Anna-Maria Ravnopolska-Dean
Encyclopedia
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
n harp
Harp
The harp is a multi-stringed instrument which has the plane of its strings positioned perpendicularly to the soundboard. Organologically, it is in the general category of chordophones and has its own sub category . All harps have a neck, resonator and strings...
ist and composer.
Biography
Anna-Maria Ravnopolska-Dean was born in Sofia. She studied with the Italian Professor and Harpist Liana Pasquali and continued her education in the USA with the pre-eminent Harpist and Professor Susann McDonaldSusann McDonald
Susann McDonald is an American-born classical harpist. In addition to a successful performing career, she has made a number of recordings and held significant academic and organizational posts.-Life:...
, at Indiana University, Bloomington. Both of her teachers were students of the French Harp School; Marcel Tournier (Liana Pasquali) and Henriette Renie (Susann McDonald). At the Indiana University School of Music, Anna-Maria was awarded an Artist Diploma for 'Superior Artistic Achievement in Harp Performance'. She made her New York début at Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall in 1992. Anna-Marie had previously been introduced to American audiences on the 'McGraw-Hill Young Artists Showcase' of WQXR radio in New York, and later participated in a series of notable international competitions, including those of Gargilesse in Berry, Munich, and Jerusalem.
In 1992, she became one of the founders of the American University in Bulgaria. At the university, she teaches several theoretical and applied courses on the harp and the piano.In 2008 students of hers played the full version of the Tchaikovsky seasons for first time on the Balcan peninsula.
One of her most notable performances was at the Eighth World Harp Congress, Geneva, in 2002. There she played the first harp in an ensemble of six harps and had a separate solo performance despite suffering partial paralysis of her left hand.
Books, Articles and Transcriptions
- Modeling orchestration on harp techniques in the works of Wagner, Smetana and Stravinsky, “WHC Review”, to be published
- The Harp in the orchestral works of Bulgarian Composers (1900–1930)
"Music yesterday-today", 2002
- The Harp as a Coloristic Instrument in the Beginning of the Twentieth Century ("Арфата като колористичен инструмент в началото на ХХ век"), 200 pp., ISBN 954-90353-9-5, Music Society “Vassil Stefanov”, 2001
- The Harp as a Coloristic Instrument in the works of Claude Debussy,
“Musical Horizons”, vol. 7 - 8, 2001, 21- 25, 27 - 33.
- Transcriptions for solo harp, Sofia String Institute, 1995
- Regular contributor to the World Harp Congress Review, 1981–present
- Arrangements for solo harp: Granados, Valses Poeticos, Albeniz, Suita Espagnol, 1988
Compositions
- Improvisation for harp solo, June 2003
- “The turtle’s castle” for harp solo, September 2003
- Four compositions for harp on Haiku poetry, October 2003
- Waltz and Lullaby for piano solo, November 2003
- Rap Tango for harp and voice, November 2003
- Suite of eight dances: Laendrer, Tango, Fandango, Horo,
Kazachok, Arabian dance, Pavane, April 2004
- "Fantasy on Traviata”, June 2005
- Two haiku pieces on Basho, February 2006
- “The mystic trumpeter” on Walt Whitman, February 2006
- Five haiku pieces “Solo Honkadorae Renga”, February 2006
Discography
- Bulgarian Harp Favorites, Arpa d’oro, CD 2003
- Legende: French Music for Harp, Gega compact disc, 1999
- Harpist at the Opera (honoring the Donizetti bicentennial), Arpa d'oro CD, 1997
- Harps of the Americas (Paraguayan and pedal harps), Arpa d'oro CD, 1996
- Erich Schubert Pop Harp Festival, Gega CD, 1994
- A Harpist's Invitation to the Dance, Gega CD, 1992