On the eve of Valentine’s Day, the Dimitar Georgiev Gallery invited our eminent pianist Raina Petrova. Her performance of “Aria with Variations” /BWV 988/, better known as the “Goldberg Variations”, will be performed in the Grand Hall. The work was commissioned by Count Kaiserling, who patronized the talented musician Johann Gottlieb Goldberg (1727 – 1756), a harpsichord student of Bach. “This concert is an expression of my deep admiration for Bach’s music and his creed Soli Deo Gloria” – said Raina Petrova.

Raina Petrova graduated from the Bulgarian Academy of Music in 1981 with a gold medal. She began working as a choirmaster and pianist in the Plovdiv Boys’ Choir. In 1982, the choir won the Summa cum laude award at an International Competition in Neerpen, Belgium. The ensemble’s concert activity is in Greece – Thessaloniki, Larissa, the island of Kefalonia. In 1986, Raina Petrova participated in the Apollonia Sozopol Festival with the ballet The Little Prince to the music of Ivan Dimov. Since 1989, she has been a full-time pianist in the Department of “Music Pedagogy and Conducting” at the “Prof. Asen Diamandiev” Academy of Music, Dance and Fine Arts – Plovdiv. Her concert activity is impressive in the performance of all ensemble concertos for 2, 3 and 4 pianos by Bach together with Prof. Georgi Petrov, Arno Hovagimyan, Nadezhda Kuzmanova, an integral performance of “Well-Tempered Clavier” together with Georgi Petrova, as well as numerous piano programs dedicated to the music of Heine, Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, Brahms, Schubert, Nikolay Stoykov, Ivan Spasov, etc.