Albena danailova biography of michael

Albena Danailova graduated from the National Music Academy in Sofia and the University for Music and Theatre in Rostock. She has supplemented her musical education with master classes held by Ida Haendel and Herman Krebbers. She is a laureate from the Young Musical Talents competition, the Kocian Violin Competition, Concertino Praga, the International Violin Competition at Kloster Schöntal (Germany) and the Tibor Varga International Competition (Switzerland). She received a residency at the Bavarian State Orchestra in 2001, was promoted to the leader of the first violins in 2003 and subsequently became the first chair violinist in 2006. She was also a member of the London Philharmonic Orchestra in the 2003/2004 season. She was the first woman ever to become the concertmaster at the Wiener Philharmoniker. She has also successfully devoted herself to solo and chamber music and regularly performs in Bulgaria, Germany, Israel and the USA. She has recorded for German Radio, Bulgarian National Radio and Bulgarian National Television. She has been the leader of Ensemble Wien since 2011 and has been a professor of violin playing at the Vienna State University since 2019.

Justas Dvarionas studied the piano in both his native Lithuania and at the P. I. Tchaikovsky Moscow State Conservatory. In recent years, he has won the Italian Viotti-Valsesia international piano competition and received special awards at the Portuguese Porto international piano competition and the Lithuanian M. K. Čiurlionis International Competition. To date, he has performed as a soloist, chamber player or with the accompaniment of an orchestra in Bulgaria, Canada, Germany, Russia, the united States of America, Australia, France, Kazakhstan, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Sweden, Norway, the Czech Republic, Austria, Peru, England, Japan and other countries. He has been a jury member in a number of internatio

NEW YORK (AP) — Andrea Götsch was surprised when she won her audition in 2019 that led to membership in the Vienna Philharmonic.

“When I went home, I was just laughing because I couldn’t realize that they had really taken me,” the 29-year-old clarinetist told The Associated Press. “It was always kind of a dream. As a young child already, I watched the New Year’s concert, but it was never a goal. I thought that was too far away.”

A male bastion from its founding in 1842 until 1997, the Vienna Philharmonic now has 24 female players among 145 members with three vacancies as it tours the United States this week.

“It’s very positive to me. It’s a completely normal way of us living with each other. And we all have one main goal, to give the best possible concert — and that unifies us,” said Daniel Froschauer, chairman of the self-governing ensemble. “Look at music schools: There are many more women than men. And we want the best members, so it was the right decision.”

Based since 1870 at Vienna’s Musikverein, the Vienna Philharmonic elects leadership, engages conductors, chooses programs and schedules tours and recording sessions. It selects members from the Vienna State Opera Orchestra and has had a summer residency at the Salzburg Festival since 1922.

Harpist Anna Lelkes played with the Philharmonic for 26 years as a nonmember before she became the first woman admitted. Albena Danailova became an acting concertmaster in 2008 and was granted membership in 2010. The 48-year-old had the high-profile position leading the strings in Sunday’s performance of Mahler’s Ninth Symphony with conductor Franz Welser-Möst at Carnegie Hall.

VPO women include 14 violins, two violas, two cellos, one double bass, two harps, one flute, one clarinet and one bassoon.

The Berlin Philharmonic, widely considered Europe’s other great orchestra, admitted Swiss violinist Madeleine Carruzzo as its first female in

Albena Danailova was born in Sofia as the daughter of a violinist and a pianist. At the age of five she began her musical education with Nely Jeleva and Dora Ivanova at the music school and academy in her home city.

After graduation from high school, she studied violin performance at the College of Music and Theater in Rostock and in Hamburg with Petru Munteanu. She finished her degree in 2001, having augmented her studies by masterclasses with Ida Haendel, Herman Krebbers and others. In the same year she received an engagement as second violinist  in the Bavarian State Orchestra, advancing in 2003 to section leader of the first violins and in 2006 to first concertmaster. In this same capacity, she also served in the London Philharmonic Orchestra in the 2003/04 season.

On September 1, 2008, she became the concertmaster of the Vienna State Opera Orchestra.

This prize winner of numerous competitions (2nd Prize “Kloster Schöntal”, Tibor Varga-Special Prize", semi-finalist at the Moscow “Tchaikovsky Competition”, First Prize “Vittorio Gui”, etc.) has, in addition to her work as an orchestral musician, established an equally successful career as soloist and chamber musician.

Albena Danailova appears regularly in Bulgaria, Deutschland, Israel, and the USA, among others. She has made recordings for Deutschlandradio Kultur, the North German Radio, as well as for television and radio in her home country, and, since the beginning of this season, as leader of the “Ensemble Wien” (as the successor to Paul Guggenberger and Rainer Honeck).

She has appeared twice as a Philharmonic soloist: On January 24, 2009, she performed Haydn’s Sinfonia Concertante in B-flat major, Hob I:105 at the Salzburg Mozart Festival with Tamás Varga, Harald Hört and Michael Werba under the direction of Seiji Ozawa and in October 2009 she was captivating in the violin solo of Richard Strauss' tone poem, “Ei