Native name Ivo V'rbanov Website ivo-varbanov.com Role Pianist | Spouse(s) Fiammetta Tarli Name Ivo Varbanov Education Royal Academy of Music | |
Born November 15, 1972 (age 51) ( 1972-11-15 ) Pleven, Bulgaria Occupation Classical pianist
Winemaker | ||
Ivo Varbanov is a Bulgarian concert pianist and winemaker.
He started playing piano aged 6 with Eleonora Karamisheva. He studied under Riccardo Bertazzolo and Ylonka Deckers from 1987 to 1993. After graduating he travelled to England on a Rotary Scholarship for postgraduate study at the Royal Academy of Music under Sulamita Aronowsky and Frank Wibaut, finishing in 1998. He studied privately with Dennis Lee and attended several masterclasses by artists such as Alexander Lonquich and Lev Naumov.
He has led masterclasses himself at the Bulgarian National Music School in Sofia, Hochschule fur Musik Luzern in Switzerland, and at the Radom Music School in Poland.
After a hiatus in 2009-2012, due to leukaemia, he returned to the stage with performances at the Royal Festival Hall with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Kings Place, and Cadogan Hall.
His performances have been broadcast on Bulgarian National Radio, BBC Radio, RAI 3, Bulgarian National Television, among others. His recording of Modest Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition by Gega New CD was described by the BBC Music Magazine as "enchanting", and by Suono Magazine as possessing "notable interpretative quality". He released three other recordings with that label.
In 2004 Varbanov took up winemaking, while continuing his musical career, planting a small vineyard in southern Bulgaria and producing his first wine in 2008. He also founded the Bulgarian Association of Independent Winegrowers.
Fiammetta Tarli, his wife, is also a concert pianist, often playing with him. Together they founded in 2014 ICSM (Independent Creative Sound & Music) Records, which was funded by a Kickstarter campaign.