Ensemble Bellissima

Professional musical performance, promptness, help with selecting the right music for your occasion, attractive presence of the musicians, dress code conforming with the needs of the event.

Described as “Virtuoso-violinist extraordinaire” (Musical Horizons), Hristo Popov, brings tremendous experience to the concert stage. He made his orchestra debut at the age of nine with Plovdiv State Philharmonic Orchestra and since then has performed at major performing arts venues as recitalist, chamber musician, and concerto soloist in United States and Europe including Carnegie Hall – New York, Dvorak Hall at the Rudolfium in Prague, Palau de la Musica in Barcelona, among others. His Carnegie Hall debut has been hailed by The Strad Magazine as “…alert and energetic”.

Hristo Popov is a prizewinner at the Kozian International Violin Competition, Silver Medalist at the California Young Artist Competition, winner of the Grand Prize at the International Institute of Music (Germany, USA), first place at the American String Teachers' Association Chamber Music Competition. He has been selected as Artist of the Month at the Obama for Arts and Entertainment Organization in April of 2009. He has appeared as guest artist in numerous festivals such as Park City International Music Festival, Plovdiv International Chamber Music Festival, Sofia Musical Weeks Music Festival, Summit Music Festival in New York, InterHarmony International Music Festival, among others.

Hristo Popov musical education is unique and always ongoing. Born in a family of musicians and educators of four generations, he began studying the violin at the age of four in his native country, Bulgaria. He completed most of his studies in the United States after winning full scholarship to attend the Idyllwild Arts Academy in California. He holds Bachelor Degree and Artist Diploma from Oberlin College Conservatory of Music. As a member of the Niles String Quartet at University of Kentucky while completing Doctoral of Musical Arts. Currently, he serves as Artistic Director of the Chagrin Concert Series, and Concertmaster of Cleveland Opera Circle, Warren Philharmonic and Opera Western Reserve.

Dr. Popov has led residencies at many universities on Early 20th Century Eastern European Composers and the Violin focusing on specifically on the composers Bela Bartok, George Enescu, and Pancho Vladigerov. His recent performance at Carnegie Hall, New York, of works featuring these composers was praised by the New York Concert Review as “outstanding from start to finish”.

Hristo Popov performs music from the standard repertoire as well as significant works of the contemporary genre. Dr. Popov performs over twenty violin concerti and he maintains a wide variety of recital programs. His performances have been documented on TV and radio stations in United States, Mexico, and Bulgaria and has recorded albums for TC Recordings and Bravante Records. He has performed with members of the Juilliard Quartet, Miami Quartet, Miro Quartet, Berlin Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, The Cleveland Orchestra, among others. He continues to receive rave reviews - as described recently by The Plain Dealer, Cleveland, “…the performance benefited from the elegant purity soloist Hristo Popov invested in every phrase. Popov traced the lyrical and vibrant lines (Mozart – Violin Concerto No. 5, Turkish) with unruffled assurance. He enabled the music to float where necessary and made easy work of the acrobatic demands.”

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Pianist Eriko Izumida has been an active soloist, collaborative pianist, and chamber musician. She has performed extensively throughout the United States and Asia with numbers of artists including the Cleveland Orchestra members. In addition, she presents a number of recital programs for various community service venues. Ms. Izumida has been teaching the piano privately since 2000, and now teaches at Bellissima Music Academy in Wellington, Florida. She was on the piano faculty of Baldwin Wallace Collage Preparatory/ Adult Education Department and Chagrin Valley Music Academy, and also a staff accompanist at BW Conservatory. Her students have won contests and scholarships; some students have been accepted to leading music schools; some has has been frequently appearing local hospitals and retirement houses.

A native of Japan, she began studying piano at the age of three. She has studied with Graeme Humphrey at the Royal Academy of Music in London, Dr. Thomas Hecht at the Cleveland Institute of Music where she holds both Bachelor of Music and Master of Music in piano performance. Other teachers include Robert McDonald, Jacques Rouvier, Ellen Mack, Daniel Shapiro, Noriko Iwabe and Michio Kobayashi. Her chamber music/collaborative piano mentors include Anne Epperson and Eric Charnofsky. In addition, she studied harpsichord with Janina Ceaser. Her CD is available under TC Recordings label.

Outdoor performance - Adequate dry, shady & non-windy space must be provided for the performers.

If requesting our pianist, the venue must have a tuned piano or a keyboard. We do not provide a portable keyboard.