LACHEZAR KOSTOV
ASSOCIATE PRINCIPAL CELLO MARSHALL AND SARELLEN LEVINE CHAIR
Lachezar Kostov has appeared as a soloist in some of the world ’ s leading concert venues such as Carnegie Hall , The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts , Gewandhaus in Leipzig , and Oji Hall in Tokyo . He was the National Winner at the 2006 MTNA Young Artists Competition and has won numerous prizes including the Cello Award at the Kingsville Competition in 2005 , the Grand Prix at the International Music and Earth Competition in Bulgaria , and the concerto competitions at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts , and Rice University . In October 2011 Lachezar Kostov and pianist Viktor Valkov won the First Prize and all the special prizes at the Third International Liszt-Garrison Piano and Duo Competition in Baltimore , MD .
Mr . Kostov has appeared as a guest soloist and chamber musician throughout the United States , Japan , Italy , Germany , the United Kingdom and Bulgaria . Mr . Kostov is represented as a member of the Kostov-Valkov Duo by Pro-Piano Management . Hailed by European and American critics for “ the awesome purity of his playing ”, and described as “ prodigiously skilled protagonist ”, he made his official debut at Carnegie Hall ’ s Zankel Hall in 2009 . Mr . Kostov ’ s first commercial CD was released by NAXOS in 2011 and was immediately featured in The Strad Magazine and American Record Guide . In 2016 he released a second CD , containing award-winning transcriptions by the Kostov-Valkov Duo of works by Franz Liszt .
Lachezar Kostov has appeared as a guest artist at the Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival , La Jolla Summer Fest , Cactus Pear Music Festival , and is also a guest faculty at the Texas Music Festival in Houston . Mr . Kostov plays on a modern cello made by his friend , luthier Sam Matthews in Houston . Prior to his appointment with the Baltimore Symphony he was a tenured member of the San Antonio Symphony , and also performed regularly with the Houston Symphony . His major teachers include Bogomil Karakonov , Aldo Parisot , Norman Fischer , and David Grigorian ; he has appeared in master-classes with Yo-Yo Ma , Steven Isserlis , and Bernard Greenhouse .
Lachezar is an avid single-malt Scotch whisky collector , an aspiring runner , conductor , and pianist .
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