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On 2nd February 2025 I had the privilege of being invited to take part in a joint Sino-British concert celebration of the Chinese New Year at Dukes Hall, Royal Academy of Music, London. I subsequently received the following letter. Unfotuneately it didn't scan well enough fot easy reading - so have taken the liberty of having it typed up (see beneath letter).
Sino-British Your musical talent and stage presence brought unparalleled brilliance to the concert. Every note you played and every melody you delivered immersed the audience in the beauty of music, showcasing the power of cross-cultural exchange. After countless hours of dedicated rehearsals, the moments finally arrived on stage with your piano performance are impressive and unforgettable. Whether through passionate energy or dedicated interpretations your artistry was an essential part of this musical celebration. With Spring’s Prelude, a New Sound Begins. Thank you for your dedication, for proving that music transcends language, and for making this concert a remarkable artistic journey. We look forward to collaborating again in the future. Host: Sino British Concert --------------------- |
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The 3Rs - 'A Personal Journey' Solo Recital - Menuhin Room, 3rd Floor Portsmouth Central Library ; 9th September 2023 Unsolicited On-line review
Following the all-Chopin programme in the cathedral on Thursday, a different Portsmouth audience were taken further into the Romantic piano via some landmark pieces in Valentina Seferinova's story. The three R's for her are more than the basis of an education.
Rachmaninov's Barcarolle op. 10 no. 3 glittered before his Prelude op. 3 no.2 was stormier but we can't go too soon in expending too much of our linguistic ammunition describing those because she had only just begun.
The commentary provided by such artists sheds light not only on the music but the depth of their understanding of what they are doing. Not everybody's heard of Joachim Raff or Lubomir Rozycki but Valya knows as much as there is to know about them.
Raff's Fantasy-Sonata began where the Rachmaninov had left off and then poured forth melody into its vast open spaces. The power and energy built and built like an ongoing explosion. I usually sit, or try to, with a view of the keyboard but today was on the opposite side and I've never heard Valya or possibly even the Steinway sound better. Maybe it has a big sound that rewards big performances. Maybe it was the music, the performance or where I was sitting but, not being able to hear it again from the other side, I'll never know. The Seferinova Raff is packed with untamed grandeur and brought an immense response from a highly appreciative roomful of admirers. She is box office. I think she brings her own fan club with her.
The piano might not have been the only one that needed the tranquility of Rozycki's Prelude as a means of recovery. There was no way that further fireworks would have worked next. But the Balladyna reprised some drama with lingering, longing passages interspersed and some use of the bottom notes that made one wonder if Rozycki would have made good use of the extra lower notes available on the cathedral's Bosendorfer.
Now I'm not the world's most passionate guy and for the most part I tend to prefer my klavier to be well-tempered but in my father's house are many rooms and even the most devout 'classical' obsessive couldn't fail to be thrilled by a performance like this. Such extravagance makes me wonder if Liberace wasn't a bit undercooked.
I came home to find Yuja Wang's new Rachmaninov discs had arrived. Much as I have been looking forward to them, I'm going to have to leave them a day or two to give them a fair hearing. First impressions can count for a lot and I don't want to risk a mere recording to seem tepid after being quite so blown away. It might be an evening for some cool, calm Josquin des Prez.
But, thanks as ever, to Andrew for his affable way of making this series happen and all those who help him. All these events have been reward enough. I hadn't realized that a solo Valentina recital was such a rarity. Perhaps they need not be so from now on.
