Biography

Lachezar was born in Varna (Bulgaria). He started to learn the piano at the age of nine. He showed very rapid progress and one year later was accepted at the Dobri Hristov College of Music and Arts, where he completed his high school education with specialist music curriculum..

He is the winner of national and international prizes and awards. He won the Second Prize in the National Competition Dimitar Nenov in Bulgaria (1999), Third Prize in the International Competition Pro Arte in Bucharest, Romania (2000), the Grand Prix of the Competition for Czech and Slovak Music in Prague (2003), and the Presto National Scholarship Award (2002).

Lachezar made his concert debut at the age of twelve in Holland, where he played in Utrecht and at the RAI Centre in Amsterdam. Since then he has played in many venues in Bulgaria and Europe, including the Varna Festival Hall, Sofia National Palace of Culture, and the Bulgarian Embassy Hall in Prague, and also participated at the Varna Summer International Music Festival.

Aged sixteen he was selected to participate in a series of concerts with the Varna Philharmonic Orchestra, and played Grieg’s first piano concerto, to critical acclaim. This led to a subsequent invitation the following year to perform Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue with the Varna and the Shumen Philharmonic Orchestras.

In 2005 Lachezar was awarded one of the only two ABRSM Full Scholarships for overseas students to study at the Royal College of Music with Professor Andrew Ball, with an additional award by Flame Trust. He has given many solo and chamber music recitals in the UK and abroad and recently performed Rachmaninov's "Rhapsody on a theme of Paganini", with the North London Symphony Orchestra. He was also a finalist in the Concerto competition at the Royal College of Music.

Lachezar formed the Stankov Ensemble together with Ivo and Vania Stankov. Performing as a trio (soprano/violin/piano), the ensemble specializes in exploring repertoire written specifically for this unusual combination, from leading European and American composers of the 20th Century. The ensemble has also recently performed a number of world premieres dedicated especially to them, by composers such as Dobrinka Tabakova, Martin Georgiev and Gwyn Pritchard. In 2009 and 2010 Stankov Ensemble participated to critical acclaim in the major International Festivals in Bulgaria such as "Varna Summer", "Sofia Winter Festival", and "Sofia Music Weeks".

Lachezar is currently completing his Masters degree at the Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music in London, with scholarship Alfred Kitchin awarded by TLCM.