Faculty

Violin:
Haroutune Bedelian (USA)
Antoine van Dongen (Holland/USA)
Susan Freier (USA)
Renata Artman Knific (Poland/USA)
Routa Kroumovitch (Latvia/USA)
Vladimir Landsman (Russia/Canada)
Madeleine Mitchell (England)
David Neely (USA)
Cármelo de los Santos (Brazil/USA)
Natalia Yampolski (Russia/USA)

Viola:
Alvaro Gomez (Chile/USA)
Hisaopei Lee (Taiwan/USA)
Pamela Ryan (USA)
Ilan Schneider (Lithuania/Luxembourg)

Violoncello:
Stephen Harrison (USA)
Moises Molina (USA)
Alexander Russakovsky (Russia/USA)
Gabriella Strümpel (Germany/Belgium)
Miron Yampolski (Russia/USA)

Piano:
Anna Balakerskaya (Russia/USA)
Richard Cionco (USA)
Natsuko Fukasawa(Japan/USA)
Lorna Griffitt (USA)
Irina Krivonos (Russia/USA)
Vag Papian (Russia/Israel)
Michael Rickman (USA)
Mayron Tsong (Canada/USA)
Vlad Khohlov (Russia/USA)
Andrea Molina (USA)
David Yeomans USA)

Bassoon:
Scott Pool (USA)

Clarinet:
Joseph Rosen (USA)

Voice::
Sheila Allen (USA)
Wanda Brister (USA)
Dmitry Vdovin (Russia)
Robert Wells (USA)
San-ky Kim (Korea/USA)

Conducting:
Alvaro Gomez
Vag Papian

Guest Artists
Sarah Crocker, violin (USA)
Sergey Romanovsky, tenor (RUSSIA)
Albina Shagimuratova, soprano (Russia)
Gilles Vonsattel, piano (Switzerland)

In previous years, the following artists were guest faculty at the Schlern International Music Festival:

Artists-in-Residence

SHEILA ALLEN, mezzo-soprano
(USA)

Professor, Chair of Vocal Studies, Texas Christian University at Fort Worth, formerly of Washington State University, Pullman, and the New York State University College, Fredonia. Appeared as a recitalist and soloist in operatic, orchestral and chamber music repertoire across the United States and in Germany. A champion of contemporary music, premiered Stephen Albert's To Wake the Dead in Alice Tully Hall and recorded it for CRI. Appeared as soloist with conductors including Semyon Bychkov, Christopher Keene, Helmut Rilling, and Lucas Foss. The New York Times hailed her Carnegie Hall recital as "...a first rate evening of music making," and American Gramophone called her recording of the Albert "superb." Many of the chamber works performed have been Dr. Allen's editions of arrangements by Dutch/German violist Rudolf Nel or of manuscripts found in his collection. In 1997 the Allen-Herman-Yeomans trio premiered a commissioned work by Martin-Beatus Meier at the Music Teachers National Association Convention in Dallas, Texas. More recently, the Allen-Yeomans duo has presented a program of music and drama dedicated to the Czech romantic composer Zdenik Fibich. These concerts, presented in the United States and England, included performances of Sheila Allen's English language adaptation of Fibich's monodrama Vodník. Dr. Allen holds the Mus. B. from the Oberlin Conservatory, the M.M., D.M.A. and Performer's Certificate from the Eastman School of Music, and studied in Stuttgart, Germany as a Fulbright Scholar, where she also performed with the Gächinger Kantorei. A pupil of Kammersängerin Lore Fischer, Helen Boatwright, and Helen Hodam, she was a national finalist in both the Metropolitan Opera Auditions and the National Association of Teachers of Singing Artist Awards. She also spent a summer as a Boston Symphony Vocal Fellow at Tanglewood and was selected for an U.S. National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Seminar in Music and Literature at Dartmouth College. Judge in numerous competitions, including the Canadian National Music Competitions, San Diego Musical Merit Competition, Metropolitan Opera Regional auditions, NATS, and MTNA.

ANNA BALAKERSKAIA, piano
(RUSSIA/USA)

Professor of Piano, George Mason University, Virginia, Levine School of Music in Washington, DC, formerly of the Moscow State Conservatory and St. Petersburg State Conservatory. Collaborated with such noted artists as Kirill Kondrashin, Victor Tretyakov, Daniel Shafran, Dmitri Tziganov, Vladimir Landsman, and Michael Ganvarg. Concertized in Germany, Switzerland, Holland, France, Belgium, Italy, Finland, United States, Canada, and Argentina, having performed in some of the greatest halls including Carnegie Hall, Salle Gaveau of Paris, The Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, Teatro Colon in Buenos-Aires, Palais des Arts in Montreal, the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels, The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Corcoran Gallery, National Gallery of Arts, and Library of Congress. Founding member of "Ensemble da Camera" of Washington and its active performer. Studied at the St. Petersburg State Conservatory piano with the renowned pianist and master teacher Nadeszda Golubovskaia and chamber music with world famous chamber musician Prof. Tamara Fidler. Awarded many prizes, among them three times the "Best Accompaniment Diploma" of the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow. Conducts numerous master classes throughout the Unites States and Europe, teaches at the International Summer Music Festivals in Holland, Germany, and Russia. Her students have been winners of multiple competitions, both in the USA and Europe.

HAROUTUNE BEDELIAN, violin
(USA)

Professor, University of California at Irvine, enjoys a varied career as a performer, teacher and lecturer. Mr. Bedelian won a scholarship at age fifteen to attend London's Royal Academy of Music where he studied with David Martin and Manoug Parikian. With the help of Yehudi Menuhin and scholarships from the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, his studies continued with Ivan Galamian and with Nathan Milstein. At twenty he won first prize in the BBC Violin Competition and appeared with the BBC Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Bedelian has performed, broadcast and televised to outstanding critical acclaim throughout the world. An avid supporter of new music, Mr. Bedelian performed the world premiere of Aroutiunian's Violin Sonata in Paris, gave the Dutch premiere of Schnitke's Preludium in Memory of Dmitri Shostakovich for violin and tape, the first British performance of the Alan Hovhaness Second Violin Concerto at the Oxford Music Festival, and the New York premiere of Thea Musgrave¹s Coloque.

WANDA BRISTER, mezzo-soprano
(USA)

Professor of Voice, Florida State University, formerly of the University of Arizona and Baylor University.Performed in forty of the United States and in eleven European countries more than forty operatic roles with opera companies such as Opera Orchestra of New York, Opera Company of Philadelphia, Baltimore Opera, New Orleans Opera, Opera Theater of Saint Louis, New York Opera Ensemble, Annapolis Opera, Pittsburgh Opera Theater, Connecticut Grand Opera, Jefferson Performing Arts Society, Lyric Opera of Waco, Shreveport Opera, Performing Arts Society of Acadiana, and the New England Lyric Operetta; soloist with orchestras in New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Louisiana, Florida, Arizona, West Virginia, and has sung under the batons of such conductors as Krzysztof Penderecki, Michael Tilson Thomas, John Rutter, John Nelson, Philippe Entremont, Arthur Fagen, Chris Nance and Leopold Hager. She served as an apprentice with the New Orleans Opera before enrolling at the Academy of Vocal Arts , Philadelphia , then worked as an apprentice with the Opera Company of Philadelphia . Studied with such operatic luminaries as Nell Rankin, Beverly Wolf, and Enrico Di Giuseppe, completed a Doctor of Musical Arts at University of Nevada , Las Vegas , under the direction of Vocal Literature scholar, Carol Kimball. Performed at some of the great halls in the United States, including a solo recital on the main stage of Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, Alice Tully Hall, and the Kennedy Center to name a few. Avid promoter of art song literature, specializing in research on English composer, Madeleine Dring as well as French and Polish vocal literature. Performed hundreds of concerts with the New York Vocal Arts Ensemble, a solo quartet, from 1986 until 1996 in numerous venues, including festivals in Bulgaria , Germany , Poland and a tour of the former Soviet Union as well as a cruise for Cunard Cruise Lines through the North Atlantic . Featured on a recording of Arabesque label with this group ( Strauss Waltzes for Singing) , recorded a CD to be released on Cambria label of French Mélodies (Chausson, Fauré, Debussy, Poulenc, Satie), entitled “ Le premier matin du monde. ”

