Concert Violinist Elmira Darvarova to Perform - Union County College

On Wednesday, March 21, 2012 from 12 to 1 pm in the Roy Smith Theater at Union County College’s Cranford campus, Concert Violinist Elmira Darvarova, will perform, “From Bach to Blues.”  Dardarova, is a former Concert Master of the Metropolitan Opera in New York City.  She will perform pieces by Bach, Breiner, Paganini, Albeniz, Bodorova, Piazzolla, Cohen, and Zocher.  The performance is free and open to the public to attend.

Darvarova, the first woman-concertmaster in the MET’s history, started playing the violin at the age of 3, gave her first recital at 4, and made her debut as a soloist with an orchestra when she was 8 years old.  She was a prizewinner of several international competitions (including the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow), and studied at some of the best music schools in Europe and America, with the legendary great violinists Henryk Szeryng and Josef Gingold.  Elmira Darvarova was privileged to be chosen by the great conductor Herbert von Karajan to perform the Brahms Violin Concerto for one of his film projects.  She has led, as concertmaster, major American orchestras, such as the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, the Rochester Philharmonic, the Columbus Symphony, and the Grant Park Symphony in Chicago.  She caused a sensation, becoming the first ever woman-concertmaster in the history of the Metropolitan Opera in New York.  With the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra she has toured Europe, Japan and the United States, and was heard on the MET's live weekly international radio broadcasts, television broadcasts, CDs and laser discs on the Sony, Deutsche Grammophon and EMI labels.  She has also performed with the acclaimed MET Chamber Ensemble in Carnegie Hall.

She has appeared in recitals, and as soloist, on 4 continents, and has been concerto soloist with the Moscow State Symphony Orchestra and with numerous other orchestras in the United States and abroad.  She has given concerts and master classes at many festivals in Europe and America, and has performed chamber music with legendary musicians, such as James Levine, Janos Starker and Gary Karr.  She has premiered and/or recorded music by Franco Alfano, Joseph Marx, Vernon Duke, Phillip Ramey, David Baker, Pierre de Breville and Paul Chihara. She has recorded live for Radio Innsbruck (Austria) and Radio Suisse Romande (Switzerland).  Her recital at Bela Bartok’s Memorial House in Budapest (Hungary) was broadcast live throughout Europe.  A documentary film about her life and career was shown on European TV.  She has recorded for Sony, Deutsche Grammophon, Naxos, Melodiya, Delphinium, and Azur Classics. Two recent CDs, with world premiere recordings of music by Franco Alfano, were released to great critical acclaim on the Naxos label. Several CDs will be released in 2012, by Azur Classics and by Urlicht AudioVisual. Elmira Darvarova is the founder and leader of the New York Piano Quartet.  She is also President and Artistic Director of the New York Chamber Music Festival.

The concert is sponsored by the Union County College faculty and fund by the Student Government Association.  The College’s Cranford campus is located at 1033 Springfield Avenue.  To learn more about Union County College, visit www.ucc.edu.  All are welcome.