notion that he prefers online performances to traditional concert halls. He is currently recording six Handel sonatas with his friend, the recorder player Radoslav Nikolov, with the intention of performing them live. He has also received an invitation to play in the French town of Arcachon for a second year.

His first invitation to perform in France was a result of his uploads on the web. "There's no way to reach these people if it wasn't for the internet. I hope that they will invite me to other countries in the future," he said. And what has he got planned for 2024?

"To keep making music, to keep making people happy, to keep travelling to perform abroad and to keep playing with my musician friends in Bulgaria. That's it - work and music".

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Stanislav Stanchev gets popular with online videos

Young composers from all over the world are sending him their latest works in the hope that he will play their music

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