Ventsislav Yankov ( bg, Венцислав Янков) (24 March 1926 – 8 January 2022) was a Bulgarian pianist and pedagogue. He was born in

Sofia Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and h ...

on 24 March 1926. Trained in Berlin, he settled in France in 1946; three years later he won ex-aequo with

Aldo Ciccolini Aldo Ciccolini (; 15 August 1925 – 1 February 2015) was an Italian pianist who became a naturalized French citizen in 1971. Biography Aldo Ciccolini was born in Naples. His father, who bore the title of Marquis of Macerata, worked as a typogr ...

the III Concours Marguerite Long-Jacques Thibaud's Grand Prize. An intercontinental concert career ensued. Yankov was a professor emeritus at the Conservatoire of Paris, where he held a professorship (1977–1991). As of 2005, he was still active as a concert pianist in France. He was a recognized interpreter of the music of Frédéric Chopin. Yankov died in Paris on 8 January 2022, at the age of 95.

References

1926 births 2022 deaths Bulgarian classical pianists Musicians from Sofia Long-Thibaud-Crespin Competition prize-winners Bulgarian emigrants to France 21st-century classical pianists {{classical-pianist-stub