Varvara Ivanova

Last updated

Varvara Ivanova (born 1987) [1] is a Russian virtuoso harpist and winner of major prizes in many international harp competitions. [2]

She was born in Moscow in 1987 and grew up in a family of musicians, [1] with her father baritone Vladimir Ivanov, her mother harpist Zoya Slootskovskaya, and her brothers pianist Gleb Ivanov and cellist Danila Ivanov. [3] From the age of five she studied at the Preparatory of Moscow Conservatory under M. F. Maslennikova. [4] Her first major public performance was in the Conservatory Concert Hall in 1993 when, at the age of seven, she played the Concerto for Harp and Orchestra in B♭ major by Handel with the Kremlin Chamber Orchestra under conductor Misha Rachlevsky. [2] [5]

She has been awarded numerous prizes, the first being at the age of only five at the International Competition Junior Ensembles in Art in Moscow. In 1997 she won the International Competition Piccoli Mozart in Monte Carlo, and the Prize of the President of Russia. Then in 1999, she gained First Prize at the junior division of the Lily Laskine Harp Competition in Deauville, and in 2002 she won first prize at the Vera Dulova Harp Competition in Russia. [1] She was also awarded a scholarship from the Rostropovich Music Fund. [2]

She toured Germany as a soloist with the Kremlin Chamber Orchestra in November 2001, after replacing Xavier de Maistre, principal harpist of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, with only one week's notice. Concerts in Tonhalle Düsseldorf, Musikhalle Hamburg, Munich Prinzregententheater and Frankfurt Alte Oper were well received. [4]

In 2002, she was a featured soloist at the World Harp Congress in Geneva, Switzerland. [4] [6]

Her London debut was at the Wigmore Hall on 1 June 2003, with the London Chamber Orchestra conducted by Geoffrey Simon, a concert co-sponsored by the Victor Salvi Foundation and Anglo-Suisse Artistic Foundation. [2] The concert included a specially commissioned solo arrangement by Paul Sarcich of The Carnival of Venice by Posse, the Concerto for Flute, Harp, and Orchestra by Mozart (with flautist Neil McLaren), and the Toccata and Fugue in D minor by Bach arranged for solo harp by Marcel Grandjany. [7] English critic Edward Johnson commented, "Ivanova demonstrated that she is a born virtuoso. Her sensitivity, beauty of sound and musicality captured a near-capacity audience … one of the very few harpists who can simultaneously awe and charm". [8]

In November 2003, [2] she won first prize at the 15th International Harp Contest in Israel, [4] where she also received the Esther Herlitz Prize, awarded for the best performance of a free-choice composition written after 1950, for her performance of Maqamat by Ami Ma'ayani. [9]

In 2004, she gave recitals at the BEMUS Music Festival in Belgrade, followed by performances at the Gstaad Music Festival in Switzerland, and the Harp Music Festival in Belgrade in 2005, [4] as well as a concert tour in Russia. [2]

She made her first visit to the United States in spring 2005, performing a series of concerts. She made her New York debut at the Merkin Hall, followed by a concert four days later at the Libby Gardner Concert Hall in Salt Lake City where she played arrangements of keyboard compositions including those of Bach, Chopin, Ravel, Tchaikovsky, Brahms and, as an encore, Liebesträume by Liszt. [10] Later that year on 24 September 2005, she took part in a concert at the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall in Moscow to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the restoration of the Greater Church of the Ascension in Bolshaya Nikitskaya Street, her own parish church. [11]

On 5 October 2008 she gave a concert at the 10th International Harp Festival in the Royal Palace of Gödöllő in Hungary, with a programme including music by Bach, Spohr, Mchedelov, Smetana, Mussorgsky and Parish Alvars. [8]

The renowned Russian cellist and conductor Mstislav Rostropovich said of her, "She is an outstanding harpist and is already able to perform in all the world demonstrating precise knowledge of her instrument and enormous talent". [1]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michala Petri</span> Danish recorder player (b1958)

Michala Petri is a Danish recorder player. She is celebrated for her technical virtuosity and versatility across various musical styles. She made her solo debut in 1969, at age eleven.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nina Kotova</span> Musical artist

Nina Kotova is an American cellist of Eastern European descent. As well as being a versatile artist and an established composer she is a recording artist who performs both as a soloist with major orchestras and as a chamber musician.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Madeleine Mitchell</span> British violinist

Madeleine Louise Mitchell MMus, ARCM, GRSM, FRSA is a British violinist who has performed as a soloist and chamber musician in over forty countries. She has a wide repertoire and is particularly known for commissioning and premiering new works and for promoting British music in concert and on disc.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lavinia Meijer</span> Korean Dutch harpist (born 1983)

Lavinia Meijer is a South Korean-born Dutch harpist. Her concerts have included a solo harp evening at Carnegie Hall in New York City.

