Marina Staneva

Pianist Marina Staneva was designated a Young Steinway Arts in 2020. Partly trained in Britain, she has launched her career there and has been signed to the Chandos label. Staneva grew up in Bulgaria, and prior to beginning first grade, she was enrolled in an after-school music class. The students had to pick an instrument, and her family told her to choose the accordion because that was the only instrument they had at home. However, Staneva answered "piano" when asked what instrument she wanted to play. In 2011, Staneva matriculated at the Pancho Vladigerov National Academy of Music in Sofia. She studied with Stella Dimitrova-Maystorova and Iliya Chernaev and graduated in 2015. Staneva moved to Britain for further studies, earning a master's degree from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in 2017 and an advanced diploma from the same school the following year. She then received a Junior Fellowship from the school. Her principal teachers were Philip Jenkins, Pamela Lidiard, and Alisdair Hogarth; she considers the latter her mentor. In 2019, she won the Sam Hutchings Piano Prize, and the following year, she was named a Young Steinway Artist. Staneva made her recording debut in 2019 on the album A Love Letter to Liverpool. She has appeared as a soloist and collaborative pianist at major venues in London, including Wigmore Hall, Barbican Hall, the Royal Opera House, and multiple times at the Milton Court Concert Hall. She has also performed with the Liverpool Philharmonic and appeared on the Classic FM radio network. Staneva has been a familiar sight at festivals not only in Britain but abroad, including the Lichfield Festival, the London Contemporary Festival, several Italian events, and Varna Summer in Bulgaria. Signed to Chandos, Staneva released the album Slavic Roots: Vladigerov, Tabakova in 2022. She followed that up in 2023 with an album of works by Federico Mompou.
© James Manheim /TiVo