Hello, Veneta! You’re about to play at Carnegie Hall for the first time on November 12th. What does this moment mean to you personally, and have you allowed yourself to think about walking onto that stage yet?
Playing at Carnegie Hall is both a dream and a responsibility. It’s a place where so many of the musicians I admire have shared their art, and the thought of walking onto that stage fills me with a deep sense of gratitude. I try not to imagine it too vividly yet because when I do, it’s almost overwhelming! But I do think about the sound, the silence before the first note, and the connection that hopefully begins the moment the music starts.
I’m curious about the title “Chances and Choices” for your program. When you were putting this together, was there a particular moment in your own life that made you want to explore these themes of fate versus free will through music?
Yes, very much so. The title came from a period of deep reflection in my life, times when certain doors opened unexpectedly, and others closed no matter how hard I tried. I began to see that what we call “chance” often meets us where we are prepared to make a “choice.” This dialogue between the unexpected and the deliberate exists in life, but also in music, especially in how composers shape their ideas and how we, as performers, respond to them. The program became a kind of musical meditation on that balance.
Chopin’s 24 Preludes sit at the heart of your concert. These pieces can feel so intimate, almost like diary entries. How do you approach performing something so personal in front of an audience, especially in a hall as big as Carnegie?
That’s a beautiful question. I think the only way to share Chopin’s Preludes honestly is to forget about the hall and focus on the essence of the moment. These are pieces that live between the public and the private – they’re fleeting, emotional fragments of thought. Even in a large space like Carnegie, I try to play as if I’m speaking quietly to each person individually. Chopin’s music is incredibly personal, but it also contains a universal language of vulnerability, and that’s what I try to reach for.
You’re including works by Dimitar Nenov, a Bulgarian composer many Americans might not know well. What drew you to his Miniatures and Meditation, and what do you hope audiences will discover in his music?
Nenov’s music is a revelation. He was not only a composer but also an architect, and you can feel that sense of structure and vision in everything he wrote. His Miniatures and Meditation are both deeply poetic, rooted in Bulgarian tradition yet entirely original in voice. I hope American audiences will hear in Nenov the same depth and beauty they find in the great European masters and sense that this is music speaking a universal language, born from a specific place but reaching far beyond it.
The press release mentions your commitment to making classical music accessible in new ways. When you’re standing backstage before a performance like this, who do you picture in the audience, and what do you most want them to take home with them that night?
I often picture someone hearing this music for the first time. Maybe it’s a young person, maybe someone who doesn’t usually go to concerts, but who decided to take a chance on this one. What I hope they take home isn’t just admiration for the music, but a sense of recognition – that they’ve heard something that speaks to their own experiences, emotions, and choices. If a concert can make someone feel more connected – to themselves, to others, or to the world – then it’s done something truly meaningful.
Venue: Weill Recital Hall, Carnegie Hall, New York
Date & Time: Wednesday, November 12, 2025 at 8 PM
Tickets here.
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Photo credit: Vladimir Kotsev.