Folk Inspired Piano Music

By interpreting folk inspired solo piano repertoire, the pianist Stavroula Thoma aims to communicate the originality and idiomatic character of this unique fusion. The folk idiom, which derives from the people and communicates directly to the people, is combined with the classical musical form, which is a more sophisticated kind of expression.

The programme will include works by Clementi, Chopin, Θεοδωράκη, Καβαλλάρη και Dohnanyi.

The recital will take place on Friday, May 6 at 8pm.

Entrance: 10 euro
The reservations are necessary at 70002420.

A few words about Stavroula Thoma
Stavroula Thoma is a Cypriot concert pianist who has performed in the UK, Cyprus, Greece and Hungary.

Stavroula was a scholar of Georgiou and Maria Tirimou’s foundation. She was awarded the Marzorie Hulzehurst Piano award and was also a Joseph Weingarten scholar at the Liszt Academy of Music in 2012-14.

She gave her concerto debut in May 2014 with the Cyprus Symphony Orchestra, as part of the CYSO ‘Young Soloists First Step’ series, and performed the Bach D minor Piano Concerto with conductor Roland Melia. In December 2014, she performed the Mozart D minor Concerto with the Birmingham Conservatoire Repertoire Orchestra and conductor Daniele Rosina. Stavroula collaborated with the organization ‘Hope for Children’ in a series of solo charity concerts in Hungary and the UK, with repertoire inspired by the childhood, including Clementi, Schumann, Bartok and Debussy. She performed in the International Kodaly Festival in 2013 and at the Benczur Haz in Budapest in 2014, in a ceremony celebrating Greece’s presidency in the European Union. In 2013, she performed a recital focusing on Hungarian Composers (e.g. Liszt, Kodaly, Dohnanyi) at the Larnaka Festival of Classical Music. She returned to the festival in 2015 to perform a Beethoven recital with the Russian violinist Maria Oguren.

She is currently studying with John Twhaites and Margaret Fingerhut at Birmingham Conservatoire. Her past teachers include András Kemenes and István Gulyás (from Liszt Academy of Music), James Kirby (from Royal Holloway, University of London) and Eva Georgiou (from Conservatoire of Classical Studies, Cyprus). She has participated in masterclasses with internationally renowned pianists, such as Orsolya Szabó, Imre Rohmannn, Malcolm Bilson, Robert Levin, Carole Presland, Idil Biret, Jean Efflam Bavouzet, Peter Donohoe, Pascal Nemirovski and Martino Tirimo.

Stavroula enjoys performing as a soloist, but is also passionate about chamber music. She has performed as part of chamber groups and attended coaching with renowned musicians, such as the Barbican Trio, cellist Christopher Richter, violinists Oliver Wille, Nathaniel Vallois and pianist Daniel Tong.

Stavroula is currently studying for the Advanced Postgraduate Diploma (Professional Performance) at Birmingham Conservatoire and aims to produce her first recording album in 2016.

More information about Stavroula’s career and plans can be found online at http://www.stavroulathoma.com/