“The harp, source of inspiration” – this is the title of the master class Prof. Suzanna Klintcharova has been holding at New Bulgarian University for several years. To the hundreds of students she has had, now scattered around the globe, she is herself a source of inspiration – as a performer and as an indefatigable researcher of harp music literature. Prof. Klintcharova is an acclaimed name in music. She has had a successful concert career for decades, which she has been combining with sound recording. Since 1990 she has been a harp professor in Paris, holding regular master classes in New York and Sofia. She has been soloist of the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, the National Orchestra of Belgium, the Sofia Philharmonic, the San Francisco Chamber Symphony and a number of other renowned orchestras. She has performed on prestigious concert stages in USA, Japan, France, Belgium and many other countries.

Suzanna Klintcharova was born in the family of artist Evgeni Klintcharov and pianist Vera Panova. “I was so obsessed with the idea of playing the piano, that at night, instead of reading me a bedtime story, I kept asking my mother to play one of the pieces I loved,” she says. She started playing at the age of 5, but at 12 she had to give up the piano because of problems with her hands. She was advised to choose a different instrument or to give up music as a profession altogether. The very first time she came in contact with the harp, the instrument enthralled her with its resonance, its magnificent sound and the prospect of creative quests it offered.

Here is Prof. Klintcharova about her tutors, the knowledge they passed onto her and her own view of music:

“The harp grabbed me with the very first touch. The experience I had amassed with the piano was a great help, but harp technique is extremely difficult. My big break came when I joined the class of Susanna Meldonian at the Brussels Royal Conservatory. She had the very rare ability of surmounting technical difficulties to make fascinating music. Under her guidance I made serious progress. She recommended me to Pierre Jamet, with whom I specialized French music. He was the living bond with the giants of harp music Ravel, Debussy, Faure, Caplet, he grew under their influence, playing their music under their own, personal guidance. He was himself tutored by Hasselmans himself, whom we owe so much to for the development of the harp as a solo instrument. It should not be forgotten that Saint-Saens, Faure and other composers wrote music specifically for him and his class.”

Extending the bond between tutor and student, Prof. Klintcharova conveys to them the idea that inspiring composers for new works is just as important as is performing as a virtuoso.

“For our instrument that is a task of utmost importance – to point composers in a given direction. There are times when, as a gesture to a friend who is a composer, the harpist will do the impossible so as to play some piece. But for a piece to be viable, to become part of the repertoire, it has to be written in a way that will make it playable. That is part of my own vision in my work with students. Some 6-7 years ago, Prof. Bogdanov offered me master classes at New Bulgarian University. We always have at least one piece by a contemporary composer to work on. At that university it is possible to have different departments join the master class -  theatre, fine arts, cinema, even political studies. It is wonderful to see young people who are so open to the world, and for harpists to see they are not alone on stage, while students from other departments are brought in contact with the unknown.”

In recent years Prof. Klintcharova has been concentrating her work as a performer in USA, France and Bulgaria, while at the same time recording solo pieces and chamber music. A special place in her repertoire is accorded to works by Bulgarian composers, many of them written especially for her. They include works by Lazar Nikolov, Ilia Iliev, Vassil Kazandjiev, Lyubomir Denev, Tsenko Minkin, Alexander Kandov, Georgi Arnaudov.

“Regrettably, it takes more than one concert life to play everything you want,” says Prof. Klintcharova.

The audio file features:

- Concert study by Hasselmans;

- Harp concerto by Francois Adrien Boieldieu with the Bulgarian National Radio Symphonietta Orchestra, conductor Kamen Goleminov;

- Mirror from Four Memories from the Old Notebook for Harp and Electronic Instruments by Alexander Kandov.

English version: Milena Daynova