Cellist Jacqueline Choi, the 1st place winner of the 2010 Edwin H. & Leigh W. Schadt String Competition, is an active soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician sought after in the United States and abroad. Having made her concerto debut at age 12 in Seoul, Korea, Ms. Choi was invited to solo with the Boston Symphony, Bucheon Philharmonic, Boston Landmarks, Allentown Symphony, and New England Conservatory's Chamber Orchestras, and toured Brazil and Venezuela as a soloist with NEC's Youth Philharmonic Orchestra.

Ms. Choi is a recipient of the prestigious Kumho Prodigy Concert Award. She won first place in numerous concerto competitions including those held by the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Brockton Symphony, the New England Philharmonic, and the New England Conservatory, and was also a prizewinner of the 24th Irving M. Klein International String Competition.

Also a devoted chamber musician, Ms. Choi appeared in concert with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, performing with Itzhak Perlman, and toured major cities of Canada with the Kumho Virtuosi Trio. Also a member of the Kumho-Asiana Soloists, she performs in their chamber music series and international tours on a regular basis. Ms. Choi has participated in the International Program at Music@Menlo, Yellow Barn Music Festival, Banff Centre for the Arts, and the Schleswig-Holstein Musikfestival, collaborating with Itzhak Perlman, John Adams, John Harbison, Donald Weilerstein, Stephen Coxe, and other such renowned artists.

Jacqueline Choi is currently pursuing her Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the Manhattan School of Music in New York City. She completed her Master of Music degree at the Juilliard School and her Bachelor of Music degree at the New England Conservatory in Boston. Her teachers include Clive Greensmith, Timothy Eddy, and Paul Katz. Ms. Choi plays on a 1854 Giuseppe Rocca cello graciously loaned to her by the Kumho-Asiana Arts Foundation.

Praised by the Cincinnati Enquirer for her "flowing tones, poetic phrasing, and heavenly singing melodies", Pianist Yoonjung Han is a rising star of the piano world. She was the gold medalist at the 2008 World Piano Competition in Cincinnati, and 1st prize recipient of numerous competitions such as the Juilliard Gina Bachauer, Kosciuszko Chopin, Nena Wideman. She also received top prizes at the Concorso Internaziole Ettore Pozzoli and Maj Lind International Piano Competition. She is a recipient of Keyboard Trust Award in England and Gawon International Music Award in Korea. Han has been named the "Most Promising Young Artist" by the Korean Ministry of Culture.

She has appeared at the Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, performed with the Buffalo Philharmonic, Helsinki Philharmonic, Seoul philharmonic Orchestra, Houston Symphony, Banff Festival Orchestra, and I Pomeriggi Musicali di Milan. In 2011, she makes her European debuts with the Berliner Symphoniker, Steinway Hall in London, Bergamo Festival in Italy, and Salle Cortot in Paris.

A graduate from the Curtis Institute of music, and Juilliard School, Yoonjung is completing her Doctoral degree at the State University of New York, and Artist Diploma at the Universite de Montreal.

Russian pianist Ilya Yakushev has firmly established a presence and reputation in the musical world as a world class pianist. He has many awards and honors to his credit, and has performed at major venues on three continents. His three-concert series at the San Francisco Symphony's Prokofiev Festival under Michael Tilson Thomas was named one of the "Top 10 Classical Music Events of 2007" by the San Francisco Chronicle. He has also appeared as concerto soloist with the Utah Symphony under Keith Lockhart in Salt Lake City; the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra under Tugan Sokhiev (also known as the Kirov Orchestra) in St. Petersburg, Russia; the Arkansas Symphony and the Las Vegas Philharmonic under David Itkin; and the Mannes Orchestra under Paul Nadler at Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall.

As a concert soloist, Mr. Yakushev has performed in Lincoln Center's Great Performers Series, the International Keyboard Institute & Festival (New York City), the Ravinia Festival (Chicago) and Piano Summer (New Paltz, NY), and at such prestigious venues as Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall and Alice Tully Hall (New York City), Bechstein Center (Berlin), Musikverein (Vienna). Among his many awards are the Gawon International Music Society's Award (Seoul, Korea), and first prizes at the World Piano Competition (Cincinnati, Ohio), and the Donostia Hiria International Piano Competition (San Sebastian, Spain). Mr. Yakushev attended the Rimsky-Korsakov College of Music in his native St. Petersburg, Russia, and subsequently came to New York City to attend Mannes College of Music where he studied with Dr. Arkady Aronov and later with legendary pianist Vladimir Feltsman.

In addition to his performing career, Mr. Yakushev is presently serving as Executive Director of the International Keyboard Institute and Festival at Mannes, founded and directed by Jerome Rose, a position he has held since 2002.

Julia MacLaine has consistently been singled out by critics for her rich tone, sweet, throbbing vibrato, and superb playing. Her performances at Carnegie Hall as a member of Ensemble ACJW and as a soloist and chamber musician throughout Europe, North and South America, and Iceland, have established her as one of today's prominent cellists. Julia is a member of The Knights Chamber Orchestra, The Beauséjour Trio, Troika, Tres Americas Project, and Pangea. She has performed with many other New York based ensembles including The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Ensemble, and The International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE).

In 2007, MacLaine was the soloist in Tan Dun's Cello Concerto Elegy: Snow In June at Carnegie's Zankel Hall with Ensemble ACJW. As a soloist and chamber musician, she has performed at all three Carnegie Halls, as well as at Alice Tully Hall, Symphony Space, Galapagos Art Space, Le Poisson Rouge, and Merkin Hall. With her duo partner, Ilya Kazantsev, Julia won a first prize in the Chamber Music Foundation of New England's 2008 International Chamber Music Ensemble Competition. She has recorded for Sony Classical and Deutsche Grammophon. After receiving her early training as a cellist on Prince Edward Island and in neighbouring Nova Scotia, Julia went on to study with Antonio Lysy at McGill University, and with Timothy Eddy at The Juilliard School and the Mannes College of Music. Julia plays a cello made by Christophe Landon in 2006. Please visit juliamaclaine.com for more information.

Korean-born American pianist Soyeon Park started her musical education at the age of four. Soon after arriving in the United States, Soyeon attended Manhattan School of Music's Preparatory Division as a scholarship student, where she gave three showcase recitals and won two concerto competitions. As a young artist, she won many awards from various competitions and auditions including ARTS (Arts Recognition and Talent Search) by the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts, Heida Hermann International Competition, Wideman Piano Competition and the Corpus Christi International Competition.

