Liya Petrova

Violin

Discography

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“Gorgeous sound — ripe and silvery, phrasing with majestic breadth.”
The Sunday Times

Artist in Residence: Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (2026/27)

Liya Petrova was revealed to the international scene in 2016 when she took First Prize at the Carl Nielsen competition in Denmark, chaired by Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider. Two years later, she recorded Nielsen and Prokofiev’s Concertos No. 1 with Odense Symphony Orchestra and Kristiina Poska for Orchid Classics. This first album earned her international acclaim: London’s Sunday Times admired her “gorgeous sound — ripe and silvery, phrasing with majestic breadth”. Pizzicato in Germany also qualified her sound as “silvery and pure” whilst Gramophone praised her “exceptional tonal variety [in] a marvellous disc”. The Strad was impressed by her “natural virtuosity” while Classical Music magazine found her interpretation of the Nielsen concerto “staggeringly good [and] intensely lyrical”.

As a soloist, Petrova is the guest of orchestras such as the Orchestre de Paris, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg, Antwerp Symphony Orchestra, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Staatskapelle Weimar, Symfonieorkest Vlaanderen, Brussels Philharmonic, Norddeutsche Philharmonie, China National Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, Kansai Philharmonic, Orchestre National de Lyon, Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg, Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo, Orchestre National de Bordeaux, Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire, and Odense Symphony Orchestra. She has worked with conductors such as Elim Chan, Stanislav Kochanovsky, Aziz Shokhakimov, Tan Dun, Pierre Bleuse, Duncan Ward, Martyn Brabbins, Kristiina Poska, Riccardo Minasi, Michael Sanderling, Kirill Karabits, Diego Fasolis, Michael Schønwandt, Philippe Herreweghe, Krzysztof Penderecki, Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider, Alexander Liebreich, Xian Zhang, Ariane Matiakh, Christopher Warren-Green, Michel Tabachnik and Jesús López Cobos. In August 2025 she made a hugely successful debut at the BBC Proms playing Vaughan Williams’ The Lark Ascending with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and Nil Venditti.

She plays chamber music regularly with Alexandre Kantorow, and has performed with many wonderful musicians like Beatrice Rana, Emmanuel Pahud, Pablo Ferrández, Martha Argerich, Nicholas Angellich, Yuri Bashmet, Mischa Maisky, Renaud Capuçon, Augustin Dumay, James Ehnes, Frank Braley, Yuja Wang, Gérard Caussé, Antoine Tamestit, Bruno Philippe, Aurélien Pascal and Gautier Capuçon. Petrova is a regular guest of chamber music festivals like the Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Rheingau Festival, Ludwigsburger Schlossfestspiele, Festival de Pâques d’Aix-en-Provence, La Folle Journée, Festival International de Piano de La Roque d’Anthéron, and Rencontres Musicales d’Evian.

Liya has been recorded for the French label Mirare since 2020. In spring 2025, she presented her latest album, a stunning Korngold and Strauss album featuring the Korngold Concerto with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra under Duncan Ward, and the Strauss sonata with pianist Alexandre Kantorow with huge critical acclaim. Previously, she had released an equally successful Walton-Respighi album with the Royal Philharmonic and Adam Laloum in 2023, a Beethoven-Mozart album with Sinfonia Varsovia in 2021 and a Beethoven-Barber-Britten recital album with pianist Boris Kusnezow in 2020. Earlier, Liya had released a Nielsen and Prokofiev album on Orchid Classics with the Odense Symphony Orchestra and Kristiina Poska. All of her albums received unanimous praise from critics worldwide.

Liya Petrova was born in Bulgaria into a family of musicians and studied with Augustin Dumay at Brussels’ Chapelle Musicale Reine Elisabeth, Antje Weithaas at the Hochschule für Musik Hans Eisler Berlin and Renaud Capuçon at the Haute Ecole de Musique in Lausanne. She now lives in Paris.

Deeply committed to artistic programming and musical curation, Liya founded La Musikfest Parisienne in spring 2020, during the first lockdown. Initially launched at Salle Cortot, the festival quickly gained acclaim and now takes place at the Philharmonie de Paris, under the joint artistic direction of Liya and Alexandre Kantorow. In 2022, she also co-founded the Rencontres Musicales de Nîmes with her close friends Alexandre Kantorow and Aurélien Pascal.

Liya has been based in Paris for many years and plays a Stradivarius violin made in 1721 on loan from a private sponsor, as well as the ‘Consolo’, made in 1733 by Guarneri del Gesù, on loan from the Bulgarian State.