The TNT Duo Tania Stavreva, Piano &
Teodora Dimitrova, Violin
FROM SOFIA TO NEW YORK
IN ONE HOUR Friday, March 30th, 2012 at 7:30pm Leonard Nimoy Thalia Theater at Symphony Space
Address: 2537 Broadway, New York, NY 10025
Tickets: $20 General Admission, $15 Students/Seniors/ Symphony Space Members; $10 Children; $25 Day of Show
Bulgarian-American Center Madara presents an exciting selection of modern works for violin and piano influenced and inspired by Bulgarian folk music. Its asymetrical rhythms are unique to the region and lend the music its dance character. Defined by Hungarian composer and ethnomusicologist Bela Bartok as Bulgarian Rhythms they are used in the works of many contemporary composers. Vladigerov, Leviev, and Cohen all wrote the pieces presented in this program during their stay in Bulgaria. The young artists Tania Stavreva, piano & Teodora Dimitrova, violin (The TNT Duo) will bring an hour of their Bulgarian musical heritage to The Big Apple. The program will feature also three New York premieres
PROGRAM:
Pancho Vladigerov (1899-1978):
(www.vladigerov.org)
Poem, Op.7 (1919) - New York Premiere
Rachenitza, Op. 18 (1925) - New York Premiere
Robert Cohen (www.robertscohen.com)
Five Nights in Sofia for Violin & Piano (2010):
Gypsy Bacchanale
Midnight Girl
Dancing Snowflakes
Mourning Bells
Banitza Bang
Milcho Leviev
(www.milcholeviev.net)
Sonata for Violin & Piano (1957) - New York Premiere
Allegro
Passacaglia-Andante
Finale. Prestissimo
THE TNT DUO will present an exciting selection of modern works for violin and piano influenced and inspired by Bulgarian folk music. The concert will be on Friday, March 30th at 7:30pm at the Leonard Nimoy Thalia Hall at Symphony Space. The young artists Tania Stavreva, piano & Teodora Dimitrova, violin (The TNT Duo) will bring an hour of their Bulgarian musical heritage to The Big Apple. The program will feature also three New York premieres.
The TNT Duo will continue their first season together with a New York City concert debut performance at Symphony Space’s Leonard Nimoy Thalia Hall. They will present a program featuring works by Bulgarian and American composers, who found their inspiration in the traditional Bulgarian music. The duo will perform Robert S. Cohen (b.1945)-- Five Nights in Sofia for Violin & Piano: Gypsy Bacchanale,Midnight Girl,Dancing Snowflakes,Mourning Bells,Banitza Bang; Milcho Leviev (b.1937)-- Sonata for Violin & Piano - New York Premiere; Pancho Vladigerov--Poem, Op.7 - New York Premiere, and Rachenitza, Op. 18 - New York Premiere.
The TNT Duo will present an exciting selection of modern works for violin and piano influenced and inspired by Bulgarian folk music. Its assymetrical rhythms are unique to the region and lend the music its dance character. Defined by Hungarian composer and ethnomusicologist Bela Bartok as Bulgarian Rhythms they are used in the works of many contemporary composers. Vladigerov, Leviev, and Cohen all wrote the pieces presented in this program during their stay in Bulgaria. The young artists Tania Stavreva, piano & Teodora Dimitrova, violin (The TNT Duo) will present this hour-long program without an intermission.
After a fun collaboration in the spring of 2011 at Waltz-Astoria Cafe (New York) violinist Teodora Dimitrova and pianist Tania Stavreva decided to put a recital program together. With Teodora Dimitrova's return to the USA in the winter of 2012, the TNT Duo was officially formed in March 2012. Even though they started working together more closely less than a month ago, the dynamic duo already made significant appearances at major venues such as the Bulgarian Consulate General and Steinway Hall in New York. On March 18th the TNT duo made their New England Recital Debut at Boston's 1st Church Unitarian Universalist. Their debut program features an unique mix of Bulgarian music written in the 20th and 21st century. Their repertoire ranges from Baroque to Contemporary styles and they plan on bringing back to life new and old undiscovered Bulgarian music treasures.
