Mercoledì 10 maggio 2023 alle ore 18.00 – Sala Concerti
evento realizzato in collaborazione con il Dipartimento di Teoria e Analisi, Composizione e Direzione
– Ingresso libero fino ad esaurimento posti disponibili –
The LynnVirtuosi champion contemporary music written by emerging and renowned composers. This program includes three world premieres and celebrates young artists Diallo Banks and Irene Cantos and iconic American composers Kenneth Frazelle and David Noon. The mission of the festival is to perform new works as many times as possible and we are thrilled to bring these offerings to our colleagues at the Conservatorio di Musica Benedetto Marcello.
Program
Diallo Banks (b.2001)
Makeshift for clarinet, violin, cello and piano (2022)
International premiere
Gioia Gedicks, violin
Frederic Renaud, cello
Nataniel Farrar, clarinet
Silvia Valdivia, piano
Kenneth Frazelle (b.1955)
Mourning Pieces for viola and piano (2022)
World premiere
Sheila Browne, viola and Lisa Leonard, piano
David Noon (b.1946)
Three Tributes: In Memoriam Constance Keene Op. 238
European premiere
- Serioso
- Notturno
- Vivace
Lisa Leonard, piano
Irene Cantos (b.1997)
Dàkrya for violin, clarinet, viola, cello and piano (2023)
World premiere
Gioia Gedicks, violin
Nataniel Farrar, clarinet
Sheila Browne, viola
Frederic Renaud, cello
Marina Machado Gonzalez, piano
Diallo Banks (b.2001)
Tandem for violin, clarinet, viola, cello and piano (2023)
World premiere
Gioia Gedicks, violin
Nataniel Farrar, clarinet
Sheila Browne, viola
Frederic Renaud, cello
Marina Machado Gonzalez, piano
David Noon (b.1946)
String Trio, Op. 241 (2011)
European premiere
- Preludio ed intenso
- Variazioni e scherzo
- Variazioni e danza
Gioia Gedicks, violin
Sheila Browne, viola
Frederic Renaud, cello
Kenneth Frazelle (b.1955)
A Book of Days for violin, clarinet, and piano (2020)
International Premiere
I. “all day life itself is bending, weaving, changing”
IV. “motions racing through, particles and drifts”
Gioia Gedicks, violin
Nataniel Farrar, clarinet
Lisa Leonard, piano
Venice Program Notes
Diallo Banks (b. 2001)
makeshift
This piece presents maximally unpredictable and chaotic musical tapestry, then gradually the patterns, logic and structural integrity of what lay beneath that density and chaos is revealed. Various musical ideas lose old qualities and gain new ones taking on entirely new functions; constantly readapting and crosscutting material in such an unorthodox and almost humorous way made this piece a lot of fun to write. makeshift was commissioned by the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival and premiered in Norfolk, Connecticut, in July of 2022.
makeshift /ˈmeɪkʃɪft/ adj.
suitable expedient to be used temporarily for a particular purpose; provisional
-Diallo Banks
Kenneth Frazelle (b. 1955)
Mourning Pieces
Mourning Pieces (2022) represent the first music that came to me after losing my lifelong partner last June. Immediately after his passing, I woke up in silence for many months and the first music to return came to me as viola with piano. There are four pieces, each dedicated to a violist that I share a special connection with: Shelia Browne, Ulrich Eichenauer, Matthew Darsey and Julian Smart.
David Noon (b. 1946)
Three Tributes: In Memoriam Constance Keene Op. 238
Serioso
Notturno
Vivace
One of my dearest friends and colleagues was the dynamic and intense pianist and piano pedagog Constance Keene, a brilliant teacher, performer, and bridge partner. When she died in 2005 at the age of 84, I was asked to write a piece in her memory. That was the genesis of my THREE TRIBUTES. The little pieces are a portrait of Constance: erudite, intense, intelligent, quixotic, thoughtful, passionate, demanding, and a vulnerable virtuosa.
Irene Cantos (b. 1997)
Dàkrya
The apparent distance between happiness and sadness is often diluted by our tears, simply crying for exceptional moments and the certainty that, in any case, all of these eventually die. Dàkrya (δάκρυα) or “tears” is a word whose sonority caught me since I heard it and I immediately wanted to associate it to this duality. Someone taught me that we always tend to focus on delimiting the beginning and end of everything, diverting our attention from what is most important, the transitions. Crying itself is a process, a transition from one emotional state to another. It is a reaction of our body that leads to an inevitable process that uncovers emotions and thoughts that until then had remained hidden and safe in our inner self. The vulnerability caused by letting them out, is something necessary to move forward and tremendously beautiful to value.
