New York (Top40 Charts/ Sony Masterworks) - Moscow-born, American concert pianist, film composer, and producer
Maria Andriasova Esparza (www.andriasovaesparza.com) is nominated for a distinguished 2009 International "Mozart Award" from the International Biographical Centre, Cambridge, UK for her original music, following in the footsteps of her late father, the legendary Russian composer and philosopher Iosif Andriasov, who was honored with the "International Man of the Year Award" in 2000 from the International Biographical Centre, Cambridge, UK. A winner of three consecutive Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation Awards,
Maria Andriasova Esparza received her education at the Moscow P.I. Tchaikovsky Conservatory, Russian Academy of Sciences (concentration in mathematics), and the Juilliard School in New York (Bachelor Degree), and is represented by the Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI) as a composer.
Maria is married to Guillermo Esparza (https://www.guillermoesparza.com), the celebrated American iconographer, sculptor, and painter.
In June of 2009, Maria Andriasova Esparza composed, performed, and recorded an original soundtrack to a documentary film about her husband, "Guillermo Esparza, an American Iconographer", an original production by Los Angeles filmmaker Veronica Aberham for Studio-Online, an affiliate of London-based Studio International. The film was released on June 1st, 2009 and premiered on June 7, 2009 at St. Patrick's Old Cathedral in New York for its 200th year anniversary, after the historic Mass delivered by Archbishop Timothy Michael Dolan.
The prominent New York socialite, fundraiser, concert pianist, film composer, and producer Maria Iosifovna (Andreasian) Andriasova Esparza, was born in Moscow into a family of celebrated musicians, with a direct musical lineage to Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, and an ancestral lineage to Prince Alexander Vasilievich Suvorov. Maria Andriasova started playing piano and composing at the age of three under the direction of her father, the legendary Russian composer Iosif Arshakovich Andriasov. Maria's maternal grandfather, Professor Leonid Vasilyevich Kudryashov, was Chairman of the biology department at the Moscow Lomonosov University. Maria's maternal great-grandfather, Professor Veniamin Aleksandrovich Lebedev, established the Arkhangelsk University. At the age of six, Maria enrolled at the Pyotr I. Tchaikovsky Conservatory. At the same time, Maria performed her first compositions at the Union of Composers in Moscow. She also studied at the Russian Academy of Sciences with concentration in mathematics.
Maria made her professional debut at the age of nine as actor and narrator in the legendary Second Symphony by Iosif Andriasov (for which Mr. Andriasov refused the Lenin Prize from the Soviet government and became a notorious political figure), reciting text by the poet laureate Vladimir Lazarev, under the baton of Maestro Gennady Cherkasov with the Big Symphony Orchestra and Choir of Radio and Television (now known as the Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra of Moscow under Maestro Vladimir Fedoseyev, Artistic Director and Chief Conductor). The Second movement of Iosif Andriasov's Second Symphony tells a story of young Maria (nicknamed "Marianka"), and of her childhood drawings.
In 1979, Ms. Andriasova moved to New York City with her parents. US Senators Jacob Javits, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, and Edward Kennedy were instrumental in bringing the family to the USA. Maria continued her piano studies at The Juilliard School and also continued her studies of studio art and drama at The Professional Children's School, where, at a personal invitation by Mrs. Marion Javits, she was introduced to performing for charitable events. Maria earned her bachelor's degree from The Juilliard School, being awarded full-scholarship throughout the program in the class of Concert Pianist and Professor Oxana Yablonskaya. Maria continued her studies of life drawing and painting at the Art Students League in New York in the class of Barbara Adrian (studio of Reginald Marsh). At the same time, she developed an interest in the world of finance.
To further her knowledge of the stock market and investment strategies, in 1998, Maria launched her successful financial career working for Robert Soros and George Soros at Soros Fund Management in New York, and now specializes in Private Asset Management. In 2000, Maria received an honorary award from Art Students League in New York for her portraits of Beethoven, Stravinsky, Richard Strauss, and the poet Nikolai Kluyev. As a concert pianist, Maria won The Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation scholarship awards (Lisbon, Portugal) during three consecutive years (1984, 1985, 1986); she is the recipient of the P.A. Schaffer award, New York; Maro and Anahid Ajemian award; Jewish Foundation for the Education of Women award; Armenian Diocese Association award (Boston, MA); "Outstanding Musician of the 20th Century" award from the International Biographical Centre, Cambridge, UK with a commemorative medal in 1999; and is listed in the International Who's Who in Music, England since 2000. In May 2009, Ms. Andriasova Esparza was invited to join the Board of Directors of The Highbridge Voices, part of The Highbridge Community Development Corporation (HCDC), a web of services and initiatives that began in 1988 in a massive effort to revitalize the South Bronx community of Highbridge.
