zabel Markova was born in 1997 in Sofia, Bulgaria. At the age of eleven she entered the National School of Music in Sofia, Bulgaria, studying viola in the class of prof. Stefan Jilkov. During her studies she received prizes at international viola competitions such as the first prize and the EMCY prize from the International Competition “Young Virtuosos” – Sofia, as well as many others.
In 2015 Izabel was accepted at the Haute Ecole de Musique de Lausanne in the viola class of Prof. Alexander Gordon (Zemtsov), where she successfully graduated with Bachelor and Master Soloist degrees. In 2017 she was awarded the Special Prize from the “Blatow” Foundation at the Anton Rubinstein Viola Competition in Dusseldorf.
At 19 years old she made a very significant step towards her professional career becoming a substitute violist in the esteemed Zurich Opernhaus. At only 21 years of age, she went on to win the permanent position, becoming one of the youngest members in the orchestra. She is also invited as a replacement violist to join orchestras such as Luxembourg Philharmonic, Orchestra de Suisse Romande, Musikkollegium Winterthur, Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, Gstaad Festival Orchestra, Camerata Venia Orchestra, United Strings of Europe, Camerata Nordica and others.
In 2022, Izabel became the only violist to have won the Schenk Foundation Soloistwettweberb and was invited to perform as a soloist with Argovia Philharmonic, after which she also won the special prize given by the orchestra for best collaborative work. Her chamber music experience includes concerts and festivals with world renowned musicians including Misha Maisky (Musica Mundi Festival, Belgium), Pavel Vernikov, Svetlana Makarova, Henri Demarquette, Alexander Zemtsov, Boris Garlitsky (Villa Musica festival), Aleksey Semenenko, Marko Ÿlonen and others.
She is also expanding her horizons by becoming the Production Coordinator for the Finnish organization LEAD!Foundation and its festival Fiskars Summer Festival, founded by Jukka-Pekka Saraste.
Source: https://zermattfestival.com/en/artistes/izabel-markova-2/