Associate Professor Farida Bacharova

BMus Gnesin Music College Moscow MMus Moscow Conservatory

Head of Strings

In 1992, Farida, then the youngest female concertmaster in Russia, was the soloist for more than forty performances of ballets such as The Golden Age, The Nutcraker and Swan Lake in Tokyo’s Metropolitan Hall. During twelve years of experience performing in Russia and on international tours, she has appeared as a soloist for ballets and as a symphonic soloist in many of the world’s major halls, including, among others, Fischer Hall and Carnegie Hall in New York, Champs d’Elysees in Paris, Consertgebou in Amsterdam, Berlin’ Schauspiel Haus, Gevandhause in Leipzig, Tonhalle in Zurich as well as the Moscow Conservatory Main Hall and Tchaikovsky Hall. A highlight of her orchestral career was a joint-concert with the New York Philharmonic, under the baton of Zubin Metha.

As a Solo Recitalist in Moscow Farida as performed in the Chamber Hall, Rachmaninov hall and White Hall with international acclaimed pianist, Natalie Trull. She appeared as a soloist in the City Hall, Cape Town in November 2000, performing Mozart’s Symphonia Concertante with violist Oleg Alexeyev and the Cape Town Symphony Orchestra. Farida is a regular soloist and performer in the Four-by-Two Baroque ensemble with Prof. Shirley Gie and in 2003 performed a concert of Piano Quintet music in the Baxter Concert Hall with Dr. Franklin Larey, Prof. Jürgen Schwietering and Peter Martens.

Since 2000 Farida has dedicated much of her time to teaching at various institutions and regular performances in and around Cape Town with her String Quartet, The Four Seasons Quartet. Since 2002 Farida has been extremely active in training various groups such as the Sontanga Quartet and preparing her students for international exposure. Her students at UCT have shown remarkable achievements: Marc Uys, as Masters violin student has won the 2004 SAMRO/Gettleson String Study Award; Paula Fourie, a second year viola student, has begun studies in Moscow after receiving acceptance in the World renowned Violist, Yuri Bashmet’s class at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory. Another of Farida’s students, Patrick Goodwin, who graduated in 2004, has received acceptance into the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester for 2005 but he is currently a student of Ilya Kaler at the De Paul University in Chicago. He has also received study grants from the W. Ackerman Education Fund and the Oppenheimer Trust for performance studies abroad. Another student, Katherine Roussopoulos, has been accepted to attend the Boston University to continue her studies in September 2006.

As head of String Department, Farida has been fundamental in the promotion of the String Department across South Africa and abroad. The Department to date includes a student from Soweto and next year a student from London has chosen to continue her post graduate studies with Farida. The Department has also collaborated with Musedi to promote String studies in the Western Cape. This includes a very successful concert by her students in Elsies Rivier in 2005 and in 2006 two concerts have been scheduled at Beau Soliel and Diocesan College, Rondebosch. Farida also maintains an active schedule as a chamber music musician, including a string quartet, the UCT Piano Trio and various Baroque ensembles with Shirley Gie.