Trio Twenty21 is Mark Pedus, violin; Kalina Dimitrova, cello; and, Craig W. Combs, piano. The group formed in July 2009 meeting for regular rehearsals culminating in a premier performance on March 20, 2010 at The Forge Venue in Camden, London, UK. Subsequent to that performance, the trio attended the International Summer Course at Chateaux Monthureux-le-Sec in the first week of August 2010 culminating in a second full-concert performance. The group’s next scheduled appearance is on October 2, 2010, again at The Forge Venue in Camden, London. For more information, see www.twenty21.org.
Of French Bulgarian parentage, Kalina Dimitrova studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, completing a Masters in Music Performance in 2002. Since then she has been free lancing both as an orchestral and chamber music player, while at the same time teaching extensively. Her chamber music experience has included masterclasses with the Takasc Quartet and Florestan Trio and coaching with the Ysaye Quartet. She now plays with the Accordi String Quartet and Twenty21. Orchestral playing include performances with the Orchestre des Régions Européennes, the British Philharmonic Orchestra, the International Mahler Orchestra, as extra player for Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and Northern Symphonia and regular trips to play with the Cyprus State Orchestra.
Violinist Mark Pedus studied at the RNCM with Y. Zivoni and has worked and freelanced with several British and Belgian orchestras. He has played solos with orchestras in Belgium and Italy, including Bach double Concerto and Mozart Violin concerto Nr 3 KV 216. He has performed extensive chamber music and is currently working towards a Masters in Tilburg (The Netherlands).
Chamber Pianist, Craig W. Combs, seeks like-minded artists with which to make music that is a reflection of the human condition. His current projects include: The Paramount Chamber Players, a network of artists in Northeast Tennessee and Southwest Virginia who have banded together to bring chamber music to their communities; Twenty/21, a London-based ensemble specializing in music of the 20th and 21st centuries; and, The Combs/Hostetter Piano Duo, a 4-hand piano ensemble. In 2007, he released the CD, Forbidden Voices: Songs by Jewish Composers Banned by the Nazis with soprano, Judith Sheridan. Craig has appeared internationally in the Rivington Music Festival (UK), Barcelona Festival of Song (Spain), The Land of the Disobedient Music Festival (Lithuania), and in concerts in Europe and the USA. A recent review of his playing commented on “ . . . the exceptional pianism of Craig Combs” and that “No praise is too high for his contribution.”
Trio Twenty21 is a piano trio comprised of members of Twenty21, a larger ensemble specializing in contemporary music with a goal to challenge expectations of live performance juxtaposing the theatrical with the absurd and the spiritual with the mundane. Our repertoire is chosen to entertain as well as enlighten. More about Twenty21 can be found at www.twenty21.org.
