Download Elmira Darvarova, violin (bio)

Elmira Darvarova, former Concertmaster of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra (and the first
woman-concertmaster in the MET’s history), started playing the violin at the age of three, gave
her first recital at four, and made her debut as a soloist with an orchestra when she was eight
years old. A prizewinner of several international competitions, and a British Council scholar, she
studied with Yfrah Neaman in England, with Henryk Szeryng in Switzerland and with Josef
Gingold in the United States. She caused a sensation, becoming the first ever womanconcertmaster in the history of the Metropolitan Opera, toured Europe, Japan and the United
States with the MET Orchestra, and was heard on the MET's live weekly international radio
broadcasts, television broadcasts, CDs and laser discs on the Sony, Deutsche Grammophon and
EMI labels. As concertmaster of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, she has performed with
many of the most prominent conductors of all time, including the legendary Carlos Kleiber.
Appearing in concert halls and at festivals on four continents, she is well-versed in all kinds of
genres, having performed opera at the MET, having shared the stage for symphonic and chamber
concerts with giants of the music world such as James Levine, Janos Starker, Gary Karr and
Pascal Rogé, as well as with tango and jazz luminaries such as Octavio Brunetti, Fernando Otero
and David Amram, and, in collaboration with eminent Indian classical musicians - the superstars
of the Sarod - Amaan Ali Khan and Ayaan Ali Khan. She has been concerto soloist with the
Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Moscow State Symphony and numerous other orchestras
in Europe and America. She has also appeared with the MET Chamber Ensemble at Carnegie
Hall under James Levine. A documentary film about her was shown on European TV. She can be
heard on a number of labels, including Deutsche Grammophon (as concertmaster of the
Metropolitan Opera Orchestra). Recent releases include two 18th Century music CDs with
world-renowned double bassist Gary Karr, an all-Poulenc disc with the eminent French pianist
Pascal Rogé, the Brahms Horn Trio with New York Philharmonic principal horn Philip Myers,
two highly-acclaimed CDs for Naxos with music by Franco Alfano, and the world premiere
recording of Vernon Duke’s violin concerto (written for Heifetz 75 years ago) with the ORF
Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra. She is Artistic Director of the New York Chamber Music
Festival, and leader of the New York Piano Quartet, performs with the Delphinium Trio, with the
Quinteto del Fuego, and in a duo with the acclaimed Argentinian virtuoso pianist/composer and
Grammy award winner Fernando Otero. Acclaimed by the New York Times and the Chicago
Tribune for her “warm and beautiful tone “and “flawless technique,” Elmira Darvarova has been
also praised by the highly-regarded British magazine STRAD for her “silky-smooth, voluptuous
sound” and her “intoxicating tonal beauty and beguilingly sensuous phrasing”. Her CD with
chamber works by René de Castéra was selected by musicweb-international as Recording of the
Month (April 2015) and among the Records of the Year (2015). The most prestigious publication
for classical music - Gramophone Magazine, published on its first page in a recent issue an
interview with Elmira Darvarova. More info at www.elmiradarvarova.com