Labels: Music David Green https://davidgreenbooks.blogspot.com/
Other comments received :- Overnight comments have poured in – ranging from “Bravo” to “Amazing” to “you are phenomenal” “She is box office” ------------------ |
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Performance of Saint-Saëns - Piano Concerto No. 2 in G minor Op. 22 with Petersfield Orchestra as part of Petersfield Music Festival 24th March 2022 Comments Received :- What overwhelming and humbling feedback ; the comments haven't stopped :- ------------------ |
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Extract from a review of Ravel's 'Piano Concerto in G major' with the Solent Symphony Orchesta. September 2019 'Sensational Soloist'"....... "The orchestra then provided the perfect accompaniment for Valentina Seferinova’s sensational performance of Ravel’s “Piano Concerto in G Major”. Her interpretation was in equal measures dramatic, energetic, serene and inspirational. The opening iconic whip crack heralded an outstanding performance. The first movement fizzed along with stand out solos from the piccolo, trumpet, horn, harp, and a triumphant bassoon section but the breathtaking piano cadenza was the highlight. Many in the audience couldn’t help themselves in acknowledging the excitement of this movement with a spontaneous round of applause as it came to a ferocious full stop. The sublime opening of the slow movement perfectly reflected the ethereal setting and Ms. Seferinova’s control of the tranquil and serene piano solo brought about an atmosphere of celestial beauty. The peace and calm were symbiotically supported by the sensitivity of the solo flute entry and the haunting cor anglais melody. With the exquisite final pianissimo piano trill, Valentina brought this movement to a poignant and emotionally-charged close. The last movement once more gives the full orchestra the chance to shine and the atmospheric, jazz-like episodes, shared between piano and ensemble, promote the enjoyment for which this piece is so well known. Valentina’s perfectly presented virtuosic passages brought the first half to a vibrant and celebratory culmination." |
Full Review here :- 2nd October 2019 or 2nd October 2019 |
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Review of Solo Recital at Bristol's historic Music Club Tuesday 8th November 2016. "As I write four days later, the haunting lilt of Satie’s Gnossienne No. 1 lingers in my mind. The simple arrangement of three notes: B flat, G and F with acacciaturas creates, when handled by a seasoned and intelligent performer like Valentina Seferinova, an ineluctable sense of pleasure in the listener. Looking around at the concentration on all faces, communing with the spirit of Satie and of this unique composition, one is struck by the power of music to evoke out-of-the-body experiences. Yes, Seferinova can let off musical fireworks with the best of them: the Tarantella Op4 by Josef Wieniawski proved that. She can do more than justice to the old standards: her delivery of Debussy’s mysterious and viscerally powerful La Cathedrale Engloutie was adequate proof. A striking figure in dark velvet, striding the stage delivering anecdotes about the composers in her programme ( I liked the one about Wieniawski listening to a piece at a musical gathering for the first time and then performing it from memory), Valentina charmed and edified her willing audience before delivering, flawlessly, the goods. The magic of salon concert performances is a collective experience involving both artist and audience. And as Chopin himself explained: in order to experience true art, one must abandon the great concert halls. No form of recorded music, whether disc, streaming or iPod can come near to matching this experience. The small Bristol Music Club concert room, purpose built over a hundred years ago and seating only 50-100, is a perfect setting for the magic to happen and Valentina Seferinova’s November 2016 concert a good example of the magician at work." ------------------ |
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Portsmouth Music Club - Saturday 14th November 2015Review by Music Critic Mike Allen and published in The Portsmouth News 18th November 2015 |
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Portsmouth News – Wednesday November 18, 2015.
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Portsmouth Music Club - Saturday 14th November 2015; Review by Dianne SwannActual published review - here Valentina Seferinova, PianoWe were delighted to welcome Valentina Seferinova back to PMC on 14th November with an Austro-Russian programme beginning with a novelty: a suite of Schubert’s enchanting waltzes arranged by Prokofiev. The persuasiveness of these yielded to the wit of Shostakovitch’s early Fantastic Dances and we were then on to sterner stuff with Brahms’ two sweeping Op 79 Rhapsodies. After the interval, October, November and December from Tchaikovsky’s evocative The Seasons were followed by the highlight of the evening – Scriabin’s Preludes Op 17, and his Two Poèmes Op 32. Throughout the playing had a convincing forward drive and excitement, and some of the most seductive pianissimos I have heard from the Rotunda’s Steinway. ------------------ |
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Thursday 23rd October - 1-30pm Recital Hall, Music Department, South Downs College, College Road, Waterlooville, Unexpected independant review here. ------------------ |
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Solo Concert - Portsmouth Music Club - 23rd November 2013 |
