About the Artists

Acclaimed violinist Bella Hristova is an Avery Fisher Career Grant recipient. She has won First Prize in the Michael Hill International Violin Competition, First Prize in the Young Concert Artists International Auditions, and is a Laureate of the International Violin Competition of Indianapolis. Hristova has performed extensively as a soloist with orchestras across the United States, Asia, Europe, Latin America and New Zealand. In addition to her many appearances with orchestras, Hristova has performed recitals at Carnegie Hall, Merkin Concert Hall, the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, and Boston’s Isabella Gardner Museum, and performs frequently with The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. A champion of music by living composers, Hristova has commissioned composers including Nokuthula Ngwenyama, Joan Tower, and Ellen Taaffe Zwilich. Hristova was the featured soloist for a consortium of eight major orchestras for a new concerto commission written for her by her husband, composer David Serkin Ludwig. Most recently, Hristova recorded Ludwig’s violin concerto with JoAnn Falletta and the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra. Hristova began violin studies at the age of six in her native Bulgaria. She later studied with Ida Kavafian at the Curtis Institute of Music, and received her Artist Diploma studying with Jaime Laredo at Indiana University. She plays on a 1655 Nicolo Amati violin and lives in New York City with her husband David and their four beloved cats.