Tonight at “Ohrid Summer” concert for double bass and piano
Macedonian artists, double bass player Gjorgji Cincievski and pianist Marija Vrshkova will hold a concert tonight at the church “St. Sophia” starting at 9 pm as part of the music program of the Ohrid Summer Festival.
Contrabassist Gjorgi Cincievski is completing his studies at the Royal College of Music in Manchester. There he graduated and received his master’s degree in the class of prof. Jiri Hudec has been appointed his assistant. Cincievski is the first junior assistant in the double bass class at this faculty.
He has collaborated with some of today’s leading musicians such as: Valery Gergiev, Bernard Haitink, Kurt Mazur, Fabio Luizi, Sir Mark Elder, Douglas Boyd and many others, and has played in prestigious orchestras: BBC Philharmonic, Halle Orchestra, The Malm. Philharmonic Orchestra, the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, the London Mozart Players, the Finnish Liepaja Philharmonic and many more. His engagements as a solo double bassist and orchestral musician bring him to numerous prestigious festivals in Europe and Asia. In addition to his work as soloist and leader of the Malta Philharmonic’s double bass section, George is also active as a pedagogue holding numerous master classes, workshops and solo concerts in the UK, China, Germany, France, Thailand, Latvia, Cuba, Italy, Poland and Malta. His interpretations are highly praised by music critics for their technical virtuosity, but also for the exceptional musical expression and passion with which he approaches the instrument, which results in numerous arrangements and transcriptions of works for double bass and chamber ensembles. His transcripts of the “Goldberg Variations” by J.S. Bach for string trio (violin, viola and double bass) are considered the first and only for this chamber formation in the world and were awarded for Best Transcription at the prestigious European Contrabass Biennale held in the Netherlands in 2014. This transcription, as well as other works by Cincievski, were published exclusively by the Hoffmeister publishing house – one of the most prestigious publishers of works in the field of classical music. The recording of Bach’s “Goldberg Variations” brings great criticism, which, among other things, says “an incredibly successful work that will leave its mark in world music history.
” Gjorgi Cincievski is the founder and artistic director of the International Days of Contrabass Festival held in Valletta, and since 2014 he is an artist-soloist sponsored by the company “Pirastro” which makes strings for string instruments.
Marija Vrshkova was born in Bitola, where she completed her primary and secondary music education. She graduated from the Faculty of Music Arts – Skopje with the highest grade cum laude in the class of Prof. T. Svetiev and at the same faculty she completes her master studies in piano. During his education he won several awards within the former Yugoslavia, and the most significant is the third prize at the International Competition for Young Pianists in Rome – Italy. She has participated in numerous seminars in piano and chamber music, and several times is the only representative of the country in the World Youth Orchestra where she collaborates with top conductors and soloists. In addition to several recorded CDs with prominent Macedonian artists: Ana and Oleg Kondratenko, Blerim Grubi, Strasho Temkov, in 2010, she recorded her first solo CD with Macedonian piano music. As a soloist and chamber musician she performs in: Turkey, Croatia, the Netherlands, Germany, Poland, Great Britain, Ukraine, Italy, Bulgaria, Russia, America, Serbia, Austria, Greece… Vrskova is one of the artists who regularly performs at renowned Macedonian festivals: Ohrid Summer, DMM, Golden Lyre, Autumn Music Festivities. At the top of her artistic activity is the award for special artistic achievement, received by the international jury at the international competition “Ohrid Pearls” in 2009, as well as the three “Virtuosos” awards, one for the best music performer in 2013 and two awards in the category the best.
