Columbia
South Carolina
24th Annual Varna International Music Festival
Arts and Entertainment
May 31, 2025
From: Varna International Music FestivalExperience the thrill of live music at its finest with a festival that brings together the power of orchestral concerts, the energy of Broadway musicals, the drama of opera, and the beauty of choral music. Whether you’re moved by soaring strings, powerful voices, or show-stopping performances, there’s something that will inspire every kind of music lover. Don’t miss this rare opportunity to hear world-class artists and celebrate the mastery of the performing arts.
Schedule of Events:
June 7, 2025
6:00pm - Chanson du Soir
French Voice Recital
Bonjour! Join us to be transported to France through an evening of emotional intensity as the finest vocalists from Varna International Music Academy enchant us with selections from French composers such as Debussy, Fauré, & Saint-Saëns. Encore!
Location: Columbia International University Hoke Auditorium (G. Allen Fleece Library), International Blvd, Columbia, SC, 29203 US
June 8, 2025
3:00pm - Sephardic Art Song: From Folk Roots to Classical Heights
featuring Lori ?en
Experience the rich tapestry of Sephardic culture through music in an evocative recital by Turkish mezzo-soprano, Dr. Lori ?en. Drawing on centuries of tradition and the unique journey of Sephardim across the globe, this program highlights the fusion of Sephardic folk melodies with the Western classical art song tradition.
The performance will last 90 minutes, including a brief intermission.
Location: Temple Sinai 11 Church St, Sumter, SC, 29150
6:00pm - Celebrations and Lamentations: A New Orleans Portrait
Mark Rapp, Trumpet
Soda City Brass Band and Muzika! Festival Brass Players
Celebrations and Lamentations: A New Orleans Portrait invites audiences on a stirring journey through the streets of America's most musical city. In New Orleans, music is life itself. From jubilant second-line parades to mournful dirges that honor the departed, the sound of brass carries the stories of a resilient people.
This performance captures the rich emotional spectrum of New Orleans music: the uncontainable joy, the deep-seated sorrow, the infectious spirit of community. Through traditional marches, spiritual hymns, and modern brass band masterpieces, we present a living soundscape of the French Quarter’s vibrant past and ever-evolving present.
Blending the energy of street performance with the grandeur of concert presentation, Celebrations and Lamentations offers a portrait of New Orleans where every note is a heartbeat, every rhythm a step along Bourbon Street, and every melody a testament to the power of music to celebrate, to mourn, and ultimately, to transcend.
Location: Shortess Chapel, Columbia International University 7435 Monticello Rd, Columbia, SC, 29203
June 11, 2025
6:00 PM - Harmonic Tapestries: Ravel, Beethoven, Brahms
Robert Radliff, violin
Sharon Niessen, piano
Join Duo Radliff-Niessen for an unforgettable evening of classical mastery as they present a recital featuring the works of Ravel, Beethoven, and Brahms. From the shimmering impressionism and exotic sounds of Ravel to the bold and exciting innovation of Beethoven and the rich romanticism of Brahms, this program offers a journey through three distinct musical worlds.
Robert Radliff
Violin, New Jersey Youth Symphony
New York native Robert Radliff is a powerful and engaging violinist, concertizing throughout the New York City area and across the country. Robert’s performances span a diverse mix of solo and lecture recitals, chamber music and string quartet, symphony orchestra, and commercial music events. Robert studied violin performance at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, MD with Violaine Melancon of the Peabody Trio, where he attained his Bachelor’s of Music in 2010. He holds a Master of Arts and Graduate Artist Diploma in Performance at Montclair State University where he studied with Weigang Li of the Shanghai Quartet; he was also a Graduate Assistant of the Orchestra.
Robert has been featured as guest soloist with numerous orchestras throughout Florida, California, New York, New Jersey, and the East Coast. He has collaborated with some of the world’s most iconic musical figures such as Yo-Yo Ma, Itzhak Perlman, Jamie Laredo, and many others. Internationally, Robert has performed in chamber music settings including the East China Normal University, Western District Chamber Music of Hong Kong, and the ‘Konzert im Kirchgarten’ series in Hanover, Germany. He performs as section violin with the New England Symphonic Ensemble at Carnegie Hall, the Binghamton Philharmonic, the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, the New Jersey Festival Orchestra, and the Berkshire Opera Festival in Great Barrington, MA. Robert is the founder of the chamber music series known as “Music in the Library” at the New Jersey Institute of Technology where he performs with the Littman Quartet.
