NATCHITOCHES – Violinist Andrej Kurti will celebrate the release of his latest CD in a recital on Wednesday, Sept. 15 at 7:30 p.m. in Magale Recital Hall. Admission is free and open to the public. Those attending are asked to follow university regulations and to wear a mask.
Kurti, a professor of violin at Northwestern State University, recorded “Paganini’s 24 Caprices for Solo Violin, Op. 1.” The recording was done in Magale Recital Hall and will be released by Blue Griffin Recording. A reception will follow the concert and copies of the CD will be available. There will not be a livestream of this recital. The recordings will be posted on social media soon after.
“I am very much looking forward to this event,” said Kurti. “The official release of the CD is definitely a dream come true. It is something I was hoping and dreaming of achieving from the very young age. The Caprices are believed to be some of the most challenging compositions written for the solo instrument, an essential part of the advanced violin performance literature- true masterpieces.”
Kurti used support from the Alford Endowed Professorship to help fund the CD project. Dr. Sergei Kvitko was producer and engineer. This is Kurti’s third collaboration with Blue Griffin.
Kurti said in the world of solo violin repertoire, three Opuses come to his mind: Bach’s “Six Sonatas and Partitas, BWV 1001-1006,” Paganini’s “Twenty-Four Caprices, Op. 1” and Ysaye’s “Six Sonatas, Op. 27,” chronologically. Kurti previously recorded Ysaye’s “Six Sonatas, Op. 27,”
Kurti said the CD will be nationally and internationally distributed, with the name of Northwestern State University of Louisiana in the biographical credits, “which has already begun to bring much attention to our music program through inquiries by potential students and their teachers throughout the United States and Europe.”
Kurti is a native of Belgrade, Serbia. He studied at the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory and finished his graduate studies in the University of Georgia, where he received doctorate degree in violin performance.
He was a recipient of five first prizes in competitions in Yugoslavia, four first prizes in competitions in Georgia and Florida and a finalist in the MTNA (Music Teacher National Association) Competition in 1998.
In 2004, Kurti became a violin faculty member at Northwestern State. He has appeared as a soloist with many symphony orchestras in the United States, Serbia, Montenegro, Italy, Greece, Russia and France. He also appeared as a chamber performer in Spain, France, Latvia, Canada and South Korea.
In the non-classical music world, Kurti performed and arranged on more than 40 albums of popular and modern music, which he recorded for many different music labels in the United States.
Kurti has been invited to several international music festivals where he most often performed music written for solo violin. Kurti performed “Six Sonatas for Violin Solo” in his Road to Carnegie nationwide recital series, culminating with his Carnegie Hall debut in 2015.
“I am beyond grateful for Dr. Kvitko’s creative genius,” said Kurti. I would like to say big thank you to my colleagues for their support and creativity including Leslie Gruesbeck, Eleonora Machado, John Dunn and Masahito Kuroda, as well as to my wife Sofiko Tchetchelashvili for her love and support.”