Soyeon was accepted to participate in Tivoliclassica Festival Internazionale di Musica Classica in Italy, Piano Texas and Banff Music Academy. Her highly acclaimed debut recital in Romania brought her back to Europe to perform in Sicily, Italy with an orchestra. She continues to perform as a soloist at concert halls throughout the United States and Europe. Soyeon has been privileged to participate in masterclasses with renowned pianists Alexander Kobrin, Armen Babakhanian, Robert McDonald, Ann Schein, Ian Hobson, Jerome Lowenthal, Min Kwon, Barry Snyder, Ivan Moravec, and Menahem Pressler. Soyeon's recent performances include a recital which was broadcasted on Czech National Radio.

Soyeon is a highly sought-after collaborative artist in New York City's demanding classical music scene, frequently appearing at prestigious venues such as Carnegie Hall and Steinway Hall. Her energetic and insightful interpretations of classical works have charmed and inspired audiences young and old. She received her Bachelor and Master Degrees of Music as a scholarship student from Manhanttan School of Music. Currently, Soyeon is working for Doctoral Degree in Musical Arts at Manhattan School of Music under tutelage of a renowned pianist and pedagogue, Zenon Fishbein.

21-year-old cellist Nan-Cheng Chen is a senior at the Juilliard School of Music studying with renowned teacher and cellist of the Juilliard String Quartet, Mr. Joel Krosnick. Nan-Cheng started his musical training at the age of 6 in Taiwan, and came to United States at age 12 to continue his studies. As an active performer, he has won many awards and was invited to perform in major concert halls such as the New York’s Carnegie Hall and Boston’s Jordon Hall. Nan-Cheng’s near future plan include releasing his first album in Spring, and two solo recitals in Taipei’s National Recital Hall and Taichung’s Chung-Shih Hall in August, 2010.

In the past summers he has participated in the Kneisel Hall, Sarasota Music Festival, Aspen Music festival, Heifetz International Music Institute Festival, The Banff Center and the Encore School for Strings. Nan-Cheng was awarded first prize in the 2010 Queens Symphony Concerto Competition, and will be playing Tchaikovsky’s Rococo Variations in their next season. He also performed Kabelevsky’s Cello Concerto with the Metro-West Symphony Orchestra as the winner of their 2003 Youth Concerto Competition. In November of 2005, he performed Samuel Barber’s Cello Concerto with Symphony Pro Musica, receiving a review in the Worcester Telegram and Gazette that stated: “It was the kind of performance one might hear live only once a decade.” Nan-Cheng has toured Venezuela and Brazil in June of 2005 with New England Conservatory Youth Philharmonic Orchestra, and was invited back by Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra for solo concerto performances in June of 2006.

Japanese pianist Mariko Furukawa started to play the piano at the age of five. After winning numerous competitions in her native Japan, she decided to continue her musical career in the U.S. Since 2001 Mariko has won prestigious competitions and awards including First Prize at Dorothy McKenzie competition and Mannes concerto competition (NYC), Grand prix at the American conservatoire in Fontainebleau, the Third Prize at Porto International Piano Competition in Portugal and the Fourth prize at Kosciusko foundation Chopin competition. Ms. Furukawa has appeared in New York’s major halls such as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, The United Nations, Steinway salon both as a soloist and a collaborative pianist. Her performance of Chopin was broadcast at WQXR. She obtained Master’s of Music degree from The Juilliard School in 2009, BM and PSD at Mannes College of Music where she studied with Jerome Rose and Jacob Lateiner.

Violinist Yu-Ting Huang, a native of Taiwan, performs frequent recitals at venues throughout Taiwan such as the National Recital Hall of Taiwan, and has appeared as soloist with the National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra.

Huang is also active as a chamber musician, participating in programs at the Norfolk chamber music festival, Kneisel Hall chamber music festival, and courses coached by Claude Frank, Peter Frankl, Seymour Lipkin, Todd Phillips, Ronald Copes, Ani Kavafian, Mathias Tacke, members of the Tokyo Quartet, member of Ying Quartet, member of Brantano Quartet.

Huang has been invited on tour to perform in the Asian Youth Orchestra, Pacific Music Festival Academy and Sapporo Symphony Orchestra during the summer. She was the principal violinist in the Pacific Music Festival New Music concert "Pacific Sounding." She has stood on internationally renowned performance venues such as Carnegie Hall, Kennedy center, Sapporo Kitara Hall, and the National Taiwan concert Hall.

Huang received her Master of Music and Artist Diploma from the Yale school of music, studying with Syoko Aki. Currently, she is a full scholarship and Fellowship DMA student at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, studying with Todd Phillips.

Huang had been awarded scholarship from the "Treasury of Taiwan Young Musicians Project."

Huang's most recent activities include participation at the Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival, Beethoven Institute under the guidance of Brantano String Quartet.

Alexander Anisimov was born in Orenburg (Russia) in 1975 into a musical family, and started his musical studies at the age of six at the Orenburg musical school. He graduated from the Russian State Music Academy (Class of Prof. Alexander Shisman) and also has got the postgraduate Diploma with Prof. Shisman.

Since 2000, he has regularly performed as a soloist and conductor with various orchestras in St. Petersburg, Moscow, Kazan (Tatarstan), Ufa (Bashkortostan), Astana (Kazakhstan) and others. Since 2010 to 2012 Alexander has worked in the National Symphony Orchestra (Ufa, Bashkortostan, Russia) as a concertmaster, soloist and a second conductor.

His repertoire as a soloist includes concertos of Vivaldi. Mozart, Paganini, Wieniawski, Khachaturian; sonatas by Beethoven & Brahms, works of Sarasate, Rachmaninoff, Kreisler, Tchaikovsky, Gershwin and many other composers.

In his conductor's repertoire are symphonies, divertissements and orchestral works of Haydn, Mozart, Mendelssohn, Shostakovich, J. Strauss, Dunaevsky etc.

Alexander was the first performer of works by contemporary composers and composes himself – Suite for Piano "Puppet Theatre", String Quartet, Fantasy for violin and orchestra based on the themes of Verdi’s "Traviata", Poem for Flute and piano "Apparition", Suite "Concert Dances" for symphony orchestra.

In 2009 Alexander was admitted to the Association of Russian Composers. For his achievements in performing arts, he was awarded a grant from the Russian Musical Association, TV prize "Person of the Year", and Orenburg Governor’s Prize.

