2005 SVCC
Festival of the Arts
Artist Information and Photos

April 15 - May 1, 2005
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Schedule of Events - Exhibit Information
 

Pavlina Dokovska, piano

Festival Artistic Director

                Ms. Dokovska has been pianist-in-residence at SVCC for the annual Festival of the Arts during the past nine years.  Prior to that, she was a frequent visitor and performer at Southwest and guest of CART.  She serves as Artistic Director for the Festival of the Arts and conducts master classes for approximately 30 area piano students with their teachers each year.

                Ms. Dokovska is a member of the prestigious Mannes College of Music in New York and is an official Steinway Artist.  An award winning pianist, she is a First Prize winner of France’s Claude Debussy International Competition and Italy’s International Piano Competition of Senigallia.  She maintains a busy performing schedule, playing at such venues as Spoleto Festival in Italy, the Mai Musical in Bordeaux, and numerous others in Europe, the Far East, and the USA.  Ms. Dokovska has persented lectures and master classes at the World Piano Pedagogy Conference in Las Vegas, NV, the Universities of Arizona, Maryland, Texas and Georgia as well as at Mount Holyoke College, MA and the College of St. Rose in Albany, NY, among others.  In addition, she has served as a faculty member of the International Keyboard Institute at Mannes, and Piano Summer Festival at the State University of New York in New Paltz.

Dr. Joseph Trivette, Choral Director

Gaynelle Lockhart Albert Endowed Chair-Instructor of Music at SVCC

Joseph Trivette, SVCC’s Gaynelle Lockhart Albert Endowed Chair in Music, has established a multi-faceted music program here at SVCC.  During his tenure here, he has established a 90-voice community chorus, a jazz and other instrumental ensembles, implemented the Sunday Afternoon Music Series, established a group piano laboratory and actively assists with the annual Festival of the Arts.  Trivette’s latest undertaking, fitting the Mary W. Lawson Auditorium with an organ, was completed in February 2004.

Trivette is a graduate of Appalachian State University with a Bachelor of Music degree in Music Education/Performance and a Masters in Music Performance-Piano.  He has completed his Ph.D. in Music Education with an emphasis in Piano Pedagogy through Florida State University.  Trivette has worked with conductors including Robert Shaw, André Thomas, Rodney Eichenberger, Judy Bowers and Mary Goetze. 

Vladimir Valjarevic

                Born in Bosnia and Herzegovina, pianist Vladimir Valjarevic came to New York City on a scholarship from the Mannes College of Music, where he earned Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees as a recipient of the Marian Marcus Wahl Performance Award.  His principal teachers were Pavlina Dokovska and Vladimir Feltsman.  Prior to studying at Mannes, Vladimir Valjarevic attended the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad and the Conservatory of Music in Belgrade (both in Serbia) in the class of Arbo Valdma.  He has participated in festivals such as IMS Prussia Cove in England; American Conservatory in Fontainebleau, France; Round Top in Texas; International Keyboard Institute in New York; and Kneisel Hall in Maine (as a recipient of the Artur Balsam Scholarship).  Vladimir Valjarevic has won numerous prizes at National Competitions in former Yugoslavia as well as at the “Citta di Stresa” and “Citta di Marsala” International Piano Competitions in Italy.  He has recorded for Yugoslav Radio and Television and the Voice of America.  His latest CD, Tribute to Fauré, is recorded for Labor Records.

                In the United States Vladimir Valjarevic has performed at the Southwest Virginia Festival for the Arts, “ProMozart” Society in Atlanta, GA, as well as on the concert series of the Siena College in Albany, NY; the French Embassy in Washington D.C.; Polish Consulate and “Meet the Virtuoso” at the 92nd Street Y in New York City.  He has performed at major venues in New York City, including Weill Recital Hall, Merkin Hall, Steinway Hall, The Goethe Institute and The United Nations.  In the United States, Vladimir Valjarevic has appeared with the Youngstown and Knoxville Symphonies and in Serbia with Camerata Academica and Nish Chamber Orchestra. Vladimir Valjarevic has performed works under the direction of contemporary composers: Lukas Foss, James Cohn, David Tcimpidis, Benjamin Lees, Michael Cohen. He has often collaborated  with musicologist Nancy Reich in her highly acclaimed lectures on Clara Weick Schumann.

