Svetozar Ivanov
Professor of Piano
Email: svetozar@usf.edu, svetozar111@gmail.com
Phone: (813) 974-2311
Pianist Svetozar Ivanov has been on the Music Faculty at University of South Florida since 1999 teaching Applied Piano, Chamber Music, and Chamber Music Literature. Ivanov has made numerous appearances as recitalist and orchestra soloist worldwide. All Music Guide and Fanfare Magazine praised his recent solo CD’s; the album Naked Tango was called “superbly original, quite moving, personal and musically absorbing” while his CD Vers la flamme was celebrated for performances which were “played with aplomb, panache and complete conviction” and interpretation “filled with sensual longing, anguished yearning, anxious dread and provocative energy”. Regarding his album Echo one reviewer wrote: “Ivanov’s most distinctive gift as a pianist is his ability to draw us inward, which imparts the feeling that we’re approaching a mystery”. Dream Images was hailed for “performances of purified beauty that can leave you breathless” and his most recent album Intermissions was praised for its “combination of maturity, deeply felt expression, and dignity.”
Recent performance venues include Carnegie, Merkin, and Steinway Halls in New York City, Salle Gaveau in Paris, Splendor and Bethaniënklooster in Amsterdam, Guildhall, Royal College, and Goldsmith in London, Mozarteum in Salzburg, Razumovsky Salon in Vienna, Salon Chritophori in Berlin, RNCM in Manchester, Royal Academy of Music in Denmark, RCS in Prague, Sequoia Concerts in San Francisco, as well as numerous concert series at universities throughout the US. Recent festival appearances include “Pianomaster”, “PianoEchos”, “Terre d’Arezzo”, “Autunno Musicale”, and “Classicariano” in Italy, “Krakow Piano Festival” in Poland, "Música de Besalú" in Spain, “Pianotune” in Belgium, “Seiler” in Greece, “Walled City” in Northern Ireland, “Salon des Arts” and “Sofia Music Weeks” in Bulgaria, “Peter the Great” in the Netherlands, “Chautauqua” in New York, “Killington” in Vermont, and “Fox River” in Wisconsin.
Ivanov is especially recognized for his creative work designing unusual concert formats combining music with other art forms (documentary footage, art films, animation, poetry, short stories, live dance improvisation, paintings, lighting design, live streaming). His DVD Perpetual Tango explores the synthesis between music, movement, multimedia, and was released by Naxos in 2018. His latest video projects include Music of Shadows and the Poetry Series - a poetry inspired collection of ten short films.
In addition to his position at USF, Ivanov serves as Artist Faculty at Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival in Vermont, Brancaleoni Music Festival in Italy, and is the Artistic Director of the Steinway Piano Series in Florida as well as the newly established Brancaleoni International Online Piano Competition. He is a Steinway Artist and holds degrees from the Bulgarian National Conservatory and University of Michigan (Doctor of Musical Arts).
For more information please visit his website.