Artists

Lora Tchekoratova

piano

Born in Sofia, Lora Tchekoratova began playing the piano at the age of four, and soon became a student of the legendary pedagogue Lydia Kuteva. She gave her first solo recital at the age of nine at the Lyubomir Pipkov National Music School, where she received her basic music education. In Bulgaria, she also studied with Vessela Marinova and Prof. Jenny Zaharieva.

In 1992, on the advice of Prof. Zaharieva, Lora continued her education at The Juilliard School in New York. She received her Bachelor, Master and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees as a student of Seymour Lipkin, becoming the first Bulgarian to receive a doctorate from Juilliard. Her dissertation is dedicated to the piano works of Dimitar Nenov. While a student, she won a number of scholarships and awards, including First Prize at the Washington International Piano Competition. Her solo debut at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC has been followed by recitals, chamber concerts and festival appearances on some of the most prestigious stages in the United States and Europe.

Lora Tchekoratova is a renowned performer of virtuoso piano music from the 19th and 20th centuries. Her extensive repertoire includes numerous chamber music works as well as compositions by the great composers of Eastern Europe. Lora has recorded numerous times for the radio and television in the United States, Finland, Sweden, and Bulgaria. In 2005, together with other notable Bulgarian musicians and the American Foundation for Bulgaria, she co-created the Bulgarian Concert Evenings in New York series at the Consulate General of Bulgaria in New York, whose organization she has led for twenty seasons. Lora teaches at Mannes Prep at the New School in New York and is the Artistic Director of the Salon de Virtuosi. She is the Chair of the Off the Beaten Path Foundation since 2018.

Georgy Valtchev

violin

As a soloist with orchestras, in recitals and as a chamber musician, Georgy Valtchev has performed on some of the world’s most prestigious stages. In the United States, he has appeared at the Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall, Carnegie Hall, and the 92nd Street Y in New York, the Kennedy Center in Washington DC, and the Chicago Cultural Center. In Europe, he has performed at Wigmore Hall and the Barbican Centre in London, the Royal Theatre Carré in Amsterdam, and the Bulgaria Hall in Sofia. He has toured Asia, Australia and Israel, with performances at the Suntory Hall in Tokyo, the Beijing Cultural Arts Center, the Guangzhou Opera House, the Sydney Opera House, the Taipei Cultural Center, and the Tel Aviv Opera House, among others.

A dedicated chamber musician, Mr. Valtchev enjoys frequent performances with distinguished international artists and ensembles in the United States and Europe, and has appeared in numerous festivals on both continents. He has been honored to lead, as guest concertmaster, several major symphony orchestras, most notably the London Philharmonic and the Orchestra of the Royal Opera of Madrid.

He is a founder and artistic director of the Off the Beaten Path Chamber Music Festival in Kovachevitsa, and a founding member of the Bulgarian Concert Evenings in New York chamber music series.

Born in Plovdiv, Georgy began his violin studies at the age of six with Boyanka Shopova. In Bulgaria, he also studied with Micho Dimitrov, Vladimir Vladigerov and Dora Ivanova. He received his basic music education at the state music schools in Plovdiv and Sofia. At sixteen, he won the Grand Prize of the Jaroslav Kocián International Competition for Young Violinists in then Czechoslovakia. After a short study at the Prof. Pancho Vladigerov National Music Academy in Sofia, Georgy was accepted as a student of Professor Dorothy DeLay and Masao Kawasaki at The Juilliard School in New York, where he completed his Bachelor and Master of Music degrees. He has been honored with a number of awards, including the First Prize of the Ducrest International Competition (USA), and the Special Prize of the Tibor Varga International Violin Competition (Switzerland).

Nikola Takov

violin

Nikola Takov was born in Sofia, where he started playing the violin at the age of five, as a student of Boyanka Shopova. After graduating from the Lyubomir Pipkov National Music School, he continued his education at the Professor Pancho Vladigerov National Music Academy in his native city, in the class of Professor Dora Ivanova. The same year, he was admitted with a full scholarship to Louisiana State University, in the class of Professor Kevork Mardirosyan, where he received a Bachelor's Degree in Performing Arts in Violin. He continued his education at the Boston University College of Fine Arts, in the class of Professor Yuri Mazurkevich, receiving a Master's degree and an Artist Diploma.

