FILM COMPOSER MARIA ANDRIASOVA ESPARZA IS NOMINATED FOR 2009 …
Top40-Charts.com
2009-08-10
Film Composer Maria Andriasova Esparza is Nominated for 2009 ‘Mozart
Award’ from International Biographical Centre, Cambridge, UK for her
Original Music
New York (Top40 Charts/ Sony Masterworks) – Moscow-born, American
concert pianist, film composer, and producer Maria Andriasova Esparza
() is nominated for a distinguished 2009
International "Mozart Award" from the International Biographical
Centre, Cambridge, UK for her original music, following in the
footsteps of her late father, the legendary Russian composer and
philosopher Iosif Andriasov, who was honored with the "International
Man of the Year Award" in 2000 from the International Biographical
Centre, Cambridge, UK. A winner of three consecutive Calouste
Gulbenkian Foundation Awards, Maria Andriasova Esparza received her
education at the Moscow P.I. Tchaikovsky Conservatory, Russian Academy
of Sciences (concentration in mathematics), and the Juilliard School
in New York (Bachelor Degree), and is represented by the Broadcast
Music, Inc. (BMI) as a composer. Maria is married to Guillermo
Esparza (), the celebrated American
iconographer, sculptor, and painter.
In June of 2009, Maria Andriasova Esparza composed, performed,
and recorded an original soundtrack to a documentary film about her
husband, "Guillermo Esparza, an American Iconographer", an original
production by Los Angeles filmmaker Veronica Aberham for Studio-Online,
an affiliate of London-based Studio International.
The film was released on June 1st, 2009 and premiered on June 7,
2009 at St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral in New York for its 200th year
anniversary, after the historic Mass delivered by Archbishop Timothy
Michael Dolan.
The prominent New York socialite, fundraiser, concert pianist,
film composer, and producer Maria Iosifovna (Andreasian) Andriasova
Esparza, was born in Moscow into a family of celebrated musicians,
with a direct musical lineage to Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, and an
ancestral lineage to Prince Alexander Vasilievich Suvorov. Maria
Andriasova started playing piano and composing at the age of
three under the direction of her father, the legendary Russian
composer Iosif Arshakovich Andriasov. Maria’s maternal grandfather,
Professor Leonid Vasilyevich Kudryashov, was Chairman of the biology
department at the Moscow Lomonosov University. Maria’s maternal
great-grandfather, Professor Veniamin Aleksandrovich Lebedev,
established the Arkhangelsk University. At the age of six, Maria
enrolled at the Pyotr I. Tchaikovsky Conservatory. At the same time,
Maria performed her first compositions at the Union of Composers
in Moscow. She also studied at the Russian Academy of Sciences with
concentration in mathematics.
Maria made her professional debut at the age of nine as actor and
narrator in the legendary Second Symphony by Iosif Andriasov (for
which Mr. Andriasov refused the Lenin Prize from the Soviet government
and became a notorious political figure), reciting text by the poet
laureate Vladimir Lazarev, under the baton of Maestro Gennady Cherkasov
with the Big Symphony Orchestra and Choir of Radio and Television (now
known as the Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra of Moscow under Maestro
Vladimir Fedoseyev, Artistic Director and Chief Conductor). The Second
movement of Iosif Andriasov’s Second Symphony tells a story of young
Maria (nicknamed "Marianka"), and of her childhood drawings.
In 1979, Ms. Andriasova moved to New York City with her parents. US
Senators Jacob Javits, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, and Edward Kennedy were
instrumental in bringing the family to the USA. Maria continued her
piano studies at The Juilliard School and also continued her studies
of studio art and drama at The Professional Children’s School, where,
at a personal invitation by Mrs. Marion Javits, she was introduced
to performing for charitable events. Maria earned her bachelor’s
degree from The Juilliard School, being awarded full-scholarship
throughout the program in the class of Concert Pianist and Professor
Oxana Yablonskaya. Maria continued her studies of life drawing and
painting at the Art Students League in New York in the class of
Barbara Adrian (studio of Reginald Marsh). At the same time, she
developed an interest in the world of finance.
