Trio Fadolín portrait by Tatiana Daubek
ABOUT THE ENSEMBLE | VIDEOS
UPCOMING SHOWS:
December 2 — Bruno Walter Auditorium, Lincoln Center, New York, NY
December 6 — Burlington, VT (UVM Lane Series)
January 17 and 18, 2025 – Metropolitan Museum of Art / New York NY
February 2, 2025 — New York, NY (Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church / Saint Andrew Music Society)
February 9, 2025 — Cold Spring Harbor, NY (Concerts by the Pond)
For details, see the schedule.
Check out the archive of past dates.
For all booking inquiries, please contact booking@Ljova.com.
PRESENTERS — please click here for high resolution photos, bios, repertoire and other downloadable assets.
TRIO FADOLÍN is:
— Sabina Torosjan (violin)
— Ljova (fadolín)
— Valeriya Sholokhova (cello)
ABOUT TRIO FADOLÍN:
Trio Fadolín is a new ensemble with a unique sonority — featuring Sabina Torosjan on violin, Valeriya Sholokhova on cello, and Ljova, performing on the fadolín – a new instrument that encompasses the range of the violin, viola, and most of the cello, finding its footing in an acoustic chamber music setting for the first time. In our inaugural season, Trio Fadolín has been presented by Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, The Kennedy Center, the brand new Perelman Performing Arts Center (PACNYC) and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. We formed during the COVID-19 pandemic — our first performances were in the summer of 2021 on a makeshift at the Javits Convention Center mass vaccination site, operated by the US Army and sponsored by Sing for Hope. As our opportunities to play together grew, our repertoire evolved steadily — it now includes works by Ukrainian composers Vasyl Barvinsky, Mykola Kolessa, and Miroslav Skoryk, Spanish-American composer Andrea Casarrubios, Estonian-American composer Lembit Beecher, folk music from Armenia, Denmark, Sweden and Romania, in addition to original works by our fadolínist, Ljova. All three of us are graduates of The Juilliard School.
Trio Fadolín is the recipient of the Ensemble Forward grant from Chamber Music America and the New York Community Trust, as part of which we will spend some time this year working on a new project with the Syrian clarinettist and composer Kinan Azmeh. The Trio is also a recipient of a grant from the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (LMCC) to present three concerts in their 2024-2025 season. We were the inaugural ensemble-in-residence at Interlochen Public Radio, where we recorded material for our forthcoming debut album. We’ve also completed our first East Coast tour with stops in Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York.
Our focus is multifaceted — on the one hand, we are exploring the unique sonority of the acoustic fadolín (six-string violin, with low C and F strings) within a trio context, using it — for the first time in history — as an integral instrument in an acoustic chamber music setting.
On the other hand, we also share a deep personal connection — all three of us grew up in the former Soviet Union and arrived in New York as teens. Sabina was born in Estonia of Armenian-Jewish heritage; Valeriya was born in Ukraine of Ukrainian, Jewish, and Russian heritage; Ljova was born in Moscow, Russia, of Ukrainian-Jewish, German-Jewish, Polish and Romanian heritage. We share a common bond of immigration, Eastern European literature, humor, animation and music.
We are here to tell the complicated story, to tell the stories of immigrant composers, to collaborate with immigrant artists, to showcase places where cultures intersect.
MUSICIAN BIOS:
SABINA TOROSJAN, originally from Tartu, Estonia has been an active freelance performer since graduating from The Juilliard School having studied with Sally Thomas and Lewis Kaplan. She plays regularly with Ensemble Mise-En and RAM whose focus is in contemporary music from around the world. She has recorded with iconic folk singer Pete Seeger, Jennifer Hudson, composer and guitarist Terry Champlin, as well as appearing on SNL.
Sabina enjoyed being the violinist for the Off Broadway production of “Fiddler On The Roof in Yiddish” for its entire run ending in 2020. She also loves spending time with her two kids.
LJOVA (Lev Zhurbin) was born in Moscow, Russia, and moved to New York with his parents, composer Alexander Zhurbin and writer Irena Ginzburg, in 1990. He divides his time between composing for the concert stage, contemporary dance & film, leading his own ensemble LJOVA AND THE KONTRABAND, performing with and composing for TRIO FADOLÍN, as well as a busy career as a violist, fadolínist & musical arranger. Among recent projects are commissions from the City of London Sinfonia, The Louisville Orchestra, a new work for Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble, a string quartet for Brooklyn Rider, a clarinet quintet for Art of Élan, and works for The Knights, Sybarite5 and A Far Cry, as well arrangements for the New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, tenor Javier Camarena, conductors Gustavo Dudamel and Alondra de la Parra, songwriters Ricky Martin, Natalia Lafourcade and Carlos Vives, composer/guitarist Gustavo Santaolalla and Osvaldo Golijov. Ljova frequently collaborates with choreographers Aszure Barton, Damian Woetzel, Christopher Wheeldon, Katarzyna Skarpetowska (with Parsons Dance)
Ukrainian-American Cellist VALERIYA SHOLOKHOVA is an in-demand soloist and chamber musician based in New York City. Valeriya has made recent appearances on notable stages such as Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall, David Geffen Hall, The Kennedy Center, Metropolitan Museum, and Saturday Night Live. In 2022, she performed the US Premiere of Peteris Vasks’ Cello Concerto No. 2 in Boston, Massachusetts. The same year, Valeriya co-founded Trio Fadolin, which received Chamber Music America’s Ensemble Forward Grant and has recorded an album of newly commissioned works for the ensemble. Valeriya currently holds the position of principal cellist of a number of chamber orchestras, including Washington Heights Chamber Orchestra, New Orchestra of Washington, and The Refugee Orchestra Project.
