ZEFIRA VALOVA

Zefira Valova was born in Sofia, where she obtained a master’s degree at the National Music Academy. From 2009 until 2011, she specialized in Baroque violin at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam, having studied with Lucy van Dael.

From 2003 until 2008, Valova was concertmaster of several orchestras in Bulgaria, as well as the National Youth Orchestra of the Netherlands. She appeared as a soloist with the Academic Symphony Orchestra Sofia, Classic FM Radio Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra Orpheus, and Ars Barocca Ensemble, named Ensemble of 2007 by the Bulgarian National Radio.

Valova is among the founders of the Sofia Baroque Arts Festival, the only annual event dedicated to early music and historically informed performance in Bulgaria. As a member of the European Union Baroque Orchestra in 2008, working with Roy Goodman, Lars Ulrik Mortensen, and Enrico Onofri, she began her work in the historical performance practice.

Valova has been concertmaster of Il Pomo d’Oro since 2015, mainly under the direction of Maxim Emelyanychev. Since 2016, she has conducted the Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra within their early music series.

Last season she appeared as concertmaster of Il Pomo d’Oro performances with Joyce di Donato, Ann Hallenberg, Franco Fagioli, Jakub Józef Orliński, and Edgar Moreau. She collaborates with Helsinki Baroque Orchestra on wide range of Baroque, classical, and Romantic repertoire.

Valova has also collaborated with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, La Chambre Phillharmonique, B’Rock, Les Ambassadeurs, and others. She appears in chamber music ensembles with pianists Olga Pashchenko and Vasily Ilisavsky, guitarist Izhar Elias, and recorder player Erik Bosgraaf.

Zefira Valova was a prize winner of the competition of the Jumpstart Jr. Foundation, which provided her with a violin made by Lorenzo & Tomaso Carcassi, 1760, Florence.