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Ian Digsby review - Click here. Diana Swann (Portsmouth Music Club Chairperson) review - Click here. 'Valentina Seferinova - Concert Pianist' Facebook post "Great recital at PGS Octogon Room last Saturday week. I have never heard Rachmaninov's C# minor prelude sound so 3-dimensional. It was Lang-Lang stuff!! 'Valentina Seferinova - Concert Pianist' Facebook post "just got back from great couple of days in Portsmouth. Went to an awesome Valentina Seferinova ..piano recital …………………" ----------------------------- |
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Guest Soloist with Havant Symphony Orchestra - 21st September 2013 and and this from Jonathan Scott - new Chairman of the Havant Symphony Orchestra - " .........for our sold-out Popular Classics pre-season concert on Hayling Island with Colin Jagger, which was thoroughly enjoyed by orchestra and audience alike. An outstanding highlight was Valentina Seferinova’s performance of the Grieg piano concerto, especially the beautiful and moving slow movement." ------------------ |
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| Solo Recital, Festival Hall, Petersfield - 6th October 2012 | ||
"Overall impressions? There were frequent moments of concentrated silence during the concert, that rarified space where a large group of music lovers focus mentally and spiritually on great art. This testified to the pianist’s outstanding performance ability as well as to the audience’s musical sensibilities. And just as we constantly discover new and old compositions that stand equal in worth to those that fill the popular repertoire but fail to enjoy their prominence, so occasionally we find pianists whose relative obscurity belies their excellence. Both were in evidence last night and I think most of the audience would agree that we were hearing pianism of a high order. As a live performer she definitely ranks, in my opinion, alongside or above some of the most popular international pianists." Read full review - click here |
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Published in the Petersfield Herald 12th October 2012 ....................... |
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| Guest Soloist with Orion Symphony Orchestra - Cadogan Hall, London, 11th November 2010 | ||
A very stimulating show of British music, played by an enthusiastic young orchestra and directed with gusto by its founder. Good though it was to hear the Elgar and Vaughan Williams pieces, my focus was on the other three works, pieces which haven’t sent the public light of day in too many years. Dorothy Howell’s Piano Concerto is in one movement, which falls into the usual three sections, and it’s an heroic piece. Starting with a call to arms from the horns, the music unfolds in the grand romantic manner. It could so easily have fallen into sub-Rachmaninovian rhetoric, and occasionally it comes perilously close, but the work it most resembles in sound, from time to time, is the Warsaw Concerto - which wasn’t to be written for another 18 years! What makes it worthwhile is the expert scoring, strong melodic material and brilliant piano writing, plus the fact that it only plays for about 20 minutes and thus doesn’t outstay its welcome and leaves you wanting more. |
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| Full unedited review of solo concert recital at Chichester Cathedral, Tuesday 17th May 2005 | ||
| Pianist's range spellbinding "The capacity audience at Chichester Cathedral for Valentina Seferinova's piano recital was held spellbound by the virtuosic range of this slight pale figure with her dark ponytail set off by a flowing royal-blue dress. Far from playing hackneyed lollipops, Valentina chose works by composers such as her fellow Bulgarian Pantcho Vladigerov whose Song op.21 no.3 throbbed with folk melodies, and the Swiss-born romantic composer Joachim Raff sounding like Liszt, and like Liszt demanding the finest technique. This technique Valentina has, as her playing of the Three Pieces, op.2 by Scriabin demonstrated, including the softest pianissimo at the end of the Etude. Rachmaninov's Moments musicaux, op.16, nos. 3 and 4 were the dramatic yet controlled perfect finale. Alan Thurlow who introduced Valentina mentioned that two weeks ago she had played at the AGM of the Rachmaninov Society in London. Present were two of Rachmaninov's great-grandchildren, and at the end they rose to their feet in a standing ovation." Maureen Wright - reproduced by permission of the Chichester Observer 26th May 2005 |
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Solo Recital for The Rachmaninoff Society's 2005 AGM in London |
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In the presence of Natalie Wanamaker-Javier and Peter Wanamaker - both Great Grand-Children of Sergei Rachmaninov. |
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Might not sound much - but when you consider who they are, how many performances of their Great grandfather's work's they've ever heard, and the fact that both were on their feet - then Valentina was able to take it as a high compliment. |
"I write to say a very big 'thank-you' for visiting Winchester the other Tuesday and presenting such an outstandingly virtuoso performance. The appreciation expressed by members of the audience afterwards was considerable." Winchester Cathedral Sept. '04 |
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| Full unedited review of live concert recital at Regis Recital Hall - Saturday 7th. December 2002 - Reviewer: Mark Thomas of The Joachim Raff Society - and perhaps the leading Raff authority in the UK | ||
