Tania Stavreva

Artist Information

Biography

Short Bio:

Described by the music critics as "exceptional, entrancing, fun!" (Harry Rolnick, ConcertoNet.com), "a fully formed and fearsomely talented pianist" (Steve Holtje, CultureCatch.com) and "bold, dynamic, magnificent!" (Harris Goldsmith), the "Bulgarian-born piano dynamo" (Steve Smith, Time Out New York) Tania Stavreva made her Carnegie Hall debut in April 2009.

Ms. Stavreva has performed at such venues as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Symphony Space, Kosciuszko Foundation Auditorium, Steinway Hall, Jazz at Lincoln Center, Roulette, Galapagos Art Space, Bulgarian Consulate General, New York Public Library 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 Theater in Los Angeles, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, National Ethnographic Museum in Bulgaria, Cathedral San Lorenzo in Italy, and the Ruinekerk in The Netherlands.

In July 2011 her multimedia performance “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 on NY1 News as well as Time Out New York and New York Daily News. On May 10th, 2012 Ms. Stavreva collaborated with the internationally-acclaimed body painter and artist Derrick Little at Galapagos Art Space in New York on another multimedia project titled “Rhythmic Movement Multimedia”. This time live music and live body painting were connected through abstract music-color synesthesia. The young pianist and fine art model also made her acting debut with the Onomatopoeia Theater Company as Sasia in The Tempest by William Shakespeare - an off-off Broadway modern adaptation directed by Thomas Gordon. She is also one of the first pianists of her generation to present modern style classical music to younger audiences at such rock club venues as Webster Hall (NY) and Paradise Rock Club (Boston).

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 a winner of many competitions.

Full bio: http://objects.sonicbids.com/rider/2/141/rider_3682141.pdf?save=Tania_Stavreva_Full_Bio.pdf

Instrumentation

Tania Stavreva - Piano

Discography

Booking Contact:
Diane Saldick
Tel: (212) 213-3430
diane.saldick@verizon.net

Links

• MySpace
• YouTube
• Twitter
• Kirshbaum Demler & Associates
• Facebook
• Boston Musicians Association
• NY1 News
• www.gigmaven.com/taniastavreva

Audio

• Sergei Prokofiev - Suggestion Diabolique Op. 4, No. 4
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• Erik Satie - 3 Gnossiennes
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• Vassil Kazandjiev - Toccata 1957
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• Alexander Scriabin - Fantasy in B Minor, Op.28
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• Alexander Scriabin - Sonata No.3, Op.23
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• Samuel Barber - Piano Sonata Op.26 - Allegro energico
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• Samuel Barber - Piano Sonata Op.26 - Allegro vivace e leggero
  Listen  
• Samuel Barber - Piano Sonata Op.26 - Adagio Mesto
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• Samuel Barber - Piano Sonata Op.26 - Fuga: Allegro con spirito
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• J.S. Bach - Toccata in C Minor, BWV 911
  Listen  

Video

Alexander Scriabin - Vers la Flamme, Op.72 (Toward the Flame)

Alberto Ginastera - 4th Mov. from Sonata No.1, Op.22 (Ruvido Ed Ostinato)

Photo Gallery

Press

• Tania Stavreva–Interview and Preview of her Galapagos Art Space Multimedia Show [+ Show ]
  

  On Thursday, May 10 at 8 PM, New York-based pianist-composer Tania Stavreva will perform a special e...On Thursday, May 10 at 8 PM, New York-based pianist-composer Tania Stavreva will perform a special event at the great Galapagos Art Space located in the DUMBO neighborhood of Brooklyn (Remember I was there covering Hilary Hahn’s fundraiser for the disaster in Japan last year?). At this event titled Rhythmic Movement Multimedia: A New Picture on Classical Music, Tania will be performing pieces by Erik Satie, Alberto Ginastera, Federico Mompou as well as original pieces by her and by Tim Daoust, but unlike what you expect from a piano recital, this is a multimedia event that will also feature the body paintings of Derrick Little and the work of acclaimed photographer Jack Dzamba. Tania spoke to me briefly about the show.
  
  CM: Can you talk about this concert at Galapagos? What are you performing on the program, and what will make it unlike most piano recitals?
  
  TS: This multimedia concert is unique because the ideas incorporated never happened before in the history of classical music. In college I got very addicted to the music of Alexander Scriabin and that is where I learned a lot about synesthesia and painter Wassily Kandinsky. I often feel music and see music as color. When I play pieces by Satie, Debussy, Scriabin, there is something in the air that is like a fog and it blends its colors. With the music by Satie and Scriabin the colors blend more and connect from one another smoothly while with Debussy I could often see more exact pictures. In this concert music and color are connected through body painting. The first time I got this idea happened when I met artist Danny Setiawan and we did something similar at the Metropolitan Room last year. Derrick Little has a different style and instead of using my back as a flat canvas, he connects the images to the body. Derrick uses more abstract style and he is more of a designer.
  
