Charity Concert

Charity Concert

in aid of young musicians in Bulgaria

organized by Blagorodna Badeva Charity Foundation

and Bulgarian Cultural Institute in London

19:00, The Halls of The Bulgarian Embassy

Devorina Gamalova (violin)

and Zrinka Mikelic (piano)

Admision free.

The musicians are donating their performance and will be gratefull for any donation.

The collected amount will be paid into the Charity account of BBCF

About Blagorodna Badeva Charity Foundation

BBCF has been founded and registered in 2005 in memory of the distinguished Bulgarian violinist Blagorodna Badeva who died very young from diabetes. The main aim of the Foundation is to help young Bulgarian musicians, violinists in particular, by means of:
– scholarships for studying, competitions and masterclasses
– free lending of musical instruments
– creating performing opportunities in the form of small concerts in social homes [for elderly people, orphanages, day centres, etc] after the model of Menuhin’s Live Music Now!
The second aim of the Foundation is to help young musicians suffering with diabetes.
D. Gamalova is founder and president of the foundation.

PROGRAMME:

Felix MENDELSSOHN (1809-1847) SONATA for violin and piano in F, 1838
1. Allegro vivace
2. Adagio
3. Assai vivace

Claude DEBUSSY (1862-1918) SONATA for violin and piano in Gm, L. 140
1. Allegro vivo
2. Intermède: Fantasque et léger
3. Finale: Très animé

Francis POULENC (1899-1965) SONATA for violin and piano, Op. 119
1. Allegro con fuoco
2. Intermezzo. Très lent et calme
3. Presto tragic
DEVORINA GAMALOVA, violin
ZRINKA MIKELIC, piano

Devorina Gamalova graduated as a violin performer from the State Academy of Music in Sofia under Prof. Bojan Letchev (D. Oistrach’s pupil) and Dora Bratchkova. She studied then violin teaching at the Music Academy in Dresden, Germany. Further postgraduate studies in violin and viola with the remarkable Russian violinist and violist Prof. Grigory Zhislin took her to Royal College of Music in London. She was awarded later The Leverhulme Trust Scholarship for another year of advanced solo studies in viola at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama under David Takeno. In 2008 she completed her PhD at the London College of Music (TVU) and was awarded the degree outright.
Dr. Gamalova performs intensively as a soloist and chamber musician and is regularly invited to take part as performer and lecturer at prestigious international festivals. Her repertoire includes most of the major repertoire for violin and viola. She has numerous recordings (CD’s, tapes, Radio and TV broadcasts) and also publications in different languages.
She was also a regular recitalist for Yehudi Menuhin’s “Live Music Now” and founded in 2010 a similar organisation in Bulgaria.
Gamalova worked as principal leader of the Riesa Symphony Orchestra (currently Neue Elbland Philharmonie) in Germany. She assisted Prof. Grigory Zhislin at the Royal College of Music. Currently she teaches violin and viola at Trinity College of Music, London College of Music and Goldsmiths’ University College in London and at the Birmingham Conservatoire. She gives masterclasses and workshops worldwide.
Gamalova’s CD recording of the Poulenc’s Violin Sonata was highly acclaimed by his biographer and researcher BENJAMIN IVRY: “… the violinist Devorina Gamalova, makes the best case I have heard for the imperfect Poulenc Sonata for Violin and Piano (Gega New GD 136, distributed by Qualiton). Gamalova, now based in London, has a high-flying virtuosic style like other Slavic players, such as Wanda Wilkomirska, but she tempers it with a chamber music sensibility, aided by her British accompanist Peter Rhodes.” (The Yale Review, Volume 87, Issue 4, October 1999, P. 171)

ZRINKA M BOTTRILL
piano

Zrinka M Bottrill was born in Croatia. She started to play the piano at the age of seven and by the age of thirteen had already won her first prize at a national competition for young pianists.

In 1993 she won a scholarship from the Royal Academy of Music to study in London. Her principal teachers have been Kemal Gekic and Sulamita Aronovsky.

Zrinka’s successes include prizes in several national and international competitions, among them Rome International Youth and Stresa International Piano Competitions in Italy.

Her concerts, both solo and with orchestra, in Britain, Italy, Germany, Portugal, Russia and Croatia have been received with great acclaim. Her performances in London include Chopin’s Concerto No.1 at the Queen Elisabeth Hall with LSCO and a recital for the Chopin Society. She attracted a great following in a recital for the Sibelius Society in London at the St John’s Smith Square and her performances of Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto in Dubrovnik received ecstatic reviews.