Bella Hristova

Violinist Bella Hristova has appeared widely in the U.S. and beyond since completing stints in two major artist development programs. She has commissioned new music from several major composers. Hristova was born on December 28, 1985, in Pleven, Bulgaria. Her parents were of Bulgarian and Russian background. Hristova began violin studies at age six. At 12, she traveled to the Mozarteum University in Salzburg, Austria, for studies with Ruggiero Ricci. In 2003, she moved to the U.S. and enrolled at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, studying with Ida Kavafian and Steven Tenenbom. Hristova went on to Indiana University, where she studied with Jaime Laredo and earned an artist diploma in 2010. During her student years, she frequently appeared on the U.S. variety radio show A Prairie Home Companion. Hristova made her recording debut on the Naxos label in 2009 with an album of solo violin works by Charles-Auguste de Bériot. Hristova has appeared widely in the U.S., performing with such ensembles as the Buffalo Philharmonic, the Fort Worth Symphony, and the Milwaukee Symphony. She has also appeared abroad with the Asturias Symphony Orchestra in Spain, the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Canada, and the Cheongju Symphony Orchestra in South Korea. Married to composer David Serkin Ludwig, she has commissioned new works from him and from various other contemporary figures, including Joan Tower and Nokuthula Ngwenyama. Her repertory includes the violin concerto of Wynton Marsalis, which she performed during the 2023-2024 season with the Charleston Symphony in South Carolina and the Eugene Philharmonic in Oregon. Hristova released several albums in New Zealand, including complete cycles of the Beethoven and Brahms violin sonatas. In 2023, she was heard on the Beau Fleuve album Echoes of Eastern Europe with JoAnn Falletta and the Buffalo Philharmonic.
© James Manheim /TiVo