Şirin Pancaroğlu is a Turkish harpist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coline-Marie Orliac</span> French harpist

Coline-Marie Orliac is a French harpist. A graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music, she has performed with leading orchestras including the Berlin Philharmonic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maria Krushevskaya</span> Russian harpist

Maria Krushevskaya is a virtuoso Russian harpist. She was the gold medalist of the 2007 USA International Harp Competition, where she was awarded the Jan Jennings Prize for best performance of Pierné's Concertstück for Harp and Orchestra, the Mary L. Ogg Prize for best performance of Küne's Fantaisie sur un theme de l’opera Eugene Onegin, and best performance of Alvars' Introduction and Variations on Themes from Bellini's Opera Norma. Maria Krushevskaya was born in Moscow in 1984 in a family of musicians. She began to study music at the age of five. In 1992 she entered the Moscow Gnessin School of Music, graduating with distinction in 2002 and subsequently continued her studies at the Gnesins’ Russian Academy of Music from which she also graduated with distinction in 2008.

Yolanda Kondonassis is an American classical harpist. She is considered one of the world's premier solo harpists and is widely regarded as today's most recorded classical harpist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lucile Lawrence</span> American harpist (1907–2004)

Lucile Lawrence was an American harpist. At the end of her life, she was a faculty member of Boston University and the Manhattan School of Music, as well as teaching privately.

Paul Kuentz is a French conductor who studied at the Paris Conservatoire from 1947 to 1950, with Noël Gallon, Georges Hugon and Eugene Bigot.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Skaila Kanga</span> Harpist

Skaila Kanga is a harpist and Professor Emerita of Harp at the Royal Academy of Music in London. After winning a Junior Exhibition to the Royal Academy of Music for piano, she switched to harp studies at age 17. She studied with Tina Bonifacio, Sir Thomas Beecham's harpist in the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anastasia Gromoglasova</span> Russian pianist

Anastasia Gromoglasova is a Russian classical pianist.

Dina Parakhina is a Russian pianist and teacher.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Violetta Egorova</span> Russian pianist

Violetta Egorova is a Russian concert pianist.

Heidi Lehwalder is an American classical harpist. She is internationally renowned as one of the world's greatest harp prodigies, and as the final student of master Carlos Salzedo. Leonard Bernstein said of her, "...The main thing to tell you about Heidi is that she is simply a genius," in his notes for the Young People's Concerts. She was the first recipient of the prestigious Avery Fisher Prize, later to be renamed the Avery Fisher Career Grant. Heidi was given a harp at the age of seven by her mother, who was a cellist with the Seattle Symphony, and Heidi made her debut performing with the Seattle Symphony at nine. She studied with Carlos Salzedo at his music colony in Camden, Maine for two summers beginning in 1960, and it was Salzedo who prepared her to play in The International Harp Contest in Israel in 1962. The Philharmonic Hall commentary on the contest said that "Heidi was the one and only sensation of the entire affair."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alisa Sadikova</span> Musical artist

Alisa Sadikova is a prodigy classical harpist from Russia.

Marie-Claire Jamet is a French classical harpist.

Sabine Toutain is a contemporary French violist.

Sarah Louvion is a French classical flautist. The award-winning player has been the principal flute of the Frankfurter Opern- und Museumsorchester from 2002, and is active as a soloist and chamber musician. She has given international master classes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Natalia Khoma</span> Ukrainian-born cellist

Natalia Khoma is a Ukrainian-born cellist. She is the first and only Ukrainian cellist to become a laureate of the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, Russia.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 www.zavodszky.hu. "Harp Festival". harpfestival.hu. Retrieved 2016-06-18.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Musication Inc. - Varvara Ivanova, Harpist". musication.com. Retrieved 2016-06-18.
  3. ↑ William McNally (22 February 2016). "Gleb Ivanov" (PDF). Retrieved 2016-06-18.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 "15th Contest 2003 – Varvara Ivanova, Russia ‹ The International Harp Contest in Israel". harpcontest-israel.org.il. 16 November 2010. Retrieved 2016-06-18.
  5. ↑ "Varvara Ivanova (6 year old) plays Handel's Harp Concerto". YouTube. 29 June 2011. Retrieved 2016-06-18.
  6. ↑ "Varvara Ivanova plays Bach". YouTube. 19 June 2009. Retrieved 2016-06-18.
  7. ↑ GlobalVision Communication sàrl & Lauriedesign sàrl. "Arts Global - Varvara Ivanova at Wigmore Hall". artsglobal.org. Retrieved 2016-06-18.
  8. 1 2 "Hárfafesztivál – 10th International Harp Festival, 3–12 October 2008". 2008-07-09. pp. 8–9. Retrieved 2022-07-07.
  9. ↑ The American Harp Journal. American Harp Society. 2003. p. 70.
  10. ↑ Edward Reichel. "Concert review: Russian harpist is stellar". Deseret News. Archived from the original on August 6, 2016. Retrieved 2016-06-18.
  11. ↑ "The stars of the world stage will give a concert in honour of the 15th anniversary of the revival of the church "Great Ascension"". pravoslavie.ru. Retrieved 2016-06-19.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.