Albena Danailova was born in Sofia and studied violin at the Rostock University of Music and Theatre and in Hamburg with Petru Munteanu. She augmented her studies through masterclasses with artists including Ida Haendel and Herman Krebbers. After her graduation, she was engaged as a second violin in the Bavarian State Orchestra, advancing to become the leader of the first violins, and first concert master. During the 2003/04 season she held the same position in the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Since September 2008 she is concert master of the Vienna State Opera Orchestra.
Albena Danailova has been a prize-winner in numerous competitions, and was a semi-finalist in the renowned Moscow Tchaikovsky Competition. As a soloist and chamber musician she gives concerts regularly in Bulgaria, Germany, Japan, Israel and the USA. She has performed with orchestras including the Vienna Philharmonic, the NHK Symphony Orchestra in Tokyo and the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra, under leading conductors such as Seiji Ozawa, Georges Prêtre, Andris Nelsons and Jesús López Cobos.
Albena Danailova has recorded for Deutschlandradio Kultur, the Norddeutscher Rundfunk (North German Radio), and for television and radio in her home country.
Since 2020 she is a professor at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna.
She plays a Stradivarius ‘Ex-Haemmerle’ from the collection of the Austrian National Bank.
