Fat Belly Blues, Version for Horn and Violin by RICHARD BISSILL (Elmira Darvarova & Howard Wall)

RICHARD BISSILL - "Fat Belly Blues" - Version for Violin & Horn. This version for Violin & Horn was created by the composer specifically for violinist Elmira Darvarova and hornist Howard Wall. Commissioned by the New York Chamber Music Festival, this version was premiered by the artists at the New York Chamber Music Festival. Art by Gustave Fayet (1902) ***** ARTISTS’ BIOS: ELMIRA DARVAROVA, violin "A MARVELOUS VIOLINIST IN THE HEIFETZ TRADITION" - American Record Guide Grammy®-nominated recording artist, a concert violinist since the age of 4, and an award-winning performer (2017 & 2018 GOLD MEDAL at the Global Music Awards), Elmira Darvarova caused a sensation, becoming the first ever (and so far only) female concertmaster in the history of the Metropolitan Opera in New York. With the MET Orchestra she toured Japan, Europe and the US, and was heard on the MET's live weekly international radio broadcasts, television broadcasts, CDs and laser discs on the Sony, Deutsche Grammophon and EMI labels. As concertmaster of the Metropolitan Opera she has performed with the greatest conductors of our time, including the legendary Carlos Kleiber. She studied with Yfrah Neaman, Josef Gingold and Henryk Szeryng. An award-winning artist, and hailed by American Record Guide as a “marvelous violinist in the Heifetz tradition”, she can be heard on numerous CDs, including the world-premiere recording of Vernon Duke's violin concerto with the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony, and a CD with world-premiere recordings of chamber music by René de Castéra (named by MusicWeb International a Record of the Year 2015). Her albums have entered the BILLBOARD Charts, most recently at the No.3 position (August 2021). Several of her albums were selected as Record of the Month by MusicWeb-International. Her CDs have won critical acclaim in The Strad, Gramophone, Fanfare, American Record Guide, BBC Music Magazine, Klassik Heute. Her recording of the Brahms Horn Trio with the former principal hornist of The New York Philharmonic Philip Myers and MET Opera conductor/pianist Bryan Wagorn was hailed as belonging in the same league as Myron Bloom's Marlboro recording with Rudolf Serkin and Michael Tree. She has appeared on the most prestigious stages of 5 continents (including Carnegie Hall, as soloist with orchestra), and has performed chamber music with Janos Starker, Gary Karr, James Levine, Pascal Rogé, Vassily Lobanov, Octavio Brunetti, Fernando Otero, David Amram, and with the Indian sarodist Amjad Ali Khan, with whom she recorded a trilogy of CD albums, based on traditional Indian Ragas. Praised by Gramophone Magazine for her "ultra-impassioned performances", and in The Strad for her “intoxicating tonal beauty and beguilingly sensuous phrasing" and "silky-smooth voluptuous tone”, her world-premiere recording of Vernon Duke's violin concerto was featured in Gramophone Magazine. HOWARD WALL, Horn "STELLAR...CAPTIVATING RICH TONE... EVERY NOTE IS A GEM... LEGENDARY LOW REGISTER... IMPECCABLE INTONATION and VIRTUOSITY" - The Horn Call Howard Wall was a long-time member of The New York Philharmonic, where he joined in 1994, after having been a member of The Philadelphia Orchestra for nearly 20 years, and a former member of the Phoenix and Denver Symphony Orchestras. He appeared as soloist with the New York Philharmonic in Schumann’s "Konzertstück" multiple times in New York, and on international tours (Europe, South America). An avid chamber musician, he was a member of the Philadelphia Chamber Brass, and appeared regularly at the New York Philharmonic Ensembles series and the Very Young Composers series throughout his New York Philharmonic tenure. He continues to perform at the New York Chamber Music Festival, the Red Rocks Music Festival, with the Delphinium Trio, the Amram Ensemble, and he tours internationally in a duo with his wife, former MET Opera concertmaster Elmira Darvarova. He recorded chamber and solo music for several labels, and his recent CD albums present world-premiere recordings of many of his own arrangements. He recorded Poulenc’s Elégie with world-renowned French pianist Pascal Rogé, and has recorded (twice) David Amram’s Blues & Variations for Monk, and gave its European Premiere in Paris. His highly-praised album "Astor Piazzolla - Genius of Tango" remained for many weeks on Spotify’s selections’ list, while his CD with horn music by Phillip Ramey climbed to No. 23 on the BILLBOARD Charts, and reached Amazon’s No.1 best-seller status in Chamber Music. Howard Wall made his Carnegie Hall debut at age 19 with Schumann’s "Konzertstück", and has performed as soloist and in chamber concerts on numerous occasions at Carnegie Hall, as well as at venues in the United States, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Poland, Latvia, Estonia, Greece, Romania, Bulgaria, Italy, Switzerland, Belgium, France, and United Kingdom. Howard Wall was among the performers awarded Gold Medal and Top Honors at the 2018 Global Music Awards.