Joanna Kamenarska

JOANNA KAMENARSKA is among the most outstanding Bulgarian violinists. Born in Sofia, she began studying violin at the age of 5 - first with Joakim Atanasov at the Lubomir Pipkov National School of Music, and at the age of 12 she was admitted to the class of Prof. Josif Radionov. She continued her studies with the world-famous violinists Ruggiero Ricci and Igor Ozim. She also attended master classes of Igor Oistrakh, Leonidas Kavakos, György Kurtág and others. Alongside this Joanna has won awards and accolades from a number of national and international forums: she was a winner of the 3^rd Prize of the International Mozart Competition Salzburg in January, 2002 and 1^st prize at the Nedyalka Simeonova Competition in Haskovo. She has been the featured soloist with many of the greatest philharmonic orchestras of Europe and Asia, including the Berlin Symphony Orchestra, Berlin Radio Orchestra, Nuremberg Symphony, Polish Chamber Philharmonic, Mozarteum Orchestra of Salzburg, Mozart Chamber Orchestra, Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Hamburg, Hamburger Camerata, Symphoniker Hamburg, Kodaly Philharmonic Debrecen, Goethe Philharmonie, Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, as well as symphony orchestras in Sofia, Rousse and Varna in Bulgaria. Her solo repertoire ranges from Baroque to modern music. She has worked with conductors such as Paul Goodwin, Dennis Russell-Davies, Kálmán Berkes, Tibor Benyi, Pierre Boulez, Lizzie Fuchs, Kent Nagano, Vassil Kazandjiev, Nayden Todorov, Alexander Gordon, Martin Panteleev, to name a few. She is also active as a chamber musician. Irina Georgieva, with whom she released the album "Inizio" (2014) with works by Fauré, Prokofiev and Vieniawski; Moises Fernandez Via, with whom she recorded the album "Landscapes" (2018) with works by Schubert and Rautavaara have been her stage partners over the years. She has also performed with Nadezhda Tabakova-Dimitrova, Simone Young, Karl Leister, Alois Brandhofer, Hermann Baumann, Reinhard Goebel, Radovan Vlatkovic, Michael Martin Kofler, Benjamin Schmid, Lars-Anders Tomter, Quirine Viersen, Vladimir Mendelssohn, Dmytro Czoni, Atanas Krastev and many others. She is a lecturer at the Hamburg University of Music and Theatre and gives masterclasses in Europe and Asia. One of the undisputed highlights of her professional development is the position of the first female concertmaster in the history of the of Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Hamburg. In 2021 she worked extensively with the Hamburger Camerata, of which she was soloist and concertmaster in conductorless concerts. Joanna Kamenarska plays an instrument by Lorenzo Guadagnini ("Ex-Flesh") from 1740 (courtesy of a private collection). She also owns a present-day violin made by luthier Vladimir Tilev.