Introduced to music by her maternal grandfather \u2014 an amateur musician and painter \u2014 Maria began playing guitar at the age of four. At nine, she discovered the double bass with Dimitar Petrov and enrolled in the music school of her hometown Plovdiv (Bulgaria), where she also studied piano. She was awarded the “Z. Manolov” Prize for best student of her class, and in 1994, won First Prize at the National Young Talents Competition in Sofia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 1995, she continued her studies at the State Academy of Music \u201cPancho Vladigerov\u201d in Sofia with N. Nikolov, where she received First Prize at the international competition \u201cSvetoslav Obretenov\u201d. A recipient of the Bulgarian \u201cOtvoreno Obshtestvo\u201d music scholarship in 1998, she was also awarded a DAAD scholarship (German Academic Exchange Service) for two consecutive years (1999 and 2000), enabling her to further her training in Germany.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 1999, Maria was admitted to the Hochschule f\u00fcr Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Frankfurt, where she studied with Prof. G. Klaus. She earned her Master of Arts with distinction in 2004, while also attending masterclasses with David Walter, Thomas Martin, and Antonio Garcia Araque.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Her brilliant academic path led her to an exceptional musical career. Discovered in 1996 by the director of the Schleswig-Holstein Festival (Germany) during an audition in Bulgaria, she went on to perform worldwide and gained invaluable experience as an orchestral musician with the \u201cPhilharmonie der Nationen\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Among the early highlights of her career, two awards stand out: a Special Prize at the 1st J.M. Sperger International Double Bass Competition in Woldzegarten (Germany) in 2000, and First Prize as well as the Special Prize for \u201cBest Interpretation of a Contemporary Work\u201d at the prestigious Giovanni Bottesini International Double Bass Competition in Crema (Italy) in 2003.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She has held positions with the Frankfurt Opera Orchestra (2001) and as associate principal double bass of the Monte Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra (2001\u20132008), before being appointed principal double bass<\/strong> of the Orchestre National de France<\/strong> in 2007. In parallel, she also served as principal double bass of \u201cLes Dissonances\u201d and \u201cEuropean Camerata\u201d from 2008 to 2016.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Over the years, Maria has performed under the baton of leading conductors such as Riccardo Muti, Daniele Gatti, Kurt Masur, Bernard Haitink, Seiji Ozawa, Sir Colin Davis, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Semyon Bychkov, Christoph Eschenbach, Yannick N\u00e9zet-S\u00e9guin, Andris Nelsons, and Emmanuel Krivine \u2014 and alongside renowned soloists such as Martha Argerich, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Alexandre Kantorow, Joshua Bell, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Ren\u00e9e Fleming, and Janine Jansen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She also appears regularly at major chamber music festivals (Prades, Festival de l\u2019Emperi, Penderecki Festival, Clos Vougeot\u2026) performing with the Prazak Quartet, Modigliani Quartet, Moragues Quintet, Ardeo Quartet, Storioni Trio, and artists such as Renaud Capu\u00e7on, Elmira Darvarova, Emmanuel Pahud, Adam Laloum, Marc Jude, Natalie Dessay, Oph\u00e9lie Gaillard, Frank Braley, Daishin Kashimoto, and Paul Meyer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As a soloist, she has notably performed Nino Rota\u2019s Concerto for Double Bass with the Orchestre National de France under the direction of Gustavo Gimeno.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Her discography includes the world premiere of Lazar Nikolov\u2019s Trio for Piano, Cello and Double Bass (2002), Isang Yun\u2019s Oktett<\/em> for string quintet, clarinet, horn and bassoon (2011), and Mozart\u2019s Gran Partita<\/em> with soloists of the Monte Carlo Philharmonic (2022).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Maria is deeply committed to education, driven by her desire to pass on her rich experience to the next generation of musicians. Since 2017, she has taught double bass at the \u00c9cole Normale de Musique de Paris. She also gives masterclasses across Europe and Asia, including recent appearances in 2022 at MUK Wien (Austria), HfM Hanns Eisler Berlin (Germany), the National Academy of Music in Sofia (Bulgaria), and upcoming sessions in 2025 at Kookmin University (South Korea).<\/p>\n\n\n\n She has been invited by Maestro Riccardo Muti since 2013 to serve on the selection jury for the \u201cLuigi Cherubini\u201d Youth Orchestra. In September 2016, she sat on the double bass jury of the prestigious ARD International Music Competition in Munich, and in 2019, joined the Bottesini Competition jury, where she also gave a recital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Since 2007, Maria has been principal double bass of the Orchestre National de France. She plays a double bass crafted by John Frederick Lott in the United Kingdom in 1830.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":10737,"template":"","discipline":[117],"class_list":["post-1809","teacher","type-teacher","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","discipline-bass"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n