RICHARD CIONCO, piano
(USA)

Professor of piano, University of California – Sacramento, formerly Assistant to David Dubal at the Juilliard School.  First performed as soloist with orchestra at age nine, and has since performed with many orchestras including the Phoenix Symphony Orchestra and Chamber Orchestra, the Oakland Civic Symphony, and with the Seijo Symphony of Tokyo.  In Europe, performed concerti with the Czech State Chamber Orchestra and with the North Bohemian Philharmonia as a winner in the Prague Spring International Music Competition.  Recently, he performed Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No. 3 seven times on tour in Japan and Taiwan with the California Youth Symphony; the performance in Osaka was broadcast on Japan Television and has been released as a live and unedited CD recording.  Also performed in recital and given master classes at the Kolding Kommune Musikskolen in Denmark.  Played in major concert halls such as New York's Carnegie Recital Hall, Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center, Merkin Concert Hall, Isaac Stern Auditorium at Carnegie Hall, and Steinway Hall, as well as the Chicago Cultural Center and The Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C.  His recent recordings for Innova Records and Cantilena Records have been heard on National Public Radio.  While living in New York, he appeared frequently on the well-known WQXR live radio show "...from the listening room."  An International Steinway Artist, Mr. Cionco is a graduate of the University of Maryland and The Juilliard School, and studied with Rudolf Firkusny, Thomas Schumacher, and Audrey Bart Brown.  A recipient of a Solo Recitalists Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts and a career grant from the Bagby Foundation for the Musical Arts in New York City, he is also winner of many competitions.  An enthusiastic promoter of new music, he performs annually at the Festival of New American Music in Sacramento, with several premieres to his credit. As chamber musician, his many appearances include Lincoln Center's FOCUS! Festival, and two performances at the Mozart Bicentennial Celebration at Lincoln Center.  As recitalist, he has been a guest artist of the Washington Chamber Society, and at the American Liszt Society Festival, as well as at numerous universities, including New York University, San Francisco State University, and Memphis State University.

SARAH CROCKER, violin
(USA)

Violinist Sarah Crocker is currently a member of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra in New York, a position she has held since August 2008. She has previously held positions in the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the Santa Fe Opera, and as Assistant Concertmaster of the Colorado Symphony. In addition, she has performed as a substitute with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra in New York and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra in Minnesota.

As a founding member of the Verklärte Quartet, Ms. Crocker was a Grand Prize Winner of the 2003 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition. As a result, she performed on tour with the quartet throughout the United States and in Italy as part of the Emilia Romagna Festival. She also has been awarded top prizes in the Cleveland Institute of Music Concerto Competition, the Syracuse Symphony Concerto Competition, and the Doreen B. Herzog Young Artists Competition. Ms. Crocker has appeared as soloist with the Cleveland Institute of Music Orchestra, the Syracuse Symphony, the Up Close and Musical Chamber Orchestra, the Onondaga Civic Symphony, and the Orchestra of the Southern Finger Lakes.

Ms. Crocker holds a Master of Music degree from the Juilliard School, where she was a student of Ronald Copes and Naoko Tanaka, and a Bachelor of Music degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music, where she studied with David Updegraff. Sarah has attended numerous summer festivals, including the Banff Centre Chamber Music Residency, Yellow Barn Music Festival, the Audubon Quartet Seminar, Kneisel Hall, Music Academy of the West, ENCORE School for Strings, and the Algonquin International Music Festival. She has studied chamber music with members of the Juilliard, Cleveland, Emerson, Audubon, Cavani, and Takacs String Quartets.

In addition to her performing activities, Ms. Crocker is dedicated to teaching. Her teaching experience has included teaching privately, coaching chamber music, coaching youth orchestra sectionals, and presenting musical outreach programs in schools and community centers. While a student at Juilliard, Sarah was awarded the Juilliard School Morse Teaching Fellowship, which resulted in her teaching 2nd- and 3rd-grade music classes in a Manhattan public school. In July of 2008, Sarah traveled to Tunisia with the New York-based organization Cultures in Harmony to teach at the Musical Friends Academy, a music camp for Tunisian students ages 8 to 22.

Sarah enjoys exploring genres outside of classical music and has appeared on the Late Show with David Letterman, accompanying singer-songwriter Howie Day. She also has appeared regularly on the New York club circuit with the Brooklyn-based band Tryst and appears in the role of a violinist in the film The Perfect Witness.

CÁRMELO DE LOS SANTOS, violin
(BRAZIL/USA)

Professor, University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, first prize winner of the IV “Júlio Cardona” International Competition in Covilhã, Portugal, in 2003 and recipient of the special prize for the best interpretation of the required Portuguese work. Came into prominence in 1993 when he won Brazil’s most prestigious music competition, the “VII Eldorado Prize,” São Paulo. Since then appeared as a soloist with major orchestras in Brazil and South America in the most important halls. Other prizes include the second prize in the “VII Young Artist International Competition” (1991), Argentina, and first prize in the “I Young Talents of MEC Radio Competition” (1996), in Rio de Janeiro. Recordings include many programs for radio and television in Brazil. In 1994 Santos made a CD under the Eldorado Radio label which featured Brazilian and other composers of the twentieth century. In 2002 performed at the prestigious Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall with the ARCO Chamber Orchestra, both as a soloist and conductor. First prize winner at the Music Teachers National Association Collegiate Artist Competition in Cincinnati, Ohio. Began his violin studies at the age of nine, graduated from Rio Grande do Sul Federal University, Brazil, where he worked with Fredi Gerling and Marcello Guerchfeld. In U. S. studied with Sylvia Rosenberg at the Manhattan School of Music with Sylvia Rosenberg and with Levon Ambartsumian for the doctoral degree at the University of Georgia.

SUSAN FREIER, violin
(USA)

Professor, Stanford University. Member of the Stanford String Quartet. A.B., B.S., M.A., Stanford University, M.M., Eastman School of Music. Member, San Francisco Contemporary Music Players. Graduate work at Stanford and the Eastman School where she was a member of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra. While at Eastman she joined the Chester String Quartet, which went on to win the Cleveland Quartet Competition and later to serve as resident ensemble at the Indiana University of South Bend. During her tenure with the Quartet, the Chester won top honors at the Portsmouth (England), Munich and Chicago Discovery Competitions, and recorded on the Stolat, Pantheon and CRI labels. A frequent participant in the Aspen, Grand Teton, Telluride, Newport Music Festivals, the San Francisco Symphony’s "Sacred and Profane" Festival and Chamber Music West, she has performed on NPR, the BBC and German State Radio. Recorded for Newport Classics as a member of the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players and has been on the artist faculty of the Rocky Ridge Music Center, the Pacific Music Festival, and Music in the Mountains at Steamboat Springs. She is violinist with the Ives Quartet (formerly the Stanford String Quartet), with whom she has toured internationally and recorded on the Music and Arts and Laurel labels.

