Marietta Petkova

Marietta Petkova (b. 1968, Bulgaria) won the Grand Prix of the 1978 National Piano Competition. She graduated from the local conservatory in 1986 with the school's Gold Medal, spent a year at the Music Academy Sofia, studying with Lili Atanassova and Gina Tabakova, and two years at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Vienna, under Paul Badura-Skoda. In 1989/90 she was Resident Artist at The Banff Centre for the Arts in Canada. In 1990 she decided to live in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, where she studied with Jan Wijn at the Sweelinck Conservatorium, graduating in 1994 with the highest possible distinction. Since 1989, she took lessons with György Sebök (1922-1999), who turned out to be an invaluable source of inspiration for her. She won prizes in prizes in Italy, Czechoslovakia , Bulgaria, Portugal, Austria, Switzerland and The Netherlands. In 1993 she was awarded the prestigious title Lauréate Juventus in France. She is Steinway Artist. For her CD's, she prefers the authenticity of live recordings to studio work. Spiritual profoundness, virtuosity and versatility seem to have melted together into veritable artistry, received with open arms by press and public. She performs all over Europe, in Northern America, and in Japan, mostly with solorecitals and as a soloist with renowned orchestras, but also as a beloved chamber musician.