Maria Karakusheva is a Bulgarian-born, classically trained pianist, multi-instrumentalist and composer, who completed her musical education at the Bulgarian National Academy — with a full scholarship. Karakusheva has won first prize at several international piano competitions including UFAM International, Bellaria Festival, Montigny le Bretonnuex and Claude Cannes.
Karakusheva has composed and recorded four albums of her own original compositions, which she has supported with six, self-produced live shows for them. And she has played over 100 solo concerts, including shows at Bulgaria Hall and Paris’ Gaveau Hall.
In her native Bulgaria, Karakusheva has composed the scores for several films, including 2018’s A butterfly landed on a shoulder, 2021’s Beaujolais and Speculators, which is slated for a release next fall. And adding to a growing profile, the Bulgarian pianist and composer has been profiled by a handful of publications nationally and elsewhere — and has made a number of appearances on Bulgarian national television.
Admittedly, I’m not as versed in classical music as I feel I should be — but when I came across Karakusheva’s latest composition off her first contemporary classical solo album Hearteclipse, the expansive “Lagrange Points,” I was immediately transfixed. Centered around Karakusheva’s delicate and dexterous playing and soaring strings, “Lagrange Points” manages to possess a lush, cinematic quality while nodding at Tales of Us era Goldfrapp and The North Borders era Bonobo.
“We all have our points of balance and it’s our own mission in life to get to know them and use them as we should. Only then we become ourselves. Lagrange points is a composition based on who I am, what I can and should be,” the rising Bulgarian-born composer and multi-instrumentalist says. “Music, family, love, the stage – these are the things that shape me.”
The rising Bulgarian-born composer released some gorgeous shot footage of “Lagrange Points” in which she’s accompanied by a full string section.
