14 June 2008
Saturday
19.00
Bulgaria Chamber Hall
Johannes Brahms, 175 years of his birth
Bojidara Kuzmanova - violin
Anatoli Krastev - violoncello
Iliyana Todorova-Baicheva - piano
Borislav Yotzov - clarinet
Yasen Teodosiev - horn
Programme
Johannes Brahms - Trio Op.40 for violin, horn and piano in E flat major
Andante
Scherzo. Allegro
Adagio mesto
Finale. Allegro con brio
Johannes Brahms - Trio Op.101 for violin, violoncello and piano in C minor
Allegro energico
Presto non assai
Andante grazioso
Allegro molto
Johannes Brahms - Trio Op.114 for clarinet, violoncello and piano in A minor
Allegro
Adagio
Andantino grazioso
Allegro
19.00
Bulgaria Concert Hall
Vidin Philharmonic Orchestra
Conductor Hans Peter Ochsenhofer (Austria)
Soloist Anna-Maria Ravnopolska - harp
Programme
Joseph Haydn - Symphony No. 83 "The Hen" in G minor
Allegro spiritoso
Andante
Menuet. Allegreto
Finale. Vivace
Carl Reinecke - Harp Concerto in E minor Op. 182
Allegro moderato
Adagio
Finale - Scherzo
Franz Schubert - Symphony No. 5 in B flat major, D.485
Allegro
Andante con moto
Menuetto
Allegro vivace
Anna-Maria Ravnopolska-Dean is one of the leading harpists of оur time. She has concertized internationally , receiving a "rousing welcome" (Musical America) when she took the stage for her 1992 New York debut at Carnegie Hall. Followed her debuts in Gasteig, Munhen (2000) and Salle Poirel , Nancy (2002). She first gained recognition as a harp soloist at the Gardgillesse, Munich and Jerusalem competitions and has been a featured performer at five World Harp Congresses (Vienna , Copenhagen , Seattle , Prague , and Geneva ). She graduated from the Bulgarian National Academy of Music and she continued to study harp with Liana Pasquali, by recommendation of the famous Spanish harpist Nicanor Zabaleta, who was impressed by her talent. She continued her education with Susann McDonald in New York and Bloomington , Indiana University School of Music (USA), where she received the coveted "Artist Diploma" for "superior artistic achievement in harp performance".As a student, Anna-Maria was appraised on the 'McGraw-Hill Young Artists Showcase' of WQXR radio in New York as one of the leading talents of her generation. She has performed and recorded much of the standard harp repertoire and she has arranged for harp many pieces composed originally for other instruments. Her six solo discs include Legende: French Music for Harp, Harpist at the Opera, The Harp of the Two Americas, Schubert Pop-Harp Festival, Harpist's Invitation to the Dance, Bulgarian Harp Favorites. Among the many new works composed especially for her is the distinguished Bulgarian composer Dimitar Christoff's series of 24 concert etudes, inspired by her doctoral dissertation on "The harp as a coloristic instrument". Many other preeminent Bulgarian composers (Lazar Nikoloff , Dimitar Sagaev, Simeon Pironkoff, Dora Draganova) dedicated to her solo pieces and concertos with orchestra. In 2003 she first performed her own compositions at the invitation of the American Folk Harp Society, and has since written numerous pieces for harp, piano and other instruments which are gaining popularity in Europe and North America. Very important part of her compositions for harp is the Haiku pieces based on Japanese, American and Bulgarian Haiku.
A former artist-in-residence for the North Carolina Arts Council, Dr. Ravnopolska-Dean is a founding music faculty member and currently teaching at the American University in Bulgaria.
The harp concerto by C. Reinecke is a beautiful virtuoso romantic work. It is performed by few people in the world, because of the complexity and difficulty of the solo harp part. Anna-Maria Ravnopolska-Dean is the first Bulgarian soloist to perform this engaging concerto.
