ESRA PEHLIVANLI & ANASTASIA SAFONOVA

The Viola & Piano duo by Esra PEHLIVANLI and Anastasia SAFONOVA was founded in 2002. Since then the duo has been giving numerous performances in Europe.

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PEHLIVANLI studied with the eminent violist Mikhail Kugel and holds diplomas of Master Degree from the Gent Conservatory in Belgium and the Maastricht Conservatory in the Netherlands, finishing both degrees with the highest distinction. SAFONOVA  began her studies at the age of four at the Moscow’s Gnesins School of Music and one year later presented her first concert. After her music education in Russia (Gnesins Music College and Gnesins Music Academy) she moved to the Netherlands for further studies and completed her Master Degree at the Maastricht Conservatory and at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague with Naum Grubert.

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Both artists are prize winners at international music competitions. Esra PEHLIVANLI has been awarded several prizes such as the Krzyzstof Penderecki International Contemporary Music Competition (Poland), Torneo Internazionale di Musica (Italy) and the first prize in Premio Valentino Bucchi International Viola Competition (Italy), where she also received the Medaglia del Presidente della Repubblica Italiana. Anastasia SAFONOVA received a diploma at the International Cidade de Porto Competition (Portugal) and appeared as a first prize winner at the Gnessin Competition (Russia), Yamaha Music Competition (Benelux), and Yuori Egorov Foundation Competition (the Netherlands).

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In 2011, the debut CD album “Power of Women”  released by the Turkish label A.K Muzik. In 2012, duo celebrated the 10th year anniversary with an extended China tour where they performed at the major concert halls of the country.

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The Viola & Piano duo performs a wide variety of music from Baroque up to early XX th century. Most recent concert programs include a fine selection of outstanding masterworks by composers such as Schumann, Brahms, Hindemith, Clarke, Schostakovitch, Schubert, Milhaud, Britten and Rachmaninov.