He has also been the prize winner of the following International competitions: "Citta di Moncalieri" (1999, Italy); "Hopes, Talents, Masters" (2004, 2007, Bulgaria); "Valtidone Competition" (2005, Italy) and others. He was awarded prizes in various categories: "Solo performance (Violin)", "Chamber Ensemble", "Composition".

 

In 2011 Alexander has received his PHD. In May 2014 Alexander was graduated on Artist Diploma in Long Island Conservatory of Music (conducting).

Cellist Sergey Antonov enjoys a versatile career as a soloist and chamber musician. Critics throughout the world have hailed him as “destined for cello superstardom” -Washington Post, “combining formidable technique and an incredibly warm, penetrating and vibrant tone to a romantic musical sensibility to create music - making of a highest caliber” - Budapest Sun. After one of the Newport Festival concerts in RI, a critic wrote “... a performance with soaring phrases and a tone to die for.” Sergey’s performance of the Elgar concerto drew the critic of the Moscow’s Daily Telegraph to write: “[he] is a musician who has his own inner space, where he submerges himself from the very first sound…who turns each phrase, every deeply felt sound into an event of his own inner monologue. The theme of this monologue is existential suffering; a change of intricately noted emotions, directly related to the unexplainable condition known as Spiritual Life.” A Canadian critic wrote: “Antonov conveyed ...a world of expression from plaintive hope to existential pathos.”
One of the recent reviewers wrote,  “ No virtuosic challenge is more than his equal.”
 
After winning the Gold Medal in the 2007 International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, Russia, Sergey has been touring extensively throughout Europe, Asia, North and South America performing in halls ranging from the Great Hall of Moscow Conservatory to Suntory Hall in Tokyo. He has collaborated with musicians such as Denis Matsuev, Bernadene Blaha, Kevin Fitz Gerald, Ekaterina Mechetina, Harve A’ Kaoua, Carl Ponten, Dora Schwartzberg, John Lenehan, Colin Carr, Cynthia Phelps, Martin Chalifour, David Chan, among others, as well as his permanent piano partner Ilya Kazantsev. The duo has recorded several CDs of traditional cello-piano repertoire as well as their own transcriptions, recorded in their CD album Elegy.
Sergey is a member of the acclaimed Hermitage Piano Trio with Ilya Kazantsev and violinist Misha Keylin.
 
In addition to being the 2007 Tchaikovsky gold medal winner for cello, Antonov has been a recipient of the 2008 Golden Talent Award by the Russian Performing Arts Foundation as well as garnering top prizes at the Justuz Friedrich Dotzhauer Competition, Germany, David Popper International Cello Competition, Hungary, American String Teachers Association in Detroit. His chamber ensemble performances have also brought him honors from the Lyrica Chamber Music Series as their “Young Artist of the Year”, and First Prizes from the Chamber Music Foundation of New England and the Swedish International Duo Competition.
 
Antonov collaborated with such maestros as Vladimir Spivakov, Dmitry Sitkovetsky Yan Pascal Tortilier, Mikhail Pletnev, Maxim Vengerov, Oue Eiji, Yuri Simonov, Christopher Zimmerman, Uri Bashmet,  Jonathan McPhee, Yuri Botnari, Alexey Shabalin, among many others. He has made his conducting debut in the spring of 2014. Sergey frequently gives master classes to solo cellists and chamber music groups in colleges and universities throughout the world.
 
Born into a family of cellists, Sergey started playing cello at the age of five with his mother, Maria Zhuravleva, as his teacher. She has recently become the recipient of the National 2014 Teacher of the Year Award of Russia. He has studied at the Central Music School and has graduated from the Moscow Conservatory where studied under the renowned professor Natalia Shakhovskaya.
 
He holds an Artist Diploma from Longy School of Music in Boston where he worked with Grammy nominated cellist Terry King. While being a student at the Moscow Conservatory, Sergey was under the tutelage of M. Rostropovich.
 
Sergey has appeared on Russian National Television in performances with the Moscow Philharmonic in their “Stars of the 21st Century” series, and in live concerts on Boston’s NPR radio station WGBH. His performances were also broadcast by NHK Japan.
 
He lives in New York with his wife Nika and son Noah.

Colombian Violist Raul Garcia has established himself as one of the most promising artists of his generation. Career highlights include Assistant principal violist with the Colombia Symphony Orchestra during 2006-2009; Performances at Carnegie Hall, The National Arts Center and the Leonard Bernstein Memorial Stage. He is First prize winner of numerous competitions including the II Colombian Viola Competition; the concerto Competition in FOSJA, and the Yale School of Music Georgina Lucy Grosvenor Memorial Prize. An avid chamber musician, he appeared at the St. Lawrence Quartet Chamber Seminar, Yellow Barn, The NAC Young Artist Program, Pacific Music Festival, Innsbrook Institute, and The Perlman Music Program. Mr. Garcia holds a BM Degree from Juan N. Corpas University; as well as Master and Artist Diploma degrees from The Yale School of Music. Currently Raul pursues a Doctoral degree at Rutgers University with Philadelphia Orchestra Principal violist Choong-Jin Chang.

Her powerful presence, fine technical prowess and emotional depth on stage have established Mengjia Lu as one of the most exceptional young emerging pianists in New York. She has won the First Prize and Special Prize for Virtuoso Performance at the 2017 New York Piano Festival and Competition which resulted in her debut performance in Carnegie Hall and the 44th William C. Byrd Young Artist Competition which took place at the Dort Music Center in 2015. Born in Bengbo, China, Mengjia began her piano lessons at age 5, and her progress was accelerated by professional studies at the Middle School affiliated to Shanghai Conservatory of Music since age 9 with Dr. Zhe Tang. Winning the Steinway & Son’s National Piano Competition in Beijing and the National Jingzhong Award of China in Xiamen, Mengjia collaborated with many of the China’s best symphony orchestras in which she has performanced piano concerti by Mozart, Rachmaninov, and Tchaikovsky. In 2014, she moved to New York to keep pursuing her music career after receiving a full-scholarship offer from New York’s prestigious Manhattan School of Music, where she now studies with Jeffrey Cohen. Under the guidance of Dr. Tang and Mr. Cohen, Mengjia expresses her true passion in her hard work to become a leading female pianist.

