News release Public Information Office   SLU 10880   Hammond, LA 70402   phone: 985-549-2341   fax: 985-549-2061 publicinfo@selu.edu     www.selu.edu/news Contact: Christina Chapple Date: 3/13/03   Click on image for publication quality photo ORCHESTRA SOLOISTS -- Two Southeastern Louisiana University graduate students, pianist Hristo Birbochukov, left, and violinist Alexandru Ureche will solo with the Southeastern Chamber Orchestra at 7:30 p.m., March 26, at the Columbia Theatre for the Performing Arts in downtown Hammond. The free concert is part of the Department of Music and Dramatic Arts’ spring Encore! music series. CHAMBER ORCHESTRA, SOLOISTS PERFORM “OLD FRIENDS,” NEW WORK       HAMMOND -- The Southeastern Louisiana University Chamber Orchestra’s March 26 concert will feature four major works, including three “old friends” of music lovers and a newly-discovered work by Rossini.         The free concert, part of the Department of Music and Dramatic Arts’ Encore! spring music series, is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. at the Columbia Theatre for the Performing Arts in downtown Hammond.        Chamber Orchestra Director Yakov Voldman will begin and end the concert with selections from operas, Gioachino Rossini’s “Il Viaggio al Reims,” and Richard Wagner’s “Lohengrin.” Two Southeastern graduate students, violinist Alexandru Urche and pianist Hristo Burbochukov, will round out the program, joining the orchestra as soloists in works by Beethoven and Rachmaninov.       The Rossini work, which translates as “The Voyage to Rehims,” launched the 19th century composer’s career in Paris, premiering on June 19, 1825 as part of the city’s celebration of the coronation of Charles X. Since the subject matter related directly to the celebration, Rossini withdrew the opera shortly after its debut because of the limited future performance possibilities. Roughly half of the work was reused in his 1828 opera “Le Comte Ory.”         The original manuscript was eventually lost, and scholars knew of “Il Viaggio a Reims” only from contemporary writings. By the late 1970s, parts for the work began to surface, and eventually the entire work was reconstructed.       Ureche, a native of Chisinau, Moldova, will solo with the orchestra in Beethoven’s “Concerto for Violin and Orchestra.” Ureche, who began playing the violin at the age of five, is a graduate of the Lyceum of Music “Ciprian Porumbescu.”  While studying there he won prizes at national competitions in 1993 and 1994. He  holds a bachelor’s degree from the State University of Arts of Moldova and is currently pursuing his master’s degree at Southeastern under the instruction of Voldman.       Birbochukov, soloist in Rachmaninov’s “Concerto No. 2 for Piano and Orchestra,” is a native of Haskovo, Bulgaria. A graduate of the State Academy of Music in Sofia, Bulgaria, he has soloed with the Stara Zagora Symphony Orchestra and the State Academy Orchestra in his native country. Last year, he competed at the Seiler International Piano Competition in Sofia, and earlier this year, he won the Young Artist Competition sponsored by the Monroe Symphony League and the Monroe Symphony Orchestra. He is working towards his master’s degree in piano performance under the instruction of Southeastern’s Henry Jones, and is the recipient of the university’s Marietta Reimers Schneider Piano Scholarship in Music.       For additional information about the concert, contact the Southeastern Department of Music and Dramatic Arts, 985-549-2184. Return to News Releases