SpirioCast Concert: "Today I Feel Like..."

"Today, I Feel Like..."

Sunday, May 19, 2024
Spirio Recital Hall at Jacobs Music
1718 Chestnut St, Philadelphia, PA

Vladimir Valjarevic- Piano
Esma Pasic-Filipovic - Piano

"Ludwig van Beethoven: "Ich denke dein", with six variations Wo O74

Franz Schubert: Fantasie F Minor, Op.103

Allegro molto moderato

Largo

Allegro vivace

Tempo I

~ Brief Intermission ~

Johannes Brahms: Waltzes Op.39 for Piano Four-hands

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Sonata B Flat Major for Piano Four-hands K.358

Allegro

Adagio

Molto presto

Esma Pasic-Filipovic, a gifted, experienced and cultivated pianist from Bosnia and Herzegovina (the former Yugoslavia) has built a distinguished career as a soloist, chamber musician, and radio Sarajevo recording artist. A University of Novi Sad graduate, she completed her BMA and MMA under professor Arbo Valdma, Academy of Music, University of Novi Sad, Serbia, then pursued post-graduate studies in musicology at the Leopold-Frenczs University of innsbruck, Austria. Her background includes being an accompanist at various academic institutions, at University of Sarajevo, Musikhochschule of Vienna, Austria, and Westminster Choir College, Rider University, NJ. She was also on the piano faculty at Westminster Conservatory of Music, Rider University, serving as Director of the Honors Music Program.

Esma is actively engaged as an adjudicator for NJMTA< AAFAA< SMEA, and rising Talent Music-Fest and is a member of Board of the NJMTA. She is a member of the Bosnian-Herzegovinan American Academy of Arts and Sciences and received the 2022 Top Teacher Award from Steinway and Sons. In 2023, Newark School of the Arts welcomed her as a piano faculty and the Piano Department Head. As a soloist, soloist with orchestra, and a chamber musician, Esma has performed in the former Yugoslavia, Austria, Denmark, Switzerland, and the USA. Under her guidance, her students have won numerous competitions.

Vladimir Valjarevic

The critics have praised pianist Vladimir Valjarevic for his “caressing legato,” “silk-on-velvet seductiveness” (Fanfare Magazine), “beautiful lyricism and . . . wide variety of tones and colorings, perceptively applied with care” (All Music Guide). He has also been called “an outstandingly responsive partner and superb tonalist” (The Strad). His performances have taken him throughout America, Europe, and Asia, and have garnered enthusiastic critical acclaim. Valjarevic has collaborated with numerous contemporary composers in various projects, including commissions, recordings, and world premieres. He has recorded for Labor Records, Romeo Records, Centaur Records, Blue Griffin, and MSR Classics.

Valjarevic studied in his native Bosnia, at Belgrade Conservatory (Serbia), Mannes School of Music (BM & MM), Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University (DMA), University of London (PGCert), and at Geneva Conservatory in Switzerland, where he was a Fulbright Scholar. His primary piano instructors are Pavlina Dokovska, Pascal Devoyon, Susan Starr, and Planinka Jurisic-Atic. Valjarevic is on piano faculty at Mannes School of Music and Mason Gross School of the Arts, and teaches piano pedagogy and literature at Mannes. His festival affiliations have included Beijing International Music Festival and Academy, and Xi'An Music Festival in China, Round Top in Texas, IIYM in Kansas, IKIF in New York. Vladimir Valjarevic is a Steinway Artist.