Emanuil Ivanov on Debussy's music and the challenges facing pianists in the 21st century

On November 18, he will meet the audience within the framework of the "Culturama at the Museum - 2025" festival

published on 11/17/25 2:46 PM

Photo: sofiaphilharmonic.com

"Every prelude by Debussy is a perfect musical world" - this is how young Bulgrian pianist Emanuil Ivanov answers the question about his favorite part of the musical program that he prepares for the audience in Sofia. He has been working on Claude Debussy's preludes since he was a child, and now he is presenting them for the first time in a concert - on November 18, part of the autumn edition of the "Culturama at the Museum - 2025" festival.

Emanuil Ivanov studied piano first in his hometown of Pazardzhik, then - with the famous Bulgarian pianist and pedagogue Prof. Atanas Kurtev. He graduated from the Royal Conservatory in Birmingham with a full scholarship. He has given concerts in France, Japan, Italy, Germany, Austria, Cyprus, South Africa, Great Britain, Poland. He is a winner of awards from the international competitions "Alessandro Casagrande", "Scriabin – Rachmaninoff", "Liszt – Bartok", "Young Virtuosi", "Dinu Lipati", the distinctions "Musicians’ Company Silver Medal" and "Carnwath Piano Scholarship" (Great Britain), as well as the national awards of Bulgaria "Crystal Lyre" and "Young Musician of the Year".

Perhaps Emanuil's greatest success is the first place at the prestigious Busoni International Piano Competition (Italy) in 2019, when he was 20 years old. Despite his active world career, he relatively often gives concerts in his homeland. At the end of September, he performed 24 preludes and fugues for piano by Dmitri Shostakovich, which is undoubtedly a serious creative task. The next challenge he sets himself is the integral performance of all the pieces from the famous piano cycle of Debussy – the first impressionist in musical art.

Specially for Radio Bulgaria, Emanuel Ivanov shares:

"I started learning them around the age of 12. I have always had a special affinity for Debussy. I feel very comfortable in his music. I don't know what it is due to - whether it is the way he writes for the piano, or his harmonic language. Maybe it is a combination of many factors. But these pieces have been with me for a long time. I have played a lot of them in different projects, but never the entire cycle, so for me this is a personal premiere. Each piece brings its own world, atmosphere and character. I am not sure if I have a favorite prelude, because all 24 are absolutely priceless masterpieces. Each one of them contains a complete, ideal musical world. If I had to choose, it would probably be "The Hills of Anacapri" from the first volume, which is extremely beautiful, with such a bright and impressive freshness in itself. Every time I play Debussy I discover something new. It is simply his innovation in the harmonies, in the "texture" of the music, cannot fail to surprise. There is always something that makes you say to yourself: "This was written at the very beginning of the 20th century, and it still sounds modern today!"

Music allows us to travel through different styles and eras, which is why it is interesting how pianist Emanuil Ivanov "breathes" with the music of different composers:

"We become stylistic chameleons, in general. We have to change our clothes as actors for each style, for each composer, and it is very interesting from the point of view of the fact that you open the door to the inner world of each of these people. This is among the most valuable things, especially for us pianists, because we have a huge repertoire and a huge wealth of authors. In my opinion, this is one of the most interesting aspects of the profession."

Is the path of a musician in the 21st century more difficult than in other eras, are modern technologies replacing the live contact between the performer and the audience?

"This is one of the difficulties we face. Another difficulty is that competition in the music world is becoming more and more fierce and merciless. Especially among pianists - there are so many of us who are fighting for the attention of the audience. As for modern technologies, especially with the advent of studio recordings, which are becoming more and more ideal, the correct attitude towards music, in my opinion, is somehow shifting. The more perfect musical recordings become, the more we strive for complete perfection, which is impossible and not necessary, because it takes away the sense of risk that should be present in a performance. On the other hand, modern technologies - for example, social networks - present very good opportunities to reach more people. This is the big benefit."

Photos: sofiaphilharmonic.com, private archive (Teodor Sokolov), concorsobusoni.it

Author: Teodor Sokolov, student at Music Journalist course at Lyubomir Pipkov National School of Music in Sofia

Edited by Elena Karkalanova
English publication: R. Petkova

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Emanuil Ivanov on Debussy's music and the challenges facing pianists in the 21st century

On November 18, he will meet the audience within the framework of the "Culturama at the Museum - 2025" festival

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