Swiss Global Artistic Foundation

Praised by critics and audiences alike, nineteen-year-old Varvara Ivanova has performed in major concert venues in Western Europe, Russia, the United States and Israel.

Following her London debut performance in Wigmore Hall with the London Chamber Orchestra conducted by Geoffrey Simon, British critic Edward Johnson wrote: "Ivanova demonstrated that she is a born virtuoso. Her sensitivity, beauty of sound and musicality captured the near-capacity audience& one of the very few harpists who can simultaneously awe and charm." That performance took place in June 2003 and was co-sponsored by the Victor Salvi Foundation and Swiss Global Artistic Foundation.

In November 2003, Ms Ivanova took First Prize at the prestigious International Harp Contest in Israel and received the special award for her performance of Ami Ma'ayani's Maqamat.

Varvara Ivanova was born into a family of musicians in Moscow and at the age of five began her studies at the Preparatory School of the Moscow Conservatory under M.F. Maslennikova. A child prodigy, she gave her first major performance--Handel's Concerto for Harp and Orchestra in B-flat--at the age of seven at the Big Concert Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, with the Kremlin Chamber Orchestra.

Throughout her emerging career, Ms Ivanova has been awarded major prizes in harp competitions, including First Prize at the Lily Laskine Harp Competition, Junior Division in France and First Prize at the Vera Dulova Harp Competition in Russia. She has also been awarded a highly-coveted scholarship from the Rostropovich Music Fund.

In November 2001, Ms Ivanova replaced Xavier de Maistre, Principal Harpist of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, on one week's notice, as a soloist with the Kremlin Chamber Orchestra on tour in Germany, performing to critical acclaim in the Düsseldorf Tonhalle, Hamburg Musikhalle, Munich Prinzregententheater and Frankfurt's Alte Oper. A year later, she was a featured soloist at the World Harp Congress in Geneva, Switzerland.

Varvara Ivanova has also performed as a soloist with other prestigious orchestras, including the Moscow State Symphony Orchestra, Primo Allegro Chamber Orchestra and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.

Ms Ivanova is currently studying in the class of E.A. Moskvitina, while keeping a busy performing schedule. In 2004 she performed solo and chamber music on a concert tour in Russia under the auspices of the Rostropovich Music Fund and was invited to participate in the tour again in 2005.

In April 2005, Varvara Ivanova gave her New York debut recital at the Merkin Hall and her Chicago debut recital in the newly completed Lyon & Healy Hall in conjunction with the Victor Salvi Foundation.

Ms Ivanova participated in the "Harp Art in Russia" festival in December 2005 and April 2006. In May 2005 she gave a solo recital at the International Harp Festival in Beograd and in July that year performed in a concert by the "Scholars of the Rostropovich Foundation" at the 6th G.A. Papaioannou Classical Music Festival in Kavala, Greece. In September 2005, Varvara Ivanova took part in a concert in honour of the 15th anniversary of the revival of the temple "The Big Rise" in Moscow and in October she performed in the Giovani Virtuosi Dell'Arpa Series, sponsored by the Victor Salvi Foundation, at the Museo Dell'Arpa Victor Salvi in Piasco, Italy.

Varvara Ivanova is continuing her masterclasses with Maestro Rostropovich. She also studies with professor of piano Daniil Kopilov at the Moscow Conservatory and with musicologist, musical critic and professor of piano Dmitry Zotov at the Academy of Choral Art. She continues to appear in concerts presented by the Rostropovich Foundation.