NATSUKI FUKASAWA, piano
(JAPAN/USA)

Professor, California State University Sacramento. Active performer around the world in the role of both, soloist and chamber musician, throughout the U.S., Japan, Australia, Europe, and in Israel, including such venues as Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall in New York, the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C., and the Chicago Cultural Center. Performances have been broadcast throughout the U.S., including National Public Radio, WQXR and WNYC in New York, and Yomiuri Television in Japan, Czech National Radio, ABC Radio in Australia, and “Good Morning Denmark” (Television). Critics have called her playing “powerful and convincing” (Washington Post), and “with an unusually organic breadth” (Berlingske Tidende, Copenhagen). Founding member of the award-winning Jalina Trio, winner of numerous international prizes, highest critical acclaim including a January 2006 rave review in Fanfare magazine. Regular collaborator with many fine chamber musicians in Northern California includeing pianist Pascal Rogé, cellists Jean-Michelle Fonteneau, Stephen Harrison, and Susan Lamb, saxophonist Keith Bohm. Frequent guest soloist of the Sacramento Chamber Music Society. Her recent appearances include a tour of Italy performing Gershwin’s Concerto in F with Maestro Leo Eylar and the California Youth Symphony, concerto performances of Beethoven’s Triple Concerto, Liszt’s Totentanz, and Saint-Säens’ Carnival of the Animals with her husband Richard Cionco, concerto performances with Sacramento Philharmonic Orchestra and Maestro Michael Morgan (Beethoven Third), CSUS Orchestra and Maestro Leo Eylar (Rachmaninov Second), duo concerts with U.C. Davis Artist-in-Residence violinist Ben Kreith and with violinist Ben Dominitz in Riverside, as well as performances as a guest artist for the Chamber Music Alive! series in Sacramento and Rocklin. Distinguished piano teacher with a growing waiting list of students. A recipient of a Fulbright Scholarship, a graduate of The Juilliard School, the Prague Academy of Music, and recently earned her doctorate from the University of Maryland. Early studies with her mother and later with pianists Mark Richman, Martin Canin, Ferenc Rados, Anne Koscielny, Jan Panenka, Fumiko Ishikawa, and violist Tim Fredericksen. Her trio studied intensively at the Isaac Stern Carnegie Hall Chamber Music Workshop as well as at the Jerusalem Music Encounters.

ALVARO GOMEZ, viola, violin
(CHILE/USA)

Director of Orchestral Activities, String Specialist (Violin-Viola) at Austin Peay State University (www.apsu.edu). Also Professor, University of Florida and Rollins College, formerly of the University of Chile-Santiago, Stetson University and University at Little Rock-Arkansas. Also . Performed as soloist with orchestras, chamber music and master classes throughout the world, including Europe, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Israel, Canada, and USA. Served as Concertmaster of the Chilean Philharmonic, Graunke Orchestra (Germany), Chilean National Symphony, Arkansas Symphony, Brevard Symphony, and Orlando Symphony. Teachers: David Oistrakh, Viktor Pikaisen, and Galina Barinova (Moscow Conservatory). Awards: First prize, Jeunesse Musical Competition of Latin America (1970) and the Japan Foundation Prize (1982). Regular guest artist in festivals, including Grand Tetons in Wyoming, Florida International Festival, International Music Academy (Siena, Italy), Symphonic Workshop in Czech Republic, Frutillar in Chile, and Summer Fine Arts Camp in Fairbanks, Alaska.

LORNA GRIFFITT, piano
(USA)

Professor, University of California at Irvine, D. M., began her performing career at age sixteen as a soloist with the Louisville Orchestra under the direction of Robert Whitney in a performance of the Grieg Piano Concerto in A Minor. Her teachers include Doris Owen (Bickel), Tong Il Han, Gyorgy Sebok, and Maria Curcio. She received her doctorate degree with distinction in piano performance from Indiana University under the tutelage of Menahem Pressler. Ms. Griffitt is active as a soloist and chamber musician. Her performances include appearances in New York at Carnegie "Weill Recital Hall" and a live broadcast on NPR's "Performance Today" from Washington D.C. She began her teaching career in 1974 at DePauw University in Indiana and joined the faculty at UC Irvine in 1993.

STEPHEN HARRISON, violoncello
(USA)

Professor, Stanford University. B.M., Oberlin Conservatory; M.M., (with Distinction), Boston University. Studied with George Neikrug, Andor Toth, Jr., Margaret Rowell, Eugene Lehner. Member, Ives String Quartet. Cellist, Stanford String Quartet (1983-1997). Solo cellist, San Francisco Contemporary Music Players. Former principal, the Chamber Symphony of San Francisco, New England Chamber Orchestra, The Opera Company of Boston. Faculty member the Rocky Ridge Music Center and the San Diego Chamber Music Workshop Centrum/Port Townsend Chamber Music Workshop. Recordings for CRI, Laurel Records, New Albion, AIX Entertainment, Delos, Centaur, and Music and Arts Recordings of America.

STANISLAV IOUDENITCH, piano
(Uzbekistan/USA)

Professor, University of Missouri, winner of the Nancy Lee and Perry R. Bass Gold Medal at the Eleventh Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in June 2001, also the recipient of a Steven De Groote Memorial Award for the Best Performance of Chamber Music for his Semifinal Round collaboration with the renowned Takacs Quartet, awarded two years of international concert engagements and career management, as well as a compact disc recording of his award-winning Cliburn Competition recital performances for the Harmonia Mundi label. Previously a winner of top prizes at the Busoni, Kapell, and Maria Callas Competitions. Performed in Germany , England , Finland , Greece , Italy , Spain , and the United States , as well as throughout the former Soviet Republics , including appearances with the Munich Philharmonic; the Philharmonie der Nationen; and the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington , D.C. First performances as a Cliburn gold medalist included a recital debut at the Aspen Music Festival and a European tour, highlighted by appearances at several summer festivals in France, Germany , Italy , and the United Kingdom . During the 2001-2002 concert season, he performed orchestral engagements with the Kansas City Symphony, Long Island Philharmonic, Pacific Symphony, Rochester Philharmonic, and Santo Domingo Symphony Orchestras and appeared in recital in Charlotte; Fort Worth; New Orleans; Philadelphia; San Antonio; Seattle; Stanford; Washington, D.C.; and West Palm Beach, among other US cities. In April 2003, he performed the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1 with the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra at Carnegie Hall, culminating a northeast tour with this orchestra. In same season performed recitals in Beijing, Boston, London, Louisville, Milwaukee, Milan, San Juan, and Paris, performed with the California Symphony, El Paso Symphony, Pacific Symphony, Reno Philharmonic, Shreveport Symphony, and Wichita Symphony Orchestras. The 2003-2004 season orchestral performances include Columbus, Denver, Honolulu, Milan, Istanbul (Turkey), and Cape Town (South Africa), as well as returning to New York for a recital debut as part of Carnegie's inaugural season at Zankel Hall on April 30, 2004. Featured in "Playing on the Edge," the Peabody Award-winning documentary about the Eleventh Van Cliburn Competition which has aired on PBS stations across the United States . His Final Round Cliburn Competition performances with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra and Maestro James Conlon are showcased in the PBS series "Concerto." Student of Dmitri Bashkirov at the Escuela Superior de Musica Reina Sofia in Madrid, attended the prestigious International Piano Foundation Theo Lieven in Cadenabbia, Italy for two years, working with Leon Fleisher, William Grant Nabore, Murray Perahia, Karl Ulrich Schnabel, Fou Ts'ong, and Rosalyn Tureck, studied with Sergei Babayan at the Cleveland Institute of Music and Robert Weirich at the University of Missouri in Kansas City.