This work intends to be a tiny wink to that beauty as a musical travel that presents moments of instability and certainty, as well the travel of life also does.
Diallo Banks (b. 2001)
Tandem
Tandem features slowly evolving cycles of freely floating material that gradually come into and out of focus. Different phrases direct the listener’s attention to various aspects of the musical landscape as lines are threaded amongst and between the ve players.
tandem /ˈtændəm/ n. a group of two or more arranged one behind the other or acting in conjunction to produce or bring about a course of action, behavior, or state of being
-Diallo Banks
David Noon (b. 1946)
String Trio, Op. 241
Preludio ed intenso
Variazioni e scherzo
Variazioni e danza
Although I have written 12 string quartets, writing a string trio was something I had never considered until the Teiber Trio commissioned me to write a piece for them.
Since the violist of the trio, Derek Smith, was a former student of mine, I wanted to give a prominent role to the viola.
The general structure of the piece is unique. The function of a slow movement (which in my piece is essentially a theme with two variations) has been divided and cast as slow introductions to the three fast movements. Thus the first movement begins with a melancholy viola solo followed by an intense fast movement. The second movement, a pizzicato gigue is preceded by a variation on the opening viola melody. And finally, the third movement, a rustic dance, is preceded by a second variation of the opening viola melody.
My STRING TRIO was written on the Greek isle of Crete in November of 2011.
Kenneth Frazelle (b. 1955)
A Book of Days
A Book of Days is a trio written for clarinet, violin, and piano commissioned by the Strata Trio with a Memorial Music Grant from the Rauch Foundation. Completed in 2013, it is in five movements, with the title of each taken from passages from the poem Tape for the Turn of the Year by American poet by A. R. Ammons’. Movements 1 and 4 will be performed today and are musical explorations of the meaning of the following ideas:
- “all day life itself is bending, weaving changing,” 4. “motions racing through, particles and drifts.”
Artist Biographies
DIALLO BANKS is a composer and pianist who has received multiple commissions, awards and had his music performed by ensembles and soloists across the US and Europe. Diallo began teaching himself piano at age 12, and after studying the music of Mozart, Beethoven, and Chopin, he decided that writing music was his true passion and, as a composer, remained primarily self-taught until beginning his undergraduate degree in 2019. Among his recent achievements, he was a winner of the American Composer’s Orchestra’s Earshot Competition, the prize of which is the performance and recording of his first orchestral work, chute libre, by the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. Diallo was also awarded a fellowship to the Aspen Music Festival and School, where this summer he will be a fellow at the Susan and Ford Schuman Center for Composition Studies. In 2022 he was a fellow at the New Music Workshop as part of the Yale School of Music’s Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, received an honorable mention in the University of Miami Frost School of Music’s Ensemble Ibis Composition Competition, and was awarded a commission for a newly proposed work funded by the Office of Florida Cultural Affairs in 2021. As well as commissions and acclaimed music festivals, Diallo has had the privilege of taking private lessons from and participating in masterclasses led by Pulitzer Prize and Grammy Award-Winning composers who make up today’s leading voices in contemporary music, such as Aaron Jay Kernis, John Harbison, Christopher Theofanidis, Amy Beth Kirsten, Martin Bresnick, David Lang and David Ludwig. Diallo’s primary mission as a composer is to continue to explore the limitless landscape of possible musical aesthetics and collaborate with soloists and ensembles to make his artistic vision come to life. He currently studies with Dr. Thomas McKinley at the Conservatory of Music at Lynn University in Boca Raton, Florida, where he is pursuing his Bachelor of Music in Composition.
Violist SHEILA BROWNE is from Philadelphia and also holds Irish citizenship. Known as a versatile and dynamic performer with a unique viola voice, she enjoys an international career of solo, chamber collaborations and concerto appearances. She has performed in major venues on six continents, including Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center, Concertgebouw, Royal Festival Hall, Teatro Colon, and the National Center for Performing Arts in Beijing. She has recorded for the Sony, Nonesuch, Bridge, Albany and MSR labels, premiered several concerti written for her and has worked closely with many living composers on their music.
