The Cavatina Duo - Eugenia Moliner, flute (Spain) and Denis Azabagic, guitar (Bosnia)—has become one of the most impressive combinations of its kind in the world. Critics are raving:
“Style, sympathy, and technical aplomb . . . it's doubtful that the Cavatina's sophisticated and artistic playing could be surpassed.” —Fanfare
Dedicated soloists and chamber musicians, the Cavatina Duo breaks convention with their combination of instruments. Add to that their daring choices of varied and versatile repertoire, and the result is new sounds, colors and musical phrasings, which in turn awakens a high level of emotion and audience response. A Cavatina Duo concert is a musical experience you don’t want to miss.
The Cavatina Duo has captivated audiences with their electrifying performances in such major venues and festivals as Ravinia (Chicago), Da Camera Society (Los Angeles), Aix-en-Provence Summer Festival (France), the National Concert Hall of Taipei (Taiwan), National Center for the Performing Arts in Beijing (China), National Flute Convention Gala Concert (USA), the Harris Theater (Chicago), Kolkata International Guitar Festival (India), Foundation Principe Felipe and Palau de la Musica (Spain), among many others.
Radio and television stations in Europe and North America such as WFMT and NPR have broadcast the duo’s performances. They have been the subjects of interviews in international magazines such as Chamber Music America, Todo Flauta (Spain), Flute Talk (USA), Classical Guitar (UK), Guitarra Magazine (web), Soundboard (USA) and Flute—the British Flute Society magazine. They are the first guitar and flute duo to be featured on the covers of both Classical Guitar Magazine (UK) and the cover of Flute Talk (USA)
Cavatina Duo has performed with orchestras and string quartets in Europe, USA, India, South Korea and Mexico including the Chicago Sinfonietta, Traverse Symphony, Sarajevo Philharmonic, Daejeon Philharmonic and the Youth Orchestra of Monterrey, Mexico. In 2010 Cavatina Duo gave the world premiere of another work commissioned by them from Alan Thomas, “Concerto for Flute, Guitar and Orchestra,” with the Camerata Serbica at the Guitar Art Festival in Belgrade.
Eugenia Moliner has been acclaimed as “brilliant” by the British Flute Society magazine. She has performed with principal musicians from the Chicago Symphony, Rotterdam Philharmonic and Toronto Symphony orchestras as well with many chamber ensembles, including the Chicago Chamber Musicians, Civitas Ensemble and the Aspen String Trio. Her discography includes ten CDs.
A prize-winner in twenty-four international competitions, Denis Azabagic has been described as a “virtuoso with flawless technique” by Soundboard Magazine. He has appeared as soloist with orchestras such as the Chicago and Madrid Symphonies, among many others. Azabagic has collaborated with the Chicago Chamber Musicians, the Civitas Ensemble and the Quartet Casals. His discography includes fourteen CDs, two DVDs and a book “On Competitions—Dealing with Performance Stress.”
The duo has released numerous recordings on European and North American record labels; Bridge, Cedille, Neos, Opera Tres and Orobroy.
For “The Balkan Project” (Cedille) Cavatina Duo commissioned new works for flute and guitar; they selected nine composers and chose music from the Balkans, reflecting Azabagic's heritage.
Their following release was “Cavatina Duo Plays Astor Piazzolla” (Bridge). This time they commissioned Grammy winner Sérgio Assad and his daughter Clarice, a rising star in the music world, to arrange/compose many works originally written for other combination of instruments or, as in the case of the Flute Etudes, creating the guitar part as well. Mr. Assad, having worked with Piazzolla himself, was the perfect match for this project.
"Cavatina at the Opera" (Bridge) consists of virtuosic pieces for both instruments, most of them arranged by the duo's longtime collaborator Alan Thomas. The recording brought them accolades from critics as well as the Critics Choice Award by American Record Guide in 2015.
Denis and Eugenia are constantly researching for new musical ideas and projects, and this brought them to their "Sephardic Journey" (Cedille), which consists of new commissions of works based on Sephardic melodies from five leading composers. The world premiere was held at the Ravinia Festival with the renowned Avalon Quartet in 2016 and the CD was released on Cedille Records the same year.
In 2017 Cavatina Duo together with the soprano Patrice Michaels collaborated with composer Laurie Altman and multi-Grammy winner producer Judy Sherman, on the release of a CD "Sonic Migrations" for the German Record company NEOS.
Their latest album “Folias and Fantasias”, Music of Marais and Telemann, was released in 2020 by Bridge Records and was also named Critics' Choice 2020 by American Record Guide.
Upcoming recording projects include a new release with Cedille Records and collaborating with the fantastic Pacifica Quartet. The program inspired by Gypsy music from around the world, will have premiering works by Stacy Garrop, Sergio Assad, Matthew Dunn, Clarice Assad and Atanas Ourkouzounov.
This season, 2022-23, Denis and Eugenia will be playing concerts across USA as well as in several European countries.
Denis Azabagic and Eugenia Moliner are teaching associates at the University of Illinois at Chicago and Artist Teachers at Musical Arts Madrid, Spain. They both hold positions as Artist-Faculty at the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University till 2023.
Visit them at:
www.cavatinaduo.com
www.azabagic.com
www.eugeniamoliner.com