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Organist, pianist, and harpsichordist, Silviya Mateva is currently the Director of Music at The First Universalist Church of Rochester, NY, where she has the honor of playing the historic Hope-Jones Opus 2 organ (1908.) She completed her Master of Music degree in Organ Performance and Literature at the Eastman School of Music in 2010, where she studied with Hans Davidsson. In 2008 she received her Bachelor of Music degree in Organ Performance (summa cum laude) from Stetson University’s School of Music, where she was a student of Boyd Jones.
Born in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, Ms. Mateva started studying piano at the age of seven and has studied piano under the tutelage of Svetlana Kosseva and Michael Rickman. She studied organ with Velin Iliev before coming to the US in 2005. Prior to her current position Ms. Mateva has served as the organist-choirmaster at Resurrection Lutheran Church, Rochester, organist at First Baptist Church, DeLand, FL and pianist at St. Barnabas Episcopal Church, DeLand . She has served as assistant organist at St. Ludwig Catholic Cathedral in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, and also as accompanist at St. Michael Catholic church in Rakovski, Bulgaria. She was a rehearsal accompanist and choral participant in the St. Cecilia choir for the Papal visit of His Holiness John Paul II in Plovdiv in 2002.
Ms. Mateva was an official competitor at the National Young Artist Competition in Organ Performance (NYACOP), 2009-2010. She also won the Dobrin Petkov High School concerto competition, resulting in a performance with the Plovdiv Philharmonic, and received honors in the Fifth International Piano Competition for French Music and the First International "Schumann-Brahms" Piano Competition, both in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. She has received numerous awards including the Charles R. Nicholls Memorial Scholarship (Eastman School of Music), the Presser Scholar Award for the Outstanding Junior in the School of Music, Outstanding Sophomore in the School of Music, William E. Duckwitz Talent Scholarship (Stetson School of Music), National Diploma (Sofia, Bulgaria), Outstanding High School Senior Diploma, Rotary Club Diploma and is a member of Pi Kappa Lambda, national music honor society. |
