Lachezar Kostov
cello
Hailed by European and American critics for “the awesome purity of his playing” and described as “prodigiously skilled protagonist,” Lachezar Kostov is Associate Principal Cello of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. He made his official debut at Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall in 2009, performing rarely heard works for cello and piano by Ellen Zwilich, Nikolay Roslavets, and Dimitri Kabalevsky.
Mr. Kostov was the National Winner at the 2006 MTNA Young Artists Competition and has won the Cello Award at the Kingsville Competition, 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. With pianist Viktor Valkov, he won the First Prize and all the special prizes at the Third International Liszt-Garrison Piano and Duo Competition. His major teachers include Bogomil Karakonov, Aldo Parisot, Norman Fischer, and David Grigorian.
Prior to his appointment with the Baltimore Symphony Mr. Kostov was a tenured member of the San Antonio Symphony, and also performed with the Houston Symphony. He has appeared as a soloist in some of the world’s leading concert venues, including Carnegie Hall, The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Gewandhaus, and Oji Hall. He has appeared as a guest soloist and chamber musician throughout the United States, Japan, Italy, Germany, the United Kingdom and Bulgaria, and has performed in La Jolla Summer Fest and Cactus Pear Music Festival, and is a guest on faculty at the Texas Music Festival. For more information, see www.bsomusic.org.
Mr. Kostov plays on a modern cello made by his friend, luthier Sam Matthews in Houston.
Sponsors: Galen and Birch Burghardt, in honor of Joyce Burghardt