FESTIVALS         

Dobrinka has dedicated much time to promoting contemporary music, which started in her student days at the Guildhall School. As well as conducting a number of premieres and chamber operas there, in 1999 she became President of the Contemporary Music Society. In that role, spanning 5 years, she acted as artistic director of the concerts and Festivals which aim to promote the up and coming composers of this generation The 2002 and 2003 festivals PLAY and Forward were selected to be part of the City of London Festival.

Following on from her post at the Guildhall, Dobrinka was appointed series coordinator of the British Music Information Centre’s Cutting Edge series (2003-2009), which aimed to present post 1960’s contemporary music with a focus on British composers. In that period, the series introduced over 300 premieres by Bmic Voices, spnm shortlisted composers and established British names like Michael Finnissy, Howard Skempton, Harrison Birtwistle, Graham Fitkin, Judith Weir, Jonathan Harvey and many more.

YOUNG MUSICIANS

& EDUCATION     

with music A-level students from Stratford Girls' Grammar School and conductor David Curtis

Some of the schools and organisations supporting young musicians, which Dobrinka has worked with and visited for presentations:

Stratford Girls' Grammar School (pictured above)
King Edward VI Grammar, Stratford –upon-Avon
Royal Hospital School
BBC Young Musician of the Year (Semi-final judge 2014)
Aldeburgh Music (course tutor)
Britten Sinfonia Academy (course tutor)
                                               

WORLD'S SUN SONGS PROJECT

The composers and conductor Maris Sirmais in Riga

In 2008, Dobrinka was one of 17 composers invited to write a Sun Anthem for the large project of World’s Sun Songs. Choosing a text from their native lands, each of the composers were asked to write a piece for the Riga youth choir Kamer under the direction of the conductor Maris Sirmais. The project was presented at an elaborate launch in Riga in July 2008, and then featured at the World Choral Symposium in Copenhagen the following month. 

The unique nature of this initiative prompted international acclaim and became the subject of a film documentary by Mistrus Media- Sounds under the Sun.

Full information about the choir and project can be found here
Photos from the premiere in Riga are here
The specially designated site (in Latvian) for the documentary Sounds that the Sun Makes is here

With Giya Kancheli after the premiere

PREMIERES & PRIZES (selected)

Concerto for Cello & Strings with Kristina Blaumane and Amsterdam Sinfonietta, 2008

With Maxim Rysanov after Suite in Old Style performance

Centuries of Meditations with David Hill, Orchestra of the Swan & Festival Youth Choir at  Three Choirs Festival, 2012

                Rehearsing Such different paths with Janine Jansen and  Academy St Martin in the Fields in Vienna Musikverein, 2010

Sun Triptych for violin, cello and strings, was written for Gidon Kremer, Kristina Blaumane and Kremerata Baltica to celebrate the orchestra's 10th anniversary. The first movement-  Dawn, was premiered in Kronberg, Germany in 2007. Since then, the work has traveled around Europe from Salzburg's Mozarteum to London's St James's Piccadilly. 

Watch a video of the first two movements of Sun Triptych- Dawn and Day here 

          After the premiere with Gidon Kremer and Kristina Blaumane

Composer-in-residence at Leicester Music Festival with artistic director Nick Daniel & friends

With Janine Jansen, Maxim Rysanov and Egidijus Miksys in Vilnius

Lord Fellowes awarding the Barclays Private Banking Prize for the anthem for the Queens' Golden Jubilee, St. Paul's Cathedral,  2002 

Judy Cope awarding the Sorel Prize for Choral Composition, with Voices of Ascension, dir. Dennis Keene, New York 2011

With violinist Tom Gould 

With festival director Ivo Stankov, Sofia Soloists & Plamen Djouroff at London Festival of Bulgarian Culture 2010

With Milos Karadaglic after premiere of     Compass for solo guitar at Wigmore Hall, 2010

Concerto for Piano & Orchestra with Evelyn Chang and City Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong, 2010

PRESENTATIONS

Since 1999, Dobrinka has given a number of presentations on The Relationship between Music and Science; the History of the Modes and The Music of the Spheres, with samples from NASA’s Voyager missions. The presentations have been given both at the Guildhall School and the Royal College of Art. She is now regularly invited to give presentations about her work.

PLOVDIV  

Dobrinka’s home town - Plovdiv, Bulgaira has a history of over 6,000 years, making it the oldest continuously inhabited city in Europe. From Thacians, through Ancient Greeks to Romans, the city is layered with archaeological treasures seamlessly blending in with modern 21st century life. Plovdiv is the second largest city in Bulgaria and is nestled at the foothills of the Rhodopi mountains- birthplace of Orpheus. The oldest American educational institution outside the United States was founded in Plovdiv in 1860. Together with Matera, Italy, Plovdiv was selected as European Capital of Culture for 2019. To discover more read this recent Huffington Post travelog or visit Wikipedia.

THE RADIANTS                        

The Radiants were formed in 2000, as a group supporting and promoting new music. Conducted by Dobrinka, they performed regularly at the Guildhall Summer Festivals of New Music, and premièred a number of works including the chamber opera ‘Midsummer Magic’. In June 2002, they made their debut at the Bath International Festival of Music in a collaboration with Prof. Dan Fern from the Royal College of Art. 

WORKSHOPS / MASTERCLASSES (selected)                        

Dobrinka has attended workshops with the following composers:

Jan 2002-   John Adams as part of the Barbican Festival ’John’s earbox’
Nov 2001-   Prof. Alexander Goehr
Feb 2001-   Olav-Anton Thommessen/Lasse Thoresen as part of exchange to the Oslo Academy
Aug 2001-   Marek Kopelent/ Petr Kotik at the Prague Conservatoire’s Summer Composition Course in Cesky Krumlov
Mar 2000-   Louis Andriessen
July 1997-   Alessandro Solbiati at the Corropoli International Composition Summer Course, Italy
July 1996-   Philip Manoury/ Iannis Xenakis at the 20th Centre Acanthes, Avignon