Professor, Chair of the String Area, Western Michigan University.  International career began in London when she joined the English Chamber Orchestra at the age of 21. Tours of Europe, North and South America, and Asia followed, with artists such as Herman Bauman, Barry Tuckwell, Jean-Pierre Rampal, Maurice Andre, Pinchas Zuckerman, Itzhak Perlman, Isaac Stern, Vladimir Ashkenazy, and Murray Perahia. She worked closely with conductors Daniel Barenboim, Simon Rattle, Edo De Waart, and Christoph Eschenbach, and recorded dozens of records for the EMI, Decca, and CBS labels.  As violinist of the Merling Trio, Knific performs 20 to 40 concerts annually throughout the world, including appearances at Merkin Hall, Carnegie Hall, St. John's, London, and the Banff Center for the Arts.  Released three CDs with the trio and premiered many works written for the group. The Merling Trio was a finalist for the Naumburg Foundation Chamber Music Award in 1994.  Numerous appearences in chamber music festivals and as a soloist throughout Europe, the United States, and Canada.  Summer engagements include the Encore School for Strings, the Cleveland Institute of Music, the Interlochen Arts Academy, and the Lancut Festival in Poland.  Former students perform in the Cavani, Pro Arte, and Cypress quartets and in orchestras throughout the world including the Cleveland, Houston, Honolulu, and Sao Paulo, Brazil symphonies.  Founding member of the contemporary ensemble, OPUS 21, and has premiered nearly two dozen works by many leading composers in recent years.  In 2003, released "West of Everywhere," a crossover recording featuring her with a variety of jazz greats including Gene Bertoncini, Sir Roland Hanna, John Abercrombie, Jamey Haddad, and Billy Hart.  Leonarda Records released her premiere recording of Marga Richter's concerto for piano, violin, cello, and orchestra entitled "Variations and Interludes on Themes from Monteverdi and Bach" in 2004 to critical acclaim.  Recent recordings include works for violin and piano by William Bolcom, at the composer's request, for MSR Classics Records.

VLADIMIR KHOKHLOV, piano
(RUSSIA/USA)

Vladimir Khokhlov, natural American citizen, is as interesting as his playing is exquisite. He was born at St. Anthony hospital in St.Petersburg, Florida, where his father, a Sovjet Naval officer, was on temporary assignment during the American lend-lease program during the WWII. After three years stint in the States, the family returned to Leningrad-formerly, and now again St.Petersburg, Russia. His musical ability was discovered when Vladimir's father brought a piano from Germany in 1947.When in the second grade, Vladimir entered the Special Music School for Gifted children at the world prestigious Leningrad Conservatory,and later Conservatory itself, where he remained (except for a six months of Army life) until he received a degree equivalent to a Master's. A vibrant, successful musical career followed, including numerous concert trips throughout Sovjet Union, including the most prestigious concert halls of Moscow and Leningrad-St. Petersburg as well concerts in Japan, Finland, England,and Bulgaria. Three times he was awarded with Honor Diplomas as best accompanist in vocal competitions.All of this was practically squelched by KGB when Vladimir spoke out against conditions in Sovjet Union, especially regarding the leaving of so many fine artists for better opportunities elsewhere . The first coup attempt in January 1991 was the catalyst for Vladimir's desire to the land of his birth. From the American side, he had no problem entering the United States, passport in hand. Requesting a return to St.Petersburg, Florida, he reached the Bay area in March of 1991. During his years of staying in Florida he performed extensively within the state as well in New York (Debut in Steinway Hall in 1996 as award for price winning at the Pinault Society International Competition ) , Cleveland, Minneapolis, and Alexandria ,VA . During his Doctoral studies at the Florida State University he won the First Prize at The Graduate Students' Competition.

Currently, Vladimir running successful private Russian Piano School studio . His students were awarded more than fifty times at different Local, State and International Competitions. For sixteen years, he also is a conductor of Latvian Community Chorus in St.Petersburg, and for eleven years serves as a Music Director of Russian Heritage Society.

"Great traditions of Russian pianists ,... he literally plumbs the depths of the music -the tonal resources inexhaustible and fire and ice vie unforgettable remembrance . Eloquence is the word. Mozart and Schubert unforgettably beautiful ... He discourses, he reveals, he explains. He truly communicates the meaning Issues in Music."
Jacques Abram
Professor Emeritus of USF

"He has requisite qualities in a musician... delicate touch ... extremely sensitive..true rubato rare in pianists today...wonderful addition to cultural community in Tampa Bay area... immense talent."
Edward Cumming
Music Director
Hartford Symphony

SAN-KY KIM, voice
(KOREA/USA)

Professor, Texas Christian University at Fort-Worth. Tenor San-ky’s active operatic career led him to Europe, performing in Helsinki, Biel, Bern, Amsterdam, Brussels, Gent, and Prague before settling in Germany. He has performed over 60 major operatic roles in countries throughout the world, as well as singing in solo, chamber, and oratorio settings. Riccardo Muti, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Eduardo Mueller, Steven Mercurio, Thomas Fulton, Patrick Summers, and Miguel Harth-Bedoya are few of the conductors San-ky has collaborated with. San-ky Kim received his BA from the Australian National University and his Bachelor of Music from the Canberra Institute of the Arts. He completed his Master of Music degree at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia and received his Professional Studies Diploma and Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Temple University. The Australian-New Zealand Foundation Award is one of many competitions San-ky has won. Even before he ended his formal studies, San-ky made his professional debut with the Philadelphia Opera Company in the role of the Emperor Altoum in Puccini’s Turandot. Highlights from San-ky’s recent performances include solo appearances with the Fort Worth Symphony, Plano Symphony Orchestra, and the SMU Symphony Orchestra in the DFW premiere of Lutoslawski’s Parole Tissée. In October 2007, San-ky created the role of Gottlieb in Evan Hause’s new opera Man: Biology of a Fall in New York city.

IRINA KRIVONOS, piano
(RUSSIA/USA)

Professor, Special Music School of America, Lucy Moses School of Music at the Kaufmann Cultural Center, New York City. Native of St. Petersburg, Russia, studied at Kharkov Conservatory, Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory. Presented master classes at numerous festivals in United States and Europe, including Colmar (France), Freiburg in (Germany), Rome.  Students awarded top prized at international competitions, appeared with various orchestras of Ukraine and Russia, performed in Vatican for Pope, participated in the United Nations' Soviet Cultural Foundation concert and at the Grand Hall of the Moscow Conservatory.