Maria Andriasova Esparza is a co-producer of two "In Memoriam" festivals dedicated to the music of her late father, composer Iosif Andriasov, as well as audio and video recordings of the festivals: in Moscow, at the Pyotr I. Tchaikovsky Conservatory Grand Hall, with Russian Federal Orchestra, soloists of the Bolshoi Theater, Maestro Vakhtang Jordania, conductor (2002); and in Yerevan, Armenia, at Aram Khatchaturian Symphony Hall, with Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra under Ohan Duryian, Maestro Karen Durgaryan, conductor, and the Choir of Armen Akob Cultural Centre, Maestro Armen Amirkhanian, conductor (2001). In 1995, Asahi Broadcasting Corp., Tokyo, Japan, released a documentary film on Maria's father, composer Iosif Andriasov, where Maria served as an interpreter for her father. Maria also composed, performed, and recorded the soundtrack for Bryn Magnus' experimental Off-Off Broadway play "George Sand", with performances in New York, Madison, Wisconsin, and St. Thomas, Virgin Islands (Anne Biberman Productions.) Maria has performed internationally, including all major concert halls in New York City: The Carnegie Hall's Isaac Stern Auditorium (Maestro Richard Westenburg, conductor) and the Weill Recital Hall; at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts: Alice Tully Hall (Maestro Bruno Ferrandis, conductor), Avery Fisher Hall (Maestro Richard Westenburg, conductor); In 2002, she was invited by the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, and performed Piano Trio by her father, Iosif Andriasov, at Davis Symphony Hall; performed and recorded with the Big Symphony Orchestra of Radio and Television, Moscow (Maestro Gennady Cherkasov, conductor); appeared on radio and television, including CBS Special on The Juilliard School, PM Magazine for The Fox Network, broadcast over "Organisation Internationale de Radiodiffusion et de Te'le'vision" (Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Germany, Finland, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and the European republics of the former USSR), Asahi TV (Japan), Yomiuri (Japan), Russian All-State Radio, and Radio Freedom (Philippines). Maria Andriasova Esparza has premiered several dozen contemporary compositions, a number of which have been dedicated to her, and has participated in American Landmarks Festival and Dmitry Kabalevsky Festival.
Maria Andriasova Esparza is married to Guillermo Jose Esparza (www.guillermoesparza.com), the celebrated American sculptor, iconographer, and painter, whose works are in the permanent collections at the Vatican Museum in Rome, the Phanar Museum in Istanbul, Turkey, the US National Archives, and the Smithsonian American Art Museum.
In 1995, Maria Andriasova was invited by Donald Trump, as US cultural representative, to perform at the Gala concert dedicated to His Holiness Pope John Paul II's visit to the United States to commemorate the International Year of the Family and to celebrate the friendship between the United States and the Vatican. At this event she met her future husband, American artist Guillermo Esparza, whose Ecumenical sculptures were commissioned by Archbishop Iakovos, Former Archbishop of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of North and South America, funded by the American Greek Orthodox community and a Catholic community of the US. His Eminence Archbishop Iakovos presented the silver sculptures to the representative of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. The Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, on his historic visit to the Vatican, presented the sculpture to His Holiness Pope John Paul II, and kept the other sculpture at the Phanar in Constantinople. Maria and Guillermo Esparza were married by Bishop Rodney Michel at the Episcopal Cathedral of the Incarnation in Garden City, New York, under Guillermo Esparza's Mural of the Pantokrator, Archangels Michael and Gabriel.
Maria enjoys presenting poetry at her recitals, and regularly performs her original music set to readings by various poets, including Guillermo Esparza's "The Seaward Angel of Desire" from his "Versos Delfines" series. Maria's latest project is writing and performing music for sacred spaces, which accompanies sacred artwork installations of Guillermo Esparza in cathedrals and churches internationally. Maria Andriasova Esparza and Guillermo Esparza live and work in Manhattan.
For further information, please visit:
www.andriasovaesparza.com
www.guillermoesparza.com
