PAIRED UP
The Cavatina Duo has a secret: they are married. The pairing of guitarist Denis Azabagic and flutist Eugenia Moliner makes so much musical sense that people don’t necessarily know they are husband and wife. On a recent tour of Spain, in fact, a presenter booked them into separate hotel rooms. A mistake, perhaps, but Azabagic jokes, "It's not a bad idea to have two separate rooms—especially after a rehearsal!"
The couple met in the early’90s as students at the Rotterdam conservatory. Azabagic had come from his native Bosnia/Herzegovina to prepare for a solo career, while Moliner came from Spain to study as an orchestral player—even though she soon found her greatest satisfaction in playing chamber music with colleagues.
The couple enjoyed playing together, but when they move to the US in 1999, they had not yet conceived the idea of establishing themselves as a formal Duo. That changed after a concert they gave in Bloomington, Indiana. "A friend came up to me afterward and said 'You are a soloist, not an orchestral player'", says Moliner. "I thought 'Are you reading my mind?'"
Needless to say, when Azabagic and Moliner launched themselves as a duo, they didn't find huge range of guitar/flute Music. But with commissions, transcriptions and over the transom submissions, they are slowly but surely built their own repertoire.
They have released a CD of the flute and guitar music of composer David Leisner and recently recorded a project of new works and arrangements based on the music of Azabagic’s home territory, the Balkans.
"People have the idea that when we play these instruments, it’s background music," says Moliner. "We wanted to break with that. My aim has been that flute and guitar should get the respect of any other chamber music combination."
The Cavatina Duo has a secret: they are married. The pairing of guitarist Denis Azabagic and flutist Eugenia Moliner makes so much musical sense that people don’t necessarily know they are husband and wife. On a recent tour of Spain, in fact, a presenter booked them into separate hotel rooms. A mistake, perhaps, but Azabagic jokes, "It's not a bad idea to have two separate rooms—especially after a rehearsal!"
The couple met in the early’90s as students at the Rotterdam conservatory. Azabagic had come from his native Bosnia/Herzegovina to prepare for a solo career, while Moliner came from Spain to study as an orchestral player—even though she soon found her greatest satisfaction in playing chamber music with colleagues.
The couple enjoyed playing together, but when they move to the US in 1999, they had not yet conceived the idea of establishing themselves as a formal Duo. That changed after a concert they gave in Bloomington, Indiana. "A friend came up to me afterward and said 'You are a soloist, not an orchestral player'", says Moliner. "I thought 'Are you reading my mind?'"
Needless to say, when Azabagic and Moliner launched themselves as a duo, they didn't find huge range of guitar/flute Music. But with commissions, transcriptions and over the transom submissions, they are slowly but surely built their own repertoire.
They have released a CD of the flute and guitar music of composer David Leisner and recently recorded a project of new works and arrangements based on the music of Azabagic’s home territory, the Balkans.
"People have the idea that when we play these instruments, it’s background music," says Moliner. "We wanted to break with that. My aim has been that flute and guitar should get the respect of any other chamber music combination."