Tickets can be purchased at the Box Office of Symphony Space, 2537 Broadway (Broadway and 95th Street), New York NY 10025. General admission $20; Member, Senior, Student $15; Children $10; Day of Show $25
ARTIST"S BIOS:
TANIA STAVREVA, piano
Described by the New York critics as "exceptional", "magnificent", "bold", "dynamic", and "fearsomely talented", Bulgarian pianist Tania Stavreva made her Carnegie Hall debut in April 2009. Ms. Stavreva has performed at such venues as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Steinway Hall, Yamaha Artist Services and the CSV Cultural Center in New York where she was featured live on NY1 News by NBC reporter Asa Aarons. She has performed also at the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, Boston Public Library, National Ethnographic Museum in Bulgaria, Cathedral San Lorenzo in Italy, and the Ruinekerk in The Netherlands.
In July 2011 Tania Stavreva's multimedia performance called Rhythmic Movement took place at the Metropolitan Room in NYC where for a first time she performed body painted, connecting the music of Erik Satie to the work by artist Danny Setiawan. Rhythmic Movement was immediately featured live on NY1 News by arts reporter Stephanie Simon.
Ms. Stavreva has appeared also with the Boston Conservatory Symphony Orchestra and Sinfonia Perugina under conductors Bruce Hangen and Enrico Marconi. She is a regular participant at numerous summer festivals, including the International Holland Music Sessions, International Keyboard Institute & Festival in New York, New England Conservatory’s Summer Institute for Contemporary Performance, Pianofest in the Hamptons, Music Fest Perugia and Varna Summer International Music Festival in Bulgaria.
Tania Stavreva is a graduate of the "Dobrin Petkov" National Music School in Bulgaria, where she studied with renowned pedagogue Rositsa Ivancheva. She went on to earn her Bachelor's Degree from Boston Conservatory, where she was a full scholarship recipient and the winner of the 2005 Chamber Music Honors Competition, the 2006 Lee Piano Scholarship and the 2007 Piano Honors Competition.
TEODORA DIMITROVA, Violin
Bulgarian violinist Teodora Dimitrova has been a solo artist with numerous symphony orchestras and appears in recitals throughout Europe and the US. She has been featured on and recorded for the Bulgarian National Radio and Television.
Ms. Dimitrova's repertoire covers a wide range of styles, unlimited by the standard violin repertoire. She actively plays Bulgarian and other Eastern European music, and regularly presents contemporary works to her audience. Some works premiered in Europe and the US by Ms. Dimitrova include “Horon” by Turkish composer Ahmed Adnan Saygun, “Fledermaus Fantasy” by American composer Judith Shatin, Somei Satoh’s “Birds in Warped Time II” and William Bolcom’s Second Sonata for Violin and Piano.
In the past season Ms. Dimitrova presented with great success in NYC her recital program "Orient Express: from Paris to Istanbul". Depicting a musical travel from Western to Eastern Europe, the project featured composers from France, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey.
An active orchestral musician Ms. Dimitrova has been a member of the Verbier Festival Orchestra (Switzerland) and Symphony in C (NJ) for the past several years, where she has worked with conductors Kurt Masur, Valery Gergiev, Charles Dutoit, Rossen Milanov and Paavo Jarvi among others. Ms. Dimitrova has appeared in concerts at the Berlin Konzerthaus, Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and Carnegie Hall.
Besides performing Ms. Dimitrova is committed to teaching violin to talented young children in New York City. A violin faculty at the Church Street School of Music and Art she has also served as orchestra mentor at the Pre-College Division of the Juilliard School.
Ms. Dimitrova received both her Bachelor’s and Master's degrees from the Juilliard School as a student of Masao Kawasaki. A recipient of the Dorothy Delay full scholarship at Juilliard, Ms. Dimitrova plays on a violin awarded by the Raina Kabaivanska Foundation.
