Biography

Plamena Mangova won second prize in the Queen Elisabeth Competition in 2007 and embarked on an international career. Her initial studies were with Marina Kapatsinskaya at the Pancho Vladigerov Sofia State Music Academy in Bulgaria and then at the Queen Sofia Higher Music School, Madrid with the eminent teacher Dmitri Bashkirov. She has also worked with Abdel-Rahman El Bacha at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel in Belgium and received the advice of renowned musicians such as Leon Fleisher, Rosalyn Tureck, Krystian Zimerman and Andras Schiff. She is a Laureate of various prestigious international piano and chamber music competitions, including “Paloma O’Shea” in Santander and “Vittorio Gui” in Florence, as well as the Juventus Festival in France.
Plamena performs with leading orchestras, such as the UBS Verbier Festival Orchestra, European Union Chamber Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic, RAI Torino Orchestra, Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra, English Chamber Orchestra, Sinfonia Varsovia, Luxembourg Philharmonic, National Orchestra of Belgium, St Petersburg Orchestra, MDR Orchester Leipzig, RTVE Symphony Orchestra, Netherlands Radio Chamber Philharmonic and Tokyo Philharmonic. Conductor collaborations include Sir Colin Davis, Emmanuel Krivine, Walter Weller, Tadaaki Otaka, Jaap van Zweden, Dmitri Jurowski, Karl Heinz Steffens, Gilbert Varga, Jean-Claude Casadesus, Jean-Bernard Pommier and François-Xavier Roth. A keen chamber music player, she has performed with Maria Joao Pires, Boris Berezovsky, Augustin Dumay, Mihaela Martin, Jian Wang, Pascal Moragues, Alexei Ogrintchouk, Alexander Kniazev, Frans Helmerson and the Ysaye String Quartet among others. 

Plamena has performed at the Berlin Philharmonie, Suntory Hall Tokyo, Kennedy Center Washington and Concertgebouw Amsterdam (“Carte Blanche for Maxim Vengerov”), South Bank Center London, Gewandhaus Leipzig, Moscow Conservatory concert hall, St Petersburg Philharmonic, Luxembourg Philharmonie, Bozar Centre for Fine Arts Brussels, Théâtre du Châtelet Paris and Auditorium Louvre in Paris, Sala Verdi Milan and at major festivals such as Verbier, La Folle Journée Nantes and Tokyo, La Roque d'Anthéron, Santander, Sommets Musicaux, Montpellier Radio France Festival, Menton, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Bach Akademie Stuttgart.
Her first solo CD recording (Shostakovich) was awarded a “Diapason d'Or de l'Année 2007”. A chamber music disc by the same composer followed with soprano Tatiana Melnychenko, violinist Natalia Prischepenko (leader of the Artemis Quartet) and cellist Sebastian Klinger (Bavarian Radio Orchestra), which was awarded the Superfonic Prize in Pizzicato magazine. Her Beethoven disc (sponsored by the Belgian Bank Fortis), was highly praised by France Musique and Diapason, as were her exceptional recordings of Strauss' Burleske  (2008) and Brahms Piano Concerto No.1 (2010) with the Belgium National Orchestra and Walter Weller (Fuga Libera label). The latter was highly praised by Bryce Morrison in Gramophone magazine.

Recent highlights have included her debut with the Rotterdam Philharmonic under Sir Andrew Davis, a recital at the Théâtre des Champs Elysées Paris and her debut at Wigmore Hall London. In the 2012/13 season Plamena performs with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Taipei Symphony Orchestra, Sinfonia Varsovie, Orchestre National Ile de France, Bucharest Radio Orchestra, New Zealand Symphony, Russian Philharmonic, Orquesta Sinfonica de la Radiotelevision Espanola, Orchestre d’Auvergne and tours with the English Chamber Orchestra. She gives recitals in Paris, Metz and a Beethoven cycle in Liège with violinist Tatiana Samouil. Festival appearances include Folles Journées Nantes & Tokyo and March Music Days in Bulgaria.