June blossoms – a concert of classical music

Concert by Julia Miller, Andriana Yordanova, Agnieszka Kuzma and Clara Galea

Four women musicians will join forces to present the Maltese public a concert of Romantic classical music with a difference.

The music that will be presented will include the songs of two women composers: the American Amy Beach and the Swede Valborg Aulin, also a contemporary of Beach. The songs will be performed by renowned soprano Andriana Yordanova with the international pianist Julia Miller on the piano. Together with flutist Clara Galea, Julia Miller will also perform the exquisite ‘Undine’ sonata for Piano and Flute (op. 167) of Carl Reinecke. This sonata is considered one of the major works that exposes the versatility of flute written in the nineteenth century. The concert will end with Johannes Brahms’ well known Sonata for Piano and Violin n. 3 in d minor, played by violinist Agnieszka Kuzma with Julia Miller on the piano.

The concert will take place at the Concert Hall of the Malta Society of Arts in Valletta on 4 June, starting at 6pm, and tickets are available from https://www.showshappening.com/julia-miller/June-blossoms-a-concert-of-classical-music

Agnieszka Kuzma – violin

Agnieszka Kuźma was born in Poland and started her musical education at the age of seven. After graduating from the Music University in Wroclaw, Poland, with a Master’s degree, she continued her studies in the class of Katalin Sebastyen at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Brussels, where she graduated with a distinction.

She was a member of various orchestras such as The World Orchestra, Leopoldinum Chamber Orchestra (Poland), and Symphonia Assai (Belgium). She is the founder of the Omnia String Quartet.

Agnieszka joined the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra in 2014. In 2016 she performed as soloist and premiered Concerto Notturno by Gorecki with the MPO.

Clara Galea – flute

Following her years at the then-Johann Strauss School of Music, Clara Galea read for Bachelor of Music (Hons) at Edinburgh Napier University with flautist Andrea Kuypers, and later for Master of Music in Musicology at the University of Edinburgh. She is currently reading for Doctor of Music in Performance at the University of Malta, under the supervision of Dr Max Erwin and Dr Rebecca Hall. Clara is a recipient of the Malta Arts Scholarship, financed by the Government of Malta.
Clara has vast performing experience. Aside from solo recitals with Maltese pianists Christine Zerafa and Gisèle Grima, she has performed on many occasions with the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra and the Malta Youth Orchestra, both as Intern and member of the MPO Academy. She has also participated in masterclasses, including those with Robert Winn, Lorna McGhee, Marina Piccinini, Andrea Oliva, Lady Jeanne Galway, Othonas Gkogkas and Katherine Bryan.

Andriana Yordanova – soprano

Andriana Yordanova, established soprano and voice teacher holds a Masters in Opera singing and Vocal pedagogy and a Ph.D. in Music as well as a Master degree in Russian language and literature. She won scholarships for European Opera Trust in England, Academy “Boris Christoff” in Rome and bursaries from “Kraft Jacobs Suchard”. She is a winner of competitions, a member of international judging boards, visiting lecturer at the University of Malta and acts as independent evaluator of National Qualifications which are being accredited against the MQF.

Her repertoire ranges from Italian, French, German and Russian operas to operettas, Baroque and Sacred music, Lieder and modern composers. Her career brought her from Bulgaria to Egypt, Greece, Germany, Switzerland, Russia, Italy, Austria, Russia, Kazakhstan, Hungary, UK, Dubai. Since 2001 she made Malta her second home. She is passionate about the Maltese-Bulgarian relationships in Culture and Music, work with young and upcoming opera singers and promotion of Maltese classical vocal music.

Recently she was nominated for the most prestigious Bulgarian award in Music for achievement in 2019 Crystal Lyre. Currently she is teaching voice technique at Malta School of Music at Mikiel Anton Vassalli College.

Julia Miller – piano

Julia Miller started playing the piano at the age of six. Since then her studies and professional career have all centered round the piano. She graduated from the Music academy of Lodz in piano performance and chamber music under the tutelage of Prof. Anna Wesolowska- Firlej, Prof. Boguslaw Pikala and Prof. Cezary Sanecki, just to name the few.

On the way she played some of the most prestigious venues in Poland, both as a soloist and with chamber ensembles. She was finalist in a number of competitions and her playing was particularly noted for its distinctive flavour, at once impassioned but stable and controlled.

After a stint in Dublin, Ireland, she moved to Malta in 2012 and built herself a reputation as both as an accompanist to vocalists as well as an accomplished pianist in her own right.

In 2015 Julia Miller was very much involved in a concert rendition of Mozart’s ‘Cosi fan tutte’ and with Opera Studio “Atelier Lyrique” concerts in 2015. She has frequently collaborated with schools of ballet, and her talent and flair as a repetiteur has been equally coveted by leading music theatre productions, such as My Fair Lady in 2018.

In 2013 Julia Miller was chosen as one of four piano collaborator-interns at the Music Theatre Bavaria in Oberaudorf, Germany. In 2017 she was also piano accompanist during the 14^th Vocal Masterclasses in Ventspils, Latvia.

She collaborated with the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra, Kor Malta, the Manoel Theatre Youth Opera and been present in several festivals, including the Malta Baroque Festival, the Malta International Spring Festival and has been the piano accompanist to soprano Miriam Gauci during her masterclasses during the Gaulitana Festival. Following the concert concluding the masterclasses, Miriam Gauci hailed Julia Miller’s talent and style, calling her one of the best pianists she ever worked with.

Since 2019, Julia Miller has also started a series of solo recitals titled ‘Julia Miller Plays’, playing a wide-ranging repertoire of classical piano pieces, especially from the Romantic Period.

In 2022, Julia was the brains behind the project Valletta-Varsavja-Vjenna, where she was playing Mozart’s D Minor Piano Concerto together with Polish based Apertus Quartet as well as piano part in the specially commissioned piano quintet by Karl Fiorini. Project was supported by Arts Council Malta and The Embassy of Poland in Valletta.

Currently, she is reading her DMus at the University of Malta under the supervision of Prof. Michael Laus and Dr Max Erwin where she is focusing on female composers from the the end of 19^th  century from USA and Sweden.

Sunday 4 June 2023

6pm

Concert Hall of the Malta Society of Arts,
Palazzo de La Salle, 219, Republic Street, Valletta