Lilia Donkova, granddaughter of one of the most famous Bulgarian composers and pedagogues, Bentzion Eliezer, was born in Sofia, Bulgaria. She finished higher and postgraduate studies at the Royal Academy of Music in London with prof. Lydia Mordkovich, receiving a special award for her final exam. Still as a young woman and during her studies at the Royal Academy, she was awarded several prizes and scholarships. She holds a PhD from the University of Évora.
As a soloist Lilia has been developing an intense concert activity.
She participated in several international festivals in several countries in Europe, USA and Mexico. She performed in large venues such as the Great Auditorium Stern and Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall in New York, Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, Sala Verdi in Milan, Teatro Filarmonico in Verona, Smetana Hall in Prague, and Muth in Vienna, receiving excellent criticism for her performances.
She gave her first violin course at Miami University – United States in 2008. In 2009 Lilia recorded her first CD entitled Cantabile which includes some of the most famous pieces written for violin and piano. Since then, she has been participating in several project recordings by the Cascais and Oeiras Chamber Orchestra, which include works by several Portuguese composers.
In 2014 she started a project with the accordionist Gonçalo Pescada, which already has an edited album – Symbiosis. She also made an unpublished recording of the Sonata for violin and piano by J. García Leoz with pianist Rinaldo Zhok on Odradek.
Lilia is a concertmaster at the Cascais and Oeiras Chamber Orchestra and violin teacher at the Cascais Music Conservatory.
She plays on an Italian V. Postiglione violin and a French E.A.Ouchard bow.