Browne was violist of the internationally prize-winning Arianna String Quartet, as well as the Pelligrini and Gotham quartets. Additionally, she is a founding member of the Fire Pink Trio. Browne has collaborated / recorded with Audra MacDonald, Gilbert Kalish, David Krakauer, Paul Katz, Anton Kuerti, Ruth Laredo, Shenyang, Richard Stolzman, Carol Wincenc, the Diaz Trio, and members of the American, Amernet, Attacca, Audubon, Borromeo, Brentano, Calidore, Guarneri, Juilliard, Shanghai, Stamitz and Vermeer quartets. As principal violist of the New World Symphony, she was selected by Artistic Director Michael Tilson-Thomas to be featured in the PBS documentary “Beethoven Alive!”. For two years she was co-principal of New York String Seminar, was awarded a Solo Residency at the Banff Center, and has participated in Evian, Jeunesses Musicales, Music Academy of the West, BUTI- Tanglewood and Donaueschingen music festivals, among others. She was the Teaching Assistant of famed pedagogue Karen Tuttle at Juilliard while receiving her bachelor’s degree and continued her Aufbau studies with Kim Kashkashian in Germany after being awarded a German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) scholarship. She also received a Master of Music at Rice University with Karen Ritscher and Paul Katz in his Quartet Program.
Chosen as faculty for the founding year of National Youth Orchestra of Iraq, she was the first viola professor ever to give a masterclass in Iraqi Kurdistan. She is currently Director of the popular international January Karen Tuttle Viola Workshop and is the Interim Artistic Director of Techne Music, also teaching at Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival. She has served on the Executive Board of the American Viola Society and has participated in many viola congresses (Eastman, Oberlin, Colburn, South Africa, Australia). She was honored to be named the William Primrose Recitalist of 2016.Browne was honored to be chosen as the inaugural viola faculty of the Tianjin Juilliard School (graduate and pre-college programs) and Tianjin Juilliard Ensemble—performing and giving masterclasses in 16 countries on four continents.
She also served as Associate Professor of Viola at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts where she taught for a decade, University of Delaware, University of Tennessee as well as part- time at Duke University and New York University. Currently she is Associate Professor of Viola at Lynn Conservatory. Browne is a huge art, nature and animal lover, and believes in the power of music to bring people of all cultures together in peace around the world.
Born in Albacete, Spain, in 1997, IRENE CANTOS displays an original and multidisciplinary musical profile, combining her knowledge as pianist, composer and musical producer. She is currently a founding member of Novus Promusica, a classical music record label headed by the composer and music producer Manuel Ruiz del Corral, with whom she has developed both composition and musical production skills. Under this label, she has recorded two piano solo albums, «Jeux» and «Reflets». One of the facets that characterizes her is her commitment to contemporary music. In her discography there is absolutely inspiring music by Einojuhani Rautavaara, Manuel Ruiz del Corral, Miguel Bustamante, Ana Silva, José Buenagu and Brian Field. Irene has also served as music producer for orchestral works by great composers such as Jose Buenagu and Nicolas Bacri. As a composer, she has explored various genres of music for film. She composed the soundtrack for the promotional video of the new building for the Faculty of Psychology of the University of Malaga created by the architect Eduardo Pérez Gómez. She has also composed music as a commission for Lynn University. She began her musical studies at the age of 7 at the Santa Cecilia School of Music. In 2005 she entered the Royal Professional Conservatory of Music and Dance of Albacete under the direction of Llanos Díaz with whom she finished her studies in the Professional Piano Programme in 2015. In June 2019, she finished her «Degree in Musical Performance» with Leonel Morales at the Alfonso X el Sabio University in Madrid, obtaining the highest marks in the Final Degree Recital. She has also received lessons from pianist Josu De Solaun. During her training period, she received the Scholarship of Excellence from the Community of Madrid in 2017/2018 and 2018/2019, which has helped her to develop her musical skills working with some of the best pianists and teachers such as Pavel Gililov, Jacques Rouvier, Alexander Kobrin, Pascal Nemirovski, Murray McLachlan, Pavel Nersessian, Boris Slutsky, José Ramón Méndez, Logan Skelton, Julian Martin, Jean Saulnier, James Giles, Amy Gustafson, Norma Fisher, among others. In the summer of 2018 she was admitted