Performer Spotlight: Nora Buschmann


Nora Buschmann first came to my attention when I found a copy of her recording of Suite Orientale. After hearing her rendition of the Prelude from Bogdanovich's Levantine Suite, I was totally 'blown away' . This was one young artist that I had to learn more about.
Nora is a international musician and teacher based in Germany, where she presently holds a professorship at the University of Rostock.

According to her web site, she was born in Berlin and began her artistic-musical career with Jürgen and Monika Rost at the "Franz Liszt" College of Music, Weimar. As a scholarship holder of the Berlin Cultural Foundation for Young Artists (Kulturfonds-Stiftung), she continued her studies in the soloist class of Hubert Käppel at the Cologne College of Music (Musikhochschule Köln).

She perfected her skills with virtuosos such as David Russel, Manuel Barrueco, Oscar Ghiglia and Thomas Müller-Pering. She is also a prizewinner of national and international competitions - the International Guitar Competition in Kutna Hora, Czechia (1986); the "Heitor-Villa-Lobos" competition in Esztergom, Hungary (1987); the "Tonger Wettbewerb", Cologne (1992); the "Deutscher Musikwettbewerb", Bonn (1992); the International Guitar Competition of Gargnano, Italy (1993).

As a scholarship holder of the German Council of Music (Deutscher Musikrat), Nora Buschmann has been invited to perform a great number of solo concerts (among others at the Frankfurt and Nürnberg opera houses, the Beethoven-Haus in Bonn and NDR-Funkhaus Hannover) and to make appearances with orchestras in Germany.

She has made radio recordings with the Norddeutscher Rundfunk and the Bayrischer Rundfunk. During a four year stay in Greece, Nora Buschmann turned her interest and activities to teaching and chamber music. She worked intensively on traditional Greek music and Byzantine singing.

Nora Buschmann is a regular recitalist and teacher in important International guitarfestivals including Iserlohn and Bielefeld (Germany); Esztergom (Hungary); Istanbul, Adana and Karaburun (Turkey); Thessaloniki and Afitos (Greece) and Sinaia (Romania). The Goethe Institute and the Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen (ifa) have invited her for many events. Concert journeys have taken her to Poland, Russia, Spain, Switzerland, the Ukraine and to Argentina.

The Levantine Suite is one of my favourite of all the Bogdanovich compositions and, those of you, like myself, who have tried to make sense of the music score, soon realize that this is not an exercise for the faint hearted. For me, personally its a mixture of sweetness (in the music) and bitterness (in the fact that I will never be able to 'nail' it). And I won't even start on the complexity associated with Domeniconi's Konyunbaba.

On the other hand, Nora's performance of these works are absolutely flawless. Her mastery and clarity are evident in her performance of these highly complex and beautiful pieces. She captures all the nuances associated with Eastern music influences with its rich tonality, and renders their perfomance with balance, structure and emotion which is almost spriritual in its intensity. She immediately stamps her authority. She is one of those rare performers who can make a guitar sing.
Thanks to Nora, I have almost worn out my Ipod with constant replays of the Suite Orientale. But I'll forgive her anything!! I'd pay to hear her play scale exercises!!

If you haven't done so, do yourself a favour and get a copy of any of her CD's!
She has released her latest CD 'Apassionata Latina' featuring the works of Barrios-Mangore, Morell and Bellanati. I am pulling out all stops to get a copy of this one as well. And so will you, when you watch her in action!




To use the ultimate laconic Aussie accolade, 'she's not bad'!!

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