Music at Bray November 07

YANA BUROVA was born in 1979 in Bulgaria. She started playing the violin at the age of five and was accepted at the D. Hristov Music School in Varna in 1990. During that period she won various prizes and awards, including the first prize at the ‘Czech Music Competition’ and second prize in the ‘Svetoslav Obretenov Competition’. Just before finishing her studies in Varna in 1998 she was chosen as the featured soloist to perform Lalo concerto with the Varna Philharmonic Orchestra. Immediately after that Yana was awarded a scholarship to study with Prof. Yfrah Neaman at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama in London. After graduating with a Bmus (Hons) in 2002, she was awarded a two-year scholarship to study with Vasko Vassilev at the Trinity College of Music, where she led the Trinity String Ensemble and was chosen to be a soloist with the Trinity Orchestra. In both 2002 and 2004, Yana won the J&B Beare Classical Concerto Competition and in July 2004 she completed her Post Graduate Advance Diploma with Distinction.

Throughout her musical education she attended masterclasses led by such luminaries as: Prof Yfrah Neaman, Prof. Mincho Minchev, Gyorgy Pauk and most recently was selected to participate in a class led by the world renowned violinist Maxim Vangerov. As well as performing regularly in England and Bulgaria as a soloist and in various groups, Yana is currently teaching at St. James Independent School in London.

VESSELINA KOLEVA completed her studies at the state Music School ‘Dobri Hristov’ in Varna, Bulgaria in 1998 under the tutelage of Mrs Ekaterina Tzvetkova and was awarded distinction for her final recital. At the same time she made her debut as a soloist performing Rachmaninov’s Second Piano Concerto with the Varna Philharmonic Orchestra and gained third prize at the International Competition ‘Jeunesse Musicales’ in Bucharest, Rumania in 1994. She also won the second prize at the National Piano Competition ‘Dimitar Nenov’ and a special prize for the best performance of a work by that composer in 1997.

Vesselina continued piano studies at the Hochschule fur Musik und Theatre Bern, Switzerland where her piano teachers were Prof. Tomasz Herbut and Prof. Rada Petkova and in 2002 she obtained her BMus Concert Diploma. She took part in a number of masterclassses and has worked with such distinguished artists as Paul Badura-Skoda, Malcolm Bilson, Peter Feuchtwanger, Boris Bloch etc. Since graduation Vesselina has established a career as a performer and teacher. She appeared in recitals as a soloist and chamber musician at musical venues and festivals throughout Bulgaria, Switzerland and UK. Recently she moved to London.