Regina D’Amico has been researching and performing Bulgarian folk music since 1982.  She graduated from Bard College in New York, where she received the Clair Leonard scholarship for excellence in the field of music.  In 1998, she completed a master’s degree in cross-cultural studies at Wesleyan University in Connecticut.  From 1990-2001, she performed extensively with Rozmarin, a New Haven-based women’s ensemble that maintained an active performance and workshop schedule of East European folk music, serving as its president from 1993-2001.  She continues her vocal training with esteemed Bulgarian singers in New York, California, and Bulgaria.

In 2000, Ms. D’Amico founded Patchwork Productions, Inc., a nonprofit organization committed to cross-cultural education through the documentation of folk music and folk art traditions.  She received a National Endowment for the Humanities-funded International Research and Exchanges Board fellowship to begin a large-scale multimedia archival project on traditional folk music throughout Bulgaria’s 7 folkloric regions.  In 2003, she was invited by the Muriel Gardiner Program at Yale University to present her fieldwork.  As of 2009, Ms. D’Amico has recorded in 31 villages, towns, and cities in the Shope, Pirin, and Dobrudja regions.

MISSION STATEMENT

Patchwork Productions, Inc. celebrates folk music and folk art traditions, recognizing each culture’s unique and invaluable contribution to the world tapestry.  As a nonprofit organization designed to collect and document folk music and other folk art traditions, Patchwork Productions, Inc. strives to promote better cross-cultural understanding, appreciation, and respect through exposure and education.