ATANAS KRASTEV was born into a family of famous musicians. He graduated from the Lubomir Pipkov National School of Music and the Prof. Pancho Vladigerov Narional Academy of Music in Sofia in the class of Prof. Anatoli Krastev. He specialized under Prof. Natalia Shakhovskaya at the Escuela Superiore de Música Reina Sofia in Madrid.
He got his PhD in 2016. Since 2021 he has been an associate professor and teaches cello at the Prof. Pancho Vladigerov National Academy of Music. He has given numerous masterclasses in Bulgaria, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia and North Macedonia. He is a jury member in various competitions both in Bulgaria and abroad.
He has won 16 first and special prizes at international competitions in Austria, Spain, the Czech Republic, Serbia and Bulgaria, including the Chamber Music Prize in Madrid Reina Sofia (bestowed by Queen Sofia herself), 1st Prize and Gold Medal at the International Cello Competition Liezen (Austria), 3rd Prize at the International Competition Jeunesses musicale – Belgrade (Serbia).
Atanas has been awarded a diploma and a prize of the Ministry of Culture, a title of the Academy for Young Talents, the Golden Muse Award of the Russian Cultural Information Centre, the Crystal Lyre of the Union of Bulgarian Music and Dance Artists (2007 and 2012), the Golden Century Award of the Ministry of Culture (2018), the Golden Quill of the Ministry of Culture and Classic FM Radio (2022).
He has given concerts in Austria, France, The Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Russia, Greece, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Serbia, Brazil and at all major Bulgarian venues and festivals. Since 2002 he has performed and given concerts in Bulgaria and abroad with the cello trio Cellissimo together with Prof. Anatoli Krastev and Prof. Dr. Kalina Krasteva.
The talented cellist is a soloist of all Bulgarian and many foreign orchestras. He has numerous concert recordings, filmed by Bulgarian National Television, Nova Television, Belgrade National Television, Brazilian TV Globo, studio and documentary recordings in Bulgarian National Radio, as well as CDs with the Chamber Ensemble “Sofia Soloists” conducted by Plamen Djourov, with the Oscar Esplá de Asisa Trio, etc.
Atanas Krastev is the director of the Cellissimo Cello Festival.