Atanas Tzvetkov was born in Sofia, Bulgaria in 1972, a natural musician and performer. He settled on the guitar at age eleven, studying under a young and ambitious teacher who pushed Atanas to take his evident talent seriously. Atanas earned a place at Dobrin Petkov, an exclusive music high school. Upon completion of this intensive five-year program, Atanas was accepted to the Academy of Music in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, where he obtained his master's degree in music pedagogy (1995). During this period, Atanas performed throughout the country in festivals, concerts, and solo recitals, absorbing the varied musical traditions of Bulgaria —a nexus for Eastern and Western influences and home to a distinguished classical music culture as well as a distinctive folk music.

In 1995 Atanas left Bulgaria for the United States to study with the renowned classical guitarist, Maestro Ernesto Bitetti, at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, where he earned a performer's diploma (1996) and a master's degree (1999), and is currently a doctoral candidate in guitar performance. In 1999, Atanas won first prize in the Second Annual Competition in the Performance of Music from Spain and Latin America, sponsored by the Spanish Cultural Center and by the Indiana University Latin American Center. The competition was followed by recordings and by a series of concerts throughout the United States, in New York, Dallas, Chicago and other cities.

Atanas has devoted much of his time to communicating his musical insight to the younger generation. In addition to his college teaching, master classes, and private lessons, Atanas has greatly expanded the Pre-College Guitar Program at Indiana University. He is also the co-founder of the annual summer Spanish Guitar Academy, which has become a cornerstone of the Guitar Department at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music.

www.atanasguitar.com