On March 3 two young ladies are to present in Bulgaria’s capital Sofia an interesting music programme. Bulgarian violinist Joanna Ruseva and Lithuanian pianist Veronika Kopjova dedicate their concert to Claude Debussy. Let us remind that in 2017 we marked the 155^th birth anniversary of the celebrated French composer and on March 25 this year we mark 100 years since his death. The concert will be held in Giant Crystals hall at the Earth and Man national museum.

Veronika Kopjova was born in Lithuania and has had a very active concert activity across Europe. She performed at prestigious music halls in Austria, the Netherlands, France, etc. As a soloist she held a series of concerts with the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra, the North German Philharmonic Orchestra (The Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie) and the Castile And León Symphony Orchestra (Orquesta Sinfónica de Castilla y León). Veronika is a prominent chamber musician who made a series of recordings at the Danish National Radio, the Österreichischer Rundfunk, etc. She is a laureate at many prestigious international music competitions for piano and chamber music in France, Spain, Estonia and Lithuania.

Our performance on the Bulgarian stage is on Bulgaria’s National Liberation Day. That is why we also dedicate our concert to this memorable date of the Bulgarian history, Joanna Ruseva said.

The talented Bulgarian violinist placed among the laureates of a series of international music forums even before she graduated from the National School of Music Lyubomir Pipkov. She won the Vasko Adadjiev award at the Music and Earth international competition before she turned twelve. This is a music competition for young musicians and is held each year at the Giant Crystals hall at the Earth and Man museum in Sofia. Joanna also won awards from the Kocian violin competition in 2008, Nedyalka Simeonova competition for violinists in 2011, Youth Virtuosos international competition in 2013, etc. Last year she won one of the special awards at the Andrea Postacchini international violin competition in Italy. Joanna Ruseva was a soloist at the Bulgarian National Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Classic FM orchestra and the Burgas Philharmonic Orchestra. The young Bulgarian musician graduated the National School of Music in Sofia in the classes of Professor Blagorodna Taneva. Later, she studied in the classes of Tatiana Samouil at Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel in Brussels. In 2016 she joined the University for Music and Performing Arts in Vienna in the classes of Professor Anton Sorokow. There, she met with Veronika Kopjova who first took a specialization and then lectured at this university. Joanna and Veronika were included in a project dedicated to Finland’s composerEinojuhani Rautavaara. They perform "Lost Landscapes"(a piece written for virtuoso violinist Midori). Their concert in the chamber hall at Musikverein was held in November 2016 and gave the start of their scenic cooperation. In Sofia the music duo will perform Sonata for Violin and Piano by Claude Debussy as well as pieces by Dimitar Nenov, Shostakovich, Prokofiev, Messiaen, etc.

English version: Kostadin Atanasov

Photo: private library