The music – A small door to spirituality. An interview with Bilyana Voucheva

Biliana Voutchkova started playing the violin at the age of 4, she made her debut as a soloist with an orchestra when she was 9 and barely 16 she recorded her first solo album for the Japanese company Crown Record Ltd. She graduated from the Musical school in Sofia, the University in South California, USA and received a Masters degree in the “Mannes” college in New York. At the moment she is the concertmaster of Boston Modern Orchestra and performs with the “Radius” and “Nota Riotous” ensembles, “Kaya” duo, „Fluxsongs”, the “Julliard” and “Cleveland” quartets. She has given concerts in Europe, Asia and USA, she has performed on prestigious stages such as Weill Recital Hall/Carnegie Hall in New York, Jordan Hall in Boston, Suntory Hall and Casals Hall in Tokyo, Symphony Hall in Osaka, National Concert Hall in Taipei and Manuel De Falla Auditorium in Granada. Her latest album „Faces” was recorded in Boston with the music of Vivie, Saariaho, Kodály and Maneri.
She is full of ideas and with a taste for the experiment and the improvisation. In the „Onetime fluxus…” project in which together with Aga Dziubak, cello, Rosen Zahariev, trompet and percussion instruments and Ingo Reuleke, dance, besides her violin Biliana also “played” on her voice. A rather curious music – movement performance.
For a third time in a row the violin player is the organizer of a festival of new music called “Here/Now” in the center for culture and debate “The Red House” in Sofia, in October.
Her husband is a musician too. They have a 10 year-old son and a 5 year old girl.

What does developing and growing as a musician mean for you – experience, technical skills, a search for unknown music theories?

The overall growth as an individual and a person is related to your growth as a musician. This is a process. For me the music is a small door to the spirit through which you can always go in or out. And since I have realized this I feel lightness – the spiritual reality is not the everyday reality that we live in. I feel very well there and in order to find yourself in such a place through the music you definitely have to go through certain technical skills, training and experience and from that point on the sweetness begins.

Does that process have boundaries?

It is an endless development. The music that I have gone through has been leading me to spontaneous improvisations, to projects that include dances and other graceful movements, which accompany it. Playing together with different instrumentalists with completely different musical past and discovering one common language with them is something amazingly pleasant and that is exactly what Aga Dziubak, Rosen Zahariev, Ingo Reuleke and I do together. It also has a lot to do with the way of thinking, the personal philosophy and the senses of every artist.
What is your personal philosophy?

I can express it with the music or with my love of nature. I do not think that words are enough. It is good when a person does what comes out of him as an internal necessity. I realize for myself that I am a very happy person because that is my profession.

Which meetings with high class musicians have left an unforgettable trace in your mind?

The meeting with Valeri Georgiev from Russia comes to mind immediately. It was more than 15 years ago when I was a concertmaster of the orchestra at festival in Germany and the energy that streamed out of this talented world scale conductor is something I cannot forget. We played “The Rites of Spring” by Stravinsky, a very strong memory. The crossing over the threshold of the door of the spirit which you can reach through playing and making music is exactly what happened. Another such person is in my violin teacher in Los Angeles – Abraam Stern – incredible. I learned a lot of things from him: at one of my lessons he played the second part of Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto with one of the fingers of his left hand. It was magical. He told us that it makes no difference with which finger or hand you play the truth is somewhere else… An impressive demonstration. Then as a student I found writers such as Julio Cortázar and Jean Paul Sartre, musicians such as Miles Davis and Keith Jarrett. But these are childhood memories this is in the past.

What is going on with you in the present?

I am mainly involved with contemporary music and work with popular and practicing artists.
But in order to get in touch with such a musician – a composer, instrumentalist or a person of the same views as mine, I go through a palette of information. This is how I found the cello player Aga Dziubak, she and I created the Kaya duo and the two of us together with the trompet player Rosen Zahariev formed the Frinity trio /a combination of the words free and trinity /, also my colleagues from the two ensembles I work with in Boston – “Radius”, where we play from baroque and classical to contemporary music and the other “Nota Riotous”, which we perform only contemporary music with. Together with the Boston Modern Orchestra we present living composers and contact them in person. These are innovative people that contribute with their creative work to the development of the contemporary music. As Beethoven, Stravinski, Ravel and Debussy were for their time – they created something that has never been done so far.

Would you mention some names?

I can immediately name some, which are world recognized – the Hungarian composer Ligeti, John Cage, Morgan Feldman, George Cramp. I would also like to mention a Bulgarian name – Lazar Nikolov, he is not as famous as they are but he really is a grand author.

What charges you, apart form the music?

The nature, the mountains, long distance hikes, around the world travels. And of course certain people to share all this with. My friends.

Are there places where you like to come back?

Yes, there are such places in Dominicana / the Dominican Republic/ and in Bulgaria. I have a very favourite place – Kara dere at our Black see, which I hope that we will be able to preserve from being overbuilt. This beach is really in my heart.

What do you want to teach your children?

I want to teach them everything that I know – an attitude towards the music, what is precious or not precious for me. What they should protect themselves from, what they should love… but I can’t teach them much, because they are like a container full of their own things and they have to somehow get these things outside themselves.

What do you learn from them?

Oh, they are antennas to what some people call God. I avoid calling him with words – the children have a very direct connection with that force. They teach me sincerity – cry when you feel like crying, laugh when you feel like laughing.

Wish something to yourself?

