TCHAIKOVSKY, Pyotr Ilich (1840-93); RUS [all files] Piano Concerto No.2 in G, Op.44 G.Vracheva, Piano Ermitage Orchestra St. Petersburg S.Sondezkis, Conductor 1.Allegro brillante [25:59 · 23.8M] 2.Andante non troppo [16:45 · 15.3M] 3.Allegro con fuoco [11:37 · 10.6M]

Galina Vracheva

Galina Vracheva was born in Bulgaria and began her musical education at the age of seven at the Public Conservatory in Sofia. She studied at the Moscow Conservatory for five years, and then continued her studies at the Public Conservatory of Sofia and the Academy of Music in Munich, where she also studied Composition. Professors Vera Gornostaeva, Lili Atanassova, and Ludwig Hoffmann are among her teachers.

Vracheva has won awards at international piano competitions, including the Senigallia (Italy, 1978) and the Maria Canals de Barcelona, where she was First Prizewinner (1984).

She performs throughout the world and appears regularly at international music festivals; her improvised concerto cadenzas receive special note from the public and press. In 1999, she performed a recital for the members of the United Nations in New York; the concert was a gift to the United Nations from the Bulgarian government. In September 2000, she opened the Moscow Concert Season in a performance of Beethoven's 5th Piano Concerto under the baton of Vladimir Fedoseev.

Vracheva has taught at the Höchschule fur Musik in Munich and was Professor of Piano Improvisation at the Kiev Conservatory. She has been a jury member of numerous competitions, including the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow and the Rachmaninov Competition in Tambov (Russia).

Presently living in Switzerland, Galina Vracheva has made recordings for both radio and television. CDs include performances of Beethoven's piano concerti with improvised cadenzas with the Chamber Orchestra of Kiev, Roman Kofman conducting, as well as Schumann's Fantasie, Op.17 and Tchaikovsky's 2nd Piano Concerto.