During his studies, Nikola participated in master classes with world-renowned musicians such as Ifra Niemann, David Seron, Joseph Silverstein, Camilla Weeks, Sergio Luca, Charles Casselman and Elmar Oliveira, gaining invaluable experience. He won a number of competitions and awards in Bulgaria and the United States, performing actively as a soloist and chamber musician.

Nikola Takov was a founding member of the Kalistos Chamber Orchestra (Boston, 2003), concertmaster of the Claflin Hill Symphony Orchestra, Massachusetts (2004-2009), and a member and acting assistant concertmaster of the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra (2001-2003), the Portland Symphony Orchestra (2001-2009), and the Rhode Island Philharmonic (2001-2009). Since 2010, he is a member of the prestigious Orquesta Sinfónica de Navarra Pablo Sarasate in Spain. He is a founding member and first violinist of the Fluencias String Quartet and La Cuerda de Oro chamber ensemble, actively concertizing in Spain and across Europe.

Mariana Karpatova

mezzo-soprano

Born in Gotse Delchev, Mariana Karpatova graduated from the Lyubomir Pipkov Music School in Sofia. She continued her training as a student of Professor Mati Pincas and Mila Dyulgerova at the Professor Pancho Vladigerov National Music Academy in the Bulgarian capital and later The Juilliard School Opera Center in New York.

While still a student at Juilliard, Mariana appeared on the Live from Lincoln Center broadcast of Maurice Sendak’s new production of Hänsel und Gretel in the dual role of the Mother and the Witch and made an impressive debut as Rosa Mamai in L’arlesiana at the Sarasota Opera in the United States. She made her Lincoln Center recital debut at Alice Tully Hall as the recipient of the Alice Tully Vocal Arts Debut Award.

Highlights of her opera appearances include Cuniza in Oberto at the Sarasota Opera, Mistress Quickly in Falstaff at the Michigan Opera, Magd in Elektra at the Metropolitan Opera, Alisa in Lucia di Lammermoor, and Berta in The Barber of Seville at the New Jersey State Opera, Larina in Eugene Onegin at the Baltimore Opera, The Maid in Jenůfa and Cieska in Gianni Schicchi at The Spoleto Festival USA, Zita in Gianni Schicchi and The Princess in Suor Angelica at Opera Tampa, Brucha in The Woman at Otowi Crossing at the Opera Theater of St. Louis, Olga in Eugene Onegin at the Palm Beach Opera, Azucena in Il Trovatore at the Bulgarian National Opera, among others.

On the concert stage, Ms. Karpatova has appeared at the Lincoln Center in New York, the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., and The Spoleto Festival USA in Charleston, as well as with the National Symphony Orchestra of Mexico and other philharmonic orchestras.

In 2018, Mariana Karpatova co-founded the Off the Beaten Path Chamber Music Festival in Kovachevitsa, not far from her native Gotse Delchev. In addition to her artistic and organizational contribution, she has also initiated a number of music events for the public at large and vocal training opportunities for young people from the region. She has also taken part in the campaign to restore the historic building of the cultural center in Kovachevitsa and other charitable causes.

Ms. Karpatova is on the board of Opera at Florham in New Jersey and the narrator for their opera concerts. In the last few years, she has appeared in the Opera at Florham Holiday Concert, the Bulgarian Concert Evenings in New York Gala Concert at Carnegie’s Weill Hall, and the concert series itself. She recently debuted as Florence Pike in Albert Herring at the Princeton Festival and made an appearance with the Columbus Symphony Orchestra.

Mariana Karpatova teaches at Fairleigh Dickinson University, Florham Campus, and in her own Mariana Voice Studio in Madison, NJ.

Stefan Arzberger

violin

Stefan Arzberger received his first violin lessons at the age of four at the Robert Schumann Conservatory in Zwickau. In 1989, he began his studies in Leipzig with Prof. Klaus Hertel.

In 1992, Arzberger was engaged by the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, where he is now Concertmaster. He worked in the Bayreuth Festival Orchestra and as guest concertmaster of major European orchestras. He has been a member of the Lucerne Festival Orchestra since 2003. He joined the Leipzig String Quartet in 2007.

