Biography
Yuli Lavrenov, from Belgium, was born in Plovdiv, in Bulgaria, on July 27 1959. He started learning the piano at the age of six with Rositza Ivancheva.
In 1970 he won the second prize of the Second National Contest “Svetoslav Obretinov in Provadia. At that period, he played with the greatest orchestras of Bulgaria and gave concerts and recitals for the Bulgarian radio and television. He was recognised by all as a wonder child.
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In 1975 he went to study in Sofia with Milena Curteva. Two years later he won the third prize of the “Senegalia International Competition” where he met Madame Denise Tolkowsky-de Vries (head of the “Alex de Vries Funds”).
In 1978 he won the third prize of the “Smetana Competition” in Prague, where he studied with Professor R. Rauch.
In 1981 he arrived in Belgium, to study further at the Royal Conservatory of Music of Antwerp, under the supervision of Professor Fr. Gevers.
There he received, among others, the Special Diploma with First Prize in 1982, and the Higher Diploma for piano in 1983. He topped that with an impressive serios of distinctions and prizes. He kept on studying with Professor Eliane Richepin in Annecy. He also gave concerts and recitals in Bulgaria, Italy, Cehia, France, Belgium, Sweden and Germany
In December 1986 he received the first prize of the Musical Contest “Young Virtuosos” at the Lions Club Antwerpen-Linkeroever.
In 1987 he won the “Alex de Vries Prize” for outstanding public performances. During the annual audition by the Great Master Gyorgy Cziffra, created for young musicians, Cziffra stated that Yuli Lavrenov was a true revelation and that he was by far the best pianist of the 1987 session.
From 1993 to 1995, Yuli Lavrenov was the house pianist for the programme “Funiculi Funicula” on the Flemish Radio 2.
From 1995 on he collaborated to “pianomania” (8 pianists - 4 pianos) under the direction of Roland De Munck.
July 1996: three days of recording at the “Abbey Road Studios” in London, to record the pieces you will be hearing.
http://lavrenov.be/index.html
Biography text from Last.fm, available under CC BY-SA.