ROUTA KROUMOVITCH, violin
(LATVIA/USA)

Professor, Stetson University's School of Music, Florida. Participated in numerous concert tours and recorded on radio and television throughout the former USSR, United States, Canada, and Europe. Studied with Galina Barinova, Leonid Kogan, and David Oistrakh at the Moscow Conservatory. Soloist with the following conductors: V. Tevah (Chile), J.C. Santos (Peru), W. Torkanowsky (USA), S. Bedford (England), L. Halaz (USA), R. Henderson (USA), M. Benzecry (Argentina), U. Mayer (Canada), T. Sleeper (USA), Tovi Lifsics (Latvia), Kypros Markus (Greece), J. Sinclaire (USA). First violin of the Santiago Chamber Orchestra, concertmaster of the Chilean Philharmonic Orchestra, and concertmaster of the Chilean Symphony Orchestra, Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, concertmaster of the Brevard Symphony Orchestra, Bach Festival Orchestra in Orlando. She also received the Critic's Award for the best solo performance in Santiago, Chile, and a Fulbright Award. Furthermore, during her years in Chile, the virtuoso toured all over the world as a soloist and in duo with her husband, Chilean violinist Alvaro Gomez. Master classes in Australia, China, Korea, Japan, Israel, and Europe. Judge in international violin competitions. Participated in numerous festivals including Grand Tetons, the Florida International Festival, Frutillar Music Festival in Chile, Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival.

VLADIMIR LANDSMAN, violin
(RUSSIA/CANADA)

Professor of Violin, Universite de Montreal, distinguished soloist. In 1963 he won third prize at the Jacques Thibault International Violin Competition in Paris , and in 1966 the first prize at the Montreal International Competition. Concertized world-wide, including such countries as India, South Africa and South America, invited as guest soloist with renowned orchestras, under the direction of prestigious conductors like Ozawa, Mehta, Atherton, Decker, Dutoit, and Calderone. Recorded works of Franck, Schubert, Shostakovich, Pascal, Paganini, and Ravel, on the Melodia and UMMUS labels. In 1989 and 1991, he was invited to make concerts in the prestigious Bolshoi Hall of the Moscow Conservatory; these concerts we broadcasted on television in the whole Soviet Union . Studied with famous pedagogue Yuri Yankelevitch at the Moscow Conservatory. Participates in numerous summer programs in the United States , Switzerland , France , Finland , and Quebec.

HISAOPEI LEE, viola
(TAIWAN/USA)

Professor, University of Southern Mississippi, appeared as recitalist, chamber musician, and orchestra musician, spanning three continents, presented solo recitals throughout the United States and Asia and collaborated in chamber music in such cities as New York, Paris, and Tai pei. As a member of the Dayton Philharmonic, Taipei Philharmonic, and Aspen Chamber Orchestras, Dr. Lee has performed under such conductors as David Zinman, James Conlon, Robert Spano, David Robertson, Michael Stern, and Neal Gittleman. Her teaching experience in Taiwan inspired her to continue her education at Columbia University Teachers College in New York, where she received a Master's degree, followed by the Doctor of Musical Arts at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, where she studied with Masao Kawasaki and Catharine Carroll. Member of the viola faculty of the Starling String Project; coached many talented violists as the long time teaching assistant to the viola studio at the University of Cincinnati. Affirming her pedagogical and performing expertise, the Aspen Music Festival awarded Dr. Lee a three-year fellowship to mentor the viola sections of the Aspen Sinfonia and Aspen Concert Orchestras. Dr. Lee has given master classes at West Virginia University, the Crane School of Music in Potsdam (N.Y.), and the Ohio State University. Forthcoming publications include her viola transcription of Beethoven's Violin Sonata op. 30, no.1, and a collaborative project with Dr. Catharine Carroll on a book of orchestral repertoire for violists.

MADELEINE MITCHELL, violin
(ENGLAND)

Professor, Royal College of Music, London. Madeleine Mitchell is one of Britain's most outstanding violinists and has performed as a soloist in over 40 countries. She was a finalist in both the European Women of Achievement Awards and the Creative Briton Awards and is also sought after as a teacher. Won the Tagore Gold Medal as a scholar at the Royal College of Music where she has been a Professor since 1994. As Fulbright/ITT Fellow gained a master's degree in New York in 1981 studying with Delay, Weilerstein and Rosenberg at the Eastman and Juilliard. Well known for her recitals in a wide repertoire and imaginative programming, broadcast frequently for TV and radio including Australia , the Far East , Europe and South Africa and frequently for the BBC. Represented Britain in the festival UKinNY with a recital at Lincoln Center and at Sydney Opera House, Seoul Center for the Arts, toured extensively for the British Council, played at many international festivals. Last year she performed with Norbert Brainin for his 80th birthday gala concert and performed at London's Wigmore Hall. Latest recordings are "Hummel violin sonatas" for Meridian and "British Treasures" for Somm. Worked closely with Sir Peter Maxwell Davies as the violinist in the Fires of London including a major US tour for CAMI, many other composers have written solo works for her which she records in 2004, including MacMillan, Nyman, Woolrich, Montague, Elias, Powers and a new piece by Osborne, for NMC. Performed concertos with major orchestras throughout Europe . Highlights include Stravinsky violin concerto with the Polish Radio Symphony in the ISCM Masters of C20 music in Warsaw , Czech Radio Symphony, first Czech broadcast of Vaughan Williams Lark Ascending, Wurttemberg and Music Chamber Orchestras, Royal Philharmonic and other London orchestras, Karlovy Vary Orchestra on tour with Tamas Vasary, and for the BBC. Directs concertos from the violin such as Vivaldi and Bach; commissioned a unique'concerto' by Jonathan Harvey, Thierry Pecou and Roxanna Panufnik for violin and voices, premiered at Bath and Spitalfields festivals. Devised "The Red Violin", the first international festival of the violin across the arts held in Cardiff 1997. As Artistic Director she secured Lord Menuhin as Patron and extensive BBC coverage. Director of the London Chamber Ensemble, the US Embassy London concerts and Leader of the Bridge Quartet. Recordings include Bridge quartet and viola quintet (release 2004) and Messiaen Quartet for the End of Time with Joanna MacGregor, Christopher Van Kampen and David Campbell the widely recommended version due for re-release on Soundcircus.

MOISES MOLINA, cello
(USA)

Professor, Western Illinois University, formerly of the Hardin-Simmons University and Abilene Christian University. Appeared as soloist with orchestras throughout the United States and his native Honduras, played solo and chamber music recitals in the United States, Europe, Central and South America, presented several clinics for the Texas and Illinois Music Educators Associations, gave a lecture/recital on the music of Alberto Ginastera for the College Music Society Convention in Costa Rica. Received Bachelor of Music degree (summa cum laude) from Columbus State University and graduate degrees, Master of Music and Doctor of Music, from the Florida State University. Studied cello with Martha Gerschefski, Andrew Luchanski, Lubomir Georgiev, and Alan Harris. Molina has conducted the Abilene Philharmonic Youth Orchestra and the Western Illinois University Preparatory Orchestra, and been an artist/teacher for the Summer Fine Arts Camp at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks. He serves as Principal in the Quincy Symphony Orchestra and Associate Principal in the Peoria Symphony Orchestra. Performs regularly with his wife in the Molina Duo and is the cellist for the Julstrom String Quartet. Molina is the cellist in the recent Centaur Records' release String Chamber Music of Rebecca Clarke (CRC 2487).

DAVID NEELY, violin
(USA)

Professor of violin, University of Nebraska-Lincoln School of Music, formerly of the University of South Dakota, a founding member of the Rawlins Piano Trio. Performs and gives master classes throughout the United States, records on the Albany Records label, reviews violin, viola, and chamber music literature for the American String Teachers Magazine. Performed as guest concertmaster of the Lincoln Orchestra and as co-concertmaster of the Sioux City Symphony, has been a member of several orchestras including the South Dakota Symphony, the Baroque Music Festival in Corona del Mar, CA., and currently plays with the Omaha Symphony. Summer engagements included artist/teacher of violin at the Rocky Ridge Summer Music Festival, Estes Park, Colorado, first violinist position of the Omega String Quartet at the Lutheran Summer Music Festival from 1989 to 1998. During the summer of 1997, Professor Neely performed and taught throughout Switzerland and Germany, including the Leysin American School, Aiglon College and the University of Maintz. In addition to recital performances, he also gave recitals at Winterther, St. Gallen, Schaffhausen, and Zurich. Professor Neely also taught and performed at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, Finland in 2000. Received his Master of Fine Arts degree from the California Institute of the Arts and his Bachelor of Music degree from Iowa State University. Also studied at Indiana University and had post-graduate studies with Peter Marsh. Teachers include, Peter Marsh, Josef Gingold, and Mahlon Darlington.

