70 Years from the Beginning…
PIANO CONCERT DEDICATED TO
Stella Dimitrova-Maystorova’s
70th Anniversary
70th Anniversary
Johann
Sebastian Bach (1685 – 1750):
Chorale:
Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring (Jesus bleibet meine Freude)
from
the Cantata Heart and Mouth and Deed and
Life
(Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben, BWV
147)
[arranged
for piano four hands by Myra Hess]
performed
by: Kamelia
Miladinova (BG/NL) &
Ivan
Pavlov (BG/NL)
Wolfgang
Rihm (b.
1952, Germany):
Klavierstück
Nr. 5: Tombeau (1975) *
performed
by: Ivan
Pavlov (BG/NL)
Andrea Granitzio
(b. 1974, Italy/England):
Three Concentric Circles in the
Water
(2011) *
I
Circle (Like water rippling)
II
Circle (Like fingertips touching
water)
performed
by: Dariya
Yovcheva (BG)
Bernhard Gander
(b. 1969, Austria):
Peter Parker (2003) *
performed
by: Alexandra
Radulova (BG/AT)
Johann
Sebastian Bach (1685 – 1750):
Three
transcriptions for piano four hands by György Kurtág
Liebster
Jesu, wir sind hier (b), BWV 633
Alle
Menschen müssen sterben, BWV 643
Gottes Zeit
is die allerbeste zeit (Actus Tragicus), BWV 106
performed
by: Alexandra
Radulova
(BG/AT) &
Kamelia
Miladinova (BG/NL)
Ana Krstajić
(b. 1994, Serbia):
Suite
for Piano (2014) *
Largo
Largamente
Allegro
Moderato
Kenneth Lim (b. 1984, Korea/USA):
performed
by: Nadejda Tzanova (BG/NL)
Marco Molteni
(b. 1962, Italy):
Folio Cinque (Oh! Be A Fine Girl,
Kiss Me)
for Piano (2013) *
[honorable mention – De Bach au jazz Competition, 2015]
[honorable mention – De Bach au jazz Competition, 2015]
performed
by: Nadejda Tzanova (BG/NL)
Roger Briggs
(b. 1952, USA):
Jitterbug – an Etude on Quintuplets for Solo Piano (2015) *
[1st prize – De Bach au jazz Competition, 2015]
[1st prize – De Bach au jazz Competition, 2015]
performed
by: Margarita
Ilieva (BG)
Olivier
Messiaen
(1908 – 1992, France):
Excerpts
from Four Rhythm Studies
(Quatre
études de rythme, 1949–50)
3. Rhythmic Neumes (Neumes
rythmiques)
4. Fire Island II (Ile de feu II)
performed
by: Rumen
Traykov (BG)
Lazar
Nikolov
(1922 – 2005, Bulgaria):
Sonata
for Two Pianos No. 1 (1952)
Moderato
Largo e grave
Allegretto
__________
* Bulgarian premiere
* * *
Stella Dimitrova-Maystorova – founder and long-time artistic
director (until 2015) of the annual ppIANISSIMO
International Festival of Contemporary Piano Music – is professor
of piano at
the “Prof. Pancho Vladigerov” National Academy of Music, Sofia. She has been
awarded numerous prestigious awards from Bulgarian and international
competitions.
Prof. Dimitrova-Maystorova
completed her higher musical education (Master’s degree) at the same Academy
under Prof. Julia Ganeva and Prof. Konstantin Ganev. She perfected her skills
in the “Béla Bartók” International Seminar under Pál Kadosa, Péter Solymos and
Gyula Kiss in Hungary. In 1984–85, she specialized at the Royal Conservatory of
Brussels under Prof. Jean-Claude van den Eynden.
