Bella Hristova
Violinist Bella Hristova is a young musician with a growing international career as a soloist and recording artist.
IMAGE CREDIT: LISA MARIE MAZZUCCO
Violinist Bella Hristova is acclaimed for her passionate, powerful performances, beautiful sound, and compelling command of her instrument. The Strad has praised, “Every sound she draws is superb,” and The Washington Post noted that she is “a player of impressive power and control.” Ms. Hristova’s 2015-2016 season features a mix of concerto, recital and chamber music performances, as well as educational outreach activities. She showcases her wide-ranging repertoire this season, as she performs over ten different concertos, from Barber and Kevin Puts to Sibelius and Mozart, as well as the world premiere of a concerto by David Ludwig.
She has also performed with the Mississippi Symphony, City of London Sinfonia, Orquesta Sinfonica de Venezuela, Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra, and Korea’s Cheongju Symphony Orchestra. She has performed recitals at the Cerritos Center for the Arts, the Alys Stephens Center for the Performing Arts, Free For All at Town Hall, the Shanghai International Music Festival, and Seoul National University. Her most recent recording, Bella Unaccompanied (A.W. Tonegold Records), features works for solo violin by Corigliano, Kevin Puts, Piazzolla, Milstein and J. S. Bach.
A sought-after chamber musician, Ms. Hristova performs frequently with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and at many music festivals including the Young Concert Artists Festivals in Tokyo and Beijing, the Musica Viva Festival in Sydney, Australia, the Grand Teton Festival, the Brevard Music Festival, Music@Menlo, Ravinia’s Steans Institute, the Mainly Mozart Festival, Music from Angel Fire, Chamber Music Northwest, the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, and the Marlboro Music Festival. She has appeared on Garrison Keillor’s A Prairie Home Companion on National Public Radio.
Bella Hristova is the recipient of numerous prizes and awards, including a 2013 Avery Fisher Career Grant, First Prize in the 2009 Young Concert Artists International Auditions, First Prize in the 2007 Michael Hill International Violin Competition in New Zealand, and Laureate of the 2006 International Violin Competition of Indianapolis. She made her New York debut in the Young Concert Artists Series at Merkin Concert Hall and at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, and at the Isabella Gardner Museum in Boston. She was awarded YCA’s Helen Armstrong Violin Fellowship, and for three seasons, she has been honored with the Gordon and Harriet Greenfield Foundation Artist Management Fellowship of YCA.
She also completed a similarly acclaimed CD of solo violin works by the Belgian virtuoso Charles de Bériot (Naxos). Music Web International praised her first recording, “…this disc is an absolute winner… …The musical diversity of these pieces is a delight. None of which would count for much if they were not played with the extraordinary virtuosity and musical maturity of Bella Hristova. … Hristova combines jaw-dropping technical prowess with real style.”
Born in Pleven, Bulgaria to Russian and Bulgarian parents, Ms. Hristova began violin studies at the age of six. At twelve, she participated in master classes with Ruggiero Ricci at the Mozarteum in Salzburg. In 2003, she entered the Curtis Institute of Music, where she worked with Ida Kavafian (YCA Alumna) and studied chamber music with Steven Tenenbom. She received her Artist Diploma with Jaime Laredo at Indiana University in 2010.