  At the concert also there is a photography art multimedia where while I play “La barca” (The Boat) and “Cuna” (The Cradle) by Federico Mompou, while the photographs by artist Jack Dzamba will be projected on a screen above me. Another interesting element is Tim Daoust’s new work titled Quivering Filament of Incandescent Bulb where the composer incorporates the music for piano with live electronic sounds. It is a reflection of 20th century impressionism with 21st century world of high tech we live in featuring electronics and cosmic sound.
  
  Rhythmic Movement is a symbol of live energy–an energy that gives light and electricity and keeps the world moving forward. Rhythmic Movement is time and space, music and silence, life and death, light and dark, love and loneliness–conditions that have their own rhythm and movement, conditions that each of us experiences early or late. In my interpretation of the idea death is the beginning of something new – not the end of life but a rebirth of life. It is a constant circle that has its own rhythm and movement. Light cannot exist without dark and the character of the music I’ve chosen to represent these ideas has its own nuances and rhythmic flow.
  
  CM: What made you decide to do this kind of presentation?
  
  TS: Danny Setiawan was the first painter I collaborated on a similar project last year. When I saw his work, I was very inspired. We got together, I told him how I felt about the music, what is my interpretation and how I see the colors. When we advertised this project Derrick Little heard about it and he was inspired to offer another view of the project coming through more abstract style. I’ve been truly blessed to have the opportunity to collaborate with 2 of the best body painters in NY and the world!
  
  CM: Can this kind of show possibly change the way people feel about going to classical concerts?
  
  TS: Well, this is a difficult question. The goal of this multimedia (not a piano recital) is not to say “this is it, this is how classical music has to be done from now on”. It is a way of expressing myself through my love and passion for art and it is a

• "I Have Seen the Future of Classical Music, and It Includes Drinks" - Review by Steve Holtje [+ Show ]
  

  Rhythmic Movement: A Modern View of the Classical Music Recital in the 21st Century The Metropolita...Rhythmic Movement: A Modern View of the Classical Music Recital in the 21st Century
  The Metropolitan Room, July 27, 2011, NYC
  
  "Whither the classical recital in our multi-media/attention deficit disorder age? Will kids nowadays sit in a dark room (worship at a temple of music, as they say) to concentrate only on a lone figure onstage playing non-rock music? Well, it helps to have a drink in hand, as the success of Le Poisson Rouge has shown over the past few years; classical music in a bar with table service is apparently worth the trade-off of the sounds of the music mixing with clinking glasses, the whine of credit card receipts printing, etc. But what else can be added? Well, visuals -- and not just the sight of good-looking people playing the instruments. Kronos Quartet has done this quite successfully with film and even a projection of the printed music score (showing that Penderecki's non-traditional sounds are scrupulously notated was a brilliant idea). As the subtitle of her recital program at the Metropolitan Room (which normally hosts tony cabaret performances) suggests, young pianist Tania Stavreva has some further ideas for enlivening recital presentation.
  
  Lest you immediately think that she's distracting from a talent lacuna, rest assured that such is not the case. When after her 2009 NYC recital debut the city's senior maven of classical music criticism, Harris Goldsmith, likened her Scriabin playing to Horowitz's, it was clear that the child prodigy from Bulgaria had grown into a fully formed and fearsomely talented pianist who need not overcompensate for anything.
  
  Her programming is staunchly modern: the oldest composer played this evening was Eric Satie (1866-1925), half the composers on the program are alive, and there were two world premieres, three if one counts her arrangement of Cage's 4'33" -- which brings us to one of her tweaks of recital decorum. Besides shortening the piece to 3'33", she also added a miked clock (which she says "represents time and...is also a symbol of constant rhythm and pulse that are eternal") and dancers, who for most of their time on stage posed without moving, which seems appropriate in music with no notes. Two pieces utilized electronics. And Stavreva’s bare back was adorned with body paint by Danny Setiawan (a painting of a dancer, reflecting the Rhythmic Movementtitle of the program), and for most of the program, live video (by Dwight Schneider) of her back was projected on a wall screen; as she played, the dancer moved (well, slightly).
  
  Satie's 3 Gnossiennes opened the program, and at first the video was not live, but rather a close-up of the application of the paint. The rather frenzied movements of the painter clashed with Satie's solemn rhythms, but the musical performance was impeccable. Not for Stavreva the dry tone and flat affect of some Satie players; she deployed rich timbres, excellent legato, and expressive rubato phrasing while honoring the mercurial moods of Satie's directions, moving from one piece to the next with barely a pause.
  
