Dora Dimitrova - violin

Praised for her versatility and emotionally moving performances, Bulgarian violinist, Dora Dimitrova lives a multi faceted career as a concertmaster, soloist, chamber musician and music educator. Dimitrova has performed in venues such as Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center in New York, Rudolfinum – Dvorak Hall in Prague, and The Royal Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. She has shared the stage with world renowned musicians such as Kurt Masur, Carl St. Clair, Gustav Meyer, the Emerson String Quartet, Augustin Hadelich, and Yoel Gumzou.

From 2016 to 2019, Dora worked with the Princeton Symphony Orchestra in New Jersey, where she was regularly invited as guest Concertmaster. She has been a member of the Symphony in C in New Jersey and the Tsenov Chamber Ensemble in New York. The violinist has performed with ensembles such as the International Mahler Orchestra in Berlin, the RTV Slovenia Symphony Orchestra in Ljubljana, the New York Symphonic Ensemble, and many others. In 2018, she became part of the musical ensemble for the Broadway musical "Hello Dolly!" staged at the Shubert Theatre in New York. Dimitrova also served as Concertmaster for the rock opera "Excalibur – The Celtic Rock Opera" in Germany and for the grand equestrian show "Cavallo Classico" in Munich.

In the summer of 2019, Dora left New York and returned to her hometown of Sofia. Currently Dimitrova is Concertmaster of the New Symphony Orchestra (Sofia), Assistant-Concertmaster of the Bulgarian National Radio Symphony Orchestra and violin instructor at the Anglo-American School in Sofia. Dimitrova actively performs on the Bulgarian chamber music scene, participating in festivals such as “Off The Beaten Path" and "180 Degrees”, and the chamber music concerts of New Symphony Orchestra and Art&Shock ensembles. Dora regularly collaborates with the Sofia Session Orchestra and Choir, where she recorded the solo for "Rhapsody for Violin and Orchestra" (2016) by American composer Jeremy Beck in December 2019. Dimitrova has been a soloist with various orchestras, including the New Symphony Orchestra, Pazardzhik Symphony Orchestra, and Baroquelyn in New York.

A fourth generation professional musician, Dora began her musical journey at the age of five. By the age of 17, she was a laureate of numerous competitions, including Young Virtuosos International Competition, the IV International Competition for the Performance of German and Austrian Music in Burgas, Young Musical Talents in Sofia, and the Concertino Praga International Competition in the Czech Republic. At 19, she won the position Concertmaster of the New Symphony Orchestra.

Dora holds Master's and Doctorate degrees in Violin Performance from Stony Brook University in New York and Bachelor’s degree in Violin Performance from the Bulgarian National Academy of Music "Pantcho Vladigerov”. Her teachers include Prof. Dora Ivanova, Soovin Kim, Prof. Hagai Shaham, Jennifer Frautschi, Arnaud Sussmann, Philip Setzer, Prof. Ginka Gichkova and Milena Valeva, Dora studied chamber music with the internationally acclaimed Emerson String Quartet.