Margarita Kalcheva

Bulgarian double bassist Margarita Kalcheva was born in Pleven. She began studying the double bass at music high school with Irina Petrova and earned her Bachelor of Music in Performance at the National Academy of Music in Sofia, as a student of Prof. Todor Toshev. She also attended masterclasses with Prof. Victor Chuchkov and Michel Veillon.

Since 1998 she has been principal double bass of the Bulgarian National Radio Symphony Orchestra, and since 2009 she has also performed with Orchestra Ensemble Kanazawa in Japan. She has built an international career as a soloist, chamber musician and orchestral player, and is a member of the 5/4 Tango Ensemble. Her repertoire ranges from Bottesini, Dittersdorf and Koussevitzky to Tchaikovsky, Goleminov and Tabakov. She has made numerous recordings and premieres, including a solo concert in Japan in 2012, Tchaikovsky’s Variations on a Rococo Theme, Marin Goleminov’s Double Bass Concerto and Ennio Morricone’s “Bravissimo”.

As well as performing, Kalcheva has been closely involved with FAME’S Institute since 2023. She first came as mentor in residence, coaching the orchestra for the Europe Day concert in Bitola and leading the Recording Masterclass, where students recorded solo and ensemble pieces and learned about concentration, editing and mixing. She has returned many times since. With the 5/4 Tango Ensemble she mentored the orchestra in Piazzolla’s Four Seasons of Buenos Aires for a concert in Sofia, and with Joaquim Badia she co-led a recording workshop on production, editing and post-production. Working alongside Rusanda Panfili, and later Stoyan Karaivanov and Vesko Eschkenazy, she led the sectional rehearsals for the Institute’s tango programmes, building the players’ rhythmic precision and phrasing.