Featured Products

SONIC MIGRATIONS, Music by Laurie Altman
Released February 2017
Cavatina Duo Collaborates in one beautiful piece
with Soprano Patrice Michaels in Music by Laurie Altman.
The CD was just released by German Record Company, NEOS.
Produced by Judith Sherman

Sephardic Journey
Released April 8th 2016

Spurred by surprise discoveries in their family history,
flutist Eugenia Moliner and guitarist Denis Azabagic celebrate centuries-old Judeo-Spanish music with newly commissioned works by Alan Thomas, Joseph V. Williams II, Carlos Rafael Rivera, David Leisner, and Clarice Assad.

"un viaje apasionante por senderos que creíamos perdidos y viven por siempre."
"...a passionate journey down paths we thought were lost,
but which live forever..."
El Nuevo Herald

SEPHARDIC JOURNEY FEATURED IN THE BRITISH FLUTE SOCIETY MAGAZINE - PAN

"As musicians, by re-creating music from different places and times, we are privileged to be able to communicate these shared human experiences, and perhaps we can even hope that doing so might help us to all live together with more mutual understanding and harmony. It was in this spirit that five composers were commissioned to write substantial new pieces for us based on the music of the Sephardic Jews, with the goal of building the flute and guitar chamber music repertoire and bringing this beautiful music to the 21st century concert hall and 21st century listeners..."
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“…a remarkable, expressive, emotive CD that takes the listener on a true journey of sound…All of the playing is inspirational, combining rich, gorgeous, colorful tone quality with impeccable phrasing, technique, and ensemble playing… Moliner and Ruhstrat play with such close ensemble that they might as well be one person… This album is a perfect medium for appreciating Moliner’s exquisite playing. Her control, her impeccable intonation, and her ability to blend seamlessly with subtle changes of tone color are second only to her expressive artistry. Every moment of the CD is entertaining, moving, and impressive!”
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The Flutist Quarterly (Jessica Dunnavant)

"This music has been an absolute joy to hear!
The Cavatina Duo and their performing partners the Avalon String Quartet and Desirée Ruhstrat and David Cunliffe of the Lincoln Trio—all Chicago based—are wonderful beyond praise. The recording and presentation are up to Çedille’s usual exemplary standards...Carlos Raphael Rivera's Plegaria y Canto (Al Bodre de la Mar): Prayer and Song (At the Edge of the Sea) is a remarkably uplifting piece...this lovely, melancholy, but vital music of love, longing, and hope will charm the souls..., especially in these passionately shaped and technically immaculate performances. Bravi!"
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Fanfare Magazine - Ronald E. Grames

"...tasty little disc of world premieres ...This is music of an oppressed culture and it is tempting to look upon the creative impetus which oppression sometimes seems to provide but the message here is one of sadness and nostalgia but also of hope. It is perhaps a tribute to the ultimate triumph over said oppression even if it took 500 years. There is some comfort and healing to be had from the celebration of this lost culture and that is the triumph of this disc."
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NewMusicBuff - Allan Cronin

"Hats off to the Cavatina Duo...this is a set of uncommonly beautiful pieces performed with high artistry. It's really delightful stuff, and it's all beautifully played- each of these musicians are real artists; there's not a weak link among them. It's one of the most delightful chamber recordings I've heard in quite a while."
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American Record Guide - Kenneth Keaton

"...this disc features arguably the finest guitar-flute duo extant, Cavatina Duo...these pieces and the performances are on the very highest level; the playing and the music are not just fine as guitar music, but fine as music period. Thomas's music is compositionally sophisticated but without any sacrifice of power or urgency. ..Joseph Williams's Isabel is an impressive work...in the first few minutes of Plegariay Canto (al Bodre de fa Mar), Carlos Rafael Rivera achieves an emotional intensity rare in the guitar world. This is masterfully maintained for the fifteen minutes of this very impressive work...Leisner's Love Dreams of an Exile, is a work of substantial power, with the almost programmatic second movement being particularly noteworthy...Clarice Assad's Sephardic Suite sometimes embraces almost avant-garde techniques in an amazingly inventive work, which has brilliant writing for the flute and guitar.
This is an essential disc for any lover of contemporary music. "
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Soundboard - Al Kunze

"The recording is infused with gorgeous, evocative melodies, soulful and plaintive laments, lyrical flights of fancy, sultry twists on the tango, startling percussive passages and an exhilarating energy. Azabagic and Moliner are virtuosic, passionate musicians, deftly accompanied by David Cunliffe on cello, Desirée Ruhstrat, violin, and the Avalon String Quartet.
I wholeheartedly recommend joining the Cavatina Duo on their journey."
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theWholeNote