  Next came Alberto Ginastera (1916-1983), his Danzas Argentinas, a triptych of character pieces. She used a nice light touch for the first two, keeping the dissonances from becoming too clangorous with her refined pedal technique. Then, for "Dance of the Arrogant Cowboy," she gradually unleashed the power as the piece ebbed and flowed, building to its bravura finish.
  
  Nikolai Kapustin (1937- ) began a stretch of living composers; two selections (Nos. 1 and 3) from his Jazz Concert Etudes were both jazzy and bluesy in a sort of 1920s Futurist mechanical way, alternating lush harmonies with more spare and rhythmically energetic passages.
  
  The first electronics of the evening were heard near the end of Mason Bates's "White Lies for Lomax" when a field recording by ethnomusicologist Alan Lomax was sampled. Before that, the piano gave us fragmentary and hallucinatory passages; the earthy vocals and percussion of the American South that were overlaid at the end overshadowed the composed segment.
  
  Then came the Cage; it's treated so reverentially nowadays as a modernist classic that in the concert hall there's little to hear, but in the bar that wasn't a problem; there was even the pop of a wine bottle being uncorked. I do think that the addition of the dancers highlighted the visual element too much, distracting from Cage's point of tricking us (so to speak) into listening attentively to sounds we would generally ignore or, at least, process unconsciously. The presence of the dancers meant that the video projection of Stavreva's back, the novelty of which had been exhausted, was turned off.
  
  The pianist segued directly into the next work, Scott Wollschleger's (1980- ) "Chaos Analog," a graphic score. It does evoke chaos with its wide-ranging use of the piano's whole range, but it's not really chaotic since the very structure of the piano encourages certain arrangements of notes (glissandi and arm clusters) and limits the player's options for producing true randomness. The piece itself was also organized in an ABA structure, the outside movements busy, the inner movement quiet. Wollschleger's "November 29th" by contrast is rather Impressionist, with some jazzy harmonies (though, of course, jazz was eventually influenced by Impressionism). This was one of the world premieres; the preceding piece may have been as well, but the printed program (a welcome retention from the traditional recital) listed them on the same line, confusing the issue.
  
  "Moon, Ties, Cycles" by Tim Daoust (1981- ) was a world premiere and included the composer on live electronics; the piano was miked and he altered its timbres (though not constantly) via an Apple laptop. The piano's notes gave us gestural figures; he made the sounds fuzzier or more metallic, sometimes giving them a rattling character. Afterward Stavreva addressed the audience and revealed that both this and the Bates include space for improvisation, but so seamless were the performances that it was not noticeable.
  
  That was it for the new works, but the next two pieces were unfamiliar to us non-Bulgarians. First came the source of the program's title, "Rhythmic Movement," a 1943 piece by Pancho Vladigerov (1899-1978). Stavreva played its 9/8 opening theme, improvised on it, and made that improvisation a bridge to Variations on a Bulgarian Folk Song "Dilmano, Dilbero" (1954) by Alexander Vladigerov (1933-1993), Pancho's son. This was quite a musical discovery for me, a magnificent piece. He takes full advantage of the variety inherent in variation form with a wide range of moods and styles, mixing Rachmaninovian Romantic virtuosity full of filigree with soulful Bulgarian songfulness and misterioso tints, with a big climax for the rousing close.
  
  The final work was not the listed Cziffra-Korsakov "Bumble Bee" Etude, but instead the final movement from Ginastera's mighty Sonata. After a long program with no intermission, Stavreva may have been a little worn out; for the first time all night, her fingering was a bit blurred in spots. It was still an impressive gesture to end not with the inconsequential Etude but instead the finale of one of the best piano sonatas of the past century.
  
  So the evening was quite successful musically speaking, but how about the new approaches to the recital? After a while I was tired of the back-painting video, and I prefer Cage without additions, but the electronics enhanced their pieces and I was quite happy to quaff a Blue Moon during the concert. If this is the direction the classical recital is moving in, and if it makes the music seem more inviting to younger audiences, then I'm in favor of it." - Steve Holtje
  
  You can also read the review online@: http://culturecatch.com/music/tania-stavreva-piano-recital

• The Modern Piano Project - Review by Harry Rolnick [+ Show ]
  

  Music Of The Century New York Roulette, 20 Greene Street 04/16/2010 The Modern Piano Proje...Music Of The Century
  