VIDEOS:
Special guests & collaborators:
— Inna Barmash (vocal)
— Simone Baron (accordion)
— Alexandrina Boyanova (violin)
— Nikita Yermak (violin)
— Lavinia Pavlish (violin)
— Dan Tepfer (piano)
— Sam Sadigursky (clarinet)
— Zisl Slepovitch (clarinet)
PAST DATES:
(go back to upcoming dates)
| November 10, 2024 | St. John in the Village (New York NY) |
| November 9, 2024 | ArtsRock Classical Candlelight Series (Nyack NY) |
| October 18 and 19, 2024 | Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York NY) |
| October 9, 2024 | New York Studio School — Morton Feldman’s “Piano, Violin, Viola, Cello” with pianist Dan Tepfer (New York NY) |
| July 25, 2024 | Fort Washington Church (presented by the Washington Heights Chamber Orchestra) (New York NY) |
| June 29, July 6, 13, 20, 27, 2024 | weekly residency at the Perelman Performing Arts Center (PACNYC) (New York NY) |
| June 25, 2024 | Metropolitan Museum of Art LiveArts Summer Celebration(New York NY) |
| June 16, 2024 | Roosevelt Island Concerts (New York NY) |
| May 23, 2024 | Museum of Jewish Heritage (New York NY) – solo set and in collaboration with Alicia Jo Rabins & The Camas High School Choir |
| April 3, 2024 | Interchurch Center (New York NY) |
| March 25, 2024 | Bruno Walter Auditorium, the New York Public Library, Lincoln Center (New York NY) |
| March 15 and 16, 2024 | Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York NY) |
| January 18, 2024 | Moynihan Train Terminal (New York NY) |
| December 22, 2023 | Perelman Performing Arts Center (PACNYC) (New York NY) |
| December 15 and 16, 2023 | Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York NY) |
| November 15 2023 | DiMenna Center for Classical Music, Cary Hall (New York NY) |
| November 8 2023 | Consulate General of Bulgaria – presented by Bulgarian Concert Evenings (New York NY) |
| October 7, 2023 | First Presbyterian Church — presented by Hudson Festival Orchestra (Hudson, NY) |
| August 5 / 12 / 19, 2023 | Perelman Arts Center (PAC NYC) – presented by Refugee Orchestra Project (New York, NY) |
| August 11, 2023 | private concert (Putnam Valley, NY) |
| July 21 & 22 2023 | Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, NY) |
| June 29, 2023 | Times Square – presented by Carnegie Hall (New York, NY) |
| May 19 & 20 2023 | Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, NY) |
| April 27, 2023 | David Rubenstein Atrium, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (New York, NY) – with Alexander Zhurbin and Irena Ginzburg and special guests |
| April 2, 2023 | Museum of Arts and Design / New York NY (presented by GatherNYC) |
| March 24, 2023 | Harmonie Hall / Philadelphia PA (with Gregg Mervine and his trio) |
| March 23, 2023 | Black Cherry Puppet Theater / Baltimore MD (with Simone Baron) |
| March 22, 2023 | Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (Millennium Stage) / Washington DC |
| March 20, 2023 | Barbès / Brooklyn NY |
| March 11, 2023 | Mundos 305, Traverse City MI (presented by Interlochen Public Radio) |
| March 09, 2023 | The Barrel Room, Traverse City MI (presented by Interlochen Public Radio) |
| February 27, 2023 | City Winery / New York NY (benefit for Syria and Turkey earthquake relief) |
| January 28, 2023 | Old Broadway Synagogue / New York NY (presented by the Center for Traditional Music and Dance) |
| January 08 2023 | House Concert / London UK (presented by Dash Arts) |
| November 22 2022 | Barbès (Brooklyn, NY) |
| November 15 2022 | Bashenniki series (Secaucus, NJ) |
| November 6 2022 | Essence Theater-Studio (Brooklyn, NY) |
| October 21 & 22 2022 | Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, NY) |
| September 16 + 17 2022 | Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, NY) |
| July 15 + 16 2022 | Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, NY) |
| July 11 2022 | Crossbar (New York, NY) |
| June 11 2022 | Bargemusic (Brooklyn NY) |
| May 10 2022 | Barbès (Brooklyn, NY) |
| July 13 2021 | Barbès (Brooklyn, NY) |
| September 8 2019 | Symphony Space (New York, NY) |