VAG PAPIAN, piano, conducting
(RUSSIA/ISRAEL)

Professor of Piano and Conducting, University of Tel Aviv and Armenian National Academy. Began his career after winning the Lisbon Viana de Montana International Competition in 1979, after which he was invited to perform in all major concert halls in the ex-USSR. Studied piano with distinguished Mikhail Voskresensky at the Moscow Conservatory, and conducting with the legendary Ilia Musin at the St. Petersburg Conservatory. Associate Conductor to Valery Gergiev from 1984 with the Armenian State Symphony Orchestra, then Chief Conductor of that orchestra. Guest appearances as conductor with most of the major symphony orchestras as well as continued career as a pianist. From 1998 worked with the Armenian National Opera until 1990 emigration to Israel, where he worked as Associate Conductor of the Been Sheva Symphony Orchestra and Music Director of the Israel Camerata, as well as guest conductor and piano soloist with the Israel philharmonic. International tours as pianist include concerts in Basel, Barcelona, Geneva, Toronto, Ottawa, and New York, as well as performances in South America and the Far East. He had made a number of recordings for the Melodya label. Mr. Papian's collaborated in numerous tours with violinist Maxim Vengerov.

SCOTT POOL, bassoon
(USA)

Since 2002, Scott Pool has been the Associate Professor of Bassoon at Georgia's Valdosta State University. As a resident of the Southeastern United States, Scott is a frequent recitalist, chamber musician and performer with many of the region's symphony orchestras. A proponent of new music, Scott's performances often include new works and solo commissions; his premier of Chris Arrell's Blur for Solo Bassoon was presented at Georgia's acclaimed Spivey Hall in 2007. Recognized as a Moosmann Artist, Scott has performed concerts and recitals throughout North and South America and Europe, and his bassoon performances have been featured on National Public Radio and from local to national television broadcasts. Scott serves as principal bassoon with the Valdosta Symphony Orchestra and the Albany (GA) Symphony Orchestra, and is bassoonist with the Cypress Chamber Players. He is also an active member of the International Double Reed Society with numerous conference performances and presentations; his latest performance was featured at the 2008 conference in Provo, Utah. Scott has performed with the Tucson Pops, the Tucson Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestra Symphonica UANL of Monterry, Mexico and the Oklahoma City Philharmonic. He has also been an active musical participant with Oklahoma City's Lyric Theater and the Arizona Theater Company. In addition to the bassoon studio at Valdosta State, Scott teaches courses on Music Theory, American Popular Music and Music in Film. Prior to completing the Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the University of Arizona, Scott earned music degrees from the University of Oklahoma and the University of Central Oklahoma. He has studied with Will Dietz of Tucson, Arizona and Carl Rath of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

MICHAEL RICKMAN, piano
(USA)

Professor, Stetson University, Florida. Pupil of the late Grace Potter Carroll, herself a former pupil of both Ferrucio Busoni and Theodore Leschetitzky. Holds degrees and the Performer's Certificate from Mars Hill College and the University of North Texas, where he was a pupil of Richard Cass and Jack Roberts, studied further with Karen Shaw of Indiana University. Received top honors in the Theodore Leschetitzky International Competition, Carnegie Hall, New York. For two seasons was resident pianist with Petit Jean Music Festival, providing the opportunity to work with pianist Dalton Baldwin. Appeared in concert with the Audubon and Mendelssohn String Quartets, performances are regularly heard on Florida Public Radio. Achieved critical acclaim on three continents, having appeared in nine foreign countries, including the former Soviet Union. During a tour in Chile. Well known to the Central Florida community, has been a frequent performer in the "Sounds of Summer" concert series and appeared with Orlando Philharmonic's Concertmistress, Lisa Ferrigno, in the inaugural concert of the "Serenade Series" at the Orlando Museum of Art, performed Rachmaninoff's Second Piano Concerto, The Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini's and Mozart's Concerto in A Major, K. 488, with the Florida Symphony Youth Orchestra, and in the fall 2002 with the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra and the Stetson University Orchestra performing works by Beethoven and Rachmaninoff. Recordings available on the Lakeside Records label, Romantic Realms I and Romantic Realms II. Grants from Stetson University enabled him to study the late works of Schubert and Beethoven with pianist Edward Kilenyi and works of 20th Century Dutch composers with Dutch pianist-composer Piet Stalmeier. In 1990, Dr. Rickman was the recipient of the first Homer and Dolly Hand Award for Creativity and Research, given by Stetson University and in May 1995 received the highest honor given in Stetson, the William Hugh McEniry Award for Excellence in Teaching.

SERGEY ROMANOVSKY, tenor
(RUSSIA)

Emerging as one of the leading tenors in Europe, Sergey Romanovsky has performed in major opera houses throughout Europe singing leading roles most recently at La Scala as Conte Libenskof in May of 2009. Same role was performed in concert performance of “Il Viaggio a Reims” (IX International School of Vocal Art) at the Moscow International Music House in April 2008 and in Italian Jesy and Treviso opera houses in November 2008, Young Gipsy in concert performance of Rachmaninov;s “Aleko” in San Sebastian opera in Spain with the Russian National Orchestra under the baton of legendary Mikhail Pletnev in August 2007. In the spring of 2008 Sergey performed Lensky in the production of Tchaikovsky’s “Eugene Onegin” in Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa. His debut as Tebaldo performed with Patricia Ciofi and Anna Bonitatibus in the concert performance of “I Capuleti e I Montecchi” that inaugurated 1008-1009 season of the Moscow Philharmonic Society. Sergei is a soloist of the Moscow Novaya Opera Theatre since 2007 where he recently performed in several productions including Count Almaviva in the new Elija Moshinsky’s production of “Il Barbiere” and Lensky in “Eugene Onegin.”

Studied at the Moscow Tchaikovsky State Conservatory and with Prof. Dmitry Vdovin at the Academy of Choral Art and graduated in 2009. From 2006 to 2008 Sergei studied in the International School of Vocal Art in Moscow with George Darden (Metropolitan Opera), Caroline Dumas (Ecole Normale, Paris), Stephen King, Diane Zola, Richard Bado (Houston Grand Opera), Rudolf Piernay (London), Gloria Borelli, and Giandomenico Bisi (Naples).

Prize-winner of the several vocal competitions including 3rd Prize at the St. Petersburg Open Competition (2007), 2nd Prize at the International Bella Voce Vocal Competition in Moscow (2000) and awarded a grant by the New Names Charity Foundation (2005).

Sergey’s future engagements include Lensky in “Eugene Onegin” (Lille), Amiens and Ernesto in “Don Pasquale” (Norske Opera, Oslo), “Barbiere di Siviglia" (Opera de Wallonie). His UK debut will include Rachmaninov's 'Bells' with the RSNO, later performed with the VARA Radio. Appearances in Japan will include a recital at the Musashino Civic Cultural Hall.