Guerguan Tsenov is the founder and the music director of Tsenov Chamber Ensemble - a New York City based string orchestra devoted primarily to the performance and promotion of contemporary classical music. 

Mr. Tsenov received his musical training first at the National Academy of Music in Sofia, where he studied with Vassil Kazandjiev. Later he continued his studies under James DePreist at The Juilliard School in New York. In 2007, Mr. Tsenov was invited to the Aspen Music Festival as a conducting fellow at the American Academy of Conducting at Aspen where he worked and performed under the direction of David Zinman. Other conductors with whom Guerguan Tsenov has closely collaborated include Kurt Masur, Michael Tilson Thomas and George Manahan. In the same year, Tsenov was appointed Resident Conductor of NYU Symphony Orchestras where he worked and performed with the university’s two main symphony orchestras – NYU Symphony Orchestra and NYU Repertory Orchestra. His most recent appointment was as a principal conductor of the New Amsterdam Symphony Orchestra in New York. 

Guerguan Tsenov has led most of the major orchestras in his native country Bulgaria including Sofia State Philharmonic, New Symphony Orchestra, Classic FM Symphony Orchestra, Pazardjik Symphony Orchestra and the Symphony Orchestra of The National Academy of Music in Sofia. In The United States, Mr. Tsenov has performed with the Orlando Philharmonic, New Amsterdam Symphony Orchestra (NY), Broadway Bach Ensemble (NY), AACA Orchestra at the Aspen Music Festival, Juilliard Conductors Orchestra, Detroit Civic Orchestra, and Philadelphia Youth Orchestra. Major venues include Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and John F. Kennedy Center. 

Guerguan Tsenov is a recipient of the Award of the International Academy of Arts as well as the Award of Foundation Open Society for his musical achievements. He has been two times recipient of the Bruno Walter Memorial Scholarship and he has been finalist at Dimitris Mitropoulos International Conducting Competition and Gennady Rozhdestvensky International Conducting Competition.

After joining the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester (GMJO) in 2008, Jesús became its Principal Violist and Soloist in 2010. With the GMJO he has performed in Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Luxemburg, Italy, Greece, Hungary, Liechtenstein, Spain, in halls such as the Musikverein of Vienna, Konzarpalatz of Frankfurt, Alte Oper of Luxemburg, Teatro Verdi of Pisa, Auditorio Nacional of Madrid, Teatro San Carlo of Naples, and Megaron of Athens, among others. Some notable conductors who he has performed under are Antonio Pappano, Herbert Blomstedt, Ingo Metzmacher, as well as soloists such as Han-Na Chang, Hakan Handerberger, and Leonidas Kavakos.

Jesús has been a prize winner of numerous competitions including the 2010 "Angel Muñiz Toca" prize and the Mannes College of Music of New York Presidents Award Scholarship. In 2009 he received the "Cajastur Young Artist" Scholarship and in 2008, he won the "CajaMadrid Chamber Music" and "Young Artist Intercentros" National competitions. He was also the winner of the "Young Soloist Competition" in León in 2007.

Cellist Daniel Mumm received a Bachelor of Music degree from Indiana University and a Masters of Arts degree from the John J. Cali School of Music at Montclair State University. Prior to that, he attended the pre-college program at Manhattan School of Music. Daniel's recent concert engagements have included a solo appearance with the Orchester der Kuenstuniversitaet Graz (Austria). Daniel has been a participant in numerous music festivals including Bowdoin International Music Festival, Manchester Music Festival, and the Indiana University String Academy. An avid chamber musician, Mr. Mumm has performed in master classes for members of the Kronos, Guarneri, Borromeo, and Vermeer Quartets. Daniel has extensive experience with contemporary music, including performances of the works of Harry Partch featuring the composer's original instruments. He is also an active studio musician, and has recently recorded music for NFL films. Currently Daniel is pursuing a Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the Mason Gross school of the Arts at Rutgers University.

Pianist Hong Kiew Kim has been described as a passionate, interesting and convincing musician. He continues to charm audiences in both U.S. and abroad with his commentated performances. His virtuoso transcriptions continue to dazzle audiences of U.S., Korea and Sweden since they were first heard over a decade ago. Mr. Kim has made several appearances in Carnegie Weill Recital Hall, Lincoln Center and the Steinway Hall in NY. Recently, he has given themed recitals of all Scandinavian piano works, all Romantic, all Mozart, all Chopin and all Beethoven recitals. He also appeared as soloist with the Vienna International Orchestra under the baton of Robert Lehrbaumer.

Aside from his piano performances, Mr. Kim devotes himself to teaching and choral conducting.

Mr. Kim has studied with artists such as Evelyne Crochet, Ilya ltin, Byron Janis, and Marc Silverman. He performed in master classes with Leif Ove Andsnes, Jean Efflam Bavouzet, Dang Thai Son, and Peter Takacs. He received his Masters Degree in Piano Performance from the Manhattan School of Music, and a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature and Music from Rutgers College, Rutgers University. Mr. Kim has been among the winners of the Bradshaw and Buono International Piano Competition.

Hong Kiew Kim's future engagements include performances and teaching at the New York Piano Festival, recitals in New Brunswick and Bedminster NJ, and NYC.

Hirona Amamiya is a Soprano/Violinist based in New York. She embraces a wide range of repertoire from baroque music to contemporary music. Recent performances as a soprano include Cleopatra (Giulio Cesare), Papagena (Die Zauberflöte), and Zerlina (Don Giovanni), and Sandman (Hansel and Gretel). Amamiya has performed solo recitals, chamber music concerts, and opera performances in numerous countries include Japan, Korea, Germany, Austria, Italy, Israel, and the US.  Her extensive appearances in New York include Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Merkin Concert Hall, The Morgan Library & Museum, The DiMenna Center for Classical Music, Symphony Space, and St. Peter’s Church. 

Amamiya was born in Tokyo into a musical family. She began playing the piano under her mother’s tutorage when she was three. She began playing the violin when she was five. She holds Bachelor’s degrees in Violin, and Master’s and Professional Studies degree in Voice from Manhattan School of Music. 

Douglas Lundeen originally trained as an opera singer studying repertoire with Frank Baselice of the Metropolitan Opera and voice with dramatic tenor Herbert Doussant.  Largely self-taught on the French horn, he was mentored in his DMA studies by the great American soloist and natural horn pioneer Lowell Greer.  