to participate in the «Ferrara International Piano Festival» where she worked with Matti Raekallio, current professor at the prestigious Juilliard School in New York. Since 2011 she has presented concerts and recitals in Spain, Italy, Belgium, Austria and Germany, in such halls as the «Municipal Auditorium» and «José Saramago» House of Culture in Albacete, «Sala de las Américas» in Santa Fé, «Auditorio Caja Rural” in Granada, “Medina Elvira Auditorium” in Atarfe, “San Juan de los Caballeros” Church in Segovia, “Olivar del Castillejo” Foundation in Madrid, Auditorium in Castellón, “Centre del Carme” in Valencia, “Wiener Saal” and “Universität Mozarteum” in Salzburg (Austria), Castle “Ramírez Máro” in Hauset (Belgium), “Costabili Palace” in Ferrara (Italy), among others. After winning the «Best Spanish Music Interpretation» award at the «Santa Cecilia» International Piano Competition, in 2012 she was invited to participate in the 37th Segovia International Music Festival. In 2015 she performed with the Orchestra of the Albacete Royal Conservatory of Music Rachmaninoff’s Concerto No. 2 at the «
Born and raised in Houston, Texas, NATANIEL FARRAR is a clarinetist performing in the South Florida area. With a strong background in the Wind Ensemble medium, including the University of Michigan’s “Symphony Band,” Nataniel’s performance embodies precision and flexibility. An enthusiast for new music, Mr. Farrar has premiered several recent works including Diallo Banks’ “Distance” Op. 12, Miguelangel Garcia Marquez’s “The Conductor,” and Henry Dickson’s “Matchstick.” He was a founding member of the Reed Quintet: Aoide who commissioned and premiered Noah Fishman’s “Tortoise Time Machine” while also contributing to the standardization of repertoire for this instrumentation by performing and endorsing music written for Reed Quintet. Nataniel is a scholarship recipient of the National Society of Arts and Letters, he participated in the Sewanee Summer Music Festival in 2021, and was accepted into the Texas Music Festival in 2020 and 2022. Additionally, he has performed in masterclasses led by Richie Hawley, and Anthony McGill, studied Clarinet Performance with Chad Burrow and Daniel Gilbert, while also studying Music Education at the University of Michigan, and is currently completing a Professional Performance Certificate in Clarinet Performance with Jon Manasse at the Lynn University Conservatory of Music.
Composer KENNETH FRAZELLE’s music has been commissioned and performed by numerous prominent artists, including Yo-Yo Ma, Jeffrey Kahane, Dawn Upshaw, Anthony Dean Griffey, Emmanuel Ax, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Ransom Wilson, Paula Robison, John Adams, the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Jan DeGaetani and Gilbert Kalish. He has received commissions from Music@Menlo, the Ravinia Festival and the Spoleto Festival. Frazelle first received international acclaim with his score for Still/Here, a multimedia dance theater work for the Bill T.Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Co. Frazelle has received awards and fellowships from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the American Academy in Rome, and Columbia University, and he was the winner of the 2001 Barlow Prize, the international competition administered through Brigham Young University. He has held residencies with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, the Santa Rosa Symphony and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. Frazelle was a pupil of Roger Sessions at The Juilliard School and attended high school at the North Carolina School of the Arts, where he studied with Robert Ward. His music is published by Subito Music Corporation.
Known for her vibrant performance style and engaging musicality, GIOIA GEDICKS is a classically trained violinist with a myriad of experiences and interests, encompassing multiple genres and ensembles. Recent awards include first prize in the Lynn Conservatory Chamber Competition as first violinist of the Kourdisma string quartet, second prize in the Mary Hilem Taylor Music Scholarship Competition in association with Palm Beach Symphony, 2022 scholarship recipient from the National Society of Arts and Letters, and the Lynn Conservatory Concerto Competition. Gedicks has performed alongside the genre-defying band Time for Three, was a fellow of the Adirondack Performing Arts Fellowship, and has performed and coached as an Artist in Residence for pianoSonoma directed by Michael and Jessica Shinn. Additionally, she is a featured soloist on a Cannes International Film Festival Official Selection. Ms. Gedicks received her Bachelor of Music from Boston Conservatory at Berklee studying with Katie Lansdale, and is currently pursuing her Master of Music degree at Lynn Conservatory with Guillermo Figueroa.