A passionate and sought-after violin pedagogue in the New Jersey music education community as part of the Violin Faculty at the Cazadero Performing Arts Camp in Cazadero, CA from 2017-2002. He currently runs the violin program at the Robert Treat Academy Charter School in Newark, while also accompanying the chorus on piano. He was appointed to the to the position of Violin and Viola Faculty at the Raritan Valley Community College Music Department in January 2022, he coaches and adjudicates the violin section of the New Jersey Youth Symphony, and the Lakeland Youth Symphony of Morris County, NJ.
Sharon Niessen
Piano, Chamber Music
Dutch pianist Sharon Niessen, born and raised in the Netherlands, is being praised for her lyrical and emotional playing and intelligent musicianship both as a soloist and chamber musician.
Sharon started her musical journey at the age of 9. She was prizewinner of national and international competitions such as Princess Christina Competition, IMKA International Music Competition and Charleston International Music Competition.
From a young age, Sharon has been giving concerts in the Netherlands and abroad, solo as well as in chamber music formations. She played in major venues in the Netherlands such as Concertgebouw Amsterdam, TivoliVredenburg Utrecht and Muziekgebouw Eindhoven. She had the honor to play in the prestigious Carnegie Hall in New York, reaching another milestone in her career. She made her TV debut in 2004 and was heard on the radio.
She has played as a soloist with prominent Dutch orchestras such as Philips Symphony Orchestra, YouthOrchestra of the Netherlands, Dutch Promenade Orchestra, Helikon Orchestra, and worked with renowned conductors such as Sander Teepen, Jurjen Hempel and Jules van Hessen. One of her career highlights was her tour of five concerts with the Youth Orchestra of the Netherlands and Liszt’s 1st Piano Concerto.
In addition to her career as solo pianist, Sharon has collaborated with other renowned artists, including world champion whistler Geert Chatrou, soprano Miranda van Kralingen, violinist Robert Radliff, and flutist Ilonka Kolthof.
Sharon studied with Ton Demmers, Jan Wijn and Joop Celis at the Conservatory of Amsterdam and Fontys Academy of Music and Performing Arts in Tilburg (Netherlands).
Location: Columbia International University 7435 Monticello Rd, Columbia, SC, 29203
June 12, 2025
7:00 PM - A Virtuosos Symposium
Featuring Ilya Kaler & Levon Ambartsumian
Moderated by Bradley Fuller, SCETV
Join us as Bradley Fuller from SCETV talks with award-winning violinists – Ilya Kaler and Levon Ambartsumian – about the lives of these two amazing artists. Kaler and Ambartsumian have become world-renowned violinists, and they have amazing stories to tell.
Varna International Music Academy (VIMA), a local, Columbia-based 501 c 3 organization is the reason for the arrival of these two world-renowned artists in Columbia, SC. Maestros Kaler and Ambartsumian will be teaching in the Varna International Music Academy, hosted in Columbia in June 2025, where youth, college students, and young artists will have the privilege to study under these two Maestros. Furthermore, Maestro Kaler will be featured as the violin soloist in the Brahms Violin Concerto performance on June 14 at the Koger Center for the Arts. Do not miss this once-in-a-lifetime performance, conducted by Maestro Buchalter from The Metropolitan Opera.Be sure not to miss this incredible opportunity to see these two artists!
Location: Johnson Hall, University of South Carolina
June 13, 2025
7:30pm - From Stage to Screen
An Evening of Broadway Favorites & Hollywood Classics
Join us for an incredible evening of Broadway favorites with a little Hollywood film music too! Under the baton of Maestro Gregory Buchalter from the Metropolitan Opera, the Muzika! Festival soloists, choir, & orchestra will transport you to the Broadway stage with favorites from the past 80 years, including West Side Story, The Phantom of the Opera, The Sound of Music, Les Misérables, Mary Poppins, and many more! Audience members will then be immersed in the phenomenal orchestral music from films such as Apollo 13, The Shawshank Redemption, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, Back to the Future, and more!