Dr. Lundeen won first prize for solo natural horn in the 1987 American Horn Competition and has played principal horn with period instrument orchestras in New York City, Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Vancouver and Washington, D. C, under such conductors as Hogwood, Norrington, Brüggen, Parrott, and Koopman. 

Dr. Lundeen has been a featured recitalist and master clinician at many symposia of the International Horn Society and the International Early Brass Society.  On the modern horn, he has soloed and played principal horn with orchestras in Costa Rica, Cincinnati, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh as well as on Broadway.  Dr. Lundeen is currently Principal Horn of the Princeton Symphony and is Assoc. Prof. of Music at Rutgers University, and tours internationally with Brass Roots Trio on whose programs he also performs as an operatic tenor. He has recordings on the Sony, Newport Classics, Musical Heritage Society, and Centaur labels and recently released a French recital CD on the antique Selmer piston-valve horn Le cor français authentique available through Naxos.

Since his New York Carnegie Hall début at age 11, violinist Misha Keylin has continued to earn critical and audience acclaim for his exuberant musicality, keen interpretive insight and rare tonal beauty.  Noted for a wide range of repertoire, Keylin attracted particular attention with his world-premiere three CD series, featuring all seven of Henry Vieuxtemps’ Violin Concertos, released on the Naxos label.   These recordings have sold over 120,000 copies worldwide and have garnered numerous press accolades and awards (such as “Critic’s Choice” by The New York Times,Gramophone and The Strad).  His most recent CD features Vieuxtemps’ violin showpieces with orchestra (Naxos 8.570974) and its continued success has led Naxos to invite Keylin to record the remaining orchestral works of Vieuxtemps.

In a career already spanning forty-five countries on five continents, Keylin has collaborated with such distinguished conductors as Roberto Benzi, Irwin Hoffman, Eliahu Inbal, Vakhtang Jordania, Theodore Kuchar, Fabio Mechetti. John Nelson, Marco Parisotto, Alexander Schneider, Jörg-Peter Weigle, Bruno Weil and Takuo Yuasa. He has been guest soloist with the St. Petersburg Philharmonic, Leipzig Chamber Orchestra, Marseille Philharmonic, NDR Philharmonic of Hannover, Budapest Philharmonic, Israel Sinfonietta, Bologna Philharmonic, Amadeus Chamber Orchestra, Brandenburg Philharmonic and the Philharmonic Orchestra of Chile; in addition, he has performed with the National Symphony Orchestras of Ukraine, Latvia, Colombia, Costa Rica and other noted ensembles.  United States concerto and recital appearances have brought him to major venues in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington D.C., Seattle, Charlotte, Indianapolis, Atlanta, Denver and San Francisco.

As an active chamber musician, he is a regular guest artist with the Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players and has participated at the Aspen, Ravinia and Australian Chamber Music festivals, amongst others.  In 2011, Keylin became a founding member of the Hermitage Piano Trio together with renowned soloists - Sergey Antonov (cello) and Ilya Kazantsev (piano).

Misha Keylin began musical studies with his mother in St. Petersburg, Russia. He immigrated to the USA at nine and was immediately accepted as a student by the legendary Dorothy DeLay at The Juilliard School.   After winning New York’s coveted Waldo Mayo Award as “Best Young Performer of the Year,” Keylin went on to capture top prizes in the prestigious Hannover (Germany), Paganini (Italy), Sarasate (Spain) and Viña del Mar (Chile) competitions.  Keylin has been a Career Grant recipient of the Clarisse B. Kampel Foundation and he currently resides in New York and performs on a violin made by Antonio Gagliano in 1831 and a bow made by Dominique Peccatte.

Arthur Haas, harpsichordist, is one of the most sought-after performers and teachers of Baroque music in the U.S. today. He holds a master’s degree in historical musicology from UCLA, where he studied harpsichord with Bess Karp. He also studied with Albert Fuller at The Juilliard School and with Alan Curtis in Berkeley and in Amsterdam.
Mr. Haas was awarded the top prize in the Paris International Harpsichord Competition in 1975, and then lived for a number of years in France, performing in many of the major European early music festivals and teaching at the Ecole Nationale de Musique in Angoulême. While in Paris, he joined the famed Five Centuries Ensemble, known for its performances and recordings of both early and contemporary music. In 1985, his formal American debut at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall was highly praised by the New York Times.

He is a member of the Aulos Ensemble, one of America’s premier early music ensembles whose recordings of Bach, Vivaldi, Telemann, and Rameau have received critical acclaim in the press. He is also a member of Empire Viols and Aula Harmoniæ. Mr. Haas participated in the first recording of the Bach Goldberg Variation Canons with Alan Curtis, and has also recorded suites for two harpsichords by Gaspard LeRoux with William Christie. His solo CD’s of Pièces de clavecin by Jean-Henry D’Anglebert, Suites de clavecin of Forqueray, music by Henry Purcell and his contemporaries, and suites of Jacquet de la Guerre and François Couperin have been widely praised in the press.
Known for his expertise as a continuo player, Mr. Haas has toured with such distinguished early musicians as Marion Verbruggen, Jaap ter Linden, Julianne Baird, Laurence Dreyfus, Bruce Haynes, and Wieland Kuijken. In 2001, he recorded Bach’s Cantata #199 and songs of Henry Purcell with the soprano Dawn Upshaw.

Annual summer workshop and festival appearances take him to the International Baroque Institute at Longy, and the Amherst Early Music Festival, where he has served as artistic director of the Baroque Academy since 2002. Mr. Haas is professor of harpsichord and early music at Stony Brook University, where he directs the award winning Stony Brook Baroque Players, and is also on the faculty of the Mannes College of Music and Juilliard’s recently created historical performance program. In Fall 2012, he will begin teaching harpsichord and early music courses at the Yale School of Music.

