He started piano lessons at age of five. He studied special School of Music from 1973 to 1978, National Academy of Music from 1980 to 1984. The name of Antoni Donchev has been connected with all the major prestigious Bulgarian jazz awards over the last 20 years. His star appeared on the musical horizon when he founded the prominent Acoustic Version jazz formation, whose very first performance on an European music stage was awarded the Grand Prix at the Jazz Contest in Belgium in 1985. A year later Acoustic Version was given another award - this time even more prestigious - the jury headed by world known critics Joachim-Ernst Berendt and Pavel Brodovski gave the Grand Prix of the International Jazz Federation to Antoni Donchev and Christo Yotsov, giving them the Europe"s Young Jazz Artist of 1986 title.