I wish that all kind of sunny emotions happen to me and for my life to be colourful.
Biliana Voutchkova started playing the violin at the age of 4, she made her debut as a soloist with an orchestra when she was 9 and barely 16 she recorded her first solo album for the Japanese company Crown Record Ltd. She graduated from the Musical school in Sofia, the University in South California, USA and received a Masters degree in the “Mannes” college in New York. At the moment she is the concertmaster of Boston Modern Orchestra and performs with the “Radius” and “Nota Riotous” ensembles, “Kaya” duo, „Fluxsongs”, the “Julliard” and “Cleveland” quartets. She has given concerts in Europe, Asia and USA, she has performed on prestigious stages such as Weill Recital Hall/Carnegie Hall in New York, Jordan Hall in Boston, Suntory Hall and Casals Hall in Tokyo, Symphony Hall in Osaka, National Concert Hall in Taipei and Manuel De Falla Auditorium in Granada. Her latest album „Faces” was recorded in Boston with the music of Vivie, Saariaho, Kodály and Maneri.
She is full of ideas and with a taste for the experiment and the improvisation. In the „Onetime fluxus…” project in which together with Aga Dziubak, cello, Rosen Zahariev, trompet and percussion instruments and Ingo Reuleke, dance, besides her violin Biliana also “played” on her voice. A rather curious music – movement performance.
For a third time in a row the violin player is the organizer of a festival of new music called “Here/Now” in the center for culture and debate “The Red House” in Sofia, in October.
Her husband is a musician too. They have a 10 year-old son and a 5 year old girl.

What does developing and growing as a musician mean for you – experience, technical skills, a search for unknown music theories?

The overall growth as an individual and a person is related to your growth as a musician. This is a process. For me the music is a small door to the spirit through which you can always go in or out. And since I have realized this I feel lightness – the spiritual reality is not the everyday reality that we live in. I feel very well there and in order to find yourself in such a place through the music you definitely have to go through certain technical skills, training and experience and from that point on the sweetness begins.

Does that process have boundaries?

It is an endless development. The music that I have gone through has been leading me to spontaneous improvisations, to projects that include dances and other graceful movements, which accompany it. Playing together with different instrumentalists with completely different musical past and discovering one common language with them is something amazingly pleasant and that is exactly what Aga Dziubak, Rosen Zahariev, Ingo Reuleke and I do together. It also has a lot to do with the way of thinking, the personal philosophy and the senses of every artist.
What is your personal philosophy?

I can express it with the music or with my love of nature. I do not think that words are enough. It is good when a person does what comes out of him as an internal necessity. I realize for myself that I am a very happy person because that is my profession.

Which meetings with high class musicians have left an unforgettable trace in your mind?

The meeting with Valeri Georgiev from Russia comes to mind immediately. It was more than 15 years ago when I was a concertmaster of the orchestra at festival in Germany and the energy that streamed out of this talented world scale conductor is something I cannot forget. We played “The Rites of Spring” by Stravinsky, a very strong memory. The crossing over the threshold of the door of the spirit which you can reach through playing and making music is exactly what happened. Another such person is in my violin teacher in Los Angeles – Abraam Stern – incredible. I learned a lot of things from him: at one of my lessons he played the second part of Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto with one of the fingers of his left hand. It was magical. He told us that it makes no difference with which finger or hand you play the truth is somewhere else… An impressive demonstration. Then as a student I found writers such as Julio Cortázar and Jean Paul Sartre, musicians such as Miles Davis and Keith Jarrett. But these are childhood memories this is in the past.

What is going on with you in the present?

I am mainly involved with contemporary music and work with popular and practicing artists.
But in order to get in touch with such a musician – a composer, instrumentalist or a person of the same views as mine, I go through a palette of information. This is how I found the cello player Aga Dziubak, she and I created the Kaya duo and the two of us together with the trompet player Rosen Zahariev formed the Frinity trio /a combination of the words free and trinity /, also my colleagues from the two ensembles I work with in Boston – “Radius”, where we play from baroque and classical to contemporary music and the other “Nota Riotous”, which we perform only contemporary music with. Together with the Boston Modern Orchestra we present living composers and contact them in person. These are innovative people that contribute with their creative work to the development of the contemporary music. As Beethoven, Stravinski, Ravel and Debussy were for their time – they created something that has never been done so far.

Would you mention some names?

I can immediately name some, which are world recognized – the Hungarian composer Ligeti, John Cage, Morgan Feldman, George Cramp. I would also like to mention a Bulgarian name – Lazar Nikolov, he is not as famous as they are but he really is a grand author.

What charges you, apart form the music?

The nature, the mountains, long distance hikes, around the world travels. And of course certain people to share all this with. My friends.

Are there places where you like to come back?

Yes, there are such places in Dominicana / the Dominican Republic/ and in Bulgaria. I have a very favourite place – Kara dere at our Black see, which I hope that we will be able to preserve from being overbuilt. This beach is really in my heart.

What do you want to teach your children?

I want to teach them everything that I know – an attitude towards the music, what is precious or not precious for me. What they should protect themselves from, what they should love… but I can’t teach them much, because they are like a container full of their own things and they have to somehow get these things outside themselves.

What do you learn from them?

Oh, they are antennas to what some people call God. I avoid calling him with words – the children have a very direct connection with that force. They teach me sincerity – cry when you feel like crying, laugh when you feel like laughing.

Wish something to yourself?

I wish that all kind of sunny emotions happen to me and for my life to be colourful.