Vassilena Serafimova & Quatuor Ardeo
Biographie Vassilena Serafimova & Quatuor Ardeo
Vassilena Serafimova
Born into a family of musicians in 1985, Vassilena Serafimova is the first Bulgarian percussionist to be awarded the Second Prize of the 56th ARD International Music Competition in Munich and the First Prize of the Fifth World International Marimba Competition in Stuttgart. She won the Grand Prix of the 10th International Competition Music and Earth as a soloist as well as the First Prize as a member of the Percussion Ensemble Accent, founded by her parents Avgustina and Simeon Serafimov. She received the Young Musician of the Year Award in Bulgaria in 2008 as well as the First Prize of the Music Critics in the 18th International Festival of Central Europe in Slovakia.
In 2014, Vassilena made her debut in Carnegie Hall of New York. One year later, together with Thomas Enhco (piano), she was the first marimba player in history to perform at the French Awards Ceremony Victoires de la Musique. In 2016, the duo recorded their first album titled Funambules for Deutsche Grammophon.
She has recorded for Radio France, Bayerischer Rundfunk, Bulgarian National Radio, and the Slovakian National Radio. Vassilena has performed as a soloist and chamber musician in Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall (New York), Théâtre de Champs Elysées, Théâtre de Châtelet, Salle Pleyel (Paris), Hermitage Theater (Saint-Peterburg), Muziekgebouw (Amsterdam and Eindhoven), Herkulessaal (Munich), and Bulgaria Music Hall (Sofia). She has been invited to numerous festivals including Les Flâneries Musicales de Reims, Classique au Vert (France), Middelheim Jazz Festival (Belgique), REpercusionES (Costa Rica), Focus! 2011 Festival (Etats-Unis), and TransART (Bulgaria)). She has been invited to teach masterclasses in Europe, Central and North America, and Asia.
In 2013 Vassilena co-founded the Paris Percussion Group with Jean-Baptiste Leclère - a new ensemble of twelve percussionists uniting the young French generation of percussionists. She is also the artistic director and co-founder of the International Marimba And Percussion Festival in Bulgaria (2009, 2012, 2014).
Vassilena's inspiration, mentors and teachers include the following musicians: Simeon Serafimov, Sylvio Gualda, Keiko Abe, Bogdan Bacanu, Momoko Kamiya, Chantal Stigliani, Katarzyna Mycka, Michel Cerutti, Florent Jodelet, Gordon Gottlieb, Daniel Druckman, Tatiana Koleva, Nebojsa Zivkovic, Jeff Malarsky...
Her curious nature lead her to participate in the Pyxis transdisciplinary project, searching and discovering a dialog between different art forms. This complex work significantly developed her imagination and is reflected in her way of performing.
Vassilena performs on ADAMS Alpha Series Marimbas. She is a Zildjian artist since 2014, and has created her own marimba mallets series with Vibrawell Mallets France.
The Quatuor Ardeo
was formed in 2001 within the CNSM of Paris. Artistic understanding, a spirit of harmony and great complicity has given rise to a musical career crowned with several international prizes – in Bordeaux, Moscow, Melbourne as well as the Premio Paolo Borciani – have come as rewards for its exceptional qualities. Faithfully supported by Mécénat Musical Société Générale, the quartet has been in residence at the Singer- Polignac Foundation between 2008 and 2016. The Quartet has participated in professional training and in cultural activities with the ProQuartet Association for more than 10 years since 2005.
Named “Rising Stars” in 2014, the quartet performs in the most prestigious European concert halls: the Philharmonics of Cologne, of Paris and of Luxembourg, the Concertgebouw of Amsterdam, the Konzerthaus of Vienna and of Dortmund, the Laeiszhalle of Hamburg, the Konserthus of Stockholm, the Megaron of Athens, the Auditori of Barcelona, the Casa da Musica of Porto, the Palace of Arts of Budapest, the Barbican Centre of London, the Festspielhaus of Baden Baden, the Cité de la musique, Salle Cortot, the Centre Georges Pompidou, the Arsenal of Metz. The Quartet has participated in a number of festivals like the Festival de Radio France of Montpellier, the Folles Journées of Nantes as well as in regional events and in Japan, Santander, and Kuhmo.
Ardeo regularly shares the stage with Adam Laloum, Thomas Demenga, Noam Greenberg, Victor-Julien Laferrière, Matan Porat, Bertrand Chamayou, Jérôme Pernoo, Alain Meunier, Vladimir Mendelssohn, Evgeny Koroliov, Mario Brunello, Andrei Korobeinikov, David Violi, Aaron Pilsan and works in close collaboration with the pianist David Kadouch, Luis Fernando Perez and the clarinet player, Reto Bieri. The four young ladies’ repertoire is very wide, including contemporary works, working regularly with Kaija Saariaho, Pascal Dusapin, François Meïmoun Philippe Schoeller and Thomas Larcher…
They have shown great character, integrity, inspired and powerful musicianship in the last 18 years and have proved themselves to be one of the best quartets of their generation.
