It is very difficult to make a brief description of what Bulgarian pianist Pavlina Dokovska did in her rich music career. She managed to hold a series of concerts and her discography is quite impressive. Moreover, Pavlina held multiple master classes and was a jury member at many large international music contests. Mrs. Dokovska also heads the piano departments at Mannes College the New School for Music. She also founded three music festivals in the USA and still works as artistic director at two of those festivals - Mannes Festival and Southwest Virginia Festival for Arts. The third one is named The Musical Treasures from Bulgaria and is held each year at Carnegie Hall, New York.

Professor Dokovska established the music festival in Mannes, in order to broaden the scope of her students and of all people who studied at that prestigious school.

“The first music festival in Mannes was held in 1999 and was dedicated to Chopin's music. For the first time the full collection of works and not just the most popular pieces of the celebrated Polish composer (including piano pieces, chamber music and songs) were performed in the USA. The music festival in Mannes is held each year and has been constantly developing through the years. Southwest Virginia Festival has been held with a symphony orchestra in different regions of Virginia since 1995. I have the biggest master class in Mannes which consists of 20 talented students. By the way, one of my students reached the semifinal of Tchaikovsky music contest in 2015. I have students from the USA, Russia, Poland, Japan, Korea, China, Mexico, etc. They represent different cultures and learn a lot from one another. Some of them already managed to make a solo career. I am happy to communicate with them and our lessons are quite intensive. I also work individually with all members of the master class, so they can show their best.”

Pavlina Dokovska studied in the classes of legendary Bulgarian music pedagogue Lidia Kuteva at the National School of Music. Later, she studied in the classes of Julia and Konstantin Ganevi at the National Academy of Music. Pavlina is a first prize winner of the International Piano Competition Claude Debussy in France. She received a state scholarship in France which allowed her to study in the classes of renowned musician Yvonne Lefébure in Paris. Pavlina Dokovska also got a Master of Music degree from Juilliard School.

Pavlina met with world famous Bulgarian basso Nicolay Ghiaurov when she studied at Juilliard School. Ten years later she recorded with him the Russian Romances album. “My cooperation and friendship with Nicolai Ghiaurov and Italian opera soprano Mirella Freni left a permanent mark on my music career”, Pavlina says.

Professor Dokovska is a laureate of many prestigious international music awards. Here is what she told Radio Bulgaria about the main principles in her pedagogic activity:

“Professors have different concepts and work with students their own way. My personal conviction is that the work with the personality must not go separately from the work with the pianist. There is a lot of psychology in our profession. We must know our students well, in order to help them develop their music skills. The task of each pedagogue is to form a happy and self-confident personality. Our task is not only to teach them play brilliantly. We also have the task to create artists who take active part in society. They must be also generous and good people. I believe that the moral of the musicians must be formed during the working process. I continue with my concert and festival activities, although I have many other duties. I am in close connection with Lyubomir Pipkov National School of Music, because I am a product of that music school. I established a scholarship which carries the name of my favorite teacher Lidia Kuteva. This is not only a way to express my gratitude to her, but it is also a mission, because I want the young music generation to remember her name. Besides, I owe a lot to the National School of Music for what I am now. I am happy that things go well in that school and that it is headed by Milka Miteva. I am aware with the fact that money spent on culture in Bulgaria is meager. However, Milka manages to work well in those conditions, to develop the school infrastructure and provide various opportunities to her pupils. I am happy to see that Bulgarian children are overwhelmed with passion for music.”

English version: Kostadin Atanasov