In May of 2016 I attended the International Chamber Music Academy, based in Kyustendil, Bulgaria. This trip was through a May Term course at my undergrad, Illinois Wesleyan University, and it was my second time attending the three-week long festival. We were able to work with Bulgarian musicians, both students and faculty. It was a wonderful opportunity to play music with people from a different culture and gain a broader perspective and world view.
Some musical highlights included:
---Performing Shostakovich String Quartet No.8 with some dear friends. Madz, Maya, Krystyna, and I worked on this massive piece during the spring semester, and it was great to get to focus on it in a concentrated period of time and ultimately perform it in its entirety.
---Performing the Dohnányi Serenade for String Trio with Maya and Madz in a local art gallery.
---Having a lesson with Anatoli Krastev, a Bulgarian cellist. We worked on a Bulgarian piece, Sonata for Solo Cello by Marin Goleminov. This is such a dramatic and wonderful piece. Goleminov was from Kyustendil, the small mountain town where our festival was based, and Anatoli was involved in the composition process. I read "edited by Anatoli Krastev" printed on my score for months leading up to this trip, so it was a very unique and special experience to study the piece with him.
---Performing Brahms Clarinet Quintet. My group consisted of my friend from IWU and violist Maya, and two Bulgarian violinists Polly and Sasho. We had the honor and privilege to perform with the Bulgarian clarinetist, Rossen Idealov. He was one of our coaches, and we learned so much from him. This was a group I will never forget!
With Rossen Idealov after performing Brahms Clarinet Quintet
Our trio after the art gallery performance.
I should mention that this trip became a wonderful excuse to spend more time in Europe :) My post-graduation trip consisted of eight days romping through Ireland and the Scottish Highlands with my music sister (Madz) and birth sister (Katrina), the chamber music festival in Bulgaria, exploring Israel with Madz, Krystyna, and Nina (my cello teacher), and it concluded with five days in Budapest - my new favorite city. It was an awesome six weeks, and I am so glad that music was the focal point of half of it!
Ireland/Scotland
Israel
Budapest
