THE FRIDAY NOON CONCERT SERIES

Olivia Hajioff, violin/viola
Marc Ramirez, violin
Vasily Popov, cello
Ralitza Patcheva, piano

Olivia Hajioff a Fulbright scholar, received a BBC Young Musician of the Year Award.  In her native England she has performed chamber music at the Dartington International Festival with David Owen Norris and Stephen Kovacevich.  She has also performed with Edgar Meyer, Awadagin Pratt and Led Zeppelin. Arnold Steinhardt (Guarneri Quartet) described her as a “compelling performer”. 

Marc Ramirez has concertized throughout Europe and North America, performing at such halls as the Tretyakov Museum in Moscow, Carnegie Recital Hall, and the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater. Among his awards are First Prizes in the Henryk Szeryng Competition, the Parisot-Friedman International Competition, and the Cavallaro International Competition for a two-year Fellowship to Yale University.  The Washington Post has described his playing as “intensely beautiful”. 

Born in St. Petersburg, Russia into a musical family, Vasily Popov started playing the cello at the age of seven. Vasily was an associate principal cellist with the  Soloists of St. Petersburg chamber ensemble, the chamber orchestra founded by violinist Michael Gantwarg, and in the cello section of the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra under Maestro Yuri Temirkanov.  Currently living in Washington DC, Vasily serves on the cello and chamber music faculties of Levine Music, where he is also associate chair of Chamber Music and  artistic director and conductor of the Levine Chamber Orchestra. He enjoys working with young musicians and performs on stage with them frequently.
 
Bulgarian pianist Ralitza Patcheva has won prizes at the International Busoni Competition in Italy, the Washington International Piano Competition, and the NSO Young Soloists Competition. Known for adventurous programming, she gives historically informed and sincere readings of early to modern music, including works by composers of our time. Ralitza has been a soloist with the National Symphony, the Jenaer Philharmonie, and the Haydn Orchestra. She is on the faculties of the Catholic University of America and Levine Music, of which she is an alumna. She is also associate chair of the Chamber Music Program at Levine. She is the associate artistic director of the Bulgarian Music Society in Washington. Ralitza holds advanced degrees in piano performance from the University of Maryland, the Hochschule für Musik in Munich, and the Peabody Institute.