Plamena Mangova
Plamena Mangova became a winner of the Queen Elisabeth Competition 2007 and brilliantly embarked on an international career – from Europe to Tokyo, South Korea, Berlin Philharmonic Hall, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Leipziger Gewandhaus and Saint-Petersburg Philharmony notably. She was granted a prestigious award of the French critics Diapason d’Or of the Year 2007 for her first solo recording of Shostakovitch’s piano music (Fuga Libera label).
After training with Marina Kapatsinskaya at the Pancho Vladigerov Sofia State Music Academy in Bulgaria, Plamena Mangova studied in Madrid at the Queen Sofia Higher Music School with Maestro Dmitri Bashkirov. She also worked with Abdel-Rahman El Bacha at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel in Belgium. At masterclasses, Plamena received the precious advice of renowned musicians like Leon Fleisher, Rosalyn Tureck, Krystian Zimerman, Ralf Gothoni, Andras Schiff, Natalia Gutman or Teresa Berganza. She is laureate of the Juventus Festival in France and of important international piano and chamber music competitions (“Paloma O’Shea” in Santander and “Vittorio Gui” in Florence).
Plamena Mangova performed with main orchestras – including UBS Verbier Festival Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic Manchester, Tokyo Philharmonic, English Chamber Orchestra, Sinfonia Varsovia, Luxemburg Philharmonic, National Orchestra of Belgium, St-Petersburg Symphony Orchestra, European Union Chamber Orchestra, MDR-Orchester Leipzig, the Spanish RTVE Symphony Orchestra, Holland Radio Chamber Philharmonic, among others – notably under Emmanuel Krivine, Walter Weller, Tadaaki Otaka, Jaap van Zweden, Dmitri Jurowski, Karl Heinz Steffens, Gilbert Varga, Jean-Bernard Pommier, François-Xavier Roth or Rossen Milanov. A keen chamber music player, she had performed with some of the greatest artists – Maria João Pirеs, Boris Berezovsky, Augustin Dumay, Mihaela Martin, Jian Wang, Pascal Moragues, Alexei Ogrintchouk, Alexander Knyazev, Frans Helmerson, Nobuko Imai, Larry Dutton (viola player of Emerson Quartet), Ysaÿe String Quartet. Her musicality was acclaimed on international venues, such as Berlin Philharmonic Hall, Tokyo Suntory Hall, Kennedy Center in Washington, Concertgebouw (Amsterdam) at the project “Carte Blanche for Maxim Vengerov”, Gewandhaus (Leipzig), the Grand hall of the St-Petersburg Philharmony, Luxemburg Philharmony, Bozar Centre for fine Arts (Brussels), Komische Oper (Berlin), Théâtre du Châtelet (Paris), Milano’s Sala Verdi and at major festivals – i.e. at Verbier Festival & Academy, La Folle Journée Nantes and Tokyo, International Piano Festival La Roque d’Anthéron, in South Korea (Great Mountains International Music Festival), Santander, Gstaad’s Sommets Musicaux, Montpellier, Menton, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival, at Bach Akademie Stuttgart, etc.
After a recording of Prokofiev’s complete works for violin and piano with russian violinist Tatiana Samouil (for the label Cypres), Plamena Mangova recorded for Fuga Libera a Shostakovitch’s musical diptych. The first CD, a solo-piano recital, was awarded a „Diapason d’Or de l’Année 2007”. The second one (with Schostakovich’s chamber music) presents the Russian soprano Tatiana Melnychenko, violinist Natalia Prischepenko (the Artemis Quartet leader) and Sebastian Klinger (solo cello of the Bavarian Radio Orchestra), which was awarded the Superfonic Prize of the Luxembourg magazine Pizzicato. Her Beethoven recital (sponsored by the Belgian Bank Fortis), was highly praised with the Choice of France Musique and Diapason), as well as her recording of the exceptional Strauss’ Burleske with the Belgium National Orchestra and Walter Weller, released later at the end of 2008.
Her most recent impressive CD of Brahms Piano Concerto No. 1 in D minor, again in a successful partnership with the Belgian National Orchestra and maestro Weller, was highly praised by Bryce Morisson in one of the worldwide leading classical music magazines – the English “Gramophone”.
Plamena Mangova participated in two editions of a prestigious project called “Hand in Hand” in Brussels, highly supported by the great Martha Argerich, and in November 2009 was invited to participate at a celebration concert in Paris, for which Plamena played in honour of the new Unesco General Secretary, Mrs Irina Bokova. Plamena was invited to give masterclasses in several occasions in Spain, South Africa, Japan, Belgium and Bulgaria. In March 2011 Plamena Mangova was selected as “Artist of the month” of the music magazine Interlude in Hong Kong.
Future engagements will take Plamena again to some major music venues – London’s Queen Elisabeth Hall with the English Chamber Orchestra and Sir Colin Davis, in Moscow with the Tchaikovsky Radio Symphony Orchestra and Jean-Claude Casadesus, in Seoul’s Arts Center with Alexander Kniazev, Montpellier Radio France’s Festival appearance with RAI Torino Orchestra and Juraj Valcuha, a performance of Prokofiev Second Piano Concerto with Trondheim Symphony under Alexander Vedernikov and an important debut with Rotterdam Philharmonic under the batton of Sir Andrew Davis.
