dora deliyska

Dora Deliyska has devoted herself to the music of Franz Liszt for a number of years. His profoundly emotional compositions as well as the poetic side of the composer are a source of inspiration for the pianist. With her magnificent CD solo debut with piano works by Franz Liszt (Gramola 98853), the young pianist established herself as one of the most important Liszt interpreters of the young generation. In 2010, the much heeded second solo CD was published with works by Liszt and Chopin (waltzes and ballads). The CD recordings and her live concerts in different countries of Europe, Asia and South America have earned the young pianist international renown.
In April 2011, she held her debut in the famed Vienna Musikverein with a solo programme. A further major success was her debut in South America with the Orquestra de la Ciudad de Los Reyes, resident in Lima, Peru. In September 2010, she played Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor KV 466 there. The interpretation by the pianist, termed a ‘poetic virtuoso’ by the critics, was very positively received.
Dr. Leslie Howard, famous for his recordings of all Liszt’s piano works, wrote in London in 2009 about the young musician:

“Dora Deliyska’s splendid debut Liszt recording is characterized by very thoughtful, tasteful playing: the sound ranges from ravishingly delicate to very musically motivated sparkle.”

After her performance in Holland the pianist, organist and musical critic Christo Lelie writes about Dora Deliyska:

“Dora plays the Sonata in B minor monumentally and balanced. She possesses enough virtuosity and inner power to perform these virtuosic pieces. The young Bulgarian pianist has recorded a magnificent Liszt CD.”

The Viennese newspaper Wiener Zeitung writes:

“The young bulgarian pianist shows an exemplary depth and skill in technique virtuosity. She has warm sound and vivid interpretation.”

Dora Deliyska began piano lessons at the age of five. Surrounded by music in her family, she performed her first concert at the age of nine. After musical education in her homeland Bulgaria, she moved to Vienna to continue her studies at the University for Music and Performing Arts under the guidance of Prof. Jürg von Vintschger and Prof. Stefan Vladar.

In 2010, Dora Deliyska received her masters degree from the same institution with the piano class of Prof. Noel Flores. In the same year she finishes her postgraduate studies with the diploma from the Oxana Yablonskaya Piano Institute in Castelnuovo di Garfagnana (Tuscany), Italy. Her artistic development has shown strong influence by masterclasses and lessons with renowned musicians such as Dmitry Alexeev, Martin Hughes, Karl-Heinz Kämmerling, Boris Bloch among others.

The young pianist’s career has benefited greatly from scholarships from the Dr. Wolfgang Boesch Foundation Vienna (2002-2006), the Austrian Federal Ministry of Education, Art and Culture (2003), the Erasmus Scholarship in 2004 and, also that year, a one-semester scholarship to study at the Royal Conservatory of the Hague (in the class of Paul Komen). The Labberte Foundation (Holland) has also regularly supported the young pianist’s education and artistic activity since 2005. In 2007, she was awarded the Josef Windisch Scholarship. And in the year 2008 she received a scholarship from the Bulgarian Ministry of Culture for her postgraduate education.

In spite of her youth, Dora Deliyska can already look back on comprehensive concert activity, not only as soloist and with orchestra—she has also performed numerous concerts with chamber music ensembles in many European countries.

She has toured and performed with various musicians, among them Nora Romanoff-Schwarzberg, Benjamin Bernstein and Valya Dervenska. The artist has been frequently invited to festivals and tours.

Since 1999, she has played at the Varna Summer Days festival in Bulgaria, at the March Music Days in Ruse, Bulgaria; at the Peter the Great Festival in Groningen, Holland; together with the Bulgarian violinist Valya Dervenska at the Europalia 2002, as well as chamber concerts at the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels, among other engagements.

In 2004, she participated in the Musica Arvenzis master class held in Bratislava by the Russian professor Marina Kapatsinskaya; that year she also toured Italy and Croatia. A concert tour together with the Russian violist Benjamin Bernstein also brought her to Croatia as well as Slovenia.

She performed Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 23 in A major, K488 at the 2005 Laureate Days in her native city Pleven; from 2005 to 2007 she participated in the Holland Music Sessions in Bergen and in 2006 in the Gelderse Muziekzomer in Apeldoorn, Holland.

These performances were followed in 2007 by her first engagement by the Brucknertage in St. Florian, Upper Austria, as well as her participation in the international master class of Prof. Balázs Szokolay in Keszthely, Hungary. She has performed frequently in Vienna’s Bösendorfer Hall and Yamaha Concert Hall. Within the scope of the 2008 Piano World Festival in Groningen, Holland, Dora Deliyska performed a Liszt recital in the Oosterpoort Music Center.

In addition, in March 2008, she performed Liszt’s 2nd Piano Concerto for the European Music Festival in Sofia, in the “Concertmasters” cycle prized by connoisseurs; her performance was taped for Bulgarian television. She has likewise performed concerts for the BAWAG/PSK bank in Vienna. Her performances and recordings have been broadcasted by Austrian National Radio Ö1, Dutch National Television, Swiss National Radio, Bulgarian National Radio and Television.

Already in 1997, Dora Deliyska was awarded a special prize at the Bulgarian national music competition Svetoslav Obretenov. The following year she won second prize and special prize for best performance of a work by Rachmaninov at the Russian Music Piano Competition in Pleven, first prize and special prize of the Pantcho Vladigerov National Academy of Music in Sofia, as well as first prize at the National Piano Accompaniment Competition in Pleven. These awards were followed in 1999 by second prize at the Dimitar Nenov Piano Competition, and first prize at the Yamaha Piano Competition in Linz, Austria, in 2002.

The 2003 International Summer Academy Prague-Vienna-Budapest distinguished Dora Deliyska with its first prize for the performance of a Viennese Classical work, and in the same year she won first prize at the Stefano Marizza International Piano Competition in Trieste. After this performance the daily La Voce del Popolo wrote:

“The young musician now displayed all signs of a fully mature artist: technique, intelligence, passion and charm … She plays with a full, honest and warm sound.”