JOSEPH ROSEN, clarinet
(USA)

Joseph Rosen graduated from the Crane School of Music, Potsdam, NY in 1962. While teaching instrumental music in the Fairfax County Virginia public schools from 1962 – 1965, he worked towards his masters degree in performance at Catholic University in Washington, D.C. and was a principal clarinetist in the Fairfax, Arlington and Alexandria, VA orchestras. For the next 35 years he was in the retail music business on Long Island, NY and resumed playing the clarinet in 1993. Director of the Ferrari Club of America for 13 years and raced his Ferraris extensively in the U.S., Mexico, Canada and Italy. Mr. Rosen now resides and freelances in New York City. He participates each summer in chamber music festivals in the U. S., Canada, Europe and Korea. His principal teachers have been Harold Wright in Washington and David Weber and Ricardo Morales in New York.

ALEXANDER RUSSAKOVSKY, violoncello
(Russia/USA)

Professor, University of Southern Mississippi, founding member of the Jerusalem Academy String Quartet, has performed with the group throughout Israel, as well as in Germany, Switzerland, Holland, and France, has made numerous solo appearances with orchestras in Israel, Russia and the United States, a dedicated chamber music player, performed with string quartets and other chamber music formations in Santa Barbara, in the Chamber Music Series of the Spoleto Festival in Italy, and with the Western Slope Music Festival in Colorado. Recipient of many awards, including the Angela and Maurice M. Clairmont Competition in Tel Aviv, the Performing Arts Scholarship Foundation Competition in Santa Barbara, the Charlotte and Alvin Bronstein Scholarship for the Arts from the Ohaj Festival, and the 1999 Career Grant of the Esperia Foundation. Studied cello at the Leningrad Conservatory under renowned Russian professors, Emmanuel Fishman and Anatoli Nikitin, received his bachelor of music from the Jerusalem Rubin Academy, where he studied with Shmuel Magen, and his master of music from the Yale School of Music under Aldo Parisot. He holds a doctorate in cello performance from the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he studied with Geoffrey Rutkowski and Ron Leonard. Orchestral engagements include Savannah Symphony, Santa Barbara Symphony, Santa Barbara Chamber Orchestra, New Haven Symphony and Leningrad Philharmonic. Summer engagements include the Adriatic Chamber Music Festival in Bonefro, Italy.

PAMELA RYAN, viola
(USA)

Professor of Viola and Coordinator of Strings, a graduate of the North Carolina School of the Arts. B.M. degree, cum laude, from the University of Maryland and was awarded the Master of Arts in Performance from the Conservatory of Music of Brooklyn College and the D.M.A. degree at the Cincinnati College-Conservatory. Ms. Ryan's teachers have included Paul Doktor, Karen Tuttle, and Masao Kawasaki, and she was a frequent performer in the masterclasses of Itzhak Perlman. Taught at Bowling Green State University, the Cincinnati College-Conservatory, Brooklyn College and at the Aspen Music School. She has performed with the Cincinnati Symphony, Louisiana Philharmonic, and Bowling Green String Quartet at Carnegie Hall and in Mexico City, at The Yellow Barn, Idyllwild, and Bowdoin Festivals, and as a winning soloist in the Aspen Concerto Competition. Serves as principal violist of the Tallahassee Symphony Orchestra, and the Southwest Florida Symphony, is the past president of the Florida Chapter of the American String Teachers Association, and served on the National Executive Board of the American Viola Society. She recently received the FSU University Teaching Award

ALBINA SHAGIMURATOVA, soprano
(Russia)

Winner of the Gold Medal in the 2007 Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, Ms. Shagimuratova is now a singer of international reputation and enjoys engagements in both Europe and the United States and is scheduled to make debuts at the Metropolitan Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Los Angeles Opera, Seattle Opera and the Canadian Opera Company. In August 2008 she made her European operatic debut as Mozart's Queen of the Night at the Salzburg Festival under the baton of Riccardo Muti. In the U.S. Ms. Shagimuratova joined the Houston Grand Opera Studio in 2006 and has sung both the Queen of the Night and Musetta with the company to great acclaim. Other roles in Houston have included the Sandman and Dew Fairy in Hansel and Gretel in a production by celebrated puppeteer Basil Twist. She will return to the company in the 2008/9 season as Gilda in Rigoletto as well as in numerous other roles through 2012. In 2004, Ms. Shagimuratova became a member of the K. S. Stanislavsky and V. I. Nemirovich-Danchenko Moscow Academic Music Theater and has sung the title role of La Traviata there as well as the Swan in The Tale of Tsar Sultan and the Queen of Shemakha in The Golden Cockerel of Rimsky-Korsakov. Her extensive orchestral experience includes being a soloist in the works of Mozart, Beethoven, Rossini and Fauré. In 2005, she sang Mozart's Requiem in the opening concert of the famed December Nights of Sviatoslav Richter in Moscow. She has also sung the Beethoven Ninth Symphony and Mahler Eighth Symphony with the Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra there under Vladimir Fedoseyev. Born in Tashkent in the former U.S.S.R., she began her musical studies as a pianist and attended the Music College Auhadeez in Kazan and later Kazan State University where she received a degree in vocal and opera performance. Her later studies were at the Moscow Conservatory with esteemed soprano Galina Pisarenko and baritone Dmitry Vdovin. Graduating with honors, she completed her doctoral work there in 2007.

ILAN SCHNEIDER, viola
(LITHUANIA/LUXEMBOURG)

Born in 1968 in Lithuania , received first musical education in his native town, Vilnius . At the age of 15 followed his family to Israel and continued his studies at the Rubin Academy of Music in Tel Aviv. In 1989 won the first prize of the Violin Competition of the Rubin Academy of Music. Later resumed studies with members of the Alban Berg Quartet at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna . Since 1997 has been a student of the virtuoso violist, Michael Kugel. In 1998 achieved a major success at the First International Viola Competition in Vienna . In 2003 graduated with highest distinction from the Royal Conservatory in Ghent . Appears regularly on the international concert stage as soloist and chamber musician. Currently principal violist of the Luxemburg Philharmonic Orchestra and a member of the "Quatuor Louvigny". Gives regular master classes in the Netherlands , Belgium , Croatia and Lithuania and judges international competitions. Numerous recordings of solo and chamber music have been produced by the labels in Luxembourg, Germany, and France and have received distinctions from the international press, such as the "Diapason d'Or" and the "Strad Selection". Newest recital-CD was selected as the "CD of the month" by "The Strad" magazine.

GABRIELLA STRŰMPEL, cello
(GERMANY/BELGIUM) 

Member of the Brussels Philharmonic (Flemish Radio Orchestra) since 1997, formerly principal cellist of the Brussels opera orchestra “La Monnaie.”  Studied with Sándor Végh, Boris Pergamenschikow and Thomas Riebl from 1994 -1995 in Cracow Mozart Academy, with Wolfgang Boettcher and Alexandra Müller at the “Hochschule der Künste” (now “Universität der Künste”) in Berlin and in master classes with Anner Bylsma, Uzi Wiesel, Steven Isserlis, János Starker, György Kurtág, and most intensively – György Sebök.  As a chamber musician Ms. Stümpel has appeared in festivals in Berlin - Germany, Cochin - India, St.Gallen - Austria, Banff - Canada, Brussels - Belgium, Prussia Cove - England and Ernen - Switzerland, where she performed the Mendelssohn piano trio with György Sebök. Actively involve in yoga practice and instruction, founder of Musicoaching methodology and practice.  Fluent in English, German, Dutch, Hungarian and French.  Discography includes “Violino Arioso” with Ariadne Daskalakis, violin and Helene Lerch, harpsichord on Tudor Recording AG, Zürich and contemporary chamber music with Ensemble Q-O2 on Edition Wandelweiser Records.

