Tulsa Orchestra Features Bulgarian Violinist

By Rich Lenz, The News On 6

TULSA, OK -- This season the Tulsa Symphony Orchestra's six concert series is built around the music of a specific country - for example, they opened back in September with the music of Germany. Last Saturday night, they featured composers from England.

Both evenings spotlighted the work of a violinist from Bulgaria who now calls Tulsa, her "home away from home."

How did Rossitza Jekova-Goza get to Tulsa from Bulgaria?

"I was four and a half when I started playing the violin when I knew that I wanted to be a violinist," she said.

That was in Bulgaria. Rossitza immigrated to the United States when she was 20. Now she teaches violin at the University of North Texas in Dallas, and for the last four years she has been the concert master and first violinist for the Tulsa orchestra.

"You cannot just walk to someone and say, 'hey, you must like classical music,'" Rossitza Jekova-Goza said. "The way I can make people like it is by playing it well and showing them how much I love it."

Whether it's an audience of one or a full house, Rossitza says sharing her passion is an interactive experience.

"That's incredibly exciting to have the full house and to have that energy," she said. "You do feel the audience. There is no way you can block it out and to ignore it - it is just this constant process of communicating with them."

That communication often involves violin solos, often incredibly complex solos that can last several minutes.

"Yes, it can be nerve-racking sometimes," she said.

Especially since she is using a violin she describes as both temperamental and - her favorite.

"I have spent more time with this particular instrument in the practice room, probably more time in hours than with any other human being," Jekova-Goza said.

What does her husband think of that?

"Oh, he's all right I guess," she said.

Her husband is also a professional musician, so he really does get it.

There are two concerts and two countries left for the Tulsa Symphony Orchestra to conquer this season.

The music of France will be performed on March 27th at the Chapman Music Hall, and Latin American composers will be featured in the season finale on May 1.