Pianist of the Morski Zvutsi Choir

Zhaneta Benun

Pianist · Chorus master · Repetiteur

Three choirs, one opera house and close to half a century at the piano. Zhaneta Benun-Nikolaeva is one of those musicians whose work holds a large part of Varna's musical life together.

Ruse

The beginning

Zhaneta Benun-Nikolaeva was born into a Jewish family in Ruse. She graduated from the music high school in her home town, in the piano class of Hachik Mihranyan, and in 1974 from the Conservatory in Sofia under Prof. Lili Atanasova.

That same year she became a laureate of the national Sv. Obretenov competition in Provadia.

She taught piano at the Music High School in Ruse, and a number of her students went on to win prizes at national and international competitions.

The choirs

Forty-five years in front of a choir

From 1978 to 1988 she was pianist and chorus master of the Danube Sounds mixed choir in Ruse. From 1995 to 2005 she held the same post with the Lydia Dushek mixed choir in Varna.

From 2009 till 2022 she has been the pianist of the Morski Zvutsi mixed choir at the Prof. Marin Chonev Choral School, Municipality of Varna.

All three ensembles have won numerous awards at Bulgarian and international competitions.

The opera house

State Opera Varna

Zhaneta Benun has been connected with the State Opera Varna since 1988, and has served as its repetiteur. Her name appears in the teams of dozens of the theatre's productions, and as a pianist she takes part in many chamber and gala concerts alongside the opera's soloists.

She has worked as a repetiteur and teacher of musical interpretation in the vocal master classes of Prof. Margarita Lilova, Kaludi Kaludov, Ventsi Katsarov and others.

Chronology

The path