                Vladimir Valjarevic teaches piano at Mannes Preparatory and Extension divisions.  Currently, he is a Doctoral Candidate at Rutgers University where he received Saldarini, Frazier, and Durham Awards and studies with Susan Starr.

Kenji Bunch, viola

                A native of Portland, Oregon, Kenji Bunch studied at The Juilliard School. He received his Bachelor’s Degree in viola as a student of Toby Appel, and was awarded a Master’s Degree in composition and viola, studying with Robert Beaser. He has also studied composition with Eric Ewazen and Stanley Wolfe. Mr. Bunch’s honors include the prestigious William Schuman Prize for Outstanding Leadership in Music and the Lillian Fuchs Prize for Viola and from The Juilliard School, grants from ASCAP (1999 and 2000), Meet The Composer (1999 and 2000), and the Leonard Bernstein Composers’ Fund (2000). Mr. Bunch performs regularly as a violist, and plays fiddle in the bluegrass band Citigrass NYC. He is currently a faculty member at the Juilliard Pre-College program, where he teaches composition and viola.

Diliana Momtchilova, cello

Diliana Momtchilova was born in Sofia, Bulgaria into a family of musicians.  She made her debut at the age of nine as a soloist with the Sofia Chamber Orchestra, and later attended the State Academy of Music in Sofia, where she graduated with honors.  She has performed with the Bulgarian National Radio Symphony Orchestra, Sofia Philharmonic, Sofia Soloists Chamber Orchestra, and the Symphony Orchestra of the State Academy of Music in Sofia, among many other ensembles.  She was the winner of the 1998 Cello Concerto Competition at the Juilliard School and performed as a soloist with the Juilliard Orchestra.  Ms. Momtchilova has had numerous solo, chamber, and recital performances in a number of countries including Austria, Poland, Germany, Russia, Holland, Yugoslavia, Czechia, Slovakia, and the United States.

Rob Taylor, violin

                Violinist Rob Taylor holds degrees in both music and literature from the Royal Conservatory of Music in the Hague, the University of Bonn, Union College, and Princeton University. 

                At age fourteen he began his studies with Yehudi Menuhin while attending the Congress of Strings program at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music.  Concertmaster of the American Virtuosi, and Camerata New York, Rob resides in New York, where he performs with the Orchestra of St Lukes, Philharmonia Virtuosi, and the New York Chamber Soloists. Rob is currently concertmaster of the first national tour of Disney’s Lion King.

Yuri Vodovoz, violin

Violinist, Yuri Vodovoz, native of Odessa has concertized extensively throughout the United States, Europe, Israel and South America.  His debuts at the Kennedy Center in Washington and at the Merkin Hall in New York were met with critical acclaim.  His playing has been described as “breathtaking” (the Washington Post), “finespun lyricism” and “high-powered technique” (The New York Times).  Mr. Vodovoz appeared as soloist with the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra, the Tchaikovsky Chamber Orchestra, the St. Cecilia Orchestra, the Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra, the American Chamber Symphony, the Bogota Symphony Orchestra, the Odessa Philharmonic, and the Illinois Symphony, as well as in chamber music concerts and festivals such as Waterloo, Bargemusic, Manchester Festival (USA), Ljubljana Music Festival (Slovenia), Emilia Romagna, (Italy), Ameropa Festival (Czech Republic).  Mr. Vodovoz’s radio performances include “The Listening Room with Robert Sherman” (WQXR) and WFMT (Chicago). He has recorded for Musicmasters.  Mr. Vodovoz is on the faculty of Mannes College of Music and Ameropa Summer Festival in Prague.  He has performed with Alaria since 1993.

Dick Hyman

 Throughout a busy musical career that got underway in the early '50s, Dick Hyman has functioned as pianist, organist, arranger, music director, and, increasingly, as composer. His versatility in all of these areas has resulted in well over 100 albums recorded under his own name and many more in support of other artists. While developing a masterful facility for improvisation in his own piano style, Mr. Hyman has also investigated ragtime and the earliest periods of jazz and has researched and recorded the piano music of Scott Joplin, Jelly Roll Morton, James P. Johnson, Zez Confrey, Eubie Blake and Fats Waller which he often features in his frequent recitals. For more information visit www.dickhyman.com .

Click photo for larger image.

