Biography
Anna-Maria Ravnopolska-Dean was born in Sofia. She studied with the Italian Professor and Harpist Liana Pasquali and continued her education in the USA with the pre-eminent Harpist and Professor Susann McDonald, at Indiana University, Bloomington. Both of her teachers were students of the French Harp School; Marcel Tournier (Liana Pasquali) and Henriette Renie (Susann McDonald). At the Indiana University School of Music, Anna-Maria was awarded an Artist Diploma for 'Superior Artistic Achievement in Harp Performance'. She made her New York début at Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall in 1992. Anna-Marie had previously been introduced to American audiences on the 'McGraw-Hill Young Artists Showcase' of WQXR radio in New York, and later participated in a series of notable international competitions, including those of Gargilesse in Berry, Munich, and Jerusalem.
In 1992, she became one of the founders of the American University in Bulgaria. At the university, she teaches several theoretical and applied courses on the harp and the piano. In 2008 students of hers played the full version of the Tchaikovsky seasons for first time on the Balkan peninsula.
One of her most notable performances was at the Eighth World Harp Congress, Geneva, in 2002. There she played the first harp in an ensemble of six harps and had a separate solo performance despite suffering partial paralysis of her left hand.
In 2003, she discovered a talent for composing. Her first composition "Improvisation", was written in Bulgarian folk style.
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