Location: Koger Center for the Arts 1051 Greene St, Columbia, SC, 29201 US
June 14, 2025
7:30pm - Brahms' Violin Concerto & Symphony No. 1
featuring Ilya Kaler, Violin
Experience an incredible evening of Johannes Brahms beginning with Brahms’ Violin Concerto featuring Ilya Kaler – a world-renowned performer who is the only person to have won Gold Medals at all three of the International Tchaikovsky, Sibelius, & Paganini Competitions. The Muzika! Festival Orchestra will join Ilya Kaler under the baton of Maestro Gregory Buchalter from the Metropolitan Opera for this amazing work that is considered to be a musical pillar of the late 19th century. Maestro Buchalter & the Muzika! Festival Orchestra will finish the program with Brahms’ First Symphony, the work that is sometimes called “Beethoven’s Tenth” due to its similarities to the “Ode to Joy” in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony.
Gregory Buchalter
Conductor, The Metropolitan Opera
Gregory Buchalter holds the title of Music Director of Varna International where he has conducted the Bulgarian premieres of Candide and Street Scene. He conducts regularly with Florida Grand Opera and Teatro Lirica d'Europa and the South Florida Symphony. He has been a cover conductor at the Metropolitan Opera (where the position of "Maestro di Banda" was created for him) and has worked extensively with the Metropolitan Opera Chorus. At the Met he prepared several world premieres including John Corigliano's The Ghosts of Versailles, Philip Glass' The Voyage and John Harbison's The Great Gatsby.
Location: Koger Center for the Arts 1051 Greene St, Columbia, SC, 29201 US
June 15, 2025
3:00pm - A Grand Night for singing
Featuring
Varna International Soloists and Orchestra
A Grand Night for Singing celebrates the most successful partnership in Broadway musical history – Richard Rodgers & Oscar Hammerstein – by featuring the music from over 30 of the duo’s top hits, including The King and I, Carousel, Oklahoma!, The Sound of Music, South Pacific, Cinderella, & more! Audience members will be tapping their toes as singers from South Carolina & across the US perform with the Muzika! Festival’s live jazz orchestra.
Location: Richland School District Two Performing Arts Center 763 Fashion Dr, Columbia, SC, 29229 US
June 16, 2025
7:00pm - Brahms' Violin Concerto & Symphony No. 1
Experience an incredible evening of Johannes Brahms beginning with Brahms’ Violin Concerto featuring Ilya Kaler – a world-renowned performer who is the only person to have won Gold Medals at all three of the International Tchaikovsky, Sibelius, & Paganini Competitions. The Muzika! Festival Orchestra will join Ilya Kaler under the baton of Maestro Gregory Buchalter from the Metropolitan Opera for this amazing work that is considered to be a musical pillar of the late 19th century. Maestro Buchalter & the Muzika! Festival Orchestra will finish the program with Brahms’ First Symphony, the work that is sometimes called “Beethoven’s Tenth” due to its similarities to the “Ode to Joy” in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony.
Location: Hartness Performing Arts Center 245 Cavalier Dr, Greenville, SC, 29607
June 17, 2025
6:30pm - Varna International Music Academy
Young Artists Showcase
Varna International Music Academy presents its Young Artists Showcase, featuring a special Instrumental Chamber Music Program.
Location: Columbia International University Hoke Auditorium (G. Allen Fleece Library), International Blvd, Columbia, SC, 29203
June 20, 2025
7:00 PM - Chanson du Soir
French Voice Recital
Bonjour! Join us to be transported to France through an evening of emotional intensity as the finest vocalists from Varna International Music Academy enchant us with selections from French composers such as Debussy, Fauré, & Saint-Saëns. Encore!