Arzberger has won numerous prizes and awards at national and international competitions and was the recipient of the first Gewandhaus Scholarship. He has taught and continues to teach at conservatories in Leipzig, Nuremberg, Tokyo, Mannheim and most recently as Professor of Violin and Early Music Education in Regensburg.

Monica Ohuchi

piano

Monica Ohuchi's "commanding pianism" (The New York Times) allows her an active career as a piano soloist, chamber musician, and pedagogue. She is the pianist and Executive Director of the NGO Fear No Music, and a founding member of the piano quartet Thunder Egg Consort. In Portland, where she lives, she performs with 45th Parallel at the Chintimini Chamber Music Festival, and is a frequent guest on the city's All-Classical radio station.

Her past engagements have included solo performances with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra, the Marin Symphony Orchestra, the Newport Symphony Orchestra in the United States, and the New Millennium Symphony Orchestra of Spain. Her solo album "Monica's Notebook", released by Helicon Records, is a series of piano etudes written for her by her husband – the composer Kenji Bunch.

Monica completed her higher music education at the Juilliard School in New York. After nearly two decades in New York, she and her husband relocated to Portland with their two young children and Pitbull-mix rescue. She has taught piano at Reed College since 2014.

Karin Dornbusch

clarinet

Karin Dornbusch has resided in Basel, Switzerland, since 1995, but grew up in a family of musicians in Stockholm. She has a strong connection to both Gothenburg and the Swedish West Coast. Her father was born and raised in Gothenburg, and after diligent genealogical research, she has discovered that her paternal grandmother’s family has lived on the islands of Orust and Tjörn for several centuries.

After studying at the Hochschule der Künste Berlin and the Musikakademie der Stadt Basel, she became an internationally sought-after clarinet soloist and chamber musician. In 1996, she won the Swedish Soloist Prize and the First Prize from the Basler Orchester Gesellschaft. In 1997, she was selected by concert halls in Vienna, Birmingham, Stockholm, and Athens as a soloist in the Rising Stars concert series. She has performed as a soloist at the Nobel Prize ceremony in Stockholm.

Karin Dornbusch has recorded three CDs on Caprice Records and one CD on Genuin Classics Leipzig. Her album “Nordic Clarinet Concertos” was nominated for a Swedish Grammy. As a soloist, she has performed with major symphony orchestras in Stockholm, Malmö, Gävle, Norrköping, Basel, and Zagreb under conductors such as Armin Jordan, Peter Csaba, and Daniel Harding. She is a permanent member of the ensembles Camerata Variabile Basel and Fiacorda.

Rumen Cvetkov

viola

Since his solo debut at the age of eight, Rumen Cvetkov has performed in nearly forty countries on four continents, earning critics’ acclaim. A soloist, recitalist and chamber musician, he has appeared in some of the most prestigious music venues worldwide, such as the Berliner Filharmoniker Hall, Carnegie Hall (New York), Wigmore Hall (London), Walt Disney Hall (Los Angeles), the Pallacio de Bellas Artes (Mexico City), the Mozarteum (Salzburg), the Chicago Symphony Center, and the Bulgaria Hall (Sofia), among others.

His festival appearances include the Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival (Finland), Ravinia and iPalpiti (USA), the Red Sea Festival (Israel), the Athens Festival (Greece), the St. Moritz Festival (Switzerland), the Mimir Chamber Music Festival (USA), the Henry J. Bruman Chamber Music Festival (USA), Ascoli Piceno (Italy), as well as the Music in the Old Town and European Cultural Month festivals in his native Plovdiv.

As chamber musician, Rumen Cvetkov has collaborated with world renowned musicians such as Ida Haendel, Bernard Greenhouse, Mikhail Muntian, Sir Harold Martina, Jose Feghali, Christian Tetzlaff, Vladimir Mendelssohn, Michael Flaksman, Jose Gallardo, and members of the Borromeo, Kronos, Aviv, Jerusalem and Verdi quartets. In 2017, Cvetkov founded and became the Artistic Director of the MurciArt Music Festival in Spain, with Placido Domingo as Honorary President. He is also a founding member of the Mediterranean Soloists orchestra of Andalusia.