Christopher Scanlon has performed with orchestras and chamber ensembles in Europe, Asia, Canada, Mexico and across the United States. As a member of the Verbier Festival Chamber Orchestra, Scanlon has performed with many renowned soloists such as Joshua Bell, David Garrett, Martha Argerich, Daniil Trifonov, Mischa Maisky, Andras Schiff, Radu Lupu, Helene Grimaud and Stephen Kovacevich. In New York City, he has performed in Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, in Broadway theaters including Phantom of the Opera and An American in Paris and as a member of the Radio City Music Hall Orchestra. In the past he has performed with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Boston Pops, Springfield Symphony, Charleston Symphony, Miami Symphony, Symphony in C, Chamber Orchestra of New York, and as principal trumpet with the Boston Lyric Opera, Singapore Symphony, Rhode Island Philharmonic, Vermont Symphony, New World Symphony, Opera North, Reading Symphony, DCINY, and the Philharmonic Orchestra of the Americas and was an associate member of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago. He has performed as a soloist with the Garden State Philharmonic and Spectrum Symphony of New York. He has appeared on stage with Josh Groban, Rufus Wainwright, Paul Shafer, Lena Hall, Paul Giamatti, Aleks Syntek, Natalia Lafourcade, Pedro Fernandez and on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Scanlon has peformed under the batons of Seiji Ozawa, John Williams, James Levine, Kurt Mazur and Valery Gergiev. 

He has performed at the festivals of Artosphere, Banff, Spoleto, Verbier and Tanglewood where he was the recipient of the Roger Voisin Award. Outside of the concert hall Scanlon enjoys diverse performance opportunities with the avant-grade Shrine Big Band in Harlem, Zocalo Brass, the Silver Spruce Trio and Banda Nueva York. Scanlon appreciates the moments to give back through concerts for veterans with the Patriot Brass and chamber music performances for Music for Autism and Concerts in Motion

Award-winning Russian-American violinist Igor Pikayzen is confidently establishing himself as one of the most prodigious talents of his generation. Praised on four continents by critics and audiences alike for his "astounding technical ability" and a "majestically lush tone", Igor Pikayzen "surely is at a forefront of a major musical career" (Moscow Times).

Since his concerto debut at the age of 8, with Mozart's Violin Concerto #2 and the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra, Pikayzen has appeared as a soloist with major orchestras spanning Europe, Asia, North and South America, including the Russian State Symphony Orchestra, Moscow Radio Symphony, Bucharest Philharmonic, State of Mexico Symphony Orchestra, Milano Chamber Orchestra, Sinfonica Nacional de Chile, Atlantic Classical Orchestra, Filharmonica di Bacau, Bialystok Philharmonic, Stamford Symphony, Czestochowa Philharmonic, Taipei Chamber Orchestra, Tbilisi Opera Orchestra, Yokohama Sinfonietta and countless others. In the last two seasons alone, he has given debuts and returned to Carnegie Hall and Alice Tully Hall in New York City, Tchaikovsky Hall and Minor Hall in Moscow, Teatro Llago, Congreso Nacional, Flagey and Le Bozar in Brussels, Le Bourget in Montreal, Centro Nacional de las Artes in Mexico City and Cadogan Hall in London, to name just a few.

A keen lover of chamber music, Pikayzen is in constant demand as a chamber music partner and has been blessed with an array of wonderful chamber music partners and mentors. He has worked or collaborated with such artists as Seymour Lipkin, Joseph Kalichstein, Tibor Varga, Sylvia Rosenberg, Boris Berman, Claude Frank, Viktor and Tatyana Pikayzen, Liana Isakadze, Peter Wiley, Igor Oistrakh, as well as the Tokyo and Kuss Quartets and the Russian Virtuosi of Europe. The first violinist of the NYC-based Phoenix Ensemble, Pikayzen is a frequent guest at many chamber music series and festivals. Appearances in the 2015-16 season include returns to Verbier, New York's Bargemusic, Night Serenades Festival in Georgia, Semanas Musicales de Frutillar in Chile.

Pikayzen's live performances and recordings have been broadcast on WXQR, Kultura (Russia), RTBF (Belgium) CBC (Canada) Radio Kultura (Poland) RadioSwiss Classic (Switzerland) as well as MediciTV and ViolinChannel. His debut album was released on the ProArte label and includes works by Debussy, Ysaye, Saint-Saens and Wieniawski. 2015 also sees the completion of Tchaikovsky's "Souvenir de Florence" with the Russian Virtuosi of Europe for Orchid Classics and a recording of spirituals with the baritone Lester Lynch for Pentatone Classics, while the rarely-heard Henri Marteau clarinet quintet comes out on the Ansonia label.

Grandson of the legendary Soviet violinist Viktor Pikayzen, Igor was born in Moscow, Russia. After coming to the United States, he earned his Bachelor's Degree from Juilliard, as well as a Master's Degree and Artist Diploma from the Yale School of Music. He is currently completing his DMA at the CUNY Graduate Center, where he holds the coveted position of Enhanced Chancellor Fellow and is on the violin faculty of Brooklyn Conservatory. Pikayzen is the 1st prize winner of the 2015 Edition of the International Violin Competition Luis Sigall in Viña del Mar, Chile as well as the Wronski International Violin Competition in Warsaw, in addition to being a silver medalist at the Szeryng and Kloster- Schöntal international violin competitions.

ADRIAN DAUROV is a versatile cellist, who performs on world-famous concert stages including Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, St. Petersburg Philharmonic, Madison Square Garden, and Boardwalk Arena in Atlantic City, ranging from classical solo recitals to playing shows with the likes of Alicia Keys, Josh Groban, Burt Bacharach, Frank Ocean and The Roots, The Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Sarah Brightman and the Icelandic post-rock band Sigur Ros. Most recently, Adrian has collaborated with the Swedish folk-rock band First Aid Kit, performing at iTunes Live Sessions and also frequently performs with the cello rock band Break of Reality.

Since Adrian's debut as a soloist with The St. Petersburg Symphony Orchestra at age 15, he has nourished his career by receiving the top prizes at prestigious international music competitions in the Netherlands in 2002 and The US in 2006 as well as touring as a soloist with the St. Petersburg Chamber Orchestra in 2004 and being appointed the principal cellist of the Bayreuth Youth Festival Orchestra in Germany. In 2008 Adrian Daurov was featured in a Gala Concert in celebration of Russia's Independence Day at Carnegie Hall's main stage along Russia’s opera stars Yelena Obraztsova and Vladimir Galouzine. After studying at the St. Petersburg Conservatory in Russia, Adrian received the Jerome L. Greene Scholarship to study at the Juilliard School with the renowned cello pedagogues Andre Emelianoff and David Soyer (of the Guarneri Quartet) where he completed his Bachelor's and Master's degrees in 2009. In June 2007 Adrian was also appointed the principal cellist of the Chamber Orchestra of New York, and a year later formed his own group - award-winning Voxare Quartet. Adrian's cello playing was heard and broadcast on several radio station and TV channels like WNYC, WQXR and NTV-America and popular American TV shows such as Regis & Kelly Live, Good Morning America, Late Show with David Letterman and Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. Adrian was also featured on a jazz album by New York's rising jazz star Romain Collin and appeared on America’s Got Talent show. Adrian made his New York solo debut at Merkin Hall at Lincoln Center and performed as a soloist with the Chamber Orchestra of New York at Carnegie Hall. Mr. Daurov has also collaborated in chamber music programs with pianists Di Wu,  Alexander Ghindin, Spencer Myer, Inon Barnatan, violinists Giora Schmidt, Mark Peskanov and flutist Eugenia Zukerman, the St. Petersburg String Quartet and many others. This season will also see Mr Daurov performing solo with the symphony orchestras of Wyoming, Corvallis, Longwood (MA) and St. Petersburg in Russia.

