Meet Gergana:
I started playing at the age of 5, and now, 20 years later, piano is my passion and a way for me to discover new cultures, traditions and people.
At the age of 10 I was accepted at the National School of Dance and Performing Arts "Dobrin Petkov". After 8 years of intensive musical training, I graduated as a Piano Performance major with honors. During my last year at the National Music school, I was accepted as a full scholarship student at the University of Denver to study Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance. At the same time, I was accepted as a member of the University Honors Program.
While working on my BM degree, I've also been a community leader and activist. During my second year of college I won two PINS (Partners of Scholarships) Projects. The first project is called the "Bulgarian Muzika" - it enriched the music library at the University of Denver with music scores and CDs of the best and most famous Bulgarian classical piano repertoire. The second project took place at the IKIF (International Keyboard Institute and Festival) in New York City. There, for two full weeks, I met and worked intensively with world famous piano artists.
I enjoy teaching as well as playing the piano. In 2009-2010, I was a Morgridge Community Scholar for the project "The Little Pioneers," which I created and implemented. "The Little Pioneers" focused on children of immigrant families who are interested in the universal language of music, and would like to learn an instrument, but haven't had the opportunity.
As a soloist, I've given many recitals in Bulgaria and in the US, and performed master classes with some of the most world famous pianists. In February 2008, I performed the Mendelssohn's First Piano Concerto as a soloist in Colorado Springs with the Pikes Peak Philharmonic. Recently, I've been working on a multimedia project that includes pieces like "Pictures at an Exhibition" by M. Mussorgsky with original paintings that inspired this piece.
Currently, I'm living and working in London, UK and planning on attending the Institute of Educational Research (IOE) for a PhD in Music Education. My future career plans involve helping children of immigrant, underserved and low-income families, as well as taking a part of the European Commission of the Arts in the European Union.
I also teach music to mainstream and ASD students and I'm currently involved in number of music inclusion projects across London.