Bulgaria Music Project

 

We are excited to welcome world-renowned master violinist and educator, Mme. Radmila Petrova-Krasteva as she will be joining the UVU orchestra during the last week of October and beginning of November, 2024. Mme. Petrova-Krasteva will offer several master classes and a performance at the Noorda Theater. Her experience as a violinist, concertmaster, music producer is recognized nationally for her music pedagogy and will bring a wealth of knowledge and experience to our UVU students.

Since 2018, the UVU orchestra has worked the International Musicians Academy in Bulgaria with aims to provide an intensive summer program for aspiring artists with the unique and high-level artistic experience of working with a professional orchestra as soloists, conductors, or composers. Each year, a limited number of young musicians from around the world are selected as participants for the festival. Former participants have come from the USA, Canada, Russia, Brazil, South Korea, Australia, Romania, Netherlands, China, Singapore, and Mexico. 

Reflections from UVU music students who participated in the program have been highly positive. UVU participants not only share their exciting experiences with other UVU students resulting in more students becoming excited to the possibility of attending the festival, but these students also bring back with them to UVU insights and knowledge contributing towards the continuing development of the ever more prestigious music program at UVU and the growth of its music students. 

This past summer twelve current and former UVU students participated in the festival, including violinists Annalicia Loveridge, Serena Peterson, Angelica Salazar and Morgan Smith, cellists Kaitlin Booth, Natalie Browning, Elise Johnson, Taylor Robins, Amanda Hofheins, and Ashtyn Tumblin, pianist Mat Stokes, and conductor Johannes Bowman.

The experience also introduces to UVU musicians, as well as other US musicians from over the country, the culture, people, artistry, history, nature, as well as the wonderful food of Bulgaria, making the short visits of 5 to 10 days of the festival an enrichment for participants musically and personally. 

"Getting to participate in the International Musicians' Academy is such a valuable, once in a lifetime experience. I'm so glad I went and had the chance to solo with an international orchestra and refine my playing so significantly in such a short amount of time" Kaitlin Booth, UVU class of 2021, participant in the International Musicians Academy in 2024 (cellist featured in one of the attached photos)

http://internationalmusiciansacademy.com/"

For Mme.  Petrova-Krasteva visit she proposed to introduce Bulgarian music to our community with a program of Bulgarian chamber music works performed in collaboration with several of our own UVU music faculty members.