MAYRON TSONG, piano
(CANADA/USA)

Professor, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Interim Head of Keyboard Department, formerly of California State University in Humboldt and Chair of the Piano Area at the University of Lethbridge in Alberta, Canada. One of the youngest musicians to complete a Performer's Diploma in Piano from the Royal Conservatory of Toronto at age 16. Performed extensively across the United States, including New York, Chicago, Houston, Denver, Las Vegas, San Francisco, West Palm Beach, South Carolina, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Washington, Indiana, California, Oregon, Michigan, Louisiana, Arizona, Texas, across Canada, Sweden, Switzerland, China, Taiwan and Russia as a soloist and chamber musician. Featured as a soloist with the St. Petersburg Chamber Philharmonic (Russia), Symphony North (Houston), the University of North Carolina Symphony Orchestra, the Longview Symphony Orchestra (Texas), the Red Deer Symphony Orchestra (Canada), the Lethbridge Symphony Orchestra (Canada), and the University of Calgary Orchestra (Canada) and the North Carolina Symphony (Raleigh). Collaborated with renowned artists including James Campbell, Antonio Lysy, George Taylor, Jeffrey Zeigler (of the Kronos Quartet), the Brentano String Quartet and the Miró String Quartet. Various solo and collaborative performances have been broadcast by CBC Radio Two - Calgary, Radio Canada - Montreal, WDAV – North Carolina, WFMT Radio - Chicago and Radio 4 - Hong Kong. Numerous prizes have included First Prize in the Canadian Music Competitions, the Millenium Prize for Russian Performing Arts, and the prestigious Arts B Grant, awarded by the Canada Council. Received her Doctor of Musical Arts under the tutelage of John Perry at Rice University, also studied with such renowned musicians as György Sebök, Robert Levin, Marek Jablonski, Anton Kuerti, Marilyn Engle, Dr. Robin Wood, and Charles Foreman. Active as a teacher, clinician, adjudicator and judge in the United States, Canada, China and Hong Kong. Extensive masterclass and summer festival schedule includes Banff Centre, the Sequoia Chamber Music Festival in Northern California, Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp in Michigan, Lutheran Summer Music in Minnesota, the Young Musicians and Artists Camp in Oregon and Eastern Music Festival in North Carolina. A Steinway Artist, her first solo recording will be released by Centaur Records in 2008. Listed among Who's Who Among American Teachers & Educators and is a member of the performer's roster of the College Music Society and the North Carolina Touring Artists Directory. Other memberships include the Music Teachers National Association, the Scriabin Society, the Canadian Universities Music Society, Minorities and Women Doctoral Directory, the Canadian Music Centre, and she is an Honorary Member of the Tingshuset Music Society in Sweden, which includes prominent Swedish Artists like Martin Frost and Christian Lindberg in their roster.

ANTOINE VAN DONGEN, violin
(Holland/USA)

Professor, Wellesley College, New England Conservatory, MIT. Distinguished Dutch violinist, pianist, teacher and conductor, studied violin at the Sweelinck Conservatory, Amsterdam with Davina van Wely and Herman Krebbers. In 1983 Antoine van Dongen won the second prize at the National Violin Competition Oskar Back and "the prize of the City Amsterdam." The prize scholarship enabled him to study at the Mozarteum in Salzburg with Sandor Vegh. Performed all over Europe with the Feininger Piano Trio and the Boccherini String Trio, worked regularly with The Guarneri Trio and with Menahim Pressler. Formerly a member of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, the Chamber Orchestra "Per Musica" and the Dutch Bach Soloists, played with the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century and was concertmaster of the Dutch Baroque Ensemble. Between 1989-2004 Antoine van Dongen has been a first violinist of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and worked closely with Leonard Bernstein, Antal Dorati, Carlo Maria Giulini, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Bernard Haitink, Ricardo Chailly and Mariss Jansons. Antoine van Dongen helped young talents with solo careers, National and International Violin Competitions, and entrance to Orchestras. His students made it into the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and other European Orchestras.

GILLES VONSATTEL, piano
(Switzerland)

Swiss-born pianist Gilles Vonsattel, winner of the Walter W. Naumburg Foundation's 2002 International Piano Competition, made his Lincoln Center debut that year at Alice Tully Hall, and has appeared as soloist with the Utah Symphony, Naples Philharmonic, the Grand Rapids Symphony, the National Symphony of Ireland, and the Boston Pops. With repertoire that ranges from Bach's Art of the Fugue to Xenakis, Mr. Vonsattel is an artist of uncommon breadth equally at home in solo and chamber music. He has performed in major venues such as Boston's Symphony Hall, Cleveland's Severance Hall, Herbst Theatre in San Francisco, the Benedict Music Tent at the Aspen Music Festival, and Tokyo's Opera City Hall. Most recently, he was the top prizewinner at the 2006 Geneva International Music Competition, leading to numerous European engagements in the 2007-08 season and an upcoming recording with L'Orchestre de Chambre de Geneve. Mr. Vonsattel was also a prizewinner at the Cleveland and Dublin Piano Competitions. He has been heard frequently on National Public Radio's Performance Today, and gave the world premiere of Ned Rorem's Sound Points at Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall. Recent chamber music appearances include debuts at the Musee du Louvre in Paris and at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. He has participated in the Aspen Music Festival and the Music Academy of the West. Mr. Vonsattel has appeared in recital at the Caramoor International Festival and was one of the festival's Rising Stars series in 2006. He is a member of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center's prestigious Chamber Music Society Two residency for young artists, and has collaborated with artists such as Kim Kashkashian, Cho-Liang Lin, Paul Neubauer, David Shifrin, Gary Hoffman, and Yo-Yo Ma. Mr. Vonsattel has shown a significant interest in expanding the conventional classical concert experience, appearing alongside pop and rock groups, most recently opening for Eluvium and Amiina at New York's Wordless Music Series. He has been deeply involved in classical music outreach in the United States, giving masterclasses at universities and schools. His 2007-08 season includes recitals at La Roque d'Antheron, at the Musee d'Orsay, Zurich's Tonhalle, Warsaw's Chopin Festival, and at Atlanta's Spivey Hall, as well as numerous appearances at New York's Lincoln Center. His recording of Bartok's Contrasts for Deutsche Gramophon is available for download on iTunes. Mr. Vonsattel has studied with pianist David Deveau in Boston, received his B.A. in political science and economics from Columbia University and his M.M. from The Juilliard School, where he worked with Jerome Lowenthal.

ROBERT WELLS, baritone
(USA)

Professor, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, formerly of the State University of New York College at Fredonia. A frequent recitalist and collaborative artist, enjoyed an active performance career in both oratorio and opera in New York State and the Midwest, and his performances have taken him to Great Britain and Europe. Leading roles in Le Nozze di Figaro, Così fan tutte, and Albert Herring and has appeared as baritone soloist in such works as Benjamin Britten's War Requiem, Mendelssohn's Elijah, and the St. John Passion of J. S. Bach. An active choral conductor, Wells served as Director of the Fredonia College Choir and was recognized for his work with numerous professional and community choral organizations in Western New York. Formerly served as Co-Chair of the Voice Faculty at the State University of New York College, Fredonia and is a sought-after clinician and adjudicator.

Note: Faculty is subject to change without notice.