Our Team
Ivo Kaltchev
Prizewinner of international piano competitions and a Bösendorfer Concert Artist, Ivo Kaltchev has enjoyed a successful performing career as recitalist, soloist with orchestras, chamber musician and recording artist. “Formidable technique” (England), “possesses the genius of rubato” (France), “distinctive and original” (Russia), "glittering,” (The Washington Post) - these are some of the words which music critics have used to describe Mr. Kaltchev’s artistry. He has performed in musical centers throughout the world, including Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall, Carnegie Weill Recital Hall, the Kennedy Center, China Conservatory (Beijing, China) and the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory. Dr. Kaltchev is recipient of numerous piano pedagogy awards for teaching excellence and has presented lectures, workshops and master classes in Europe, Asia and the U. S.
Dr. Kaltchev’s students have won more than 70 prizes at international and national piano competitions and have been accepted for graduate and undergraduate piano studies at Juilliard, Peabody, Eastman, Manhattan, San Francisco, Indiana, Northwestern, Mannes, SUNY Stony Brook, and other leading universities and schools of music in the U.S.
Dr. Kaltchev is Professor of Piano and Head of the Piano Area at the Catholic University of America in Washington D.C. He is Artistic Co-Director of the Lancaster International Piano Festival (www.lancasterpianofest.com).
Jeni Maneva
Jeni Maneva received her Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Piano Performance from the West Virginia University. She also holds Master’s degree in Piano Performance from the University of Maine, and Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Music Education and Piano Performance from the National Academy for Music and Dance in her native Plovdiv, Bulgaria.
Dr. Maneva’s performing experience includes numerous solo and chamber music appearances in the United States and Europe. She has played piano concerts with the University of Maine and West Virginia University. She has performed at the Corcoran Gallery and Library of Congress, Washington, DC; Lyceum Museum, Alexandria, VA; Rosslyn Spectrum, Arlington, VA, Embassy of Bulgaria; and in Bulgaria, Greece, and Germany.
Dr. Maneva has taught at the Peabody Preparatory Division at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, the University of Maine, the West Virginia University, and Garrison Forest and Bryn Mawr Schools in Baltimore, MD.
Jeni Maneva published her first bookThe Solo Piano Version of Maurice Ravel's La Valse: Historical Context, Structure, Harmony, and Challenges for Interpretation in the Solo Piano Versionwas in 2009 by the German publisherVDM Verlag Dr. Müllerand.