Northwestern State University Professor of Violin Andrej Kurti will present a recital Thursday, Sept. 14 at 7:30 p.m. in Magale Recital Hall. Admission is free and open to the public.Northwestern State University Professor of Violin Andrej Kurti will present a recital Thursday, Sept. 14 at 7:30 p.m. in Magale Recital Hall. Admission is free and open to the public.
He will be joined by his wife, adjunct faculty member Sofiko Tchetchelashvili on viola and Assistant Professor of Percussion Oliver Molina on marimba.
The program will contain J.S. Bach’s “Chaccone in D Minor, BWV 1004,” Martinu’s “Three Madrigals for Violin and Viola,” H. 313, Piazzolla’s “History of Tango” and Paganini’s “Caprice No. 24.”
Kurti will be joined by Tchetchelashvili on the work by Martinu and Molina on the work by Piazzolla.
“It is musically rich and attractive recital program from various historic periods and genres,” said Kurti. “Bach and Paganini are compositions written for solo violin, and they are among the most challenging pieces written for the instrument and probably the most famous ones.”
Kurti is a native of Belgrade, Serbia. He studied at the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory and finished his graduate studies in the University of Georgia, where he received doctorate degree in violin performance.
He was a recipient of five first prizes in competitions in Yugoslavia, four first prizes in competitions in Georgia and Florida and a finalist in the MTNA (Music Teacher National Association) Competition in 1998.
In 2000, Kurti became a recording artist for classical label Blue Griffin Recording, for which he later recorded “Six Sonatas for Violin Solo” by Eugene Ysaye.
In 2004, Kurti became a violin faculty member at Northwestern State. He has appeared as a soloist with many symphony orchestras in the United States, Serbia, Montenegro, Italy, Greece, Russia and France. He also appeared as a chamber performer in Spain, France, Latvia, Canada and South Korea.
In non-classical music world, Kurti performed and arranged on more than 40 albums of popular and modern music, which he recorded for many different music labels in the United States.
Kurti has been invited to several international music festivals where he most often performed music written for solo violin. Most recently, Kurti performed “Six Sonatas for Violin Solo” in his Road to Carnegie nationwide recital series, culminating with his Carnegie Hall debut in 2015.
Tchetchelashvili is a native of Tbilisi, Georgia and studied at Tbilisi State Conservatory.
In 2014, Tchetchelashvili accepted a graduate assistantship at Baylor University, and two years later she completed another graduate degree in violin performance. Shewas a winner of four Georgian national violin competitions, as well as a recipient of two consecutive President’s Awards.
In addition to her teaching duties at NSU, she is an active concert violinist and violist.
Molina is an active percussion performer, educator, arranger, adjudicator and clinician. He is a versatile percussionist with experience in many areas of percussion, from orchestral to marching to jazz and many others. He has performed at various state Day of Percussion events, PASIC and other music education conferences. Molina has also participated in many professional development workshops such as the Alan Abel Summer Percussion Workshop and the Jamey Aebersold Summer Jazz Workshop. He has served as a clinician for the Yamaha Sounds of Summer percussion camp and has adjudicated many marching contests and state solo and ensemble festivals.
As an active soloist and chamber ensemble musician, Molina seeks new literature from composers and commissions new works.
