2004 Press Releases

U.S. Embassy to Provide Grant for American Music Scores to the State Conservatory

Bratislava, September 20, 2004

On the occasion of the U.S.-embassy sponsored visit of soprano Eleanor Valkenburg and pianist Nnenna Ogwo to Bratislava and Trnava September 21-23 for performances and workshops, Mrs. Eileen Weiser, spouse of U.S. Ambassador to Slovakia Ronald Weiser, will present a one thousand dollar (32,000 Slovak crowns) check to the State Music Conservatory toward the purchase of scores of American music.

The presentation will take place at 11:00 AM on September 21 at the State Conservatory Concert Hall, Tolsteho 1, Bratislava, and the press is invited to this event. A master class for Slovak voice students led by Eleanor Valkenburg will follow.

In Bratislava, Ms. Valkenburg and Ms. Ogwo will perform an all-American classical music concert September 22 at 7:00 PM at Klarisky Concert Hall under the auspices of the Bratislava Cultural and Information Center. In Trnava, they will perform at 5:00 PM September 23 at the Art School, Štefanikova 2.

Ms. Valkenburg is the Artistic Director of Poetica Musica, a consortium of musicians who are currently artists-in-residence at Old Westbury Gardens, a stately mansion located on Long Island's North Shore. She received her training at SUNY Stony Brook and the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Nnenna Ogwo, pianist, studied at the Peabody Conservatory and Oberlin Conservatory, as well as at the Ferenc Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest. Both have performed in Europe, the Middle East, and the U.S., and are dedicated to sharing chamber music in the American tradition with musicians and music aficionados worldwide.