Location: Trinity Church 3000 N Kings Hwy, Myrtle Beach, SC, 29577
June 21, 2025
7:00pm - A Grand Night for Singing
Featuring
Varna International Soloists and Orchestra
A Grand Night for Singing celebrates the most successful partnership in Broadway musical history – Richard Rodgers & Oscar Hammerstein – by featuring the music from over 30 of the duo’s top hits, including The King and I, Carousel, Oklahoma!, The Sound of Music, South Pacific, Cinderella, & more! Audience members will be tapping their toes as singers from South Carolina & across the US perform with the Muzika! Festival’s live jazz orchestra.
Location Name: Ground Zero 904 Chester St, Myrtle Beach, SC, 29577
June 22, 2025
4:00pm - Featuring Metropolitan Opera Soloist Amy Shoremount-Obra, soprano Christopher Cooley, pianist
Amy Shoremount-Obra
Soprano, The Metropolitan Opera
Metropolitan Opera Soprano Amy Shoremount-Obra is the Top Prize Winner of the 2018 Gerda Lissner Foundation International Vocal Competition Wagner Division, and made her much-anticipated Metropolitan Opera Debut in October 2014 as "First Lady" in Mozart's Die Zauberflö te - a role she has performed at the Met sixteen times. In previous seasons at the Met, she has also covered the roles of "Donna Anna" in Don Giovanni, "Anna" in Nabucco, "Clotilde" in Norma, "Aksinya" in Shostakovich's Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk and "Queen of the Night" (also in Die Zauberflö te). Other recent operatic appearances have included "Maria" in Pacini's Maria, Regina d'Inghilterra and "Marchesa" in Verdi's Un Giorno di Regno with Odyssey Opera of Boston, "Tosca" with Maryland Opera, "Donna Anna" in Don Giovanni with Opera Las Vegas, The Savannah Voice Festival, and Venture Opera, "Fiordiligi" in Cosi fan tutte with Annapolis Opera, "Leonore" in Beethoven's Fidelio with Grand Harmonie, "Freia" (cvr) in Wagner's "Das Rheingold" with the New York Philharmonic, and "First Lady" in The Magic Flute with the Pacific Symphony.
As a concert artist she has made five appearances at Carnegie Hall in addition to multiple appearances in Lincoln Center at David Geffen Hall, Alice Tully Hall and the David H. Koch Theater and at music festivals throughout the world. She made her Mexican solo concert debut with the Orquesta Filarmó nica del Estado de Chihuahua in 2018 and European Operatic debut in Hä ndel's Oreste at the Spoleto Festival, Italy in 2004. Her 2021-22 season includes concerts with the Adelphi Orchestra (NY & NJ) and Knoxville Opera (TN) and two role debuts: "Elettra" in Mozart's Idomeneo (Europe, TBA), and the title role of Turandot with Opera Grand Rapids (MI). Ms. Shoremount-Obra is a native of New Jersey and holds degrees from Manhattan School of Music (BM, MM) and The Juilliard School (AD).
She is an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Voice at the Conservatory of Music at Brooklyn College (since 2017) and has held several artist-in-residency positions at Lawrence Conservatory of Music (Wisconsin) and at the Universidad Autónoma de Chihuahua in Mexico. She has given master classes and lectures -including her research on Manuel Garcia, breath support, and the first season of Italian Opera in NY - at Lawrence, the NJ Governor's School of the Arts, the University of Tulsa, for the Pennsylvania Music Education Association, at the Universidad Autónoma de Chihuahua and at additional various festivals and workshops throughout the United States. She spent two summers on the faculty of the Juilliard Nord-Anglia Summer Voice Program in Orlando, FL , and is currently on faculty for the OperaTunity Voice Program with the Palm Springs Opera Guild in Palm Springs, CA. She also maintains a private studio in both Manhattan and New Jersey.
Christopher Cooley
Pianist, Brooklyn College Conservatory
Pianist Christopher Cooley has concertized with numerous instrumental and vocal soloists in five continents, as well as Alice Tully Hall and Carnegie Hall. As a soloist, he has played with the University of Texas Symphony, the Chamber Orchestra of Florida, and the Musica Bella Orchestra of New York. As a collaborative pianist, he has served on the staff of numerous summer opera festivals in Italy, Germany, and Austria, as well as the Castleton Festival in Virginia, the Piatigorsky Seminar for Cellists in L.A., and the Manhattan School of Music Summer Voice Festival.