  New York
  Roulette, 20 Greene Street
  04/16/2010
  
  The Modern Piano Project:
  Mason Bates: White Lies for Lomax (2007)
  Carl Vine: Rash for Solo Piano with CD (1997), Sonata No.1 (1990)
  Samuel Barber: Fuga from Piano Sonata Op.26 (1949)
  Claude Debussy: Préludes: Bruyeres: La fille aux cheveux de lin (1910)
  Marc Rossi : Dream Catcher (original version, 2009) (World Premiere)
  Alberto Ginastera: Sonata No.1, Op.22 (1952)
  Sergei Prokofiev Suggestion Diabolique, Op.4, No.4
  
  Tania Stavreva (Pianist)
  
  
  New Yorkers looking for mainstream music last night would have been frustrated. Up in Symphony Space, players of the New York Philharmonic were playing new works by Sam Shepherd and Matthias Pinscher. Down in Carnegie Hall, Louis Andriessen and Bang On A Can were going to present more contemporary music. Unfortunately, the composer of the Divine Comedy opera suffered a Divinely-Generated Tragedy. Iceland’s volcanic ash prevented his associates were flying back, and the concert was canceled.
  
  Even further downtown, the 26-year-old pianist Tania Stavreva was giving an exceptional concert of 20th and 21st Century music with names mostly unknown. I hadn’t heard Ms. Stavreva before, but her outstanding reputation preceded her. Not only numerous prizes from her native Bulgaria, but as a student of Michael Lewin at the Boston Conservatory, Ms. Stravreva had won the Chamber Music Honors Competition, the Piano Honors Competition and other awards. After these, her numerous performances in America and Europe have received excellent reviews.
  
  Most attractively, this pianist has never played music to win audience popularity. Crowds do not stand on long lines to hear Ginastera, Scriabin and her countryman Alexander Vladigerov, but she has no hesitation in programing rare music–and let the devil take the hindmost.
  
  Down at the Roulette, a hall near Canal Street better known for rock and jazz, Ms. Stavreva sat down at a less-than-pristine Steinway, and let her finger fly over music for the younger audience, mainly of composers and pianists themselves. And while Ms. Stavreva did have names like Debussy and Barber, the major portion of the hour-long recital was devoted to other favorites.
  
  Neither the piano (whose soft tones were not quite audible) nor the hall (with curtains masking diverse pianistic colors) were especially conducive to great playing. But her fingers overcame those difficulties in the most difficult works.
  
  For some reason, Ms. Stavreva opted for two of Debussy’s less taxing preludes, possibly to give a chance for us to relax. But both “Heather” and the ultra-familiar “Girl with the Flaxen Hair” showed nicely practiced fluidity.
  
  The other relatively familiar work, Ginastera’s First Sonata was, for this listener, the highlight of the recital. It takes a real technician to essay the Presto, and to bring out those mysterious folkish melodies in the beginning. But the slow movement of this Sonata starting like that Scarlatti “Cat’s fugue” but developing into the most delicate tapestry, was played with a personal sensitivity difficult to find elsewhere.
  
  The other fugue was the finale of Samuel Barber’s E flat Sonata, and was played with a jaunty almost rollicking sense. To finish off, the pianist played Prokofiev’s Suggestion Diabolique, which I had heard but 48 hours before in a Bronfman encore. He had the right piano, the right Carnegie Hall setting and the right strength. Ms. Stavreva played it with a bounce. But diabolic it was not.
  
  Of the new works, one, Mark Rossi’s Dream Catcher was written for Ms. Stavreva (quite a gift for the young artist). At first, the rhythmic motifs were interesting, but not exactly accessible. At that point, Ms. Stavreva did what every recitalist should do with a new work. She repeated it.
  
  Repetition should be the rule. Once in Hong Kong, conductor David Atherton played Webern’s Six Pieces for a totally uncomprehending audiences. On the spur of the movement, he turned to the grouchy listeners and announced that they would be repeated. The audience, recognizing at least some of the structures, actually began to smile a bit, to remember.
  
  When Ms. Stavreva played the Rossi work, the opening rhythmic motif at the start and some other little measures began to fit together, to make sense even in its arcane structure. A third reading some time will give even a better feeling.
  
  The first work was dedicated to the great Alan Lomax, the American equivalent of Béla Bartók in rooting out our folk music. But Mason Bates’ White Lies for Lomax, was reaching for jazz more than blues, the James Johnson ‘stretch’ piano, a bit cleaned up. The sounds at the end of Lomax actually coaxing some Mississippi blues was the real thing.
  
  Australian Carl Vine contributed two pieces. The first, Rash used more electronic sound, sometimes imitating the pianist, sometimes playing different music entirely. This was fun, entrancing, very clever.
  