Daurov is a devoted performer of the music of our time. He has collaborated with composers Mohammed Fairouz, Daron Hagen (USA), Christopher Gunning (UK), Daniel Capelletti (Belgium) and Grigory Smirnov (Russia - USA), who have written works for him. Adrian's two debut commercial recordings for Naxos label, to be released in 2015, will feature music by the Pulitzer Prize-winning composer David Del Tredici and the rising-star composer from New York City, Mohammed Fairouz.

JEROME ROSE, hailed as "the Last Romantic of our own age" and one of America's most distinguished pianists, has been heard in major concert halls across five continents. A Gold Medalist from the International Busoni Competition, Mr. Rose began his international career while still in his early twenties. His catalogue of critically acclaimed recordings on Medici Classics includes the Liszt Concerti with the Budapest Philharmonic, Liszt's Transcendental Etudes, the Complete Schumann Sonatas, "Davidsbundlertanze", and "Kreisleriana", the Last Three Beethoven Sonatas, and the Complete Ballades & Fantasy of Chopin. The complete Chopin Sonatas are released on Sony. In addition, on Medici Classics are the Schubert Posthumous Sonatas and Wanderer Fantasie; a Liszt album featuring the B minor Sonata, Don Juan Fantasy and Mephisto Waltz; and a Brahms recording of Sonata No. 3, and the Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Handel. Medici has also issued the re-release of Mr. Rose's Prix du Disque recording of Liszt's "Years of Pilgrimage". 

In addition Medici has released Mr. Rose's first DVD recordings, already highly acclaimed by the international press: The Four Ballades and Sonatas No. 2 and 3 of Chopin; the Sonatas of Beethoven, Opp. 101, 109, 110, and 111; an all-Schumann DVD: Humoreske, Fantasie, and Carnaval; and an all-Liszt DVD recording including the Sonata, Bénédiction, Funérailles, Petrarch Sonnets, and Vallée d'Obermann; and an all-Schubert DVD of the Last Four Sonatas.

Jerome Rose has appeared with such orchestras as the Berlin Philharmonic, Munich Philharmonic, Vienna Symphony, and Santa Cecilia, Rome. Jerome Rose has appeared with such orchestras as the Berlin Philharmonic, Munich Philharmonic, Vienna Symphony, and Santa Cecilia, Rome. A frequent visitor to London, he has appeared with the London Philharmonic, London Symphony, and the Royal Philharmonic. 

An all-Brahms recording of Sonata No. 3, Klavierstücke, Rhapsodies, Fantasies and Intermezzi was released on DVD and Blu-Ray in the Fall of 2011. A second all-Schumann recording in Blu-ray format was released in Fall 2012 and includes Kreisleriana and Davidsbündlertänze. A second Beethoven Sonata recording was released in the Fall of 2013. 

Mr. Rose's recordings of Franz Liszt for Vox were awarded the Grand Prix du Disque from the Liszt Society of Budapest, and the Ministry of Culture of Hungary conferred on him the Franz Liszt Medal for organizing the comprehensive Liszt Centennial Celebration in Washington D.C. in 1986. Previously, he served as the Artistic Director of the International Festival of the Romantics in London, and the Schubert and Brahms Festival at the Library of Congress.

Jerome Rose has appeared with such orchestras as the Berlin Philharmonic, Munich Philharmonic, Vienna Symphony, and Santa Cecilia, Rome. Jerome Rose has appeared with such orchestras as the Berlin Philharmonic, Munich Philharmonic, Vienna Symphony, and Santa Cecilia, Rome. A frequent visitor to London, he has appeared with the London Philharmonic, London Symphony, and the Royal Philharmonic. In addition he has been soloist with most major U.S. orchestras such as the Chicago Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, Houston, Baltimore & Atlanta. Conductors include Sir Georg Solti, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Sir Charles Mackerras, Stanislaw Skrowaczewski, Sergiu Comissiona, David Zinman, Hans Vonk, Robert Spano, and Christian Thielemann. 

He was a pupil of Adolph Baller when, at the age of 15, he debuted with the San Francisco Symphony. A graduate of the Mannes College and the Juilliard School of Music, Jerome Rose studied with Leonard Shure and Rudolf Serkin at Marlboro. In 1961 he was a winner of the Concert Artists Guild award and was also a Fulbright Scholar in Vienna.

Mr. Rose has given masterclasses at the Moscow Conservatory, the Chopin Academy in Warsaw, the Mozarteum in Salzburg, the Munich Hochschule, and the Toho Conservatory of Music in Tokyo, Japan. He is on the Faculty of the Mannes College of Music and is Founder/Director of the International Keyboard Institute & Festival held every summer in New York City. Mr. Rose’s performances at the Festival have been recorded by WFMT Chicago and NPR for worldwide radio broadcast. 

Mr. Rose has served on the Faculties at the Ecole Normale de Musique in Paris, the Tel-Hai Festival in Israel, the Duszniki Chopin Festival and the Salzburg Mozarteum. He is also in demand as a juror at international competitions including the E-Competition (USA), Beethoven (Germany), Liszt (Netherlands), Hamamatsu (Japan), Maria Canals (Spain) and Chopin (Poland) Competitions. He has toured major cities in China, giving recitals, masterclasses and promoting his 4 volume book "Becoming a Virtuoso". 

Last season included masterclasses and recital appearances in the United States, Europe, Japan, Korea and Taiwan. This season includes concerts and masterclasses in Germany, Russia, and the United States. Mr. Rose was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Music from the State University of New York for his lifetime achievement in music. 