Her intensive concert
activity has included repertoire from diverse genres and epochs, recitals and
performances in many countries of Europe. She has performed as a soloist with
all major Bulgarian orchestras, with the philharmonic orchestras of
Bratislava (Slovakia) and Graz (Austria). She plays in various chamber
formations and has collaborated with famous instrumentalists and singers. She
has performed under the baton of Bulgarian conductors Кonstantin Iliev, Dobrin
Petkov, Vassil Kazandjiev, Georgi Dimitrov, Emil Tabakov, Plamen Djouroff,
Georgi Notev, Jordan Daffov, Alexey Izmirliev and international conductors such
as Charles Bruck (France), Nikos Athineos (Greece), Uri Mayer (Canada), Václav
Smetáček (Czech Republic), Tomasz Bugaj (Poland), Ion Baciu (Romania), Braxton
Blake (USA), Thomas Kalb (Germany). She has performed at all music
festivals in Bulgaria, as well as at the Interpodium
Festival in Bratislava (Slovakia), The Festival for Contemporary Art in Witten
(Germany) and Europa Musicale
Festival in Munich (Germany). She has recorded for the Bulgarian National
Radio, as well as for the radios of Rome, Bremen, Cologne, Frankfurt, Bucharest
and Brussels. She has premiered more than 200 works of leading 20th century
composers in Bulgaria (Sergei Prokofiev’s Concerto No. 5; Arnold Schönberg’s Pierrot Lunaire; Pierre Boulez’ Sonate
No. 3, Luciano Berio’s Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra (with Dimo Dimov);
Igor Stravinsky’s Wedding; Bohuslav
Martinů’s Double Concerto for Two String Orchestras, Piano and Timpani; Béla
Bartók’s Concerto No. 3 and Sonata 1926; works by André Boucourechliev, Paul
Hindemith, Arthur Honegger, Benjamin Britten, Alban Berg, John Cage, Anton
Webern, Alfred Schnittke, Hans Werner Henze, Edison Denisov, Rodion Shchedrin,
Frank Martin, Luigi Dallapicola, etc.). Dimitrova-Maystorova has premiered numerous
works by Bulgarian composers (Кonstantin Iliev, Lazar Nikolov, Simeon Pironkov,
Vassil Kazandjiev, Georgi Mintchev, Ivan Spassov, Julia Tsenova, Ivelin
Dimitrov, Tzvetan Tzvetanov, Ljubomir Denev, Gheorghi Arnaoudov, Roussi
Tarmakov, Bojidar Dimov, Bentzion Eliezer, Stefan Ikonomov, Krassimir Taskov, Emil
Mirtchev and Milen Panayotov), many of which have been written especially for
her.
Prof. Dimitrova-Maystorova
is a leading professor at the “Prof. Pancho Vladigerov” National Academy of
Music in Sofia. Her students have won numerous prizes (more than 130),
including first prizes, at Bulgarian and international competitions in Italy,
Japan, the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, Romania, France, Greece and the
USA. She has taken part as member of jury in national and international piano
competitions in Bulgaria, Greece and Italy.
She has been awarded the Golden Staff distinction of the Union of
Bulgarian Composers (2005); the Crystal
Lyre Award of the Union of Bulgarian Music and Dance Figures, ClassicFM
Radio and the Ministry of Culture (2006); the Golden Lyre Award of the Union of Bulgarian Music and Dance Figures
(2007) and the Crystal Sign Award of
the Union of Bulgarian Composers (2007).
Lilia Boyadjieva's playing has won widespread
acclaim: “Powerful and delicate,
masterful and idiomatic”; “Lyrical,
mercurial reading as well as a strong one”; “Power of expression allied to extreme emotional
tension”. Audiences at every performance are invariably
enthralled, surprised, sometimes disturbed but never indifferent. With
unwavering conviction, she has interpreted works from the full spectrum of the
established repertoire – from Bach, for whose music she entertains a very deep
admiration and appreciation, to the 20th century music, for which she feels a
special affinity, working exhaustively on Samuel Barber and Shostakovich as
well as on most Bulgarian and Greek composers, through the standard classical,
romantic and post-romantic works. Her recording of Barber’s complete piano
works has been praised by Fanfare
Magazine as “probably the most valuable
CD solely devoted to Barber’s keyboard music”. Her interpretation of the Barber’s
Sonata is “one of the finest readings on
record”.
Born and
educated in Sofia, she was a student of Prof. Julia Ganeva and Prof.
Konstantin Ganev and later completed her studies at the Moscow
Conservatory with Prof. Theodor Gutman. Her awards at international piano
competitions include prizes at the Senigalia Competition (Italy, 1979),
the “Vianna da Motta” Competition (Portugal, 1983), the “Maria Callas”
Competition (Greece, 1985) and many others.
Invited by
prestigious festivals (in Montpellier, Dublin, Moscow, Auvers-sur-Oise, Sofia,
Athens), she performs in recitals as a soloist, with orchestras and in chamber
music ensembles. Radio and television organisations often broadcast her
concerts.
Appreciated
for her teaching abilities, she has taught at the Sofia Musical Academy, in
Athens and in Paris. She has given numerous master classes in Russia, France,
Greece, Norway and the USA.
