Zlata Chochieva

Having performed in the top concert halls around the globe from a very young age, pianist Zlata Chochieva has a distinctive voice and a tranche of international competition prizes to her name. She makes her Duke Arts debut with a program of works built around the beauty - and darkness - of the natural world.  

Schumann's Waldszenen explores the bucolic nature of the forest, but doesn't flee from its dark underbelly. He paints musical portraits of a crackling hearth, hunting calls and the vivid colors of flowers. Scriabin evokes a more peaceful, impressionistic scene in his Second Piano Sonata, representing the calm of the night by the seashore and the tender moonlight, while also showing the stormy agitation of the ocean. The first movement of Draeseke's Dämmerungsträume ("Twilight Dreams") depicts the falling of red leaves in autumn, while selected Transcendental Studies by Liszt portray ghostly lights and snow-whirls, and the hazy dreamscapes in Ravel's Miroirs bring to life nocturnal moths, a lone bird whistling a sad tune and the gentle peal of bells.