Tsanko Tsankov was born in Oryahovo, in the family of Petar Tsankov. He has two brothers – Lyuben and Asen, and one sister – Katya. His brother Asen Tsankov was a sportsman and musician, the father of the musician from “Crickets” Petar Tsankov. Tsanko and Asen’s uncle is the politician and Prime Minister of Bulgaria (1923–1926) Alexander Tsankov, their father’s brother.

Tsanko Tsankov graduated in conducting in Vienna and in composition in Germany.
In the 1920s and 1930s, during the Varna Music Festivals, Tsankov conducted concerts and operas at the Summer Municipal Theater of Varna: Dimitar Hadjigeorgiev’s Fox Overture and Joseph Haydn’s Symphony No. 92 in G Major “Oxford” in 1926 .; the folk opera “Color” by Maestro Georgi Atanasov in 1930.
In March 1937, together with Veselin Stoyanov, Petko Stainov, Dimitar Nenov, Pancho Vladigerov and Lyubomir Pipkov, they gave a symphony concert in Belgrade, organized by the Society of Bulgarian Composers “Contemporary Music”, whose institutional extension is the Union of Bulgarian Composers.

Tsanko Tsankov was the conductor of the opening of the “Bulgaria” concert hall in October of the same year in Sofia. Under his baton, the Third Concerto for Piano and Orchestra by Pancho Vladigerov, the solemn finale of the Concert Overture “Balkan” by Petko Stainov and the Oratorio “Messiah” by Handel, as well as the Concerto in C minor for two pianos by Bach, were performed for the first time.

He was rector of the Academy of Music from February 18, 1940 to May 15, 1943. He taught orchestral and choral conducting and among the students of Prof. Tsanko Tsankov were the choir conductor and music teacher Asen Diamandiev, the violinist Vladi Simeonov, the conductor Lyubomir Romanski and the violinist, conductor and composer Vasil Lolov.

In 1942, Tsankov became the chief conductor of the Vienna Opera. He married the soprano Karin Mayer and there is information about their joint concert activity in Austria.

The following data from Tsankov’s life are from Ontario, Canada, where he and his wife Karin are on the electoral rolls from 1958 and 1963. There is data that around 1924 their daughter Dolya, a concert pianist, was born in Sofia, who died in 1999.