Katia Popov
violin
Katia Popov is a first prize winner of the International Svetoslav Obretanov competition, the International Kozian violin competition and the International Competition for Russian Music.
Katia graduated from the Bulgarian Conservatory of Music with honors. While pursuing her master’s degree in Performance at the National Academy of Music in Sofia, she served as concertmaster of the Sofia Chamber Orchestra and the Academy of Music Chamber Orchestra.
While continuing her studies at the Paris Conservatory under Professor Nell Goutkovsky, Katia was the concertmaster of the Orchestre Symphonique d’Europe (ESO), a vibrant and young orchestra comprised of talented musicians from every country in united Europe. As soloist and concertmaster with the ESO, Katia performed for European prime ministers and the royal families of Spain, Belgium and the Netherlands.
After moving to Los Angeles, Katia received her master’s degree and concluded her doctoral studies at UCLA under Professor Alexander Treger. She has participated in solo and chamber music master classes with Tibor Varga, Vladimir Spivakov and Iona Brown, and has performed at the Bach Music Festival in Oregon, the Mozart Festival in Salzburg with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Brahms Music Festival in Tours, France. Katia has performed numerous times with the Los Angeles Philharmonic under such conductors as Esa-Pekka Salonen, Sir Simon Rattel and Zubin Mehta. Katia won the audition to join the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra in 1990.
Katia is an avid chamber music performer and is the founder of the Lyric Arts Chamber Players. She is also a founding member of the award-winning California String Quartet, and since 2002, has served as music director of the Quartet’s Musical Sunday Afternoons.
Active in the Hollywood studios, Katia has worked on more than 600 motion picture and television soundtracks. She has performed Michael Daugherty’s violin concerto Fire and Blood to great acclaim, and is frequently invited to perform as soloist with orchestras in Southern California and Europe.
In March 2009, Katia was chosen to perform as concertmaster of the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra. The 2009 summer season includes collaborations with such artists as Kiri Te Kanawa, Andrea Bocelli, David Newman, Thomas Wilkins and David Campbell, among others. Katia also holds a principal position with the Long Beach Symphony.
Katia lives in Los Angeles with her husband, Peter, and their daughter, Irina, son Alexander and Yorkie, Zip.
