Валерия Мирчева

The Plovdiv Philharmonic's concerts on its home ground in the city have had Valeria Mircheva as a soloist from 2001, in programmes alongside Alexander Krunev, Elena Tchavdarova-Issa and George Devedjiev. Mircheva was born in Plovdiv on 21 August 1954 into a family of singers from the city's opera. She finished the music school in Plovdiv and took first prize and the gold medal, with the special prize of Czech radio and television, at the Antonín Dvořák competition in Karlovy Vary in 1973, then studied with Ilia Yosifov at the Bulgarian State Conservatory and took a masterclass in opera singing, acting and chamber music. First prize and the gold medal at Young Opera Hopes in Skopje followed in 1978, and in 1980 she was admitted to the Tchaikovsky competition in Moscow, where she placed sixth. She sang at the Rousse opera from 1979 to 1981 and from 1981 was a soloist of the Plovdiv opera, the mezzo-soprano adding Carmen, Azucena, Eboli, Amneris, Fenena, Ulrica, Marina Mnishek, Olga and Isabella.