  The second work, his First Sonata had textures made for Ms. Stavreva. Her hand stretch is frankly not those of a Rachmaninov, but the rhythm and drive she gives to all her pieces can’t be denied. This work was not only rhythmically driving, but the sounds and textures piled on one another, the octave runs were extremely difficult, and it seemed to have two different rhythms for left and right hands.
  
  Like the other pieces, Ms. Stavreva worked the piano hard, played with intensity and obvious pleasure. Like Dream Catcher, nobody would have objected to a repeat of the music, but even one performance was satisfying.
  
  
  - Harry Rolnick
  ConcertoNet.com
  
  http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=6464

• Tania Stavreva New York Recital Debut@Carnegie Hall [+ Show ]
  

  Tania Stavreva, Piano Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall April 4, 2009 Tania Stavreva, a 25-ye...Tania Stavreva, Piano
  Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall
  April 4, 2009
  
  Tania Stavreva, a 25-year-old pianist, made a deep impression with her Weill Hall debut as a recipient of Artists International's Special Presentation Series. Ms. Stavreva is a graduate of the Dubrin Petkov Music School in her native Bulgaria, where she studied with Rositsa Ivancheva for fourteen years.
  
  Her demanding and diversified program began with a bold, dynamic performance of Alberto Ginastera's 1952 First Sonata, Op.22. Her reading of the Allegro marcato first movement immediately showed architecture, rhythmic swagger and the huge dynamic range whose brilliance never once became harsh or percussive. The Presto misterioso, with its scary unison between top and bottom of the keyboard, went with unlimited virtuosity and seeming effortlessness. Ms. Stavreva evoked a crouching inwardness in the Adagio molto appasionato slow movement and finished with a supercharged, almost overpowering version on the Ravido ed ostinato finale. I had almost forgotten just how fine a work this Ginastera Sonata was (it used to be heard frequently in concerts, but these days most pianists opt for the late composer's lesser Argentinian Dances). Ms. Stavreva deserves gratitude for her magnificent revival.
  
  Also, noteworthy was a US Premiere of Gil Shohat's "Sparks from the Beyond" (1996-1997) The short pieces of Shohat's composition are entitled "Sparks from Infinity"; "Sparks of Existence"; "Sparks of Motion"; "Sparks of Material"; "Sparks of Faith"; "Sparks of Beauty" and "Sparks of Love." Ms. Stavreva's con amore performance evoked all the requisite rapt intensity, love, motion and beauty.
  
  Scriabin's "Vers la flame", Op.72 continued along the lines of Ms. Stavreva's thematic programming. Her magnificent interpretation commenced with a delicacy that made the flesh creep, and then it ignited and built to an immense power which reminded me of those unforgettable Horowitz recordings and concert performances from the 1960s and 1970s.
  
  The Sonata No.1 by the Australian composer Carl Vine first came to my attention when I was a judge at the 1995 Cleveland International Piano Competition. Interestingly, the unisons in the Sonata's second movement have much in common with the aforementioned second movement of the Ginastera Sonata. Ms. Stavreva obviously finds this particular genre of pianism made to order for her superior technical abilities; she played the Vine and the Ginastera outstandingly well.
  
  Two Debussy Preludes, "Les sons et les parfums tournent dans l'air du soir" from Book I and "Bruyeres" from Book II, were elegantly recreated with pulse and atmosphere, and the concert ended with the Variations on a Bulgarian Folk Song "Dilmano Dilbero" Op. 2 by the late Alexander Vladigerov (1933-1993).
  
  - Harris Goldsmith

• Performers Paint A New Picture On Classical Music [+ Show ]
  

  An upcoming classical music concert may surprise fans of Bach or Beethoven, but the many artists inv...An upcoming classical music concert may surprise fans of Bach or Beethoven, but the many artists involved are daring to create a new concept of the modern classical genre. NY1's Stephanie Simon filed the following report.
  
  Many performers get made up before a big show. Concert pianist Tania Stavreva goes much further, making body painting part of her performance.
  
  "Doing body paint and music together, this has never happened in the world of classical music," Stavreva said.
  
  The Bulgarian born Stavreva likes to do things differently. Her upcoming show at the Metropolitan Room, "Rhythmic Movement", showing on July 27, is an eclectic mix of modern classical music, including live electronics.
  
  The concert will also showcase the artistry of body painter Danny Setiawan
  
  "I'd been showing my work in local art shows and a lot of the time people look at it and then are like, 'well, I saw something similar at IKEA," or something like that," said Setiawan. "Or they think that it’s beautiful but they just kind of ignore it. But then with body painting, you can't ignore this human being getting painted."
  
  Incorporating body painting into the performance requires a lot of preparation and for Tania it also means having lots of backless outfits.
  
