"On January 3rd, 2020 contemporary composer Gyuli Kambarova held an outstanding concert at the University of Louisville. The audience admired her bright, genuinely touching style and gave standing ovations to the performers. The composer was joined by guest artists Israel Cuenca (percussion), Natalia Bezuglova (piano), Oleg Bezuglov (violin), Felix Borges (cello) and Samir Kambarov (saxophone), who played Gyuli’s music with utmost professionalism, delivering her creative ideas into life. The program included “Christmas Suite” and “Marine Pictures” for alto saxophone and piano, “Concertino” for violin and piano, and a recently commissioned “Unchained” quintet. The author started her recital with her own piano solos “Little Music Stories” in the complete darkness. She intrigued listeners by performing these pieces along with a video footage on the big screen that provided a fine visual context for these compositions. The audience was impressed by the diversity of music’s instrumentation. The masterful application of saxophone and percussion made Gyuli’s classically written compositions sound appealing and fresh. The dynamic of the concert has a dramatic spin up with every given piece. Each new composition introduced new instruments and powerful contrasts of the music forms. The concert concluded with the composer’s newest piece – her quintet “Unchained”, a composition commissioned by the Kentucky Music Teachers Association. For this work Gyuli was nominated for the “Distinguished Composer of the Year” award, administered by the United States National Music Teachers Association. The quintet sounded like a piece of symphonic scale with the American Anthem quoted at the final section. Every member in the audience was astounded by the fine quality of Gyuli’s music. It seems unbelievable for this young woman to compose music of such a high level that connected incredible musicians from Brazil, Ecuador and Russia. This international combo evidently showed that music is an universal language, which has no boundaries. The unique voice of Guily Kambarova, an internationally recognized composer truly made a difference as a musical beginning of a new decade. Bravo maestra!"