To further her knowledge of the stock market and investment strategies,
in 1998, Maria launched her successful financial career working for
Robert Soros and George Soros at Soros Fund Management in New York,
and now specializes in Private Asset Management. In 2000, Maria
received an honorary award from Art Students League in New York for
her portraits of Beethoven, Stravinsky, Richard Strauss, and the
poet Nikolai Kluyev. As a concert pianist, Maria won The Calouste
Gulbenkian Foundation scholarship awards (Lisbon, Portugal) during
three consecutive years (1984, 1985, 1986); she is the recipient of
the P.A. Schaffer award, New York; Maro and Anahid Ajemian award;
Jewish Foundation for the Education of Women award; Armenian
Diocese Association award (Boston, MA); "Outstanding Musician of
the 20th Century" award from the International Biographical Centre,
Cambridge, UK with a commemorative medal in 1999; and is listed in
the International Who’s Who in Music, England since 2000. In May 2009,
Ms. Andriasova Esparza was invited to join the Board of Directors of
The Highbridge Voices, part of The Highbridge Community Development
Corporation (HCDC), a web of services and initiatives that began
in 1988 in a massive effort to revitalize the South Bronx community
of Highbridge.
Maria Andriasova Esparza is a co-producer of two "In Memoriam"
festivals dedicated to the music of her late father, composer Iosif
Andriasov, as well as audio and video recordings of the festivals:
in Moscow, at the Pyotr I. Tchaikovsky Conservatory Grand Hall, with
Russian Federal Orchestra, soloists of the Bolshoi Theater, Maestro
Vakhtang Jordania, conductor (2002); and in Yerevan, Armenia, at Aram
Khatchaturian Symphony Hall, with Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra
under Ohan Duryian, Maestro Karen Durgaryan, conductor, and the Choir
of Armen Akob Cultural Centre, Maestro Armen Amirkhanian, conductor
(2001). In 1995, Asahi Broadcasting Corp., Tokyo, Japan, released a
documentary film on Maria’s father, composer Iosif Andriasov, where
Maria served as an interpreter for her father. Maria also composed,
performed, and recorded the soundtrack for Bryn Magnus’ experimental
Off-Off Broadway play "George Sand", with performances in New York,
Madison, Wisconsin, and St. Thomas, Virgin Islands (Anne Biberman
Productions.) Maria has performed internationally, including all
major concert halls in New York City: The Carnegie Hall’s Isaac Stern
Auditorium (Maestro Richard Westenburg, conductor) and the Weill
Recital Hall; at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts: Alice
Tully Hall (Maestro Bruno Ferrandis, conductor), Avery Fisher Hall
(Maestro Richard Westenburg, conductor); In 2002, she was invited by
the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, and performed Piano Trio by
her father, Iosif Andriasov, at Davis Symphony Hall; performed and
recorded with the Big Symphony Orchestra of Radio and Television,
Moscow (Maestro Gennady Cherkasov, conductor); appeared on radio and
television, including CBS Special on The Juilliard School, PM Magazine
for The Fox Network, broadcast over "Organisation Internationale de
Radiodiffusion et de Te’le’vision" (Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Slovakia,
Germany, Finland, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and the European republics
of the former USSR), Asahi TV (Japan), Yomiuri (Japan), Russian All-St!
ate Radio nd Radio Freedom (Philippines). Maria Andriasova Esparza
has premiered several dozen contemporary compositions, a number of
which have been dedicated to her, and has participated in American
Landmarks Festival and Dmitry Kabalevsky Festival.
Maria Andriasova Esparza is married to Guillermo Jose Esparza
(), the celebrated American sculptor,
iconographer, and painter, whose works are in the permanent collections
at the Vatican Museum in Rome, the Phanar Museum in Istanbul, Turkey,
the US National Archives, and the Smithsonian American Art Museum.
In 1995, Maria Andriasova was invited by Donald Trump, as US cultural
representative, to perform at the Gala concert dedicated to His
Holiness Pope John Paul II’s visit to the United States to commemorate
the International Year of the Family and to celebrate the friendship
between the United States and the Vatican. At this event she met her
future husband, American artist Guillermo Esparza, whose Ecumenical
sculptures were commissioned by Archbishop Iakovos, Former Archbishop
of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of North and South America, funded
by the American Greek Orthodox community and a Catholic community
of the US. His Eminence Archbishop Iakovos presented the silver
sculptures to the representative of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. The
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, on his historic visit to the
Vatican, presented the sculpture to His Holiness Pope John Paul II,
and kept the other sculpture at the Phanar in Constantinople. Maria and
Guillermo Esparza were married by Bishop Rodney Michel at the Episcopal
Cathedral of the Incarnation in Garden City, New York, under Guillermo
Esparza’s Mural of the Pantokrator, Archangels Michael and Gabriel.
Maria enjoys presenting poetry at her recitals, and regularly performs
her original music set to readings by various poets, including
Guillermo Esparza’s "The Seaward Angel of Desire" from his "Versos
Delfines" series. Maria’s latest project is writing and performing
music for sacred spaces, which accompanies sacred artwork installations
of Guillermo Esparza in cathedrals and churches internationally. Maria
Andriasova Esparza and Guillermo Esparza live and work in Manhattan.
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