  As for the music, it's also different. There will be several selections including "Moon, Tides, Cycles" from composer Tim Dauost, who also works at NY1.
  
  He originally wrote the piece just for piano but then added a live electronic element.
  
  "I have a microphone on the piano and it's going through this little box right here into my laptop," said Dauost. "This is sort of an ethereal sound that's going to be happening underneath."
  
  Some classical music fans will be taken "aback" by this show but these artists are ready to paint the town.
  
  "Rhythmic Movement" A Modern View of the Classical Music Recital in the 21st Century will be playing at the Metropolitan Room at 34 West 22nd st. on July 27 at 9:30 p.m.
  
  Tickets are $15 with a two beverage minimum.
  
  For more information visit www.metropolitanroom.com
  
  Or visit the participating artists' websites:
  
  Tania Stavreva, Piano: www.taniastavreva.com
  Danny Setiawan, Body Paint Art: www.denartny.com
  Tim Daoust, Live Electronics: www.timdaoust.com

• Tania Stavreva: Total Artist [+ Show ]
  

  "Tania Stavreva, the young Bulgarian keyboard phenom, is a complete artist. Not only does she displ..."Tania Stavreva, the young Bulgarian keyboard phenom, is a complete artist. Not only does she display dazzling skills with her performances of Prokofiev, Rachmaninov, and Scriabin, she throws her entire body into her work.
  
  Stavreva is having her body painted (above right) by artist Danny Setiawan and will be displaying their collaboration in a series of upcoming recitals. I hear that keyboard-side tickets are going for scalper prices! FYI - She is on Facebook and MySpace. As they say, OMG!" - GotRadio Blog

• "Event not to be missed" [+ Show ]
  

  "Event not to be missed" review by Marc Rossi Tania Stavreva's piano recital on June 23rd 2009 at..."Event not to be missed" review by Marc Rossi
  
  Tania Stavreva's piano recital on June 23rd 2009 at Suelly Hall in Boston, was an event not to be missed. She played a wide variety of works, from the powerful and percussive Ginistera Sonata No. 1, to the intense and virtuostic Vers la Flamme, poeme by Scriabin, to the N. E. premier of the abstract Sparks from the Beyond by Israeli composer Gil Shohat, to the exquisite Debussy preludes Les sons et les parfums tourent dans l'air du soir, and Bruyeres. Stavreva has technique to burn, and that having been said, these works were all played with flair, sensitivity, musical depth, and a clear intention of what the composer had in mind. If you, like Horowitz's Scriabin, you'll like Stavreva's. It's that good. I also found the Debussy a refreshing breath of fresh air, full of sonority and color, beautifully contrasting the other works.
  
  In keeping with her choosing pieces of dazzling virtuosity, she also presented N. E. premiers and performances of two other new works by living composers in addition to the Shohat-- Australian composer Carl Vine's Sonata No. 1, and Bulgarian composer Alexander Vladigerov's Variations on a Bulgarian Folk Song "Dilmano Dilbero." Though clearly influenced by Ginistera, Bartok, and other 20th century composers, the Vine sonata is a thoroughly post-modern work with an intense lyricism emerging from the complex 20th century modality and dissonance. To this listener, it was the most satisfying of the new works she chose in its scope and originality, and Stavreva played it brilliantly. As with the Scriabin, it would be hard to imagine a better performance.
  
  The Vladigerov variations is a work reflecting many pianistic voices, culminating with a harmonically rich section reminiscent of Rachmaninoff, Stavreva's broad interpretive skills allowed her to bring each variation to life - from then ubiquitous percussive and asymmetrical meter sections, to the grand romantic. She was at ease and in control of all aspects of the piece.
  
  I believe Tania Stavreva is on her way to becoming a major artist. She has the technique, soul, and musical intellect to achieve this, and we all will be the beneficiaries.
  
  Marc Rossi
  Composer/pianist
  Professor, Berklee College of Music
  
  http://calendar.boston.com/boston-ma/events/show/87726000-tania-stavreva-piano-recital
  

• Tania Stavreva [+ Show ]
  

  The Bulgarian pianist is joined by body painter Danny Setiawan and electronic-sound artist Tim Daous...The Bulgarian pianist is joined by body painter Danny Setiawan and electronic-sound artist Tim Daoust for Rhythmic Movement, a multimedia classical-music happening featuring works by ten composers from the past century.
  