| "Bognor Regis, that quintessentially provincial English seaside resort is unfairly famous for being the subject of the dying George V's last words - quite what he said doesn't bear repetition on a family-friendly website! A more positive claim to fame is to be home of the delightfully intimate Recital Hall where Valentina Seferinova treated a very appreciative audience to a recital featuring some of Raff's finest piano music. One of a series being given by the Bulgarian-born pianist in English south coast venues, this concert was unique in offering an all-Raff programme. The programme in fact mirrored her recently issued CD comprising the compact and innovative Fantasie-Sonate op.168, the meltingly lyrical Trois Morceaux op.2 and finally the majestic second version of the Piano Sonata op.14 from Raff's final years. Rather than offer the usual blow-by-blow account, it suffices to say that her performances displayed all the very considerable merits she already shows on the recording - stunning accuracy, a real feel for the architecture of each piece and an understanding of the contrasting elements of Raff's style, integrating the warmly lyrical with the contrapuntal and fugal. Where the CD hardly does her justice is in conveying her passion and commitment to the music - and this is no criticism of the recording because how could it? She began the recital by explaining to the audience how she had "fallen in love" with Raff's music. This sincere belief in the value of the pieces she was playing was evident from the very first bar of the Fantasie-Sonate, which then unfolded into a reading of fire and power, relieved by a delicate central section of great beauty. It stood revealed as the towering work it surely is. The less serious Trois Morceaux more closely paralleled her CD renditions, though the greater dynamic contrast in the opening Elegie gave it even more substance. The central Romance was utterly charming and the cascade of notes in the twinkling Valse sent the audience off to the interval with a grin. The substantial and potentially drier fare of the Piano Sonata was in safe hands as Seferinova gave it her all. Again, a very "big" performance which built upon her recording by adding an emotional intensity expressed by stronger dynamic contrasts, delicate phrasing and, in the case of the second movement, breathtaking speed. She played from memory throughout and coped with a very noisy piano pedal with aplomb. The audience's appreciation of both Valentina Seferinova and, judging by their comments, Raff himself was fulsome and well merited. She seems a pianist of rare talents - whilst the delicacy might be expected from her small frame, the sheer power is more of a surprise. The quality which came across more than anything else, however, was her total dedication to what she was playing. It is gratifying that Raff has found such a committed interpreter and one looks forward to hearing more of his music from her. Having taken the risky decision to relocate to the UK from Bulgaria, it is to be hoped that she can re-establish for herself the fine reputation which she apparently enjoyed in her homeland. On this showing she is a fine artist indeed and richly deserves success in the wider repertoire on the national and international stage." Mark Thomas |
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| extract from Newbury Weekly News 27th November 2001 | ||
| New-found freedom DEVORINA GAMALOVA, VIOLIN and VALENTINA SEFERINOVA, PIANO at Westridge Drawing Room, on Sunday November 25th. AN EXCELLENT Bulgarian duo, Devorina Gamalova, violin, and Valentina Seferinova, piano, who played in Westridge Drawing Room on Sunday deserved a bigger audience. Miss Gamalova chose a contrasted and demanding pair of works for unaccompanied violin; J. S. Bach's 'Sonata No. 1 in G minor' and Paganini's 'Caprices Nos. 14 and 19'. They were very well played ....... The other two works where the violin was joined by the piano went beautifully. The 'Sonata' by Prokofiev must have been far above Stalin's comprehension and his demands for socialist realism. It is a lovely work, often ethereal, dreamy and sparse in texture; and the title of the last movement 'Allegrissimo' is one I have not met before. It exactly expresses the speed between allegro and presto which he required. The 'Fantasie in C' by Schubert, though rather long, as often the case with Schubert's instrumental work, gave to the players the chance to give a really musical performance of equals. I understand that Miss Seferinova was one of the leading pianists in her native Bulgaria ............... She has an impressively fluent technique. Their loss is our gain. PETER DAVIES |
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| Full review as published on 2nd March 2001 in Hampshire Chronicle | ||
| Members and Friends of the Gosport and Fareham Music Society were given a rare treat with a stunning recital by Bulgarian-born pianist Valentina Seferinova. The somewhat intimate nature of Fareham's Ashcroft art centre seemed, at times, barely large enough to contain the emotion created by the energetic playing of Miss Seferinova. The first half of the programme consisted of a marathon performance of Franz Schubert's Sonata in B flat major which kept the near sell-out audience on the edges of their seats. Following the interval, the programme comprised two interestingly diverse pieces by Scriabin in which the soloist highlighted the melodic aspects of the composers writing. But it was in Debussy's 'Suite Bergamasque' that Miss Seferinova's defined characterisation was a revelation, especially in the well-known 'Clair de Lune' - for once heard in context - whose haunting beauty was captured with stunning accuracy. Little surprise, then, to learn that our guest had been amongst a number of musicians invited to play at the annual Debussy festival in France. For her encore, Miss Seferinova played a piece by one of her countrymen, a mixture of lilting folk-like tunes and warm sounds reminiscent of Rachmaninov. Valentina Seferinova next appears at Portsmouth's Theatre Royal on Sunday, March 25th (2001) |
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