Chamber music duo

Ardenza
Duo

ARDENZA Duo inspires audiences since 2000. Unity, passion, charm, authenticity, spirituality – these words describe the creative blast of the two musicians, eagerly enjoying their long-standing concert partnership.

Piano

Daniela Dikova

Pianist Dr. Daniela Dikova is a dynamic and versatile musician, committed to performing and teaching in the full spectrum of collaborative musical genres.

Dr. Dikova is a Professor of Collaborative Piano in the Chamber Music and Accompaniment Department at the National Academy of Music – Prof. Pancho Vladigerov and has been the staff pianist for the Violin Department at the same institution since 1988.

Her extensive chamber music experience includes performances in various chamber formations with partners like clarinetist Petko Radev, violinist Ginka Gichkova, cellists Stefan Popov, Gavriel Lipkind and Angela Park, soprano Elena Baramova. Dr. Dikova is a sought-after accompanist for all international and national competitions held in Bulgaria. She has participated in the same capacity also at the “Belvedere” – Vienna, the “Tchaikovsky” – Moscow, “A.Popa” – Romania, “Rai Uno” – Italy and others.

In 2004, after many years of duo collaboration with the American cellist Geoffrey Dean, she became the founder of the “Ardenza” Trio, bringing in violinist Galina Koycheva.

In 2009, the ensemble was given the “Crystal Lira” award by the Bulgarian Union of Music and Dance Artists. In 2008, Ardenza Foundation (www.ardenzamusic.org) was born, where Dr. Dikova acts as the Executive Director. She is also the founder and artistic director of “VIVAPIANO” – International Competition for Non-Professional Pianists, the first of its kind on the Balkans.

For that, in 2012 she was presented by Classic FM Radio and the Sofia Municipality with the “Golden Feather” award for her considerable contribution to Bulgarian arts and culture. The Ethno Workshop/Festival “Rila Music Exchange” and “ARTdenzieta” – a creative arts after school program – are projects through which she explores interdisciplinary collaborations among artists.

Dr. Dikova has been a jury member for national and international competitions: “Lake Pearls” – Struga, Macedonia 2013, 2014 and “Hot Heart” – Moscow 2014. She has made numerous recordings for the Bulgarian National Radio and Television, and performed at concerts in Italy, Germany, France, Switzerland, Austria, Korea and other countries. In 2014, she released her first compact disk, titled “Nani-nani”, with lullabies for piano by Bulgarian composers, followed in 2016 by “Lullabies for violin and piano” together with violinist Daniela Shtereva.

“A pianist with an excellent sense for transformation of sound… Her keyboard mastery combines the high register of a violin with the low register of the cello, joining them in the process… with the color of sound rhetoric in K. Iliev’s “Pages from an Album”, Dikova powerfully mastered the space and seemingly formulated symbols of contiguity with the musical substance…”
Kultura weekly

Violin

Galina Koycheva-Mircheva

Galina Koycheva-Mircheva was born on 6th January 1981 in Varna. She completed her higher education in the violin class of Prof. Ginka Gichkova at the Prof. P. Vladigerov National Academy of Music in Sofia.

She has attended the master classes of Yfrah Neaman, Mincho Minchev, Kevork Mardirosyan, Andras Kiss, among others.
She is a laureate of many competitions such as the Svetoslav Obretenov Competition, Pancho Vladigerov Competition, Dobrin Petkov Competition, Musicians of the New Millennium.

She performs concerts as a soloist in the Varna Philharmonic Orchestra, Shumen Philharmonic Orchestra, Pleven Philharmonic Orchestra, Symphonietta Sofia, Dobrich Chamber Orchestra, Burgas Philharmonic Orchestra, Bulgarian National Radio Symphonic Orchestra, and the Classic FM Orchestra.

From 1999 to 2010 Galina Koycheva-Mircheva played in the Lot Lorien Art Formation with whom she released four albums. They performed many concerts in Bulgaria, Macedonia, Kosovo, Hungary, Cyprus, Korea, Russia, Finland, Slovenia, Poland, Czech Republic, Karelia, Altay, Pakistan, etc. She has worked with internationally recognized musicians, such as Pinchas Zukerman, Amanda Forsyth, Elizabeth Pitcairn, Vanessa Mae, Robert Cohen, Ennio Morricone, Svetlin Rusev, Emil Tabakov, Rosen Milanov, among many others.

In 2004 she was chosen to be the concertmaster in the Junge Donaub Philharmony Youth Orchestra, Germany. Since 2005 she has been a member of the Ardentza Trio together with the pianist Daniela Dikova and the cellist Geoffrey Dean with whom in 2009 she was awarded a Crystal Lyre by the Union of Bulgarian Musicians and Dancers.

Since 2006 she has been working as a part-time violin instructor at the Prof. Pancho Vladigerov National Academy of Music. Since 2007 she has been the concertmaster in the Bulgarian National Radio Symphony Orchestra. Now Galina Koycheva-Mircheva is an associate professor of violin at the Prof. Pancho Vladigerov National Academy of Music.

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For COMPETITIONS only:
ardenzafoundation@gmail.com

For general questions:
info@ardenzamusic.org