The American
label ARTEK Recordings has published
her CD Around the Fugue – a
polyphonic journey from Bach until today, as well as CD with works by
Shostakovich.
She is also
the organiser of the International Piano and Composition Competition From Bach to Jazz (De Bach au jazz).
Kamelia Miladinova (b.
1972) was born in Kyustendil (Bulgaria) and had her first piano lessons at the
age of six. She studied at the “Lyubomir Pipkov” National School of Music and at
the “Prof. Pancho Vladigerov” National Academy of Music in Sofia with Prof.
Stella Dimitrova-Maystorova. As a student, she was awarded the Debut Prize of
the Bulgarian National Radio and in 1994 she won the Third Prize at the “Eduard
Flipse” Piano Competition in the Netherlands, as well as the prize for the best
performance of contemporary Dutch music for the piece Spank by Rob Zuidam.
Miladinova
has lived in the Netherlands since 1997. She studied at the Royal Conservatory
in The Hague with Geoffrey Douglas Madge and she got her Master Degrees for
Solo Piano and Piano Coaching there, a study that was focused in particular on
working with singers and instrumentalists. She has worked together with and has
been coached by musicians such as Geörgy Kurtág, Herman Krebbers, Elly Ameling,
Bart van Oort and, more recently, Sir James Galway. Since 2003, she has been
working as a piano coach and accompanist at the Royal Conservatory in The
Hague. Besides, she regularly plays in concerts as an accompanist and as a
member of chamber music ensembles. In 2015 and 2016, she was a resident Pianist-in-Residence
at the Galway Flute Festival in Weggis, Switzerland.
(© Adriaan de Wit)
Ivan Pavlov
(b. 1989) graduated from the “Lyubomir Pipkov” National School of Music (Sofia) in the
piano class of Stefka Matanova and from the “Prof.
Pancho Vladigerov” National Academy of Music (Sofia) in the piano class of
Prof. Stella Dimitrova-Maystorova and Assoc. Prof. Iliya Chernaev, PhD, as well
with distinction from the Royal Conservatory in The Hague, where he is
currently taking further studies with Ellen Corver. He attended the master
classes of David Kuijken, Dmitri Bashkirov, Jan Panis, Paul Badura-Skoda, Angela Tosheva, PhD,
etc.
As
a soloist, Pavlov has worked with the Sofia Philharmonic and the Residence
Orchestra (the Hague Philharmonic). In December 2015, he performed the
Double Concerto by Hans Abrahamsen with the violinist Peter van Loenen and the
conductor Clark Rundell. His debut at the Theater
aan het Spui Aan was with Satyagrata by Philip Glass, conducted by
Rick Schoonbeek in February 2017.
Due
to his interest in contemporary music, he is involved and closely working with many
composers. Recent collaboration with James Alexandropoulos resulted in a
composition dedicated to Ivan Pavlov. The world premiere was in Studio Loos (2016). The piece was most
recently performed during the Days of the Open Doors of the Royal Conservatory
(2017).
Ivan
has worked closely with Young Masters
Foundation, which has organised solo concerts for him around the Netherlands –
in The Hague, Amsterdam, Den Bosch and others. He participated in the symposium
and festival Historically Informed
Performance of Electroacoustic Music, together with Ellen Corver and Jan
Panis, where he performed part of Karlheinz Stochausen’s Mantra. Most recently, he performed in the Pianola Museum in
Amsterdam (2016) and in the Bulgarian Orthodox Church in The Hague.
Dariya Yovcheva was bornin Varna in 1989. She graduated from the
“Dobri Hristov” National School of Arts (Varna), where she studied in the piano
class of Stanislava Stavreva. In 2013, she earned her Master’s degree from the
“Prof. Pancho Vladigerov” National Academy of Music (Sofia) under Prof. Stella
Dimitrova-Maystorova and Assoc. Prof. Iliya Chernaev. Since 2014, she is a PhDs
at the National Academy of Music.
She has participated in
the master classes of Tamara Poddubnaya (Russia/USA), Georg Friedrich Schenck
(Germany), Johannes Kropfitsch (Austria) and the piano duo “Teresa Trevisan /
Flavio Zaccaria” (Italy). In 2015, she was an active participant at the chamber
music master class of the International Summer Academy ISA15 in Reichenau (Austria).