"[Mr. Kazantsev] ranged over the keyboard with unruffled mastery."
-Robert Battey, The Washington Post, December 2013

 

Ilya Kazantsev, a fresh and exciting presence on the international music scene, has been hailed by The Washington Post as “virtually flawless.” He has performed extensively with orchestras in Russia and the United States, as well as appearing in recital in Germany, Japan, Italy, France, Canada, Ukraine, Belarus, Russia, the United States, and Slovenia. His many awards and honors include first prize at the Nikolai Rubinstein International Competition (Paris); he also won the International Chopin Competition (Moscow) and the 2007 & 2008 World Piano Competitions (Cincinnati).


In 2014, Ilya was invited to join the esteemed Hermitage Piano Trio, which also includes the renowned soloists Misha Keylin (violin) and Sergey Antonov (cello). An enthusiastic advocate of contemporary music, Ilya has presented numerous premieres of works by contemporary American, Russian, and Eastern European composers, many of which have been dedicated to him. His advanced studies have included working with such prominent contemporary music specialists as Jay Gotlieb, Mark Ponthus and the legendary composer and conductor Pierre Boulez, who praised Ilya for his thoughtful performance of composer's Douze Notations.



Ilya began his music studies in his native Moscow and at the age of nine was accepted as a student of Valeriy Pyasetsky at the Central Music School at the Tchaikovsky State Conservatory. Subsequently, he moved to the United States in 2002 to continue his studies at the Mannes College of Music and the Manhattan School of Music, working with Arkady Aronov. He currently resides in New York City.

Shining a Light on Baroque Music

Sang Joon Park – Baroque flute
Daniel Lee – Baroque violin
Martha McGaughey – Viola da gamba
Arthur Haas – Harpsichord

From the canals of Venice and music salons in German courts to the bright candlelit halls of Versailles, the early music ensemble Gold and Glitter shines a new light on 17th- and 18th-century masterpieces of the Baroque era.  Our aim, through great attention to detail and emphasizing historical performance practices, is to perform this music with flair, virtuosity, and passion in order to understand the composers’ intentions and make audiences love this music as much as we do.  The four members of the ensemble, all with different backgrounds, studied in Europe and the US and now perform and teach all over the world.  Their love and respect for this music brought them together in this great exploration of music from Bach’s time and before.  

ARTIST BIOS

Flutist Sang Joon Park was the 3rd recipient of the prestigious Samuel Baron Prize awarded at the SUNY Stony Brook University where he received his Doctor of Musical Arts Degree under Carol Wincenc. He studied with distinguished flutists such as Wilbert Hazelzet, Sandra Miller, Janet See, Jed Wentz, Linda Chesis, Judith Mendenhall and Thomas Nyfenger, and participated in Amherst Early Music Festival, International Baroque Institute at Longy, Vancouver Early Music Programme, and Bunnik Traverso Workshop.  He is the artistic director of Aula Harmoniae, and performs regularly with several Baroque chamber groups including Rossignol Amoureux, Flying Forms, Ensemble La Sylva, Newton Baroque, La Donna Musicale, Catacoustic Consort, Bacchanalia Baroque, Empire Viols, Bach Vespers at Holy Trinity, Concert Royal, and The Grand Tour Orchestra, with performances in Canada, the Netherlands, Peru, South Korea, Taiwan and the United States.  Mr. Park researches Spanish Baroque music at the Patrimonio Nacional Archivo y Biblioteca de Palacio Real de Madrid, Biblioteca Nacional de España, Real Conservatorio Superior de Música de Madrid, Biblioteca Histórica Municipal de Madrid, Biblioteca Musical Municipal de Madrid, Real Biblioteca del Monasterio San Lorenzo de El Escorial, and the Royal Library (Koninklijke Bibliotheek) at the Hague, Netherlands.

Period violinist Daniel S. Lee enjoys a varied career as a soloist, leader, chamber musician, and teacher. Praised for his “ravishing vehemence” and  “soulful performance" (New York Times), he has performed as a soloist and
concertmaster with the Early Music New York, New York Baroque Incorporated, Quodlibet Ensemble, San Francisco Bach Choir, Trinity Baroque Orchestra, and Yale Schola Cantorum. He has founded and co-directs the Sebastians, a period
ensemble lauded for its “well-thought-out articulation and phrasing” (Early Music Review) and “elegant string playing” (Early Music Today). As a violino piccolo specialist, he frequently appears as a soloist in Bach’s first Brandenburg Concerto and 
Cantata 140, and has given the modern-day premiere of his own transcription of Johann Pfeiffer’s concerto. He is on the violin, viola and chamber music faculty at Connecticut College and University of Bridgeport.

Martha McGaughey, viola da gamba, spent many formative years in Europe where she studied both with Jordi Savall in at the Schola Cantorum in Basel, and with Wieland Kuijken in Brussels.  While living in Paris she was a member of the Paris-based Five Centuries Ensemble, known for its performances of both early and contemporary music. She has performed with the Waverly Consort, Concert Royal, the Aulos Ensemble, and the New York Collegium. Ms. McGaughey collaborated with the British viol consort, Phantasm, in several concerts and a CD of the consort music of William Byrd.  She is a founding member of the New York based Empire Viols.  She has also recorded for the Fonit Cetra and Erato labels and for EMI.  Ms. McGaughey has taught at the Ecole Nationale de Musique in Angoulême (France), at the Eastman School of Music and at Stanford University.  Since 1986 she has been on the faculty at The Mannes College of Music in New York.  She has twice been a Regents' Lecturer at the University of California, San Diego, and teaches regularly at Amherst Early Music and at other summer workshops including the Viola de Gamba Society of America’s Annual Conclave.
  

Arthur Haas is one of the most sought after performers and teachers of Baroque music in the United States today. He received the top prize in the Paris International Harpsichord Competition in 1975 and then stayed in France for a number of years as an active member of the growing European early music scene.  While in Paris, he joined the Five Centuries Ensemble, a group acclaimed for its performances and recordings of Baroque and contemporary music.  He is a member of the Aulos Ensemble, one of America’s premier period instrument ensembles whose recordings of Bach, Vivaldi, Telemann, and Rameau have won critical acclaim in the press, as well as Empire Viols, and Aula Harmoniæ.  Along with many solo and chamber concerts throughout North America, he recently toured in Korea and Peru, and in December, 2014, was featured in a concerto evening with the China National Symphony in Beijing.   He has recorded harpsichord music of Jean-Henry D’Anglebert, Forqueray, