Vanya Milanova

Paganini's twenty-four Caprices had been recorded many times before Vanya Milanova set them down for the Norwegian label Simax in 1985, but no woman had recorded the complete set. Born in Razgrad in 1954 and taught first by Yordan Yordanov — she was paid for a concert at six — she went on to the music school in Sofia, to Peter Arnaudov at the State Music Academy, and to Yfrah Neaman at the Guildhall School in London. The competitions came early: the Grand Prix at the Kocian, a laureate's place at the Queen Elisabeth in 1971, third prize at the Paganini in 1973 and joint third at the Tchaikovsky in 1974, on whose jury she sat in 1994. She has played in the Royal Albert Hall, the Wigmore Hall and the Royal Opera House and with orchestras in Europe, South America and South Africa, with Tamás Vásáry and Jonathan Dunsby among her partners at the keyboard, and has recorded for the BBC and for Norwegian and Italian labels. She has given masterclasses at the Sasha Popov academy in Rousse since 1991 and has been professor of violin at Bilkent University in Ankara since 2003. On 24 March 2003 she appeared as soloist in Rousse, in a performance given there by the State Opera Plovdiv.