She has been awarded a
scholarship by the Bulgarian Ministry of Culture, as well as numerous prizes in
national and international competitions, such as Music and Earth International Competition (second prize in Chamber
Music Section, Sofia, 2011), Academic Competition for Solo Piano (special award
for Best Performance of a Piece by Ferenc Liszt,
Sofia, 2011), Third International Competition for Austrian Chamber Music (second
prize, Sofia, 2012), Academic Competition for Chamber Music (second prize,
Sofia, 2014).
Dariya Yovcheva has
performed as a soloist with the philharmonic orchestras of Sofia, Varna, Shumen
and Pazardzhik, the Varna Symphonietta, the Chamber Orchestra of Varna, as well
as with both the Academic and the Students’ Symphony Orchestras of the “Prof.
Pancho Vladigerov” National Academy of Music. She has performed under the baton
of Bulgarian conductors Vassil Kazandjiev, Grigor Palikarov, Martin Panteleev, etc.
She participated in some of the most prestigious festivals in Bulgaria – the Sofia Music Weeks, the European Music Festival in Varna, Via Pontica – International Youth Arts Festival
in Balchik and in the ppIANISSIMO International
Festival of Contemporary Piano Music.
She has recorded for
Bulgarian National Television and Bulgarian National Radio.
Alexandra Radoulova
(b. 1989) graduated from “Prof. Pancho Vladigerov” National Academy of Music in
Sofia in the piano class of Prof. Stella Dimitrova-Maystorova. Her interests in
new music started already in her youth and she continued working intensively in
this direction during her university studies in Sofia. After her graduation,
she moved to Vienna, where she studied free improvisation and interpretation
with Manon-Liu Winter. In 2014, she won the award for best interpretation of a contemporary
music piece of the International Summer Academy organised by the University of
Music and Performing Arts in Vienna. The same year, she started studying
Performance Practice in Contemporary Music – a Master degree programme at the University
of Music and Preforming Arts in Graz, where she specialised in the areas of chamber
music and ensemble practice. There, she worked with composers like Tristan
Murail, Beat Furrer, Ian Robin, Francesco Filidei, Bernhard Gander, Bernhard
Lang, Klaus Lang and others. She plays occasionally with ensemble Klangforum Wien and from 2016 started
working as a pianist in the study programme of the ensemble, where she also
works as an organisation assistant. In Graz, she continued her free improvising
studies together with Elisabeth Harnik and Annette Giesriegel. Since 2016, she
is a member of STIO – the Styrian Improvisers Orchestra.
She
is also interested in promoting new music and free improvisation. She worked as
an assistant in the workshops Interface
(2014, 2015 and 2016), in the andrä
musik: Kunstvermittlung (2016) – a project of Klangforum Wien for children and adolescents from different ethnic
origins, as well for the workshops of the festival Collective Thoughts (2015). In 2016 together with her colleagues,
she realised a project of her own – Klang_Stadl
2016 – a music workshop for amateur musicians, that won state sponsoring
for further editions.
Nadejda
Tsanova has graduated from the
“Prof. Pancho Vladigerov” National Academy of Music (Sofia) in the piano class
of Prof. Stella Dimitrova-Maystorova and Assoc. Prof. Iliya Chernaev, PhD. She
continued her education with two specialisations in the Royal Conservatory in
Brussels and the Paris Conservatory. She holds more than 20 awards and prizes
from Bulgarian and international competitions, including: “Franz Schubert” (Ruse),
German and Austrian Music (Burgas), Classics and Modernity (Stara Zagora), Young Virtuosos (Sofia), Music and Earth (Sofia), Hopes, Talents, Masters (Dobrich –
Albena), “Seiler” (Sofia and Rhodes), “Valentino Bucchi” (Rome) and “Sergey
Prokofiev” (Donetsk). In 2014 – 2016, she won also first prize at Flame International Competition in Paris, second prize at the
International Piano Competition in Treviso (Italy) and third prize at the Mayenne Competition in France. She has been awarded
the scholarship Gallery of Bulgarian
Talents and those of the Solty Foundation (Belgium).
She has participated in the festivals ppIANISSIMO (Sofia), Apollonia (Sozopol), Austrian Music Weeks (Sofia) and ClaviCologne (Germany). She has made
concerts in Italy, France, Germany, Poland, Ukraine, Hungary, Austria, the Czech
Republic, Slovakia, Belgium, Spain, Portugal, Japan, China and the USA. She has
had performances under the baton of Dimitar Karaminkov, Mancho Dosev, Grigor
Palikarov, Angel Stankov, Krastin Nastev, Georgi Patrikov, Ivaylo Krinchev,
Maxim Eshkenazi, Oliver Gilmour (UK), Martin Klepetko (the Czech Republic),
Mitsuoshi Yokava (Japan) and Mark Kadin (Russia). In 2014 – 2016, she had three
very successful tours in Japan and China.
