Premiere of "A Poe Fantasia

February 2, 2010

8PM

MIDTOWN ARTS COMMON presents

SOFIA DIMITROVA, SOPRANO STANICHKA DIMITROVA, VIOLIN CATHERINE MILLER, PIANO LATE SUMMER ANGLES(2008) I.Dickinson II. Larkin III. Merwin

Evan Lewis

S.K. - REMEMBRANCE NOISE (1974) Road to Damascus Kant- Remembrance Noise Two lines from “Tapes” Kavafis-haiku So there We Never Get out of Practice The Sadness of he Bare Copula Les Adieux

György Kurtág

A POE FANTASIA (2009) A Dream within a Dream (Part I) To the River A Dream within a Dream (Part II) Alone

Richard Russell

SONATA OP. 27, N 4 Allemanda Sarabande Finale

Eugène Ysaÿe

LOVE IN AN OPEN HAND (2009) Not in a silver casket cool with pearls Time does not bring relief; you all have lied Oh, oh, you will be sorry for that word!

Sorrowful dreams remembered after waking Love is not all: it is not meat nor drink

David Tcimpidis

THREE SONGS (2008) Your Song Salute The Rose and the Nightingale

Paul Moravec

MIDTOWN ARTS COMMON ABOUT THE PERFORMERS....

Recognized by audiences for her theatrical flair and sparkling performance soprano SOFIA DIMITROVA currently makes her home in New York City where she enjoys a busy career exploring and performing a wide range of music - from rarely performed Baroque gems to today's living composers. Some of her opera roles include Venus in Venus & Adonis by John Blow, title role in Dido & Æneas with Prismatic Productions, Sospecha and Calliope in a production of La Purpúra de la Rosa at the 2003 Amherst Early Music Festival, Damon in Handel's Acis & Galatea. Drusilla and Damigella in L'incoronazione di Poppea. Her oratorio repertoire includes solos in Handel's Messiah with Monmouth Civic Chorus under the direction of Mark Shapiro, Graun's Der Tod Jesu, and Saint-Saëns' Christmas Oratorio with ARTEK, and Vivaldi's Gloria among others.

As an advocate of new music, Ms. Dimitrova has performed and commissioned works by Paul Moravec, David Tcimpidis, Richard Russell, Thomas Addison, Marilyn Bliss and Kevin McCarter. Ms. Dimitrova has performed in Italy, Switzerland, Portugal, Spain, the United States, and in her native Bulgaria. She has performed with The New York Continuo Collective, ARTEK, Musica Bella Orchestra among others. She's a founder of Ensemble Solaire and a performing member of the New York Composers Circle. She has performed in prestigious venues such as Carnegie’s Zankel Hall, Merkin Halls, Metropolitan Museum of Art, and NY Historical Society.

STANICHKA DIMITROVA, whose playing has been described as “wonderfully full in tone and exuberant in performance” by the San Francisco Classical Voice, recently gave the American premiere of a newly found Clarinet Quintet movement by W.A. Mozart (completed by Dr. Robert Levin) at the Sarasota Opera House, Florida, where she got to collaborate with world renowned clarinetist Charles Niedich.

Ms. Dimitrova has pariticipated in numerous festivals including Sulzbach-Rosenberg International Summer Festival (Germany), Miyazaki Music Festival (Japan), Sarasota Music Festival (Florida) and Castleton Music Festival (Virginia). As a member of the world renowned Verbier Festival orchestra, Ms. Dimitrova, has performed with conductors such as James Levine, Charles Dutoit, Zubin Mehta, Esa-Pekka Salonen and Paavo Järvi.

An avid performer of contemporary music Stanichka is currently involved in various new music groups such as the New York Composers’ Circle and Blind Ear Music, where she gets to work with new and upcoming composers from the New York City area. In 2007 she gave the premiere of the Richard Russell’s Violin Sonata, which was written and dedicated to her.

Stanichka Dimitrova is a recent Juilliard School graduate, currently pursuing her DMA degree at Stony Brook University, studying with Philip Setzer, Pamela Frank, Soovin Kim and Philippe Graffin.

Pianist CATHERINE MILLER enjoys an active career in New York as accompanist for recitals, master classes and auditions. Since 2000 she has worked at the Mannes College for Music in the College, Extension and Preparatory divisions. She is also rehearsal pianist for the Greenwich Village Singers. She performs regularly, in collaboration with instrumentalists and singers in venues including Weill Recital Hall, the Performing Arts Library at Lincoln Center, Greenwich House and more. Ms. Miller is music director for LOTNY (the little opera theatre of ny) and one of two pianists for Encompass Opera performances.