After serving as Principal Violist at the Royal Opera House in Valencia, he has regularly performed as a guest solo violist with the Tonhalle-Orchester Zurich, the Brandemburg Symphony Orchestra, the Mannheim Philharmonic, the Bach Collegium, the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra, the Basque National Orchestra, under the direction of Bernard Haitink, Zubin Mehta, Riccardo Chailly, Myun Wun Chung, Kent Nagano, Paavo Jarvi, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Semyon Bychkov, Enrique Batiz, Rossen Milanov, Alan Gilbert, Robert Trevino, among others.

A passionate teacher, Rumen Cvetkov is Visiting Professor of viola at the Academy of Music and Performing Arts Tilburg (Netherlands) and the New Bulgarian University in Sofia. He has taught at the Musical Arts Conservatory in Madrid since 2020, and regularly leads masterclasses across the world. His debut solo album Brahms Alliance, with pianist Ludmil Angelov, was released in 2019 by GEGA New. A second solo album, with an all-Russian program, was published in 2022.

Rumen Cvetkov performs on rare instruments, including a viola made by Simon Schödler in 1785, named “Time”, an Italian viola by Giusseppe Ghiacchetti di Roma, and, most recently, a viola made by the "Russian Stradivari", Timofey Podgorny, named “The Poet”.

Alexander Somov

cello

Born in Sofia, Alexander Somov graduated from the Lyubomir Pipkov National Music School as a student of Stefan Rounevsky. He made his debut as a concert artist in Bulgaria and Germany, and premiered Angel Escudero’s Concierto de Espana on tour to Spain, at the age of fifteen. He continued his studies at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, where in 1998 he won the Gold Medal, the UK's most prestigious music college prize, previously awarded to Jacqueline du Pré, Tasmin Little, William Primrose and Bryn Terfel.

Alexander Somov has performed concertos spanning from the baroque to the contemporary repertoire with the Philharmonia Orchestra (London), the Royal Northern Sinfonia (Newcastle upon Tyne), the Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg, the Bulgarian National Radio Symphony, and the Sofia, Plovdiv, Varna and Rousse Philharmonic orchestras, under the direction of Thomas Zehetmair, Paul Mccreesh, Thierry Fischer, David Parry, Marc Albrecht, Lionel Bringuier, Sir James MacMillan, Emil Tabakov and Georgi Dimitrov, among others.

As a chamber musician, Alexander Somov has appeared at concert halls across Europe, as well as in Israel, Japan and Mexico, with partners including Thomas Zehetmair, Simon Trpceski, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Yuri Bashmet, Tasmin Little, Bartek Nizioł, Mari Kobayashi, and Michel Benhaïem.

Alexander currently holds the position of Violoncelle Super-Soliste at the Strasbourg Philharmonic Orchestra. As guest principal cellist, he has appeared with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the London Symphony Orchestra, the English Chamber Orchestra, the Philharmonia Orchestra, and the SWR Stuttgart Orchestra.

He has taught at the Strasbourg Conservatoire (2006-2013) and given masterclasses in Bulgaria, France, Sweden, Italy and Japan.

Alexander Somov has recorded solo and chamber music for Naxos Marco Polo, LSO Live, Landor Records and Gega New, while archival material with his performances is owned by the BBC Radio, the Bulgarian National Radio, Polskie Radio, and Radio Valencia.

Teodora Atanasova

cello

Teodora Atanasova (b. 1993, Plovdiv) began playing the cello at the age of nine in the class of Yulia Markovska at the Dobrin Petkov National School of Music and Dance in Plovdiv. She graduated from the Professor Pancho Vladigerov National Academy of Music in Sofia in 2017 in the cello class of Professor Anatoli Krastev and the chamber music class of Professor Angel Stankov. She currently teaches cello at the Lyubomir Pipkov National Music School and the National Music Academy in Sofia.

