Born in 1980, Bulgarian pianist Plamena Mangova is the Second-Prize winner of the 2007 Queen Elisabeth Competition. This award confirms her exceptional talent, which has also been recognised by a prestigious Diapason d’Or de l’Année 2007 for her first CD, a solo recording of Shostakovich on Fuga Libera label. Her wide repertoire spans the baroque to the contemporary, including works for solo piano, chamber ensembles and concertos.
First trained with Marina Kapatsinskaya at the Pancho Vladigerov Sofia State Music Academy, Plamena continued to study at the Queen Sofia Higher Music School in Madrid with maestro Dmitri Bashkirov. She had also worked with Abdel-Rahman El Bacha at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel in Belgium. At masterclasses, Plamena received precious advices from renowned musicians like Leon Fleisher, Krystian Zimerman, Ralf Gothoni, Andras Schiff, Mauricio Fucks, Zahar Bron and Natalia Gutman, among others.
In July 2003, Plamena was selected the Laureate of the Juventus Festival in France. This event marked the beginning of a wide range of her projects, such as the Carte Blanche for Maxim Vengerov at Concertgebouw Amsterdam. Plamena is also a prize-winner in the Santander Piano Competition and the Vittorio Gui International Chamber-Music Competition in Florence, as well as the receiver of the Alicia de Larrocha’s Granados Prize.
Throughout the years, Plamena has performed with many distinguished orchestras, including Sinfonia Varsovia, Luxemburg Philharmonic Orchestra, National Orchestra of Belgium, Dresden Philharmonic, Orchestre Philharmonic de Liège, MDR-Orchester Leipzig and National Orchestra of Lille. She has also worked with prestigious conductors such as Emmanuel Krivine, Augustin Dumay, Jaap van Zweden, Jean-Bernard Pommier, etc. As a highly praised chamber musician, Plamena has cooperated with Maria João Pires, Boris Berezovsky, Jian Wang, Michelangelo String Quartet and Ysaÿe Quartet.
The musicality of Plamena has gathered many acclaims through her recordings; her CD of Prokofiev’s complete works for violin and piano with Tatiana Samouil was awarded Four Stars in Le Monde de la Musique, while the Beethoven recital released in 2008 was named the Choice of France Musique, 5 Diapason.
Related videos:
Plamena Mangova – Mozart: Piano Concerto No.9 KV271, 1st movement
Plamena Mangova – Albeniz: Iberia I, Fête-Dieu à Séville
Photo credit: culture.paysdelaloire.fr
