Irena Petkova

Trained in Sofia by Lilly Stefanova at the Pancho Vladigerov State Academy of Music, Irena Petkova made her stage debut as Carmen with the opera in her native Burgas. She has sung at the National Opera in Sofia, including guest appearances as Amneris, in a repertoire drawn from Mozart, Rossini, Bellini and Verdi with Bizet and the twentieth century beside them. Concert and oratorio work and touring seasons have taken her to Greece, Germany, Austria and France, and to Slovenia, where she has appeared with the Maribor opera and its festival. She graduated in 1989 and in 1992 won the Margarita Lilova prize for mezzo-soprano at the Boris Christoff international competition for young opera singers, singing Rosina from Il barbiere di Siviglia. Her concert work extends to the cantata and oratorio repertoire, and she has toured abroad with the Sofia National Opera. Suzuki is among her roles as well, and since 2003 she has also sung with the Slovenian National Theatre in Maribor. With the Plovdiv Philharmonic under Nayden Todorov she recorded a programme of Mozart opera arias for Music Minus One.