Gergana Petrova

 

Gergana was born in Pleven, Bulgaria in 1988. At the age of six she began violin lessons with Blagorodna Taneva . A year later, she won her first competition, followed by a number of other national and international competitions where Gergana was awarded numerous prizes. In 2007 she graduated from the National Music School "L.Pipkov" in Sofia. The following year she got a place at Folkwang Universität der Künste in Essen, Germany to study with professor Mintcho Mintchev. In her first year there, Gergana was awarded a scholarship for high artistic achievements and she was selected as concertmaster of Folkwang Symphony. In 2012 she completed her undergraduate degree and again received a special award for her project "From baroque to contemporary music". In the same year, she was accepted on the Master of Professional Performance programme. Since 2011 Gergana has been taking baroque violin lessons with professor Mayumi Hirasaki.

 

Gergana was selected as leader of 2nd violins in the Young Euro Classics Orchestra for 2010-2011 which included a tour around Germany and a trip to India. During her visit, Gergana and her colleagues, section leaders and soloists of the orchestra, gave masterclasses for children in India. A month after their return, they took part in starting a charity for supporting young musicians in India.

 

Between 2011 and 2013 Gergana gained experience as a young apprentice of the Essen and Duisburg symphony orchestras. In 2013 after a successful audition she got a place in the chamber orchestra of Essen with conductor Reinhard Goebel. In November 2013 Gergana became a full time member of the orchestra of Solingen.

 

In 2009, together with three of her colleagues, Gergana formed the Vagabond string quartet. The group has had chamber music lessons with professor Matthias Diener and contemporary music lessons with professor Gunther Steinke. Vagabond is supported by a number of foundations. The quartet has premiered a list of compositions, specially commissioned for them. They have performed in Germany, Switzerland and France. Gergana's violin was made for her in 2010 by the Bulgarian luthier Vladimir Naydenov.