"Clean and crisp as any acoustic music now being played . . . Here is an American artist standing forth, voice 'well trained', in narratives, in fun, in irony, himself branch and root of the entwined true vine." Jon Pankake, Rolling Stone

"His instrumental technique borders on the astonishing. He switches easily from guitar to banjo to autoharp to fiddle to mouth harp, singing and foot stomping all the while. Just playing with authenticity and style is a trick in itself, but Seeger does it with class and jovial spirit." Philip Elwood, San Francisco Examiner
See website http://mikeseeger.info/index.html

The June O. Shott Artist in Residence at Southwest Virginia Community College, Jonathan Romeo is a composer and classical guitarist who has written works for orchestra, chamber ensemble, and solo instruments in the diverse fields of concert music, ballet, and film. His endeavors in Traditional Music began in 1990-91 during a year-long residency at Mountain Empire Community College in Big Stone Gap, VA. Since that time, he has worked with Traditional Musicians to help preserve and promote this unique American Heritage. Most recently, Jonathan has started a Traditional Music Program at Southwest Virginia Community College where he has been the June O. Shott Artist In Residence for the past three years. Other accomplishments include the organizing of several major festivals including the SVCC Traditional Music Showcase, the Virginia Mountain Music Festival, and the Tazewell County Old Time & Bluegrass Fiddler’s Convention.


See Program Notes- John Hardy's Dream

Matt Vance, Guest Musician

                Matt Vance, saxophonist, is Professor of Instrumental Music and Director of Jazz Studies at Florida Community College at Jacksonville.  He earned the Bachelor of Music degree in 1991 from Appalachian State University in saxophone performance studying with William Gora.  He then went on to study jazz with Bill Kennedy and Pat Meighan at Florida State University, completing his Master of Music degree in Jazz Studies in 1994.  Vance, a professional woodwind doubler, has performed with Aretha Franklin, Gladys Knight, Bernadette Peters, The Temptations, The Four Tops, The Manhattan Transfer, Chuck Owen and the Jazz Surge.  He has also performed for United States Presidents and has played with many jazz greats including Michael Brecker, John Abercrombie, Bill Watrous, Slide Hampton, Nancy Wilson, Bobby Shew, Peter Erskine, Lew Soloff, Diane Schurr, Tim Hagans, Mike Smith, and Richie Cole.

Rick Simerly, Guest Musician

                Rick Simerly is a jazz trombonist and currently Associate Professor of Music at Milligan College in Tennessee.  He has been described by David Baker as “…one of the most exciting and consistently creative trombonists in jazz today.”  Jamey Aebersold depicts him as “…an astounding player with fantastic range and a keen sense of developing a solo..”  The International Trombone Association Journal wrote “Rick  is scary!”

                Rick has played in the bands of Tommy Dorsey, Woody Herman, and Jimmy Dorsey.  He has toured with the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra and has performed with jazz artists Billy Taylor, Slide Hampton, Dave McKenna and many others.  Some of the entertainers with whom he has performed include Frank Sinatra Jr., Bob Hope, Red Skelton, Danny Thomas, The Temptations, The Four Tops, and The O’Jays.  For over twenty years he has been in music education and is a regular faculty member at the famed Jamey Aebersold Summer Jazz Workshops.  Rick is an Artist/Educational Specialist for United Musical Instruments and plays Conn trombones exclusively. For more information go to website at http://www.ricksimerly.com

Matt Kendrick, Guest Musician

A resident of Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Matt Kendrick teaches bass and jazz improvisation at Wake Forest University.  Matt has studied classical bass performance at the North Carolina School of The Arts, Jazz at the University of Tennessee with Jazz educator Jerry Coker, and film scoring studies with David McHugh at N.C. School of the Arts.  He has been a professional musician for over 20 years.  In addition to his extensive recording background, he has won numerous awards including: Art/Jazz: NEA Meet The Composer in 1999, a Jazz Composers Fellowship: North Carolina Arts Council 1994, and NC Touring Program: North Carolina Arts Council 1991-92.  He has performed with the Marian McPartland Trio, Archie Shepp, JoAnne Brackeen, and The Knoxville, Greensboro, Winston-Salem, and Western Piedmont Symphonies.

Dave Morgan, Guest Musician

Events, dates and times are subject to change. Please contact Mary W. Lawson, 276-964-7348, mary.lawson@sw.edu, for final schedule.                 

Revised 3/1/05