Liya Petrova

Liya Petrova
Pronunciation
Born
Baptised
Disappeared
Status
Died
Body discovered
Resting place
Monuments
Residence
Nationality
Other names
Education
Alma mater
Occupation
Years active
Era
Employer
Organization
Agent
Known for
Works	See
Style
Home town
Salary
Net worth
Television
Title
Term
Predecessor
Successor
Political party
Movement
Opponent(s)
Board member of
Criminal charge
Criminal penalty
Criminal status
Spouse(s)
Partner(s)
Children
Relatives
Family
Dynasty
Call-sign
Awards
Honors
Website
Signature

Liya Petrova is a classical violinist, born in 1990 in Bulgaria and based in Paris.

Biography

Early life and education

Born into a musical family in Bulgaria, Liya began playing the violin at the age of four at the National Music School in Sofia. At eleven, she continued her musical education at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Rostock, studying with Petru Munteanu. She later pursued advanced studies with Augustin Dumay at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel in Brussels, Renaud Capuçon at the Haute École de Musique in Lausanne, and Antje Weithaas at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler in Berlin.

Career

Recent and upcoming highlights include appearances at the BBC Proms, and debuts with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC NOW, Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, China National Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg, Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo, Berner Symphonieorchester, and the Hungarian National Orchestra.

Liya Petrova first came to international attention in 2016 when she won First Prize at the Carl Nielsen Competition in Denmark, chaired by Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider. Since then, she has appeared as a soloist with leading orchestras including the Orchestre de Paris, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, Symfonieorkest Vlaanderen, Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg, Antwerp Symphony Orchestra, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre National de Lyon, de Bordeaux, de Lille, des Pays de la Loire, Sinfonia Varsovia, and the Odense Symphony Orchestra. She has collaborated with renowned conductors such as Elim Chan, Stanislav Kochanovsky, Tan Dun, Duncan Ward, Martyn Brabbins, Kristiina Poska, Riccardo Minasi, Kirill Karabits, Philippe Herreweghe, Krzysztof Penderecki, Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider, Alexander Liebreich, Xian Zhang, Martijn Dendievel, and Michel Tabachnik.

Liya Petrova performs a wide-ranging repertoire that spans from the Baroque to contemporary works. Alongside the mainstream violin concertos, she maintains a strong commitment to lesser-known repertoire, including concertos by Pipkov, Godard, Walton, and Nielsen. Liya has a deep affinity for contemporary composers such as Dobrinka Tabakova, Tan Dun, and Philippe Hersant, who dedicated his violin concerto Cansos to her.

She regularly plays chamber music with pianists Alexandre Kantorow, Beatrice Rana, and Pavel Kolesnikov, as well as with cellists Victor Julien-Laferrière and Aurélien Pascal. She has also collaborated with artists such as Martha Argerich, Yuja Wang, Emmanuel Pahud, Paul Meyer, Renaud Capuçon, Augustin Dumay, James Ehnes, Antoine Tamestit, Mischa Maisky, Gautier Capuçon, Pablo Ferrández, and Kian Soltani.

Petrova is a regular guest at major concert halls and festivals, including the Philharmonie de Paris, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Royal Albert Hall London, Isarphilharmonie and Herkulessaal in Munich, and festivals such as Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Rheingau Musik Festival, Ludwigsburger Schlossfestspiele, Festival de Saint-Denis, Festival Radio France Montpellier, Festival de la Roque d’Anthéron, Festival de Menton, Festival de Pâques d’Aix-en-Provence, and the Rencontres Musicales d’Évian.

Recordings

Liya has been recording for the French label Mirare since 2020. In spring 2025, she released her latest project, Momentum — a two-album set praised for its artistic ambition, featuring the Korngold and Walton concertos with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra under Duncan Ward, alongside Strauss and Respighi sonatas with pianists Alexandre Kantorow and Adam Laloum. Momentum 1 and Momentum 2 received outstanding critical acclaim and were notably distinguished as an Editor’s Choice by Gramophone, Orchestral Choice by BBC Music Magazine, Best Album of 2025 by Télérama, and Empfehlung des Monats by Fono Forum. Her three previous albums on Mirare include a Beethoven-Barber-Britten recital with pianist Boris Kusnezow (2020), followed by Beethoven’s Violin Concerto and Mozart’s rarely performed K271 Concerto (No. 7) with Jean-Jacques Kantorow and Sinfonia Varsovia. Earlier, she released a Nielsen and Prokofiev album on Orchid Classics with the Odense Symphony Orchestra and Kristiina Poska. All her recordings have received unanimous international praise.

Deeply committed to artistic programming and musical curation, Liya founded La Musikfest Parisienne in spring 2020, during the first lockdown. Initially launched at Salle Cortot, the festival quickly gained acclaim and now takes place at the Philharmonie de Paris, under the joint artistic direction of Liya and pianist Alexandre Kantorow. In 2022, she also co-founded the Rencontres Musicales de Nîmes with her close friends Alexandre Kantorow and Aurélien Pascal, who continue to direct the festival together.

Violin

She has been based in Paris for many years and plays the ‘Rovelli’, made in 1742 by Guarneri del Gesù, generously loaned by private sponsors, as well as the ‘Consolo’, made in 1733 by Guarneri del Gesù, on loan from the Bulgarian State.

Distinctions

• Tibor Varga International Competition (Sion)
• Louis Spohr International Competition (Weimar)
• Vaclav Huml International Competition (Zagreb)
• 2015: Deutscher Musikwettbewerb
• 2016: First Prize at the Carl Nielsen International Music Competition, Denmark

Footnotes

• Liya Petrova; Centre de musique de chambre de Paris

This article "Liya Petrova" is from Simple English Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Liya Petrova.

📰 Article(s) of the same category(ies)

• Stefan Burchardt
• Sulara Nanayakkara
• Aija Izaks

---