Chris has enjoyed a wide variety of musical activities as a freelance accompanist, cocktail pianist, organist, arranger, and composer in and around New York City for over 25 years. Recent projects include a workshop of Sheila Silver’s new opera "A Thousand Splendid Suns”; a summer tour of Europe including performances in Sweden, Lithuania, and Italy; a Broadway-themed dinner cruise for Hornblower Cruises, for which he arranged the music; and the Paper Mill Playhouse (NJ) New Voices Concerts, a summer musical theater program for which he has served as pianist and arranger for over 10 years. He recently returned to the U.S. after spending a year working at a theater in Lithuania, where he coached opera singers and played rehearsals and concerts.
Chris is currently an adjunct vocal coach and accompanist at Brooklyn College-Conservatory. He holds degrees from Florida State University, the University of Texas at Austin, and a doctorate in Collaborative Piano from the Manhattan School of Music.
Location: Columbia International University(Hoke Auditorium) 7435 Monticello Rd, Columbia, SC, 29203
2:00pm - Muzika's Master Artists Series presents: Chamber Music Concert featuring the students of Varna International Music Academy
A thrilling installment in Muzika’s Master Artists Concert Series featuring instrumental chamber music, featuring exceptional talent from the instrumentalists of Varna International Music Academy:
Nicole Wei Sum Hom, flute
David Lescalleet IV, cello
Elizabeth Runion, flute
This performance will delight audiences with masterworks including Beethoven's Duet for Flute and Cello, Kuhlau's Three Duets, Op. 10, No. 1, and Villa-Lobos' Assobio a Jato (The Jet Whistle).
Guests are welcome to also enjoy the "Summer Sunrise Solstice Sun Show" which will take place at the Art Gallery on this day.
Location: William H. Miller Studios & Fine Art Gallery 702 8th Ave N, Myrtle Beach, SC, 29577
June 23, 2025
7:00pm - Featuring Varna International Soloists and Orchestra
A Grand Night for Singing celebrates the most successful partnership in Broadway musical history – Richard Rodgers & Oscar Hammerstein – by featuring the music from over 30 of the duo’s top hits, including The King and I, Carousel, Oklahoma!, The Sound of Music, South Pacific, Cinderella, & more! Audience members will be tapping their toes as singers from South Carolina & across the US perform with the Muzika! Festival’s live jazz orchestra.
Location: Hartness Performing Arts Center 245 Cavalier Dr, Greenville, SC, 29607
June 24, 2025
6:30pm - Varna International Music Academy Young Artists Showcase
Varna International Music Academy presents its Young Artists Showcase, featuring a special Instrumental Chamber Music Program.
Location: Columbia International University Hoke Auditorium (G. Allen Fleece Library), International Blvd, Columbia, SC, 29203
June 28, 2025
1:00pm and 7:00pm - Die Fledermaus by Johann Strauss
Conducted by Maestro Gregory Buchalter
The Metropolitan Opera
Considered to be the most incredible of Austrian operettas, Die Fledermaus will transport audience members to romantic Old Vienna on New Years Eve for a lavish masked ball. Watch and listen as the drama of romance, deceit, and revenge unfolds in this comedic crowd-pleasing show.
Location: Lexington Two Performing Arts Center 3205 Platt Springs Road, West Columbia, SC, 29170
June 29, 2025
3:00pm - Die Fledermaus by Johann Strauss
Conducted by Maestro Gregory Buchalter
The Metropolitan Opera
Considered to be the most incredible of Austrian operettas, Die Fledermaus will transport audience members to romantic Old Vienna on New Years Eve for a lavish masked ball. Watch and listen as the drama of romance, deceit, and revenge unfolds in this comedic crowd-pleasing show.
Location: Lexington Two Performing Arts Center 3205 Platt Springs Road, West Columbia, SC, 29170
Date: June 1 - 30, 2025
Location: Various Venues in SC