Nadejda Tsanova has performed for TV programmes and
recorded for the Bulgarian National Radio.
Margarita Ilieva
graduated from the “Lyubomir Pipkov” National School of Music (Sofia) in the piano
class of Emilia Kaneva. From 2005 to 2010, she was student at the “Prof. Pancho
Vladigerov” National Academy of Music under Prof. Stella Dimitrova-Maistorova
and Assoc. Prof. Iliya Chernaev. She has participated in a number of master
classes given by Waldemar Wojtal, Alexander Strukov, Viktor Chuchkov, Angela
Tosheva, Tamara Poddubnaya, Menno van Delft, Einar Steen-Nøkleberg, Altenberg
Trio etc. Margarita Ilieva has a Ph.D. in Chamber Music.
She has been awarded with numerous prizes at
international competitions including Young
Music Talents (Chamber Music category, first prize), “Albert Roussel” (first
prize), “Liszt – Bartok” (first prize) and others.
Margarita
Ilieva has given many concerts in Bulgaria, Austria, France, Germany,
Switzerland and USA, as well as frequently participated in Bulgarian festivals
– among others at ppIANISSIMO, Sofia Music Week, Varna Summer, Apolonia and
New Bulgarian Music. She has
participated in various chamber ensembles including the Musica Nova Ensemble for Contemporary Music with director and
conductor Dragomir Yossifov. She has performed as a soloist with the Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra, the Symphony Orchestra
of the Bulgarian National Radio, Sofia Soloists Chamber Ensemble, Shumen
Philharmonic Orchestra, Gabrovo Chamber Orchestra and the Academic Symphony
Orchestra. She has recorded for WDR (Köln), Bulgarian National Radio and
Bulgarian National Television.
She's the recepient of
the Crystal Lyre award in the Young Musician category for 2016. Since 2016, she
is assistant professor at the Piano Department of the Theory, Composition and
Conducting Faculty of the “Prof. Pancho Vladigerov” National Academy of Music.
Her
repertoire includes works of different styles and periods. She has made
Bulgarian and world premieres of solo and chamber works by many composers.
Rumen Traikov
was born in 1985 in Pleven, Bulgaria. He graduated with honours from the
“Panayot Pipkov” National School of Music (Pleven) in the piano class of
Mariana Nacheva. He earned his Master's degree from the “Prof. Pancho
Vladigerov” National Academy of Music (Sofia) under Prof. Stella
Dimitrova-Maystorova. Since 2013, he has been a PhD candidate at the “Prof.
Pancho Vladigerov” National Academy of Music.
He
has participated in prestigious international festivals such as Holland
Music Sessions in Bergen
(the Netherlands), Vienna International
Summer Academy
(as part of a piano quartet), Apolonia
International Festival of Music and Arts (Sozopol), ppIANISSIMO International Festival of Contemporary Piano Music
(Sofia).
He
has participated in the master classes of Ralf Gothóny, Milan Rados, Bozhidar
Noev, Yuri Boukoff, Avedis Kouyoumdjian, Jan Marisse Huizing and Samuel
Ashkenazy.
He
has been awarded two third prizes from the “Svetoslav Obretenov” National Piano Competition (Provadia,
1994 and 1998), second prize from the “Vesselin Stoyanov” National Piano Competition
(Sofia, 2001), second prize from the Young
Music Virtuosos International Competition (Sofia, 2003), first prize and
“Todoroff” scholarship from the
Academy Piano Competition (Sofia, 2004), first prize from the National
Competition for Russian Music, dedicated to Sergei Prokofiev (Pleven, 2004), second
prize from the “Franz Schubert” International Competition (Rousse, 2005), third
prize (for piano and violin duo) from the Academy Competition for Chamber
Music, dedicated to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Sofia, 2007), first prize from the
“Albert Roussel” International Piano Competition (Sofia, 2012).
Rumen
Traykov has performed as a soloist with Philharmonic Orchestras in Shumen, Pleven, Sofia and Plovdiv,
the Academic
Symphony Orchestra of the National Academy of Music (Sofia), New Symphony Orchestra and Sofia Soloists Chamber Orchestra.