Irena Josifoska is an award-winning cellist active as a soloist, chamber musician, and pedagogue. She is a First Prize winner of the Gabrielli International Cello Competition in Berlin and recipient of the Prix Jean-Nicolas Firmenich at the Verbier Festival Academy, awarded to its most outstanding young cellist. She also received the STAR Prize of the Villa Musica Foundation, an Honorary Mention at the Grand Prix Emanuel Feuermann, performing at the Berliner Philharmonie, and the Prize for Achievements of the Liechtenstein Musikakademie. In 2017, she was the youngest semifinalist of the Queen Elisabeth Competition. In 2024, Josifoska was awarded the Scholarship Prize of the German Music Competition (Deutscher Musikwettbewerb) in chamber music, including concert engagements for the 2025/26 season, as well as the Hans Gál Prize. In 2025, she joined the Peter Cornelius Conservatory in Mainz as a professor with her own cello class, the department of academic studies, and became a co-artistic director of the Inspirimus Chamber Music Festival in Germany. She completed her Bachelor's degree at the Hochschule für Musik Detmold with Prof. Xenia Jankovic, followed by Master Solo Studies at the Universität der Künste Berlin with Prof. Jens Peter Maintz. Since October 2022, she has been pursuing the prestigious Konzertexamen, the highest academic degree in Germany, in the same class. She was an Artist in Residence at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel in Brussels and has been a member of the Villa Musica Foundation and Academy since 2022. Irena received very important input during her development from Frans Helmerson, Wolfgang Emanuel Schmidt, Miklós Perényi, David Geringas, Steven Isserlis, Wen-Sinn Yang, and many others. She has performed throughout Europe, Mexico, and the USA as a soloist with renowned orchestras and at major festivals including Verbier, Berliner Festspiele, Bayreuth, Kronberg Academy, Ohrid Summer Festival, Fränkischer Sommer, La Folle Journée, GNP Festival, the Moritzburg Festival Academy, and many others, collaborating with artists such as Guy Braunstein, Sharon Kam, Vadim Gluzman, Alexander Sitkovetsky, Roman Simović, Yeol Eum Son, and others. Josifoska records for GENUIN, SWR, and Deutsche Grammophon (STAGE+).
As a passionate Baroque musician, Irena also plays Baroque cello, has recorded for Sony Classical with Baroque ensembles, and has collaborated with Dorothee Oberlinger, Mayumi Hirasaki, and others.
She plays a William Forster Senior cello (1790) on loan from Villa Musica.