The Department of Music at Gustavus is pleased to bring guest ‘cellist Nickolai Kolarov and pianist Rebekah Richards to the Jussi Björling Hall stage on Sunday, September 29. Performing works by Beethoven, Barber, Rorem, Kodaly, Balyozov and Zlatev-Tcherkin, the duo of Kolarov and Richards will present both combined and solo works. This performance begins at 1:30 p.m. and is free and open to the public.
A graduate of the Bulgarian State Academy of Music, Nickolai Kolarov received his master degree from the University of Missouri, Kansas City and studied at the Moscow Conservatory of Music before earning his doctoral degree from the University of Minnesota where he studied with Tanya Remenikova, student of Mstislav Rostropovich. Since his arrival in the United States he has performed both classical and contemporary repertoire and is the founder of the Balkanicus series for new Balkan chamber music. A busy clinician and lecturer, he was invited for a performance-lecture at the Juilliard School in 2011.
Rebekah Richards has a Bachelor of Music degree in Piano Performance from St. Olaf College and a Master of Music degree in Piano Performance from the University of Illinois at Champaign/Urbana. She has performed and studied in Edinburgh, Scotland and Zhuhai, China, and is currently the director of the Piano Lab School at Gustavus where she has taught courses in theory and applied piano. She also runs an independent piano studio in St. Paul and St. Peter, and has also taught pedagogy and accompanying at Concordia University in St. Paul.
For Sunday’s recital, the duo will open with Beethoven’s Cello Sonata in C major, followed by Excursions for solo piano by Samuel Barber and Dances for Cello and Piano by Ned Rorem. Following intermission, they will continue with Zoltan Kodály’s Sonata for Cello and Piano, Roumen Balyozov’s Rhapsodic Improvisation No. 1 for solo cello and conclude the performance with Sevdana by Georgi Zlatev-Tcherkin.
This guest recital by cellist Nickolai Kolarov and pianist Rebekah Richards will begin at 1:30 p.m. on Sunday, September 29 in Jussi Björling Recital Hall. Admission to Sunday’s performance is free.
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