Born in Sofia, DANIELA DIKOVA graduated from Prof. Lili Atanasova’s class at the Bulgarian State Conservatory, where she later completed a specialization in chamber music and collaborative piano. She has participated as an accompanist at international competitions such as the “Belvedere” in Vienna, the “Tchaikovsky” in Moscow, and many others. From 1985 to 1993 she was the staff pianist for Prof. Petko Radev’s clarinet class at the National Music Academy in Sofia, and from 1988 she has served in the same capacity for the Academy’s violin department. Her extensive chamber music experience includes performances with various chamber ensemble partners, including Petko Radev and violinist Ginka Gichkova. After many years of duo collaboration with the American cellist Geoffrey Dean, she founded the Ardenza Trio in 2005. She has made numerous recordings for Bulgarian National Radio and Television, and has concertized in Italy, Germany, France, Switzerland, Austria, Korea, and other countries.

GALINA KOYCHEVA was born in Varna, where she graduated from the Dobri Hristov Secondary Music School.  During the period 1999-2004 she studied with Prof. Ginka Gichkova at the National Music Academy in Sofia and earned top prizes in a series of national and international competitions, including “Svetoslav Obretenov,” “Music and Earth,” “Pancho Vladigerov” (2002), “Dobrin Petkov (2002), and “Musicians of the New Мillennium” (2004). In 2004 she was chosen as the concertmaster of the Philharmonie Junge Donau in Germany. As soloist she has performed with the Varna and Shumen Philharmonics, and recorded for Bulgarian National Radio and Television. Over the last decade she has concertized in Cyprus, Korea, Russia, Finland, Slovenia, Poland, Czech Republic, and Pakistan as a member of the Lot Lorien ethnorock group. From 2005 she has served as the concertmaster of the Symphony Orchestra of the Bulgarian National Radio.

The American cellist GEOFFREY DEAN has lived in Bulgaria since 1991, when he became a founding music faculty member at the American University in Bulgaria. As a member of such chamber ensembles as the Dimov Quartet (1997-2002), Sofia Quartet (2002-), and Ardenza Trio (2005-), he performs regularly throughout Europe and the United States. As a soloist he has appeared with the orchestras of Sofia, Plovdiv, Pazardzhik, Shumen, and Nish. His interpretations have been recorded by Bulgarian National Radio and Television, Deutscheslandfunk in Germany, and PBS in the US. From 2001 he is in residence each summer at the Killington Music Festival, where he is currently Dean of Students. As the Artistic Director of American Music Week in Bulgaria and the AmBul Festival since 1998, he has introduced hundreds of new American works to Sofia audiences.