Genova & Dimitrov

Template:Curto de máis Genova & Dimitrov is a German piano duo, considered both by the world music press and the audience one of the world's finest and most successful young ensembles.^{[citation needed]} The duo consists of Aglika Genova (born June 29, 1971) and Liuben Dimitrov (born October 12, 1969) and appear both at two pianos and at one piano four-handed with recital programmes, as well as with orchestra.

Competition career

Formed in the city of Hanover in 1995, the international concert career of the Genova and Dimitrov duo began with winning all the major piano duo competitions, including the 1996 ARD Music Competition in Munich, the 1997 Murray Dranoff Piano Duo Competition in Miami, the 1996 Tokyo Piano Duo Competition and the 1995 Bellini Music Competition in Italy.

Concert career

Since then the duo has performed at the major concert halls of Europe, North and South America, Asia and Africa. Festival appearances include e.g. the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, Rheingau Musik Festival, Ludwigsburg, Schwetzingen, Gstaad, MDR Music Summer, the La Roque d’Antheron Piano Festival and Ravello Festivals, the Music Festival of the Hamptons, the Chopin Piano Festival in Duszniki and the Lower Saxony Music Festival. In 2002 Genova & Dimitrov played at the opening of the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, and also performed for the EXPO 2000 world exhibition in Hanover. In addition, the artists have appeared with, among others, the orchestras of the Bavarian, NDR Hanover, SWR Kaiserslautern, Bulgarian National and Bucharest National radio stations, the Stuttgart Philharmonic, the New World and Savannah Symphonies, the NDR Hamburg Radio Choir, Sofia Philharmonic, Beijing Symphony, Moscow Symphony Orchestra, Ukrainian National Philharmonic, the Cape Town and the Durban Philharmonics, Musica Viva Moscow, the Minsk Orchestra and the Polish Chamber Philharmonic, under conductors such as Eiji Oue, Ari Rasilainen, Alun Francis, Toshiyuki Kamioka, Leos Svarovsky, Robin Gritton and Alexander Rudin.

Radio & TV appearances, Master Class Courses, Associate Professors

The Genova & Dimitrov Duo has appeared in a number of radio and TV broadcasts on all continents. The duo also served as youngest jurors of the ARD Competition in Munich and of the Almaty International Piano Competition of Kazakhstan. The Artists have also been given master classes and workshops worldwide.

Since the fall of 2008, Genova and Dimitrov became Associate Professors of the Hannover State Academy of Music and Theatre and lead the special class for piano duo performance.

Family background, Solo Education, Special Merits

Both artists were born in Bulgaria of Greek origin, have been playing piano since the age of five, and made their orchestra debuts at the age of nine.

They studied solo piano with Ganev at the Music Academy in Sofia and since 1993 with Prof. Vladimir Krainev at the Hanover Music Academy and won during their soloist training numerous international solo piano competitions. In 2005, the duo gained German citizenship.

Discography

Named "Artists of the Year 2001", Genova & Dimitrov have released eight CDs on cpo including:

Dimitri Shostakovich - Complete Works for Piano Duo: World Premiere Recording
Johann Christian Bach - Complete Works for Piano Four Hands: World Premiere Recording
Muzio Clementi - Piano Sonatas for Two
Pantcho Vladigerov - Bulgarian Impressions, Complete Works for Piano Duo: World Premiere Recording
Schnittke & Martinu - Concertos for Piano Duo: with the NDR Hanover Radio Orhestra, led by Eiji Oue; Concerto for piano duo by Alfred Shnittke and Bohuslav Martinu
French Concertos - with the SWR Radio Orchestra, led by Alun Francis; Concertos for Two Pianos by Francis Poulenc, Darius Milhaud and Robert Casadesus
America for Two - featuring works for two pianos by Gershwin, Copland and Bernstein
Favourite Flavors - featuring the most significant works by Maurice Ravel

All these releases have won critical acclaim from major international music magazines and radio stations.