Born in Varna, Bulgaria, Ludmil Angelov graduated at the Pancho Vladigerov State Music Academy in Sofia. His teachers were Viktoria Spassova, Ludmila Stoyanova and the phenomenal pianist and pedagogue Konstantin Stankovich, former assistant of Pancho Vladigerov in his piano classes. Ludmil Angelov won prizes and diplomas at international competitions, including the Senigallia (Italy, 1976), Fryderyk Chopin (Poland, 1985), Palm Beach International Competition (USA, 1990), Piano Masters (Monte Carlo, 1994) and World Piano Masters Tour (France, 1997).

Ludmil Angelov’s debut recital in New York was at Lincoln Center in 1990. He has also played at many other major concert halls, including the Philharmonie in Berlin, Musikverein in Vienna, Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Salles Pleyel and Gaveau in Paris, the Alte Oper in Frankfurt, the Herkulessaal in Munich, KKL in Lucerne, the Zürich Opera, the Salle Garnier in Monte Carlo, Brucknerhaus in Linz, Auditorio Nacional in Madrid, Auditori in Barcelona, Palau de la Música in Valencia, the concert halls of the Moscow and Milan conservatories, the National Philharmonic Hall in Warsaw, and KBS Hall in Seoul.

The music of Chopin has been of central importance to Angelov’s performing career. During the 1987–8 season he performed the complete solo piano works by Chopin in a cycle of twelve recitals, a unique event for which he received the prize of ‘Young Musician of the Year in Bulgaria’. He has also participated in significant Chopin festivals in Poland, Belgium, France, Italy and other countries. In 1999 he presented the complete works of Chopin in Madrid and other Spanish cities; he repeated this ten years later, in the 2009–10 season, in Spain and Bulgaria. His recording of Chopin’s rondos and variations was awarded a Grand Prix du Disque by the Fryderyk Chopin Institute in Warsaw. Since 2006 Ludmil Angelov has also performed several premieres of works by Nikolai Kapustin.

Ludmil Angelov teaches at New Bulgarian University in Sofia, where since 2013 he has been Honorary Professor. In November 2011 he was awarded the Gloria Artis medal by the Polish Ministry of Culture for his contribution to the international promotion of Polish music. Since 1992 he has lived in Spain, where he is the Founding Artistic Director of the Toledo International Music Festival. He is also the founder of the Piano Extravaganza Festival in Sofia.