Teodora Atanasova is the recipient of numerous prizes from national and international competitions, and has taken part in masterclasses of renowned cellists such as Claudio Bohórquez, Romain Garioud, Denis Severin, Thomas Grossenbacher, Georg Baich, Conradin Brotbek, Răzvan Suma, Anton Niculescu, Vladimir Perlin, Mats Lidström and Álvaro Huertas.
As a soloist, she has appeared with the Orchestra of the Orkestrani Association (Ponte di Piave, Italy), the Academic Symphony Orchestra of the Professor Pancho Vladigerov National Academy of Music (Sofia), the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra (Pernik), the Vidin Sinfonietta, the Sofia Philharmonic, as well as with the symphony orchestras of Shumen, Pazardzhik, Ruse and Plovdiv. Teodora is a multiple-time participant in the International Summer Academy of the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna, where she has worked under the guidance of renowned chamber musicians and teachers such as Hatto Beyerle, Josef Klusoň, Avedis Kouyoumdjian, Johannes Meissl, Anita Mitterer, Péter Nagy, Petr Prause, Jan Talich,Vida Vujic, Evgenia Epstein and Miguel da Silva.

In 2018, Teodora became a member of the Frosch String Quartet and in 2020, she joined the Underground Cello Quartet – Bulgaria's first cello quartet. As a chamber musician, she has appeared at most of the major music festivals in Bulgaria, including March Music Days, Varna Summer, Sofia Music Weeks, The Art of the Baroque, the Apollonia Arts Festival, Music Days at Balabanov's House, the International Chamber Music Festival in Plovdiv, the Prof. Ivan Spassov Winter Music Evenings in Pazardzhik, the Chamber Music Days in Gabrovo, Arbanassi Summer Music, among others. She has recorded for the Bulgarian National Television and the Bulgarian National Radio, and with the European Recording Orchestra. In 2017, she participated in several concert programs with the Junge Zürcher Harmoniker in Zurich (Switzerland).

Teodora is currently Principal Cellist of the New Symphony Orchestra and Solo Cellist of the European Recording Orchestra. As soloist, chamber musician and orchestra member, she has appeared in venues throughout Bulgaria, Italy, Germany, Austria, France, Switzerland, Poland, Slovenia, Slovakia, Turkey, Serbia, Russia, China, South Korea, and the United Arab Emirates.

Dora Dimitrova

violin

Praised for her versatility and emotionally moving performances, Dora Dimitrova has a multifaceted career as a concertmaster, soloist, chamber musician and violin teacher. She has performed in venues such as Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center in New York, the Rudolfinum – Dvořák Hall in Prague, and the Royal Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. She has shared the stage with world renowned musicians such as Kurt Masur, Carl St. Clair, Gustav Meyer, the Emerson String Quartet, Augustin Hadelich, Yoel Gumzou, and Rossen Milanov. In 2016, Dimitrova began performing regularly with the Princeton Symphony Orchestra (NJ) where she frequently served as guest concertmaster. She has worked with Symphony in C (NJ), the International Mahler Orchestra (Berlin), the RTV Slovenia Symphony Orchestra, the Bulgarian National Radio Symphony Orchestra, the New York Symphonic Ensemble (NY), among others. As a passionate chamber musician, she has appeared in numerous chamber music recitals across Europe and the United States.

Dimitrova’s teaching career began in the New York metropolitan area. She was coach in residence at the Lakeland Youth Symphony Orchestra (NJ), the Gemini Youth Orchestras (NY) and the Western Connecticut Youth Orchestra. She was violin faculty member at the Mahanaim School of Music (NY) and Assistant Violin Professor at the New Bulgarian University. Prima Volta Music Competition (USA) listed her among their best violin teachers of 2019.

Dora began her musical journey at the age of five. At the age of seventeen, she was a laureate of the Young Virtuosi International Competition, the Fourth Competition for German and Austrian Music and the Young Musical Talents Competition in her native Bulgaria, as well as the Concertino Praga International Competition in the Czech Republic. Dora holds a Master of Music degree from the National Academy of Music, Bulgaria, and the State University of New York, Stony Brook. She graduated as a Doctor of Musical Arts at Stony Brook University in May, 2018. Her violin teachers include Dora Ivanova, Soovin Kim, Hagai Shaham, Jennifer Frautschi, Arnaud Sussmann, and Philip Setzer. She studied chamber music with the renowned Emerson String Quartet.

Currently, Dimitrova is Concertmaster of the New Symphony Orchestra in Sofia. She also regularly works with the Sofia Session Orchestra and enjoys teaching violin at the Anglo-American School of Sofia.