ppIANISSIMO ALTERNATIVE
THE MUSIC OF BJÖRK
Milla Mihova
soprano (BULGARIA)
Nikolay Stoykov
HARPSICHORD/CELESTA/PIANO (BULGARIA)
(© Galina Yotova)
Arrangements of songs from the albums:
Debut, Homogenic, Vespertine, Medúlla,
Drawing Restraint 9, Volta, Biophilia & Vulnicura
Debut, Homogenic, Vespertine, Medúlla,
Drawing Restraint 9, Volta, Biophilia & Vulnicura
(© James Merry)
Venus as a Boy for voice and
harpsichord (Debut, 1993) *
Aurora for voice and
harpsichord (Vespertine, 2001) *
Pagan Poetry for voice and
harpsichord (Vespertine, 2001) *
My Juvenile for voice and
harpsichord (Volta, 2007) *
Mother Heroic for voice and
celesta (Vespertine, 2001) *
Sun in My Mouth for voice and
celesta (Vespertine, 2001) *
Atom Dance for voice and piano (Vulnicura, 2015) *
Bachelorette for voice and
piano (Homogenic, 1997) *
* * *
Vertebrae by Vertebrae for voice and
piano (Volta, 2007) *
Oceania for voice and
piano (Medúlla, 2004) *
Gratitude for voice and
celesta (Drawing Restraint 9, 2005) *
All Is Full of Love for voice and
celesta (Homogenic, 1997) *
Moon for voice and
celesta (Biophilia, 2011) *
Sacrifice for voice and harpsichord
(Biophilia, 2011) *
Solstice for voice and
harpsichord (Biophilia, 2011) *
__________
* Bulgarian
premiere
Milla Mihova
(b. 1987) – soprano – graduated from the “Prof. Pancho Vladigerov” National
Academy of Music in Sofia. She has been studying singing with the Bulgarian
soprano Darina Takova and Lucrezia Messa (vocal coach). In 2013, she won a
scholarship from the “Boris Christoff” Foundation for the Opera Studio at the
National Academy of St Cecilia in Rome, where she specialised with Renata
Scotto, Anna Vandi (vocal coach) and Cesare Scarton (stage arts coach). She has
participated in master classes with Darina Takova, Luciana D’Intino, Carlo
Colombara, Marina Rebeka and Luca Salsi. She has won first prizes at the
“Parashkev Hadzhiev” Academic Competition (Sofia, 2012) and at the
International Competition The Euterpe
Rose (Karlovo, Bulgaria, 2014). She was finalist at the “Magda Olivero”
International Competition (Milan, 2013) and at the “Giulio Neri” International
Competition (Torrita di Siena, Italy, 2014).
In
2015, she took part in the project Cabaret
Baroque with performances of baroque and contemporary opera excerpts. In
August 2015, she made her debut at the Operosa
Opera Festival in Herceg Novi (Montenegro) as Fiordiligi in Mozart’s Così fan tutte. In December 2015, she
performed the soprano solo in Beethoven’s ninth symphony with the Orquestra de
Câmara de Cascais e Oeiras. Together with Borislava Taneva (piano), she
participated in the festival Piano
Extravaganza with a concert dedicated to the oeuvre of Russian composer
Arthur Lourié. In March 2016, she made her debut as Lucia in Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor in the State Opera
of Stara Zagora (Bulgaria). In 2017, she made her debut as Drusilla in
Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea.
In 2017, she performed the vocal music of composer Gheorghi Arnaoudov, for
which she was nominated for the Musician
of the Year award.
Her
repertoire includes many roles, arias and ensembles from operas by Handel,
Mozart, Donizetti, Rossini, Bellini, Verdi, Puccini, Massenet, Gounod, Ravel,
Bernstein and others.
Currently,
Milla MIhova is a permanent guest at the Fabbrica
Young Artist Programme at the Rome Opera House.
Nikolay
Stoykov (b. 1986) was born in Sofia,
where he started playing flute and piano at the age of eleven. He graduated
from the “Lyubomir Pipkov” National School of Music (Sofia) in the flute class
of Mila Pavlova and earned his master’s degree with Prof. Lydia Oshavkova at
the “Prof. Pancho Vladigerov” National Academy of Music (Sofia). From 2010 to
2017, he continued his studies in France – in the Conservatory of Strasbourg
with Sandrine François and specialised with the world-renowned flutist Patrick
Gallois. He has also participated in master classes of prominent
musicians such as Philippe
Bernold, András Adorján, Emily Beynon, Wolfgang Schultz, Mario Caroli and
Juliette Hurel. In parallel with his career as a flute player, Nikolay Stoykov
plays the harpsichord. In 2013,
he was admitted in the harpsichord class of Joël Pontet.
Nikolay Stoykov has been awarded numerous prizes from
solo and chamber music competitions such as: Young Virtuosos International Competition (Sofia), Music and Earth International Competition
(Sofia), “Prof. Nikola Stefanov” Academic Competition (Sofia) and others. He has been soloist with the Symphony Orchestra of the
“Prof. Pancho Vladigerov” National Academy of Music and has participated in the
festival New Bulgarian Music.
(© Galina Yotova)
(© Galina Yotova)
(© Galina Yotova)