W.Va. Symphony Presents 'Exotic Journeys'

The West Virginia Symphony Orchestra will perform "Exotic Journeys" with Grant Cooper, conductor, and Ana Vidovic, guitar soloist, on Thursday, Jan. 31, at 7:30 p.m. at Fairmont State University's Colebank Hall.

The program will include Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's Overture: The Great Russian Easter, Op. 36; Joaquin Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez; and Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony No. 7 in A Major, Op. 92. For tickets to the concert, call the Box Office at (304) 367-4240 or the Marion County Chamber of Commerce at (304) 367-0442.

This program is presented with financial assistance from the West Virginia Division of Culture and History and the National Endowment for the Arts, with approval from the West Virginia Commission on the Arts

Guitarist Ana Vidovic is an extraordinary talent with formidable gifts taking her place amongst the elite musicians of the world today.

She comes from the small town of Karlovac near Zagreb, Croatia, and started playing guitar at the age of 5, and by 7 had given her first public performance. At the age of 11 she was performing internationally, and at 13 became the youngest student to attend the prestigious National Musical Academy in Zagreb where she studied with Professor Istvan Romer. Her reputation in Europe led to an invitation to study at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, with Manuel Barrueco, from where she graduated in May 2003.

At the age of only 23 Vidovic has won an impressive number of prizes and international competitions all over the world. These include first prizes in the Albert Augustine International Competition in Bath, England; the Fernando Sor competition in Rome, Italy; and the Francisco Tarrega competition in Benicasim, Spain. Other top prizes include the Eurovision Competition for Young Artists, the Mauro Giuliani competition in Italy, the Printemps de la Guitare in Belgium and the Young Concert Artists International Auditions in New York.

She has given over one thousand public performances since first taking the stage in 1988. Her international performance career includes recitals in London, Paris, Vienna, Salzburg, Rome, Budapest, Warsaw, Tel Aviv, Oslo, Copenhagen, Toronto, Baltimore, San Francisco, Houston, Austin, Dallas and St. Louis.

In Croatia she has performed with the Zagreb Soloists and the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra and with Symphony Orchestra of the Croatian Radio and Television, as well as having been featured in three television documentaries by the eminent Croatian film director Petar Krelja.