As a child prodigy Desiree Paulsen Bakke won prizes in the most prestigious competitions in her native Norway. She has performed with the Oslo Philharmonic and Bergen Symphony Orchestra, and had participated in music festivals in Sweden, Norway, Germany, Switzerland and USA. She was featured on radio and television programs in Europe and USA. Her teachers include Eline Nygaard, Einar Steen-Nøkleberg, Jens-Harald Bratlie, Albert Ferber, Karl Engel, and Malcolm Bilson.
Native of Azerbaijan, Saida Kafarova performed her Carnegie Hall debut recital in June 2000, as a winner of Artists International Special Presentation Recital Award. Dr. Jerome Starr commented, "In my time I have heard all the great - Paderewski, Hofmann, Rachmaninov. You are top rank. Artistry, poetry, soul of the highest order..." She studied with the pupil of Medtner Elmira Safarova, Farhad Badalbeyli, Tatiana Nikolayeva, Anton Nel and Gregory Allen. Dr. Kafarova did a research on Nikolai Medtner's Opus 58 which resulted in a dissertation titled "An Introduction to Nikolai Medtner and Performance Analysis in Dialogue Form of His Works for Two Pianos - Russian Round Dance and Knight Errant." She has performed recitals and presented lectures worldwide.
The duo Desiree Bakke and Saida Kafarova was formed in 2003. Since then, the duo has performed at the Texas Music Teachers Annual Convention in San Antonio, Texas State University - San Marcos, at the International Duo-Piano Festival in Stavanger and recently at the Norges Musikkhogskole, Oslo.
Additional funding provided by the Texas Commission on the Arts.
San Angelo Museum
of Fine Arts
One Love Street
San Angelo, Texas
76903
Fax: (325) 658 -
6800 Phone: (325)
653 - 3333
e-mail:
museum@samfa.org