February 12th: Paolo & Danijela Gualdi at St. John's Episcopal in Florence

St. John’s Episcopal Church in Florence continues its Epiphany Concert Series with a performance by the piano and violin team of Paolo Gualdi and Danijela Žeželj-Gualdi on Sunday, February 12 at 6:00 p.m. in the church’s parish hall. 

There is no charge for the concert but donations are appreciated.  Light refreshments will be provided.  St. John’s is located at 252 S. Dargan Street in Florence.  Parking is available in the lot behind the church.

Paolo André Gualdi has played recitals in Italy and the United States, both as a soloist and chamber musician. He has been a featured soloist with many orchestras including the Atlanta Philharmonic, Georgia Philharmonic, DeKalb Symphony Orchestra, Wilmington Symphony, Parma Wind Orchestra, and the University of Georgia Symphony Orchestra.  He has also performed for the International Piano Series of Charleston, American Liszt Society, Piccolo Spoleto Festival USA, Cincinnati Conservatory, and Eastman School of Music in Rochester.

Dr. Gualdi began studying piano with his father at the age of five, and continued at the Conservatory of Santa Cecilia in Rome, Italy.  He earned his Piano Diploma with highest honors at the Conservatory Arrigo Boito in Parma with Roberto Cappello. While in the U.S., he earned a Masters Degree in Piano Performance at Carnegie Mellon University under the tutelage of Enrique Graf, and a Doctorate of Musical Arts in piano performance at the University of Georgia with Evgeny Rivkin.

He has won the top prize in numerous piano competitions, including the European Competition of Ostuni, the Altruda National Competition of Vasto, and the Françoise Grimaldi National Competition of San Polo. Winning the “De Martino Award” at the Ibla International Piano Competition enabled him to study at Elon University.  During this period he won the First Prize in the Southeastern Piano Competition of Whiteville, North Carolina, and the 15th Bartók-Kabalevsky International Competition in Virginia.

Gualdi has served on the faculties of Elon University, Emmanuel College, Oxford College of Emory University, and is currently Assistant Professor of Music at Francis Marion University.

Danijela Žeželj-Gualdi was born in Croatia where she began violin studies in 1984.  By age eleven, she had already become the youngest member of the Zadar Chamber Orchestra.

Her higher-level education began at The Academy of Arts in Novi Sad, Serbia in 1993, where she became a member of the chamber orchestra Camerata Academica, which afforded her the opportunity to perform throughout Europe.  In 1998, she graduated from the Academy and became a member of the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra.

A year later, Dr. Žeželj-Gualdi was awarded a full scholarship to study at Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA, where she graduated with a master’s degree in 2001.  In 2006, she graduated with a doctoral degree in Violin Performance from the University of Georgia, where she studied both violin and viola.

As an active performer, she played both violin and viola extensively in solo recitals throughout the U.S. and Eastern Europe.  She has been featured as a concerto soloist with the Chamber Orchestra of Tennessee, Tallis Chamber Orchestra, University of Georgia Symphony Orchestra, and Wilmington Symphony Orchestra.  Dr. Žeželj-Gualdi is also a passionate interpreter of contemporary music.  In 2004, she was a featured soloist in the Composer in Residence concerts at Hodgson hall, Athens with renowned contemporary composers Augusta Reed Thomas and James MacMillan.

An avid performer of early music, she played in Croatia with the chamber group “Zadarski Madrigalisti” which specialized in music from the Renaissance, and is a member of the New Trinity Baroque Orchestra from Atlanta, an ensemble that performs on period instruments featuring music from the Baroque era.

Since her youth, Dr. Žeželj-Gualdi has consistently impressed audiences in numerous chamber ensembles.  In January 2008, she became a founding member of the Balkan Quartet, a string quartet that strives to inspire composers to create new music that uses indigenous Balkan language, reviving the rich Balkan folk heritage on a high artistic level.  Together with the Balkan Quartet, she performed at the Kennedy Center Millenium Stage in 2009.  She has participated in the American Liszt Society Festival, performed at Carnegie Hall with the ARCO Chamber Orchestra, and has performed with varied orchestras in the United States and Eastern Europe.

Prior to her current position as a violin and viola instructor at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, Dr. Žeželj-Gualdi served on the faculty of Georgia Perimeter College in Atlanta.  She also maintains a private studio and serves as guest clinician at various music camps and workshops.

The concert series concludes on February 19 with a performance by Carolina Brass.  A downloadable brochure is available at www.stjohnsflorence.org.