"By all means give this gorgeous album a chance."
"this new release is simply lovely in all respects."
" ...composers responded to the commission with enthusiasm and a definite sense of the overall catholicity of the music and the people. The results are five very different but uniquely beautiful takes on the gems of this culture, and there are many moments that, while standing apart in style, are bound by a very common haunting beauty.
The sound is superb, and this disc should surprise many."
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AUDIOPHILE AUDITION—Steven Ritter

"All the works on this program are performed by Moliner and Azabagic, who are known professionally as the Cavatina Duo, with their accustomed style and feeling for rhythmic and sonic values. The sound of Moliner‟s alto flute is particularly notable for its warmth and dark, well-grounded color, allowing Azabagic‟s guitar plenty of room to create its own sonic space and range of moods. The supporting artists are all excellent: cellist David Cunliffe in Thomas‟ Trio Sefardi, violinist Desiree Ruhstrat in Rivera‟s Plegaria y canto, and the Avalon String Quartet, whose muted sounds make the perfect backdrop to the Leisner and Assad works. Kudos also to producer James Ginsburg, engineer Bill Maylone, and editor Jeanne Velonis, all top pros in their field."
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Audio-Video Club of Atlanta, review by Phil Muse

Historic diaspora inspires poignant portraits of a people

"Atlanta-born Alan Thomas’ Trio Sefardi ...is a real find.
Joseph V. Williams' Isabel is another melodic and rewarding piece-tragic throughout..
Carlos Rafael Rivera’s work Plegaria y Canto... quite emotional and full of wonderful harmonies.
David Leisner’s Love Dreams of the Exile... tender and nostalgic...Clarice Assad's Sephardic Suite,.. another major work...
This CD is full of melodic, rewarding works that have something to say and resonate in the memory. Recommended! "
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Classical Guitar Magazine-CD

"Leisner’s atmospheric Love Dreams of the Exile draws one back for repeated listening; the sighing microtones of its first movement, a meditation on the song “Yo bolí,” add a layer of deep resignation within the calmly flowing figuration that surrounds them. Assad’s “Sephardic Suite,” conceived as a kind of musical storytelling, is full of contrast and incident,..."
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Pasatiempo - The Santa Fe New Mexican

American Record Guide
CRITIC'S CHOICE, BEST OF 2015

"…Lovely Playing, Relentlessly Mellifluous...and Exceedingly Pleasant..."
Gramophone Magazine

"...Stunning artists..."
"Spanish flutist Eugenia Moliner and her Bosnian husband, guitarist Denis Azabagic, are consummate virtuosos not merely in their peerless technique but in sheer musicianship..."
" This duo’s liquid, dramatic, and highly expressive sensitivities soar with lyricism and infectious rhythms as they tour the constantly changing moods of this opera’s arias..."
"Moliner not only matches Joan Sutherland’s peerless full-voiced lyricism in the Verdi but is able to do things with her flute that a soprano can only dream of. And Azabagic is her Richard Bonynge, so expressive, integral, and orchestral in his guitar...read more"
American Record Guide, US

"Breathtaking brilliance...."
Atlanta Audio Society, US

"If there is a finer flute and guitar duo in the world than Cavatina Duo, I have not heard them. Denis Azabagic and (his wife) flutist Eugenia Moliner are both world class virtuosi and brilliant musical interpreters. And on their delightful disc of operatic arrangements they are immeasurably aided in most of the works by the inspired and creative work of composer and arranger Alan Thomas.
..Powerful performances... irresistible...read more..."
Soundboard, US

"With utterly breathtaking brilliance and a confidence that lets them take calculated risks in stride, the Cavatina Duo take us on an enchanted itinerary through some of the most luxuriant music of 19th century opera."
Phil’s Classical Reviews

"Flutist Eugenia Moliner and guitarist Denis Azabagic are both phenomenal performers. They make the difficult sound effortless...
Eugenia Moliner performs with a pure, well-rounded tone, even at the extremes of the instrument’s register. Her runs and trills are seamless, and she brings a singing quality and expressiveness to these melodies that (given their origin) is quite appropriate.
Denis Azabagic’s playing is quite agile and clean; the essence of classical guitar technique. I especially enjoyed his performance in “The Carnival of Venice.” As a duo, this husband and wife team is perfectly in sync"
WTJU Richmond, US