Sally Wave is a London-based recitalist, educator and composer with a growing international
presence. She has been performing in Europe and the United States as a solo and chamber musician,
and as a concerto soloist in Germany and Bulgaria.
She has been acclaimed for her piano performances of among other composers Beethoven – to
whom she is devoting much attention in 2020 being the 250th anniversary of the composer’s birth.
Her second CD of Beethoven piano sonatas will be launched in 2020 and recitals programmed on
this theme will follow. Her first CD comprised Chopin Fantaisie Impromptu op. 66, waltzes and
nocturnes, Scriabin’s 24 preludes and works by Obretenov and Stoyanov.
Her reputation has been further strengthened by performances as a member of the Bourgas Piano
Trio and the piano duet Black Sand in London and the US.
Sally Wave is the artistic pseudonym of Savelina Kancheva. She graduated from the Specialist Music
School in Bourgas, Bulgaria. Later she attended the Prof Pancho Vladigerov Bulgarian National Music
Academy in Sofia by Prof Kurtev and the masterclasses of the renowned Prof Rudolf Kehrer for two
years at the F Liszt Hochschule für Musik in Weimar, Germany.
She obtained her master’s degree in piano playing from the Bulgarian National Music Academy in
1996 and completed a PhD in Music and Musical Culture in 2008 with a paper entitled
Mendelssohn’s Piano Sonatas.
After success as a solo pianist and chamber musician in Sofia and as a piano teacher of students aged
4-19 at the Bulgarian National School of Culture, Sally moved to the UK focusing on solo and
chamber performance and taught at the Tchaikovsky Music Academy London and Musicschool,
London.
She prepares students for music scholarships and many of them have won top prizes at competitions
in London and overseas. Sally herself is a sought-after adjudicator.
She is the founder and music director of the London Youth Piano Competition (www.lypco.co.uk)
following her previous establishment of Wimbledon international piano competitions in 2018 and
2019.
As a composer, Sally Wave is writing music for all ages. To all the compositions it is given a specific
name, including the pieces inside of a cycle. The cycle “The Yellow Emoji” op. 21 is for children from
beginner's level to early intermediate. The variations from the cycle “Die Variationen “Verloren” op.
19 could be performed as individual pieces as well. The difficulty of each variation varies between
early intermediate and advanced level.
For more info please visit www.sallywave.com where one
can find links for listening to or buying the scores.