Program Notes by ROBERT S. COHEN
Several years ago, I spent a week in Sofia, Bulgaria attending a performance of a work of mine by the Sofia Opera Chorus & Orchestra. While there, I was approached by the Bulgarian violinist Maria Evstatieva to compose a piece for violin & piano. It was during that stay that I also had the good fortune to hear the Bulgarian National Radio Children's Choir perform. I was so taken with the music I had heard - much of it based on Bulgarian folk songs - that it inspired me to integrate a number of those traditional Bulgarian melodies, with their often complex rhythms, into my new work - using them either literally, or, as the basis for developing my own tunes. In addition, since I tend to work programmatically, I used my observations and experiences while in Sofia as the narrative for each of the work's movements. They are as follows:
Five Nights in Sofia
1. Gypsy Bacchanal - He was a big bear of a Romani man - King of the Gypsies. He spoke to me of Herdeljezi, a festival celebrating the seasonal renewal of life.
2. Midnight Girl - She was standing alone in front of a neon sign. The ghostly color reflected in her sad eyes.
3. Dancing Snowflakes - In Bulgaria there is a game for children call "Winter" in which one child is winter and the others are snowflakes. The snowflakes dance and the winter sings.
4. Mourning Bells - It was dark when the funeral ended and the setting sun set the golden dome of the church aglow as the bells began to toll.
5. Banitza Bang - The "Banitza" - a traditional Bulgarian cheese pie - can be found almost everywhere. At a local hangout, the Banzita's were flying as the boisterous crowd sang traditional Bulgarian songs.
As a final note, I'd like to say how fortunate I am to have the immensely talented TNT duo of Tania Stavreva and Teodora Dimitrova performing this work.
ROBERT S. COHEN Biography
Robert S. Cohen has written music for orchestra, chamber ensemble, dance and theatre and has been the recipient of numerous awards and commissions, including a New Jersey State Council on the Arts Fellowship, an American Music Center Grant, a Meet the Composer Award and several grants from the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation. His String Quartet #2 (A Day in the Life) was the winner of the 2011 International NE String Quartet Competition and his Mysterious Transformation of Johann B. for clarinet & percussion was the selected winner of the 2008 N.Y. Composer's Circle Award. His Alzheimer’s Stories for soloists, chorus and large ensemble, published by C.F. Peters, was commissioned and premiered by the Susquehanna Chorale in 2009, most recently performed by the San Antonio Symphony MasterSingers and will be receiving performances throughout the U.S. and Europe during the 2012-2013 season. His Five Nights in Sofia for violin & piano was recently premiered at Symphony Space in NY and his Of Eternity Considered as a Closed System for soloists, chorus and orchestra was premiered at Carnegie Hall and also performed by the Bulgarian Opera Orchestra and Chorus. Other recent works include: Dream Journal for brass quintet; Genesis Part I: Creation & Part IV: Noah for soloists, chorus, brass & percussion;The Homeland Security Suite for percussion (published by HoneyRock Music); Edison Invents for baritone and orchestra;a ballet, Tiktaalik and the choral works: Sleep, Little Baby, Sleep (published by Hal Leonard), Three Spirituals, Dusk, Night Cadence, Christmas Eve, Sprig of Lilac, Ode to a Toad, Sing with me, Ho Hosanna and Peter Quince at the Clavier.
In addition, Bob co-authored the book and composed the score for the 2000 Richard Rodgers Award winning Off-Broadway musical Suburb. Bob received his A.B. in music from Brown University; his M.A. in Composition from Queens College; and was enrolled in the doctoral program at Columbia University. He currently lives in Montclair, NJ with his wife Maryann and two cats, Fred & Ginger. His website is www.robertscohen.com.
TANIA STAVREVA's great performance at the GRAMMY MUSEUM! , April 9, 2011
