Varga Trio was created in 2021 by Erika Varga (clarinet), Julia Pleninger (piano) and Valentina Dubrovina (cello) in Zurich. Varga Trio is standing at the beginning of its musical carrier and already by the end of 2021 got the 1st Price in the Danubia Talents International Music Competition and Festival.
Their passion for music and knowledge makes their programs interesting and always special.
Varga Trio has its interest not only in well-known classical repertoire but also in finding new repertoire in forgotten pieces, making arrangements, learning new contemporary music.
Erika Varga began her studies at the Bartók Bela Music School in Mako as a student at the Jozsef Attila High School, specializing in English and mathematics. Her mentors were Jozsef Csikota and Gyula Gyenge. She showed great talent in music and decided to focus on a career in music after graduating from high school in 2015.
She studied at the Bartók Bela Conservatory in Bekeščáb for a year before starting university in 2016. In 2014, Erika won an interdisciplinary prize at the Bolyai Institute competition at the University of Szeged for her work "Music belongs to everyone, even mathematicians!" During these years, she also began attending competitions and was an immediate success: in 2014 and 2015, she won second place at the FEMUS International Woodwind Competition, and in 2016, she won first place. The same year she won first prize at the Euroregional Woodwind Festival in Timisoara, Romania. In 2016, Erika started her postgraduate studies at the Ferenc Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest with Professors István Varga and Balázs Rumi. She is a regular member of the Academy Symphony Orchestra projects as a clarinetist, where she also demonstrates her talents on E-flat clarinet. They regularly perform in the Grand Hall with such prestigious conductors as Adam Fischer, Dennis Russell Davies, and many others. Erika has performed in the Czech Republic as principal clarinetist with the Szeged University Orchestra at the WASBE Conference. She has also been invited several times to play with the Budapest Concert Orchestra, the UMZE Ensemble, Collegium Novum Zurich, the Zurich Symphony Orchestra, and the Alba Regia Symphony Orchestra. As an active soloist and chamber musician, Erika has performed concerts throughout Hungary, Belgium, and the Czech Republic. Erika Varga has a strong desire to perform all musical works in the finest quality and achieves this aspiration through well-planned practice sessions and the constant pursuit of goal-oriented excellence, especially when learning new pieces or developing techniques of performance.
Valentina Dubrovina was born in a musical family in 1992 in Grozny, Russia. She studied in the famous special music school by Saint Petersburg Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatory and after graduation, she entered the Conservatory.
In 2014 Valentina moved to Switzerland, Basel to study in the class of Professor Ivan Monighetti and Sol Gabetta and since then finished three Master's degrees in the Hochschule für Musik in Basel and the University of Arts (ZHdK) in Zurich. As a cellist, Valentina had the opportunity to take master classes from great musicians of our time:
Ivan Monighetti, David Geringas, Sir András Schiff, Martti Rousi, Alexander Rudin, and others. She has participated in courses and concerts at the Kronberg Academy, Lichtenstein Music Academy, St. Petersburg House of Music, Interlaken Classic, Cellomania in Dresden, Menuhin Festival in Gstaad, Chamber Circle in Lucerne, Cello Biennale in Amsterdam, and many others. n 2021, the Varga Trio began their musical journey and at the end of the year, the Varga Trio won First Prize at the Danubia Talents music competition. The Varga Trio continues its concert activities in Switzerland, Germany, and Italy.
Valentina plays in various orchestras such as the Lugano Orchestra Della Svizzera Italiana, Schaffhausen Sinfonietta, Camerata Schweiz. Camerata Basilea, Zakhar Bron Orchestra, Citylight Concerts, YES Chamber Orchestra.
She also collaborates with the great Argentinian violinist Daniel Zisman, pianist Kamila Davletova, violinist Irina Pak and More than Classic, and is part of the large "Musik-Spitex" project.
Today, Valentina plays the cello of an unknown maker, made around 1760 in Mittenwald.
Julia Pleninger is currently studying the Master Performance at the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK) in the class of Prof. Hans-Jürg Strub. Between 2009 and 2017 she was a student of Prof. Grigory Gruzman at the Musikgymnasium Schloss Belvedere in Weimar and had many concert performances throughout Germany and abroad as a soloist, in various chamber music settings, or with an orchestra. She was a prize winner at national and international competitions. In 2014 Julia received the sponsorship award of the Volksbank Hochrhein Foundation and in the same year was honored for her musical achievements by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation. With the Hindemith Chamber Music Group, they performed at the Berlin Philharmonie for the Lunch Concert and won the "Classical Modern" category of the Berthold Hummel Foundation in 2015. In February 2016, she won the Rotary Youth Music Award in Lindau. She has been a scholarship holder of the Volksbank Hochrhein Foundation since 2018 and completed her Bachelor's degree at the ZHdK in 2020. Julia is a passionate pianist, devoted and always innovative as a soloist and chamber musician.
