Friday, February 16, 2018 — 5:30pm
Music of “The Five”
César Cui, Aleksandr Borodin, Mily Balakirev, Modest Mussorgsky, and Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov

Program:

Glinka – “La Separation” Nocturne

Balakirev – Scherzo no 1

Glinka/Balakirev – “The Lark”

Mussorgsky – The Seamstress

Cesar Cui – Preludes Op 64 No.6 and 8

Borodin – Scherzo in A flat Major

Rimsky – Korsakov – 4 Morceaux , Op 11

Macedonian Pianist, Natasha Stojanovska is currently working towards completion of her Doctorate of Musical Arts at The Bienen School of Music, Northwestern University, Chicago IL in the studio of James Giles. She received her Artist Diploma and Master of Music in Piano Performance from Indiana University; Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance from Lynn University, Conservatory of Music. Ms. Stojanovska has performed solo and chamber music recitals in France, Portugal, Macedonia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Romania, South Korea, Haiti and the United States. She has appeared numerous times with symphony orchestras including: Northwestern Philharmonic, South Bend Symphony, Macedonian Philharmonic, Lynn Philharmonic, Century Village Symphony Orchestra, Brevard Music Center Symphony Orchestra, Northwestern Wind Ensemble; collaborating with conductors such as : Keith Lockhard , Albert-George Schram, Victor Yampolsky, Mallory Thompson, among others. She has performed in Concert Halls including: Broward Center; The World Theater of the Performing Arts, Boca Raton, FL; The Gusman Hall; Steinway Piano Gallery of Miami; The DeBartolo Performing Arts Center of University of Notre Dame; The Forth Presbyterian Church of Downtown Chicago; Nichols Concert Hall, Evanston, IL; Chicago Cultural Center; Indiana Landmarks Center; Morris Theater, South Bend, IN; Museum of Culture and Art, Macedonia. Her performances have been broadcasted on the following radio and TV Stations: WUSF public Media; Macedonian Radio and Television, WXEL; WFMT Chicago; WNIT Public Television.

In the United States she has been awarded many honors including: Prize winner, Samuel Thaviu/Isaak Piano Performance Competition, 2017; The 2016th and 2017th Kenneth G. and Helen C. Merrill Scholarship Fund with the Bienen School of Music; 1st prize at the Southern Illinois Young Artists Competition, 2015; Semi-Finalist, Astral Artists Auditions, Philadelphia, 2014 and International Keyboard Odyssiad Competition, CO, 2017; Martin Fellowship in Piano and Arts Excellence Award, Indiana University, 2014; 1st prize winner, Indianapolis Matinee Musicale Collegiate Competition, 2012; Prize winner, The 37th Piano Concerto Competition of the Kankakee Valley Symphony Orchestra; 1st prize winner of Lynn University Concerto Competition, 2010; Special Recognition prize (Van Grigsby Johnston Memorial Award) at the 59th Wideman Piano Competition, LA; FSMTA Gray Perry Collegiate Piano Award, 2009; 1st prize winner, Piano and Concerto Competitions of the Brevard Music Center, 2008; Prize winner at the FSMTA Byrd Piano Ensemble Competition (2008) in her duo, The SISTERS STOJANOVSKA; 1st prize winner at the Walenstein Music Competition, Miami, 2008.

During her development in Europe she has received honors including: “Most prospective young Macedonian Pianist Certificate of 2006”; 1st prize winner of the “Musicians of New a Millennium” Skopje, Macedonia, 2005; Prize winner of “Isidor Baich International Piano Competition” Novi Sad, Serbia, 2004; 1st prize winner of “Interfest Music Festival and Competition”, 2003; Prize winner of the ” Liszt and Bartok International Competition” Sofia, Bulgaria, 2003; 1st prize Winner of the “Ohrid Pearls”, 2003; Certificate for the highest accomplishment as a collaborator at the “International Wind Competition” in Kragujevac, Serbia, 2002.

Ms. Stojanovska’s primary teachers include Alexander Toradze, Ketevan Badridze, Roberta Rust, Todor Svetiev and Margarita Tatarcevska. In master classes and individual lessons, she has worked with numerous concert pianists and renowned teachers including: Robert McDonald, Arie Vardi, Andre Watts, Garry Grafmann, Yong Hi Moon, Jerome Lowenthal, Norman Krieger, Yosip Yermin, Roswita Gediga, Jeffery Biegel, Olga Kern, Emanuel Ax, Alexander Kobrin, Jerome Rose, Victor Rosenbaum, Eduard Zilberkant, Sasha Korsantia, Matti Raekallio, Garrick Ohlsson, Rebecca Penneys.

Most recently, Ms. Stojanovska presented the Bienen School of Music at the prestigious, Gilmore Piano Festival. In January, 2017 She was a Composition and Piano Consultant for Renee Fleming, Metropolitan Opera Star and Patricia Barber’s, Jazz celebrity, song project. She was the collaborative pianist, for a performance by Rachael Barton Pine, renowned concert violinist, that took place at The Union Club of Downtown Chicago, as part of the Musicians Club of Women Performance Series. In addition, Ms. Stojanovska served as a Collaborative Pianist for The Sacred Music Program at the University of Notre Dame where she collaborated with prestigious musicians such as Shulamit Ran, Carmen Helen Tellez, Nathan Gunn, among others. She also served as an Adjunct Professor of Music Theory at Indiana University, South Bend and previously as a Staff Accompanist at The Academy of Musical Arts in Skopje, Macedonia.

Besides her accomplishments as a pianist and collaborator, she is also an active composer with an original expressive, while innovative language inspired by the folk music of her native county. She writes primary for solo and chamber music settings. Her compositions have been premiered and performed at concert series and festivals around the United States and Europe, including: The New Music Festival in Boca Raton, Florida; The Days of Macedonian Music at the Museum of the City of Skopje; “Music across the Atlantic” and ” New Music Ensemble Festival” at Indiana University.
During her residential work at Northwestern University, she served as a staff accompanist for the Wind and Vocal studios; and Music Theory Instructor at the undergraduate level courses of the Bienen School of Music, Northwestern University, IL. She has just relocated to Los Alamos/Santa Fe, NM, and currently serves as an Artistic Staff of the Coro De Camara and holds a Private Teaching Studio.