REVIEWS

What the critics are saying…

New Zealand Herald (Auckland, New Zealand)

“Tzenka Dianova, known for her regular concerts of contemporary piano music at the University of Auckland, brought out the poetic pulsing and flecks of hypnotic melody in Philip Glass' Mad Rush.”

Monday Magazine (Victoria, Canada)

“Whether she’s playing John Cage or performing with the Symphony, her concerts are always something to talk about…”

Times Colonist (Victoria, Canada)

“Tzenka Dianova and the Victoria Symphony… gave a performance of total concentration, total commitment and total conviction.”

“In the local contemporary music scene Tzenka Dianova has been creating something of a stir this last year, with electrifying performances in the Tic.Toc Festival and with the UVic Sonic Arts Lab.”

“Spectacular pianism.…”

Deryk Barker, music critic

“Compelling pianist brings the house to its feet…Tzenka Dianova gave the work (Ichianagi’s Piano Media) a compelling, mesmerizing performance, which brought the house to its feet….”

Culture magazine (Sofia, Bulgaria)

“Tzenka Dianova’s performance revealed true depth of thought and feeling and exquisite sense of sound and nuance…. (The) audience could feel that contemporary music is not an experiment, nor is it an elitist caprice; it is something live, happening here and now…”

John Celona, composer

“Brilliantly played concert by a unique, talented and self-motivated performer… outstanding!”

Press

The University of Auckland News

The Language of Clothes

For Doctor of Musical Arts student, Tzenka Dianova — as for many other solo performers — the question of what to wear has often been a source of stress.

To play the piano you need freedom of movement, Tzenka explains. Your clothes have to be comfortable, but they also need to live up to a tradition of elegance in performance, and that combination is not easy to find.

She has often ended up returning to her safest choice: the black dress made for her high school prom more than 16 years ago.

But earlier this year, when checking out the boutiques in Ponsonby Road, Tzenka saw an outfit displayed in a window that she felt would be ideal for a forthcoming recital.

The designer was Robyn Mathieson, who is based in Wellington. Tzenka went home and wrote to ask if she would be willing to supply one of her previous season’s dresses for use in performances. Robyn Mathieson - who plays the piano herself, and is interested in the type of music Tzenka plays - took the idea a stage further by inviting her to become her Auckland brand ambassador.

At all future public lectures or performances Tzenka will wear clothes designed by Robyn Mathieson, with no obligation but to give the designer’s name to anyone who asks. And one three-piece outfit that she will be wearing is the one that caught her eye in the Ponsonby shop window.

Musicians in orchestras always wear black and, though solo performers have the freedom to choose, they often choose black as well, Tzenka explains. However, Robyn Mathieson has encouraged Tzenka to extend the range of colours in which she performs.

"We have a perception that colourful clothes distract attention from the music," says Tzenka. "However, I play twentieth-century music, which is colourful, experimental and uses many unusual techniques. So now I’m realising I can use colour in a way that’s attuned to the music."

Tzenka's doctoral study in the School of Music, entitled "The prepared piano of John Cage as an introduction to twentieth-century music", combines a theoretical component, supervised by Professor Heath Lees, and a performance component, supervised by Associate Professor Tamas Vesmas.

In prepared piano, different objects - such as felt, wood, rubber or plastic, metal bolts or screws - are placed between the strings of the piano, changing its sound to something that can resemble percussion instruments such as Javanese gamelan, skin drums, gongs or bells.

In her performances Tzenka usually begins with one of the 30 or so works for prepared piano by John Cage — who is normally well-known to the audience — before introducing less widely-known figures such as Karlheinz Stockhausen or Pierre Boulez.

Tzenka was originally from Bulgaria but now lives in Canada and is completing her DMA at the School of Music on an International Student’s Scholarship.

17 November 2006: Issue 21
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Comments

etnobofin.blogspot.com

Islands of Fire: Tzenka Dianova - XX Century Piano Music

There are limited opportunities in Auckland to hear 20th Century"classical" music. So Tzenka Dianova's piano recital last night was an event to be leapt at. Dianova specialises in the avant garde end of 20th Century composition for piano, and the ambitious program was a satisfying survey of this particular musical vein, spanning music from 1905 to 1986.

Charles Ive's Three Page Sonata was the only piece with which I was familiar, and Dianova played the bustling third movement far more rhythmically than does Peter Lawson on his excellent American Piano Sonatas recording. There was even a hint of ragtime in Dianova's playing...

The real highlight of the concert was John Cage's Daughters of the Lonesome Isle for prepared piano. Oh to have a spare Steinway grand that you can fill with nuts, bolts, screws and bits of rubber! I couldn't help being reminded of Javanese gamelan on hearing this piece.

The remainder of the concert was rounded out by the resonant harmonics of I. Phases II. Reseaux by Canadian Gilles Tremblay; the austere and minimal Intermission 5 by Morton Feldman; Galina Utsvol'skaya's Piano Sonata #5 (who would have thought that middle Db could become a theatrical character?). Dianova closed the concert with Olivier Messaien's brief and savage Ile de Feu I, played without sheet music, giving the impression that this forceful piece of modernism is one of Dianova's "party pieces".

2 October 2005