Born in Varna (Bulgaria), Maria Martinova began playing the piano inspired by the rich heritage of musicians in her family. As one of Bulgaria’s child-prodigies, she gave her first recital at the age of 8 and her first performance as a soloist with an orchestra at the age of 9. Since the very beginning she became a heiress of a great pianistic tradition, first by studying with the reputed Bulgarian pedagogue Maria Gineva (herself a pupil of the emblematic Russian pianist and pedagogue Mikhail Voskresensky ). Maria followed her studies with her at the Varna National School of Music, which she completed with the highest distinction, prior to being accepted to the Bulgarian National Academy of Music as a student of Stella Dimitrova, a pupil of the legendary pianist and pedagogue Heinrich Neuhaus ’s disciples Julia and Konstantin Ganev. After only two years her studies there were interrupted by an invitation to attend the Juilliard School in New York City, where she was accepted as a recipient of the prestigious and rarely awarded Vladimir Horowitz Scholarship. At Juilliard she studied piano with Yoheved Kaplinsky and Joseph Kalichstein, and chamber music with Felix Galimir, Albert Fuller and Samuel Sanders. Maria holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Juilliard, a Piano Pedagogy Licenciate, a Diploma of Postgraduate Performance, and a Master of Music degree from the Royal Academy of Music in London, where she studied with Hamish Milne. She was awarded the Foundation and the Leverhulme Awards and was invited to teach on behalf of the Royal Academy of Music. Maria also holds a Diploma in Postgraduate Performance in Piano and Chamber Music from Codarts, which she obtained with Cum Laude. She has taught at the Rotterdam Conservatoire and was invited as the visiting professor of piano and chamber music at the International School of Visiting Professors at the Music Institute of the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile. She has also been on the faculty of the Rodeph Sholom School in New York. Maria has given masterclasses at the Bulgarian National Academy of Music and at the Varna National School of Music. Recently she was invited to take charge of the programming of the classical music and jazz concert series at the eclectic Maison Flagey in Brussels.
Maria has been under the guidance of the legendary pianist Alexis Weissenberg . She has also worked extensively with the celebrated pianist Alexander Toradze and has received artistic guidance from the eminent pianists and pedagogues Maria Curcio, Peter Feuchtwanger, Germaine Mounier, John O’Conor, Stephen Hough, Angela Hewitt, Peter Donohoe, Alexander Satz, Claus-Christian Schuster and Lev Vinocour.
Her many awards include First Prize and Special Prize at the National Competition Svetoslav Obretenov, First Prize at the Marsala International Piano Competition, First Prize and Special Prize of Presto Music House at the Earth and People International Competition for Instrumentalists, the ‘Extraordinary Absolute Prize’ and Special Prize after Dimitar Nenov’s name at the Dimitar Nenov National Competition, First Prize at the Competition for Best Performance of a piece written by a Czech or Slovak composer, First Prize at the Golden Diana National Competition for Chamber Music, the Lilian Davies Prize for best performance of a Beethoven Sonata at the Royal Academy of Music and First Prize at the Alexis Weissenberg Piano Masterclass.
As a truly multifaceted performer – in a recital, as a soloist with orchestra or as the passionate chamber musician she is – Maria’s engagements have taken her to such prestigious venues as Jahrhundert Halle, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, De Doelen, Bozar, Flagey, the Barbican, St.Martin-in-the Fields, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Wigmore Hall, Cadogan Hall, Wiener Recital Hall, Alice Tully Hall, De Roma, Hall ‘Bulgaria’, Varna Festival Hall, Studio 1 of the Bulgarian National Radio. She has been broadcast on the Bulgarian, Polish, Dutch, Belgian, BBC radio networks and on the New York radio station for classical music WXQR, as well as numerous times on the Bulgarian National Television. Maria has appeared at such prestigious festivals as the Mozarteum, Ruhr Piano Festival, Stresa International Music Festival, London Bach Festival, Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Cambridge Summer Music Festival, Gergiev Festival, Varna Summer International Music Festival, March Music Days International Festival, FOCUS!Festival for Contemporary Music, ppIANISSIMO International Festival of Contemporary Piano Music, IMS Prussia Cove, Barbican Blaze, Festival Piano à Riom, Festival de l’Été Mosan, European Music Festival, Sofia Music Weeks, Menindreia Kefissia International Music Festival.
In the past few years Maria has also established herself as one of the most talked about names on the international contemporary tango scene as the founder and artistic leader of TANGUARDA, which has become an emblematic ensemble of this genre in Europe. Amongst the many musicians with whom she has collaborated are some of the brightest figures on the music scene: Roby Lakatos, Marcelo Nisinman, Juanjo Mosalini, Daniel Rowland, Rafal Zambrzycky – Payne (soloist of Ensemble Modern), Igor Semenoff (Ictus), David Nuñez (soloist of Musiques Nouvelles), Matthew Midgley (principal bass of the Rotterdam Philharmonic), Winfried Holzenkamp, Denis Bouriakov (principal flutist of the Los Angeles Philharmonic), Rodney Clarke, Jacob Kullberg, Romana Goumare, Juan Esteban Cuacci.
Maria’s love for theatre and dance has led her to create numerous multi-disciplinary projects. She has collaborated with the legendary British theatre and movie actor Sir John Standing , the doyen of Belgian theatre Pietro Pizzuti as well as with Vladimir Mihaylov, Yulian Vergov, Teodora Duhovnikova, Emmanuel De Candido, Céline Ruiz, Damian Rosenthal and Jérémy Braitbart. Since 2013 Maria is in a close collaboration with one of the most emblematic Bulgarian composers Lubomir Denev, who wrote for and dedicated his Rhapsody for piano and orchestra “Sofia Nights” to her. Alongside having made the world premiere of and recorded this work, she has also made several international premiers of solo piano pieces by the composer.
Passionate about recording, Maria is also featured as a producer on bigger part of her albums. Her recording for the soundtrack of the celebrated French director Philippe de Broca’s film “Vipère au Poing” was released by EMI Records. Her recording “Solitudes:Baltic Reflections” with the ensemble Mr McFalls Chamber was released by Delphian Records (Label of the Year, Gramophone Classical Music Awards‘2014), praised by the music press and voted Editor’s Choice recording with Five Stars by Classical Music Magazine. Her recording “Paris-Buenos Aires, une histoire d’amour”, together with the French violinist Cyril Garac was released by LP Classics and followed by the violin-piano duo’s recording “SLAVIA”. As a soloist of the Symphony Orchestra of the Bulgarian National Radio, she is featured on one of the latest releases by the Bulgarian National Radio, the recording “Sympho-Jazz”. Maria’s solo album “Nuit et Jour” with works by Debussy, Ravel and the contemporary Swiss composer Gregorio Zanon was released in November 2022 by Rubicon Classics and was highly praised by the international music press. Her latest album “Maria Martinova plays Bach, Chopin and Szymanowski” (Rubicon Classics) was released in August this year. Maria is currently working on her next album which will be released in 2024.