  (212) 206-0440 Metropolitanroom.com
  $15, seniors and students $12

• “FROM SOFIA TO NEW YORK IN ONE HOUR” [+ Show ]
  

  March 31, 2012 THE TNT DUO presented an exciting selection of modern works for violin and piano i...March 31, 2012
  
  THE TNT DUO presented an exciting selection of modern works for violin and piano influenced and inspired by Bulgarian folk music. The concert was on Friday, March 30th at the Leonard Nimoy Thalia Hall at Symphony Space presented by the Bulgarian-American Center Madara. The young artists Tania Stavreva, piano & Teodora Dimitrova, violin (The TNT Duo) brought an hour of their Bulgarian musical heritage to The Big Apple. The program featured also three New York premieres.
  
  The TNT Duo continued their first season together with a New York City concert debut performance at Symphony Space’s Leonard Nimoy Thalia Hall. They presented a program featuring works by Bulgarian and American composers, who found their inspiration in the traditional Bulgarian music.
  
  The duo performed 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.
  
  full article: http://www.bulgariasega.com/english/13833.html
  
  By Violeta Jeliazkova
  www.bgfocus.com

• Performers gather to pay tribute to their cultural roots [+ Show ]
  

  Performers gather to pay tribute to their cultural roots Arts day celebrates Bulgarian heritage ...
  Performers gather to pay tribute to their cultural roots
  Arts day celebrates Bulgarian heritage
  
  Stephanie Schorow, Globe Correspondent
  May 29, 2008
  
  "...Organized by the Bulgarian American Center, the event features Bulgarian folk dances by the Boston-area group Ludo Mlado, a performance by Madara, a children's choir, as well as home-style Bulgarian food. Pianist Tania Stavreva, a Boston Conservatory graduate who will have her Carnegie Hall solo debut in 2009, will play the New England premiere of "Toccata," a work by the contemporary Bulgarian composer Vassil Kazandjiev.
  
  The event is "a little bit of everything," said Violet Jeliazkova of Woburn, who founded the Bulgarian American Center 10 years ago as a resource for Bulgarians living in the Boston area. Now the organization focuses on promoting Bulgarian cultural events and organizes an annual cultural celebration, she said..."
  
  You can read the whole article at: http://www.boston.com/ae/theater_arts/articles/2008/05/29/performers_gather_to_pay_tribute_to_their_cultural_roots/
  
  
  

• Tania Stavreva - Three Piano Works [+ Show ]
  

  Tania Stavreva - Three Piano Works Genre: Classical Bulgarian classical pianist Tania Stavreva o...Tania Stavreva - Three Piano Works
  Genre: Classical
  
  Bulgarian classical pianist Tania Stavreva offers three piano works on her web site.
  
  Samuel Barber's Piano Sonata, Op. 26 was initially performed by Vladimir Horowitz and was hailed by the piano virtuoso as the first great American composition for piano. It is indeed a powerful work. It teeters between late romanticism and the more modern, and dissonant, 20th century styles. I grew up on recordings of Barber's Adagio for Strings and Summer Music for Wind Quintet, so this sonata is a welcome addition to my knowledge of the exceptional music of Samuel Barber.
  
  The Piano Sonata no. 3 of Alexander Scriabin was composed in 1897. The sonata is firmly in the late Romantic style of Brahms and Liszt but reveals that Scriabin is starting to create his own signature sound. Romantic, passionate and a little florid, this is a perfect piece for Stavreva's own passionate manner of playing.
  
  Johann Sebastian Bach's Toccata in C Minor, BWV 911 wraps up the three works. The ten minute composition is a bit brief for inclusion in this blog but if you can't make an exception for Bach who can you make an exception for? Some might say Stavreva's romanticist technique is a bit much for the Baroque structures of Bach but I think it gives the piece a different perspective.
  
  All tracks are available in 128kbps MP3.
  
  Marvin Vernon, Free Albums Galore
  http://freealbums.blogsome.com/2008/02/11/tania-stavreva-three-piano-works/

• Bulgarian Pianist plays Debussy and Vladigerov
  

  The article is available in Bulgarian only: http://plovdiv-sega.com/2011/08/6313

• "Tania Stavreva podariava koncert na rodnia si grad"
  

  Available in Bulgarian only: http://www.marica.bg/show.php?id=65091

• Bulgarian Night at the Grammy Museum, Los Angeles
  

  The review is available in Bulgarian only: http://www.aba.government.bg/?show=38&nid=1029

• Tania Stavreva Piano Recital
  

  This article is available online in Bulgarian only: http://bgfocus.com/NEWS/news-tania.htm

• "Leten bal shte sabere otnovo balgarskata obshtost v Boston" [+ Show ]
  

  The article is available in Bulgarian only: http://www.bulgariasega.com/interesting_facts/cultura_sa...The article is available in Bulgarian only: http://www.bulgariasega.com/interesting_facts/cultura_sabitia_usa_canada/1587.html

• "Nai-dobrite mi priateli sa balgari" [+ Show ]
  

