She won the second prize at the highly prestigious Queen Elisabeth Competition in 2007 and embarked on a brilliant international career, which brought her to almost all corners of the world. She made her studies with Marina Kapatsinskaya at the Sofia State Music Academy in Bulgaria, and then at the Queen Sofia Higher Music School, Madrid with the legendary prof. Dmitri Bashkirov. She also worked, later on, with prof. El Bacha at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel in Belgium, and over the years had received the precious advice of renowned musicians, such as Leon Fleisher, Rosalyn Tureck, Menahem Pressler, Alicia de Larrocha, and Andras Schiff. She is also a laureate of various other highly prestigious international piano and chamber music competitions, including the "Paloma O'Shea" Piano Competition in Santander and the "Vittorio Gui" Chamber Music Competition in Florence.

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Plamena performs with leading orchestras, such as Staatskapelle Berlin, the philharmonic orchestras of Rotterdam, Radio France, Luxembourg, Tokyo, the National Orchestra of Belgium, BBC Philharmonic Manchester, RAI Torino Orchestra, Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra, English Chamber Orchestra, Sinfonia Varsovia, Hong Kong Sinfonietta, MDR Orchester Leipzig, RTVE Symphony Orchestra Madrid, Verbier Festival Chamber Orchestra, and the symphony orchestras of St. Petersburg, Trondheim, Taipei, and New Zealand, among others.

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Conductor collaborations include Sir Colin Davis, Myung-Whun Chung, Yuri Bashmet, Sir Andrew Davis, Emmanuel Krivine, Walter Weller, Maxim Vengerov, Pablo Heras-Casado, Jaap van Zweeden, Gilbert Varga, Howard Griffiths, Pinchas Steinberg, François-Xavier Roth, Lawrence Foster, Ivor Bolton, Jun Märkl, Uros Lajovic, and Emil Tabakov, among others.

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A keen chamber music player, she has performed with Renaud Capuçon, Augustin Dumay, Kolja Blacher, Mihaela Martin, Jian Wang, Pascal Moraguès, Alexei Ogrintchouk, Frans Helmerson, and Alexander Kniazev, the Ysaÿe, Michelangelo, Vogler, Danel, and Orion String Quartets, and has occasionally performed in two-piano or four-hand duos with Boris Berezovsky or Maria João Pires.

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Plamena has performed in Berlin at the Philharmonie and the Pierre Boulez Saal, Konzerthaus Vienna, Bozar Brussels, Suntory Hall Tokyo, Kennedy Center Washington, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Munich Herkulessaal, Southbank Centre London, Gewandhaus Leipzig, the Moscow Conservatory and St. Petersburg Philharmonic concert halls, Luxembourg Philharmonie, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris, and at major festivals such as Progetto Martha Argerich Lugano, La Roque d'Anthéron, the Rostropovich Festival, and the festivals of Montpellier, Menton, Bratislava, and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.

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Mangova's first CD recording experience was for the Belgian record label Cypres, where, together with the brilliant Russian violinist Tatiana Samouil, she recorded the complete works for violin and piano by Prokofiev. Her first solo CD recording (Shostakovich) was awarded a "Diapason d'Or of the Year 2007" by the French critics. A chamber music disc of the same composer followed and was awarded the Supersonic Prize in Pizzicato magazine. Her Beethoven disc (sponsored by the Belgian bank Fortis) was highly praised by France Musique and Diapason, as were her exceptional recordings of Strauss's Burleske (2008) and Brahms's Piano Concerto No. 1 (2010) with the Belgian National Orchestra and Walter Weller (Fuga Libera label). The latter was highly praised by Bryce Morrison in Gramophone magazine. Also with Fuga Libera, Plamena's discography saw the release of a highly praised chamber music CD recorded with the eminent Russian cellist Alexander Kniazev, dedicated to Franck and Ysaÿe.

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As a passionate advocate of music from the 20th century to today (with stage performances of works by Schnittke, Gubaidulina, Penderecki, Lutosławski, Bacewicz, and Yusupov), Mangova's latest CD "Bridges of Love" features the highly original music of her compatriot, the Luxembourg-based Bulgarian composer Albena Petrovic, recorded at the Luxembourg Philharmonie and released by Solo Musica (DE). That same CD production was nominated for the prestigious German Opus Klassik (formerly Echo Klassik) award.

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The pianist's newest release, a solo piano album, was produced by the French label Mirare. The "Intimate Letters" CD features great masterpieces by Robert Schumann, Clara Wieck-Schumann, and Johannes Brahms.

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Recent seasons' highlights include a performance of Stravinsky's piano concerto with the Staatskapelle Berlin (by invitation of Maestro Daniel Barenboim) under Pablo Heras-Casado, the Hamburger Symphoniker at the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, a concert at the Rostropovich Festival in Orenburg with the Moscow Soloists under Maestro Yuri Bashmet, and concerts with the Polish Radio Orchestra. Mangova has also participated in several festivals, including the La Roque d'Anthéron International Piano Festival, the Chamber Music Festival in Jerusalem, the "Arts Square" Festival in St. Petersburg (by invitation of Maestro Temirkanov), the Enescu Festival in Bucharest, the Chopin and His Europe Festival in Warsaw, and a recital in Kansas City (USA).

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The 2021–2022 and 2022–2023 seasons' highlights include concerts with the Sinfonieorchester Basel under Ivor Bolton and with the Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana under François Leleux at the Settimane Musicali Festival in Ascona; the Marseille Philharmonic under Lawrence Foster; the prestigious La Roque d'Anthéron Piano Festival in southern France; the Stavanger orchestra under Andris Poga; the Turku Philharmonic in Finland; the Cannes orchestra at the Antibes Classics; chamber music at the Ateneul Român in Bucharest; recitals at the Sofia Music Weeks Festival; the Governors' Palace at the Bastia Corse; participation in the Póvoa de Varzim International Festival in Portugal; recitals at Flagey (Brussels) and the mythic Salle Gaveau in Paris; and a debut with the Athens State Orchestra as part of the Rachmaninoff anniversary celebrations.

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Ms. Mangova's devotion to teaching has led her to different corners of the world as well, giving piano and chamber music masterclasses in Brussels (Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel), Santander (Encuentro Musical de Santander, with participation of chamber music groups from the most prestigious music conservatories and academies in Europe), Sofia (P. Vladigerov State Music Academy), Tokyo (during the "Folle Journée" festival), South Korea (during the "Great Mountains" festival), Taipei (at Taipei University), as well as in Spain and South Africa, among others.