Biography
Maria Kiosseva was born in Sofia / Bulgaria and received her first piano lesson at the age of 5 at the National school of music in her hown town, which she graduated with the highest honours, the National Certificate of the Ministry of Education. She graduated with honours her Master piano degree and her Master composition degree at the Academies of Music in Sofia and Trossingen as well as a specialization for song interpretation at the Academy of Music in Stuttgart (song class of Prof. Cornelis Witthoefft). Maria Kiosseva took part in master courses of Solomon Mikovsky, Karl-Heinz Kämmerling, Tamara Poddubnaya, Charles Spencer etc.
The pianist has won over 15 prizes from competitions in Bulgaria, Germany, Italy and France, including first prize at “Val Tidone” piano competition in Italy, first prize at “Max Reger” song competition (duo voice and piano) in Weiden, first prize at “Swiss music” chamber music competition in Sofia (duo violin and piano), special prize “best pianist” at "Paula Salomon Lindberg" song competition in Berlin and special prize “best piano accompaniment” (duo oboe and piano) at international competition Dobrich. She has received scholarships from Richard Wagner Union, “Yehudi Menuhin Live Music Now” Stuttgart, DAAD and British Council - Sofia.
Maria Kiosseva has performed at different concerts and festivals (also as a solo pianist with an orchestra, e.g. at the Castle of Ludwigsburg
2012, "Pushkin Theater" Jevpatoria 2012, Novi Jicin Theater 2014, Forum Ludwigsburg 2014 and 2015, Bunka Kaikan Tokyo 2015) in Austria, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, the
Netherlands, Switzerland, Ukraine and the USA, where she has performed as a solo pianist at Carnegie Hall, New York. As a song pianist she has also played at Wigmore Hall (London) and the
Mongolian State Opera in Ulan Bator. As a part of different duo- and trio ansembles, she can be heard at chamber music concerts too. She has made recordings for the National television and radio
in Bulgaria, "3 SAT" TV (Germany), “Bayerischer Rundfunk” (Germany), “Plush music" TV (UK), Radio “Classic FM”, Radio “Alma Mater” as well as for different CD productions.
She has been teaching at the Academy of Music in Stuttgart since 2008. As a ballet pianist, she has been working together with the Royal Ballet
Covent Garden (London), Dutch National Ballet (Amsterdam), Hubbard Street Dance Chicago and the Stuttgart Ballet, with whom she has been on tours in England, Thailand, Singapore,China, South
Korea and Japan.