  This interview is available in Bulgarian only: http://tatyana.hit.bg/materiali/lica/lica_tanichka.ht...This interview is available in Bulgarian only: http://tatyana.hit.bg/materiali/lica/lica_tanichka.html

Setlist

Bach, Johann Sebastian (1685-1750)
Toccata in E minor BWV 914
Toccata in C minor BWV 911
Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue BWV 903
Partita No.1 in B-flat major, BWV 825
French Suite No.2 in C minor, BWV 813
French Suite No.6 in E major, BWV 817
English Suite No.4 in F major, BWV 809
The Well Tempered Clavier:
-Prelude and Fugue No.1, Bk.I
-Prelude and Fugue No.2, Bk.I
-Prelude and Fugue No.3, Bk.I
-Prelude and Fugue No.4, Bk.I
-Prelude and Fugue No.6, Bk.I
-Prelude and Fugue No.10, Bk.I
-Prelude and Fugue No.17, Bk.I
-Prelude and Fugue No.21, Bk.I

Balakirev, Mily (1837-1910)
Islamey, Op.18 (An Oriental Fantasy)

Barber, Samuel (1910-1981)
Sonata op.26 in E-flat minor

Bates, Mason (b. 1977)
White Lies for Lomax (2007)

Beethoven, Ludwig van (1770-1827)
11 Bagatelles, Op. 119
Rondo a capriccioso op.129
Sonata op.13, No.8 "Patetique"
Sonata No.13, Op.27, No.1 "Quasi una fantasia"
Sonata No.14, Op.27, No.2 "Moonlight"
Sonata No.15, Op.28 "Pastoral"
Sonata No.19, Op.49, No.1
Sonata No.20, Op.49, No.2
Sonata No.21, Op.53 "Waldstein"
Sonata No.30, Op.109
32 Variations in C minor on an Original Theme WoO80

Bolcom, William (b.1938)
The Serpent’s Kiss (Rag Fantasy) from the Garden of Eden

Brahms, Johannes (1833-1897)
Rhapsody op.79, No.2

Cage, John (1912-1992)
"4'33" in three movements
"Story" from Living Room Music

Cage-Stavreva (b.1983)
"3'33" (2011) - transcribed for solo or multimedia by Tania Stavreva

Chopin, Frederic (1810-1849)
Andante spianato & Grande polonaise brillante in Eb major, Op.22
Ballade No.1 in G minor, Op.23
Ballade No.3 in A-flat major, Op.47
Etudes op.10, No: 1, 3, 4, 6, 9, 12
Etudes op.25, No: 1, 3, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12
Etude without opus No.1 in f minor, seite 118
Nocturne Op.9, No.2 in E-flat major
Nocturne Op.27, No.1 in C-sharp minor
Nocturne Op.27, No.2 in D-flat major
Nocturne op.48, No1 in c minor
Nocturne op.72, No.1 in e minor
Nocturne in c-sharp minor, op. Posthumous
Preludes Op.28
Sonata No 2 in B-flat minor, op.35 "Funeral March"
Waltz Op.69, No.1 in A-flat Major

Cziffra-Korsakov (1921-1994)
Etude de concert No.1 - Le vol du bourdon ("The Flight of the Bumble-bee")

Daoust, Tim (b.1981)
"Moon, Tides, Cycles", 2011

Debussy, Claude (1862-1918)
Arabesque No.2
Bruyeres, from Bk. II
Clair de lune
La fille aux cheveux de lin, from Bk. I
Les sons et les parfums tournent dans l'air du soir, from Bk. I
L'isle Joyeus
Voiles, from Bk. I

Faure, Gabriel (1845-1924)
Nocturne op.119, No.13

Ginastera, Alberto (1916-1983)
Danzas Argentinas, Op.2 (1937):
-Danza del viejo boyero
-Danza de la moza donosa
-Danza del gaucho matrero
Sonata No.1, Op.22

Grieg, Edvard (1843-1907)
Poetic Tone Pictures, Op.3

Haydn, Joseph (1732-1809)
Sonata H XVI: 23 in F major
Sonata H XVI: 27 in E major
Sonata H XVI: 34 in E minor
Sonata H XVI: 49 in E flat major

Joplin, Scott (1867-1917)
Maple Leaf Rag
Pine Apple Rag

Kapustin, Nikolai (b.1937)
Concert Jazz Etudes:
- Prelude, No.1
- Toccatina, No.3

Kazandjiev, Vassil (b. 1934)
Toccata (1957)

Liszt, Franz (1811-1886)
Grande Etude de Paganini No.6 in A minor
Hungarian Rhapsody No. 6 in D-flat major
Polonaise No.2 in E major

Mozart, Wolfga

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