By Maria Gregoriou
For those with a demanding taste in music, the Technopolis 20 Cultural Centre in Paphos will be putting on a night filled with musical numbers on Friday.
For those of us who didn’t manage to take a trip to London or New York this holiday season, we get a special treat as the West End and Broadway will be coming to us via Ekaterina Savva who will be singing the musical tunes and Ivelina Ruseva who will be accompanying Savva on the piano.
Savva, who is half Bulgarian and half Cypriot, is a professional singer. She studied classical singing at the University of Mozarteum in Salzburg. During her stay in Austria, which is considered to be the mecca of classical musical culture, she was given the chance to study with some very important figures in the classical music world, including Maestro Antonio Carangelo, Helene Schneiderman, Julie Kaufmann, Barbara Bonney, Grace Bumbry and Michele Crider.
After graduating from Mozarteum, she continued her studies at the Guildhall School of Music in London with a scholarship, where she was giving vocal lessons from the famous Australian soprano Yvonne Kenny.
Ruseva, from Ruse, Bulgaria, began piano lessons at the age of seven and by the age of ten was accepted at the Veselin Stogianov music school in Ruse.
During her studies she participated in many concerts and competitions for solo piano. In 1992 she graduated with honours and was accepted at the National Music Academy Pancho Vladigerov in Sofia, Bulgaria, from which she again graduated with honours.
In 1999 she moved to Paphos, where she has been giving piano lessons and living ever since. She also takes part in various cultural events and concerts as a solo pianist and for chamber music events.
The two women will surely help Technopolis 20 Cultural Centre, which opened its doors to the public last year, achieve its goal of providing a point of cultural production and meeting, to promote the local cultural scene and provide a wide range of events to satisfy the tastes of many audience members.
Savva and Ruseva will take us down the yellow brick road with songs from the Wizard of Oz, so make sure you bring your heart, your brain and your courage along, and take us to the Paris Opera House with a little music of the night from The Phantom of the Opera. But that is not all, if your name is Maria, you will love the performances of the pieces from West Side Story, and if you love stories about women in charge, then a bit of Evita will get you singing along.
Favourite Musical Numbers
Concert with Ekaterina Savva and pianist Ivelina Ruseva. January 9. Technopolis 20. 18 Nikolaou NIkolaidi Avenue, Paphos. 8pm. €10/7. Tel: 70-002420