In May 2023, pianist MARINA MACHADO GONZALEZ earned a Master of Music degree in Instrumental Collaborative Piano from the Lynn University Conservatory of Music as a student of Lisa Leonard where she received the Dean’s Award for Excellence in Graduate Education and served as the teaching assistant for class piano. Ms. Machado graduated with honors from the studio of Professor Leonel Morales at ‘Alfonso X el Sabio’ University in Madrid, Spain, in 2019. She offered her first solo concert at the “Gabriel y Galán” theater in Trujillo in October 2014 and has since performed across Europe at the Eutherpe hall in León (León, Spain), the Medina Elvira Auditorium (Atarfe, Spain), the American Institute Auditorium (Santa Fe, Spain), the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln (Aachen, Germany) and the Universität Mozarteum Salzburg (Salzburgo, Austria). In 2018, she played at the opening of the ‘Compositores de España’ (‘Composers of Spain’) piano competition, performing works by the Spanish composer José Luis Turina. In 2014, she was a finalist in the “Ciudad de Almendralejo” Competition in addition to performing in the II cycle of didactic concerts “Music in Spring” held in Villanueva de la Serena. While studying at the Conservatory of Music “Hermanos Berzosa” in Cáceres (Spain), she frequently performed in the San Francisco Auditorium, as a member of the orchestra in Malinche Hall and the Clavellinas hall of the Caja Extremadura foundation. She is a founding member of the Aidoni Piano Trio, who have performed at the University of Santiago de Compostela, the Eutherpe hall in León, “Manuel de Falla” hall in the Longoria Palace and current headquarters of the SGAE (General Society of Authors and Editors). In 2017 she won the position of titular pianist in the Youth Orchestra of the Community of Madrid performing in venues like the National Auditorium of Music and the ‘Teatros del Canal’ in Madrid. Ms Machado has played in masterclasses for Wu Han, William Wolfram, Ángel Sanzo, Eduardo Ponce, Sofia Hasse, David Finckel, Márta Gulyás, John Harbison, Andreas Frölich, Yuri Didenko, Ilja Scheps, Jacques Rouvier, Giuliano Mazzocante, Arkadi Zenziper, Vincenzo Balzani, Mariana Gurkova and Pavel Gililov, and has received piano performance courses with Manana Avazasvhili, Alexander Kandelaki, Iván Martín and Emmanuel Ferrer-Laloë, as well as piano technique courses with Pablo Gómez Ábalos and harpsichord masterclasses with Webb Wiggins. Until 2021 she worked as piano and music theory teacher in the High Performance Music Center (Centro de Alto Rendimiento Musical), collaborating center of the ‘Alfonso X el Sabio’ University in Madrid and as pianist in the ‘Coro Abierto’ (‘Open Choir’), a choral project formed by people with intellectual disabilities interested in vocal training. In 2023 she was awarded the first prize at the National Society of Arts and Letters Collaborative Piano and Brass Duo Competition, and in 2022 she was finalist of the Chamber Music Competition at Lynn Conservatory of Music with the Sapphire Quintet.
Hailed as a pianist who “communicates deep artistic understanding through a powerful and virtuosic technique,” pianist LISA LEONARD enjoys a diverse career as chamber musician, soloist, and educator. Born in Washington, D.C., Lisa made her debut in 1982 at the age of 10 with the Alexandria Symphony Orchestra. Since then, she has appeared across four continents as soloist with orchestras including the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center, the Simon Bolivar Orchestra of Venezuela under the baton of Gustavo Dudamel, and most recently, in Hungary with the Szeged Orchestra, performing Stravinsky’s Concerto for Piano and Winds. In 2022, Ms. Leonard was honored by the National Society of Arts and Letters of Florida with their lifetime achievement award in music and education. Ms. Leonard has amassed an extensive and varied repertoire from decades of recital and recording projects with members of the American String Quartet, Empire Brass, Metropolitan Opera, Concertgebouw, Berlin, Vienna, New York, Cleveland, and Minnesota orchestras. In recent seasons, she has collaborated with renowned trumpeters Reinhold Friedrich and Eric Aubier, singer Elizabeth von Trapp, and Grammy-nominated artists Martin Kuuskmann and Elmar Oliveira. Many of these performances have been featured on National Public Radios’ “Performance Today,’ and “Command Performance” programs. Her love and commitment to contemporary music has resulted in dozens of premieres. Lisa and her husband, trumpeter Marc Reese, have commissioned solo and chamber works featuring piano and trumpet from some of the most celebrated composers of the day including Kenneth Frazelle, Yevgeniy Sharlat, and James Stephenson whose Concerto for Trumpet and Piano was premiered by the duo with the Lynn Philharmonia and was noted as one of South Florida’s Top 10 performances of 2007. Ms. Leonard’s eclectic taste embraces all styles of modern music including avant-garde, electronic, film, and gaming music. She has worked with Gunther Schuller, George Crumb, and John Adams and produced a visualization of the electronic tape voice in a video recording of Mario Davidovsky’s Synchronisms No.6. Other recordings include James Aikman’s Sonata No.3 for violin and piano with American violinist, Alexander Kerr. Her most recent recording project will be released later this year featuring contemporary music for bassoon and piano with the late Eric Van der Veer Varner, with whom she toured with as Duo Raton. Committed to the South Florida community, she frequently concertizes with Trio Paradigm, co-founded with violinist Dina Kostic and cellist Susan Bergeron, serves as principal keyboardist of Boca Symphonia and is a member of the non-profit, Healing Sounds of Music, which brings live performances to those who cannot travel to the concert hall. A native of Washington D.C., Lisa received her M.M. and B.M. from the Manhattan School of Music and has served on the faculties of the North Carolina School of the Arts and the Meadowmount School of Music. Currently, Ms. Leonard is Professor of Collaborative Piano at the Lynn University Conservatory of Music.
