Ivan Handzhiev is a native of the village of Lesovo in the Yambol region of Thrace, Bulgaria. He studied singing as a small child with his mother and other village singers. He attended the Philip Koutev Secondary School in Kotel, then went on to the Plovdiv Conservatory. Ivan is a master of the ornamentation and improvisational technique unique to the Thracian style and has been on the faculty of the Philip Koutev Secondary Music School for many years.