Nikolay Petkov

Nikolay Petkov was born into a famous family of musicians in Plovdiv (Bulgaria) where he started learning piano with Stella Osslekova at the age of four. His formal education started in 1988 with Stella Osslekova at the music high school "Dobrin Petkov" in Plovdiv, and with Prof. Georgi Kanev, Prof. Milena Mollova and Miroslava Serafimova-Manolova. In 1995, he became the youngest student at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna where he studied with Prof. Noel Flores and Prof. Stefan Arnold.

Nikolay is the recipient of numerous grants and prizes at competitions and foundations. He has given recitals and performed both as a soloist with orchestra and as a chamber musician in prestigious halls such as the Musikverein, the Konzerthaus etc. He is juror in composition and piano competitions.

Mr. Petkov has worked with famous musicians such as Roby Lakatos, Reneé Fleming, Ferhan und Ferzan Önder, Eitetsu Hayashi & Taiko-Ensemble, John Patitucci, Anne Sofie von Otter, Alison Balsom, Rudolf Buchbinder, Mnozil Brass, Jörg Demus, Frank Strobel, Carl Kraayenhof, Rossen Gergov, Kristjan Järvi, Andrés Orozco-Estrada, Krzysztof Urbański, Julia Jones, Michail Jurowski among others.

He is a member of Ensemble "VENIA", GK Film Orchestra and founding member of the ensemble "eNikMa". Recordings with the BNR, the BNT, the ORF and with H.S. Records.

Mariam Petkova

Mariam Petkova was born in Yerevan (Armenia) where she started to study violin at the "P. I. Tchaikovsky" Music School at the age of six. Further studies followed at the State Conservatory "Komitas" with Prof. Bagrat Vardanyan and at the University for Music and Performing Arts in Vienna with Prof. Gerald Schubert where she graduated with honors. During the course of her studies, she attended master classes with Vladimir Spivakov, Hubert Kroisamer, Dimitri Leivici, Rainer Küchl, Volkhard Steude and Werner Hink. Mariam Petkova is the recipient of grants from the AGBU Foundation in New York, the Yahubian Foundation in Vienna and the Austrian Ministry for Education, Arts and Culture.

At the age of 9 already, she was a member of the Armenian Youth National Orchestra. She gathered further orchestral experience with the Chamber Orchestra Serenade, the Verbier Festival Youth Orchestra, the Lower Austrian "Tonkünstler" Orchestra and the Radio Symphony Orchestra in Vienna. She regularly substituted and fulfilled temporary contracts with the Vienna State Opera Orchestra and the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra before accepting a full-time position with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra in 2009.

As soloist and chamber musician, she has performed in over 30 countries and in prestigious halls such as the Musikverein, the Konzerthaus, the Carnegy Hall etc. Her varied musical activities have given Mariam Petkova the opportunity to work with such renowned musicians as Riccardo Muti, Zubin Mehta, Pierre Boulez, Daniel Barenboim, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Gustavo Dudamel and Placido Domingo among others. She has also cooperated with the Armenian composers Aleksander Arutyunian and Edward Mirzoyan. Mariam Petkova is a member of Ensemble "VENIA" and a founding member of the ensemble "eNikMa".