Dr Devorina Gamalova graduated as a solo violinist in 1988 from the State Academy of Music in Sofia under Prof Bojan Letchev
(D Oistrach’s pupil). The same year, she was appointed the leader of the Riesa Symphony Orchestra (currently Neue Elbland Philharmonie) in Germany, a position she held until 1992. She then moved to England for two years’ postgraduate study at the Royal College of Music with the remarkable Russian violinist Prof Grigory Zhislin, whom she assisted from 1999 to 2003. In 1994 she was awarded The Leverhulme Trust Scholarship for a further year of advanced solo studies in viola at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London under Prof David Takeno, and in 2002 she gained her Master’s degree. In 2008 she completed her PhD at London College of Music (TVU) and was awarded the degree outright.

Since 1989, Devorina has worked extensively as a soloist and chamber musician, including performances for recordings, broadcasts and TV productions in Bulgaria, Germany, Italy and England (BBC Radio 3). Between 1995 and 1998, she was also a regular recitalist for Yehudi Menuhin’s Live Music Now! organisation.

She plays now a 1770 Joseph Gagliano violin and performs throughout Europe as a soloist and also as a recitalist with the eminent pianists Prof Roujka Tcharakchieva (Sofia), Peter Rhodes (UK), and Dessislava Atanassova (Vienna).

Dr Gamalova is also very much in demand as a teacher and combines regular teaching at several conservatories in London and Birmingham with masterclasses in UK, Bulgaria and Italy.

Marina Nicolaou

The Russian born Marina Bezmenova-Nicolaou graduated from the Moscow Conservatoire's Specialist Music School at the age of 19. She continued her studies at the Moscow Conservatoire for a further 5 years.   There she studied piano under Prof. Rimma Hananina and musicology under Prof. Yuri Fortunatov and Prof. Yuri Holopov.

In 1991, following her marriage, Marina moved to England. Since then she has been teaching music and piano at the Our Lady of Victories School in South Kensington. She has been organising large-scale musical events there, involving the children in public performances of a shortened version of J. S. Bach’s St Matthew's Passion and other great works.

Marina is one of the conductors of the choir at the Russian Orthodox Cathedral in Knightsbridge. She conducts the choir at services and joins its performances at various venues.