DAVID NOON was born on 23 July 1946 in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. He is of Pennsylvania Dutch, Welsh, and American Indian heritage. His formal musical education began at the age of 8 when he learned to play the clarinet. Subsequently, he took bassoon, flute, piccolo, and piano lessons. Throughout his childhood, he frequently performed in choirs, bands, orchestras, and chamber music ensembles. During his collegiate years at Pomona College, he continued to sing and play bassoon and piano. He also began the systematic study of composition. Following his undergraduate education, he attended New York University to study Medieval music with Gustave Reese. After receiving an MA in musicology at NYU, he attended Yale University, where he received an MMA and a DMA in composition. In 1972–73, he was a Fulbright Fellow in composition at the Music Conservatory in Warsaw, Poland. From 1973 to 1976, Noon taught music theory and composition and supervised the advanced ear-training program at the School of Music at Northwestern University. In 1976, he was composer-in-residence at the Wurlitzer Foundation in Taos, New Mexico. From 1996 to 1998, Noon was Composer Artist-in-Residence at the Episcopal Cathedral of St. John the Divine. A prolific composer, Noon has written 232 works, including chamber music, orchestral works, and choral compositions. He has written 11 string quartets, 3 piano concertos, the opera R.S.V.P., and many works featuring percussion. He has also written 2 books of poetry: Postcards from Rethymno and Bitter Rain; 3 historical novels: The Tin Box, Googie’s, and My Name Was Saul; and 3 Nadia Boulanger mysteries, Murder at the Ballets Russes, The Tsar’s Daughter, and The Organ Symphony. He was on the faculty of Manhattan School of Music in New York City from 1981 to 2011, where he was chairman of the Music History Department (1981-2007), chairman of the Composition Department (1989–98), and dean of academics (1998-2006). In 2007–08, Noon was a visiting professor of musicology and composition at the Central Conservatory in Beijing, China. Noon resides in New York City and on the Greek island of Crete.
SILVIA VALDIVIA is a Peruvian pianist. She was the winner of the Collaborative Piano Award 2022, a special jury prize for Best Orchestral Realization at Lynn University’s Concerto Competition and received 2nd and 3rd prizes in the NSAL Brass and Piano Duo Competition 2023. As a soloist, she has performed with the Symphonic Orchestra of Trujillo and “Orquestando”, the Youth Symphonic Orchestra from the Ministry of Education of Peru. She has also been the featured pianist in “33 Variations” and “Immortal,” two theatrical works centered on the life of Beethoven and award nominees. Ms. Valdivia has received several piano and chamber music masterclasses from well-known international musicians in Peru, USA and Brazil. She has also presented piano recitals on several series in Lima and other regions of her home country. Ms. Valdivia is founding member of NazDúo with saxophonist Jorge Puma. The mission of NazDúo is to premiere works from contemporary composers and to share and support classical music throughout Peru. Pedagogy is an integral part of her passion and dedication to music. Her commitment to piano pedagogy is demonstrated by the founding of “Cierto Concierto”, a cycle of educational concerts aimed at disseminating classical music. Furthermore, she has attended seminars and courses in music education and has diplomas from the Suzuki Association of Peru and the Latin American Music Education Forum that certify her as a piano teacher. Using the skills learned there, Ms. Valdivia gave masterclasses in different cities of Peru. Ms. Valdivia received her Bachelor’s degree in Piano Performance at the National University of Music of Peru (former Conservatory) and her Master of Music degree in Instrumental Collaborative Piano at Lynn University Conservatory of Music, in Boca Raton, Florida.
