BIOGRAPHY
The winner of numerous international competitions, Ivan Yanakov has been heard to critical acclaim in over 30 countries in Asia, Europe, Australia and North America. He has performed as soloist with numerous orchestras, and has appeared in halls that include the Carnegie Hall Recital Hall in New York, Cadogan Hall in London, Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre Concert Hall, Sydney Town Hall, Sapporo Concert Hall, Okinawa Convention Centre, Hong Kong City Hall, Shanghai Oriental Arts Centre, and many others. He is a frequent guest of international music festivals.
A recording artist, Ivan Yanakov’s CDs are offered worldwide in major stores. His albums and singles can be heard on iTunes, KKmusic, YouTube, Spotify, Amazon, Idagio, YouTube and on over 50 digital platforms.
Born in Sofia, Ivan Yanakov later earned his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from New York's Mannes College of Music. He was awarded the Artists International Debut Series Prize at Carnegie Hall. He was also a full-scholarship fellow at the Accademia Chigiana in Siena.
He later moved to London, and started conducting and leading the London Chamber Players, a chamber orchestra comprised of young professionals. His conducting debut was with the Czech National Symphony Orchestra.
The artist appears regularly on television and radio broadcasts in Asia, North America and Europe. Recently, he was featured in an 1-hour live concert on Hong Kong’s RTHK radio station, and on their Pearl TV channel. Other broadcasting highlights include Live from the Los Angeles Museum of Art.
Ivan Yanakov is often invited to give master classes at major universities in Europe and Asia, most recently at the Birmingham Conservatoire and Hong Kong Baptist University. He regularly adjudicates piano competitions throughout Asia and Europe. In 2019 he was the jury president of the Russian Piano Music competition in Sanremo, Italy.
One of Ivan’s current projects include The Four Pianists, an ensemble of established classical and jazz pianists. Their last concert at London's Cadogan Hall was sold out months in advance. The Four Pianists regularly perform in front of 4,000-strong audiences, to both critical and public acclaim.