Thursday, March 4th, 2010, at 7:30 PM
JP Concerts presents Duo Aelia, with Egle Jarkova, violin (Lithuania) and Inesa Gegprifti, piano (Albania), both currently undergraduate students at The Boston Conservatory. They will perform Johannes Brahms (Scherzo for Violin and Piano in C minor), Sergey Prokofiev (Violin and Piano Sonata in Da Major) and Cesar Franck (Piano and Violin Sonata in A Major). They formed a violin-piano duo (Duo Aelia) three years ago while studying in Italy near the United World College of the Adriatic. Their experience is varied and rich, including recitals in Italy, Albania, Lithuania, Slovenia, Austria and the United States. First Thursday concerts at St. John’s are free, but contributions are welcomed to support the series and the artists.
Violinist Egle Jarkova was born in Šiauliai, Lithuania, where she started playing violin at the age of six attending "The Second Music School" in the studio of Sigita Zemitaite. In 2000 Egle was admitted to the "National M. K. Ciurlionis Art School" in Vilnius, studying with Ingrida Armonaite – Galiniene and Monika Vasiliauskaite. She toured and had concerts in Germany, Spain, Switzerland, Portugal, Austria, and Russia. She participated in "Kodaly – Bartok World Youth Orchestra", and received master classes from P. Berman, P. Munteanu, T. Berkul, D. Schmalenberg, A. Gricius, A. Shvolkovsky, A. Shalman, and S. Von Bekker. In 2007 Egle received a full music scholarship and was admitted to the United World College of the Adriatic (Italy) attending also "Scuola Superiore Internazionale di Musica da Camera del Trio di Trieste". She studied violin with Mr. Massimo Belli and chamber music classes with Trio di Trieste teachers –De Rosa, Zanettovich, Jones, and Trio di Parma teachers – Bronzi, Rabaglia and Miodini and Music IB with Stefano Sacher. is the winner of the International Violin Competition "Paolo Spincich", International Chamber Music Competition "Nuovi Orizzonti", and Competition "La Musica Nella Scuola" (Italy, 2008). She has been awarded First Prize in International Orchestra Competitions in Belgium (2005) and Hungary (2002). In addition, she won several times "B. Dvarionas Pianists and Violinists Competition" in Lithuania (2006, 2004, 1997), and was awarded the Special Prize for the best performance. In 1999, Egle was nominated and awarded the Queen Morta Premium Laureate. Her performances have been both as a soloist and as a chamber music player (Duo, Piano Quartet, Strings Quartet, Piano Quintet) in Italy (Roma, Milan, Gorizia, Duino, Trieste), Austria (Graz), and Croatia. In 2008-2009, Egle played in Chamber Orchestra of Siauliai, and participated in "International Frenkel Villa Summer Festival".
In 2009 Egle received a full scholarship from the Boston Conservatory supported by the Davis Association (Gale and Shelby). Now she is currently a freshman in Mr. Lynn Chang‘s studio pursuing the degree of Bachelor of Music in Violin Performance. While studying in Boston, Egle received master classes from Jorja Fleezanis and Markus Placci. She played in the Boston Chamber Orchestra, the Boston Conservatory Orchestra, and the Eclipse Symphony Orchestra.
Pianist Inesa Gegprifti was born in Tirana, Albania, where she started her first piano lessons at the age of 6 in the studio of Mrs. Valbona Kasaj. Inesa has been a participant in various international competitions where she has been among the top prize winners, such as The Piano Honors Competition at the Boston Conservatory, Boston U.S.A., "Paolo Spinchich" International Competition, "Nuovi Orizzonti" International Chamber Music Competition in Italy, "Bitola Interfest" in Macedonia, "Young Musicians International Competition" in Kosovo, "Kenget e Tokes", EPTA International in Albania. Inesa's performing experience was enriched by a concert tour with young musicians in Kosovo and Macedonia in 2005, where she performed as soloist and as chamber musician. Among other performance venues, she played in Italy, Slovenia and the United States (Boston).
In 2006, Inesa was awarded a full music scholarship to attend the United World College of the Adriatic and "Scuola Internazionale di Musica da Camera del Trio di Trieste" in Trieste, Italy supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Davis Association. This biennial scholarship led to receiving chamber music and solo classes by the renowned Maestri of Trio di Trieste – De Rosa, Zanetovich, Jones and E. Bronzi, and Maestri I. Cognolato and A. Miodini and Music IB with Stefano Sacher. Inesa had the chance to receive master classes by musicians such as, Anna Iftinchi, Till Engel, Giovanni Umberto Batell, Cecilia Bartoli, Michael Lewin, Jonathan Bass, Paulina Zamora, Jorja Fleezanis and Markus Placci. Currently, Inesa is attending The Boston Conservatory from which she received full scholarship, supported by Gale and Shelby Davis in 2008, pursuing her Bachelor Degree in Piano Performance in the studio of Mr. Max Levinson.