Asen Bio - Doykin Music

New York based pianist and composer Asen Doykin is venturing into new musical territories with his
original compositions and improvisational approach, fusing jazz and contemporary music with uniquely
Balkan flavor.
In demand, and well-known in the New York music community, Asen has played at many of the city's best
known performance houses and jazz clubs --- among them: The Steinway Hall, Joe's Pub, Small’s,
Cleopatra's Needle, Cornelia Street Cafe, Bar 55, Garage, Swing 46, The Kitano, Mo Pitkin’s, The Blue
Water Grill. He has also played at the world-famous Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, recorded for
and performed at the Juilliard School for the Arts, Manhattan School of Music as well as the Museum of the
American Piano.
Born in Pazardjik, Bulgaria in 1975, to the family of a classical musician, Asen Doykin started playing piano
at the age of five. While studying classical music at the Music School “Dobrin Petkov” in Plovdiv, Bulgaria,
Asen attempted jazz composition and improvisation and formed his own jazz trio with which He started to
perform at jazz clubs and festivals in Bulgaria, Greece, Romania and Germany.
Mr. Doykin also started to work with many Bulgarian jazz musicians with whom he recorded original
compositions and arrangements for different projects and for the Bulgarian National Radio and TV.
On the 13th edition of the Plovdiv Youth Jazz Festival, Asen was awarded Best Young Jazz Performer. In
1993 Asen also received First Prize for composition at the prestigious international competition “Svetoslav
Obretenov”.
After graduating from the Music School of Plovdiv in 1995, Asen received a scholarship to attend the world
famous Berklee College of Music in Boston. While at Berklee, he won the coveted Jazz Performance of the
Year award, and the Jesse Stone Scholarship. He continued to further develop his personal musical style
and to diversify his repertoire with Bulgarian Folk, Jazz and 20th Century Classical music. During this time,
he studied with jazz legends such as George Garzone, Hal Crook, Joanne Brackeen, Billy Pierce, and
Jamey Haddad among others.
In 1999 after graduating from Berklee College, Asen moved to New York City. Here He started active
performance career with various bands and musicians from the jazz and the world music scene. As much
in-demand as a piano instructor as a performer, Asen serves as a faculty member at the Piano School of
New York City and the Verona Music Studio. He devotes a great deal of his time to private instruction and
is widely known as an extremely talented teacher.
Since residing in New York, Asen Doykin has toured the United States and Europe with his own trio and as
a sideman with different jazz formations. Asen has performed at the Jacksonville Jazz Festival (Florida),
Miller Outdoor Theater (Houston), Main Squeeze Festival (New York), Red Bank Jazz Festival (New
Jersey), Stone Quarry Hill Art Park (Cazenovia), East Coast Jazz Festival (Maryland), Wally’s Jazz Club
(Boston), Ryles Jazz Club (Boston), Blue Moon Jazz Club (St. Croix, Virgin Islands), Engelberg Jazz
Evenings (Switzerland), The Bird’s Eye Jazz Club (Basel, Switzerland), Marians Jazz Room (Bern,
Switzerland), Sounds Jazz Club (Brussels, Belgium), Varna Jazz Festival (Bulgaria), Bansko Jazz Festival
(Bulgaria), Apollonia Arts Festival (Bulgaria), Costinesti Jazz Festival (Romania).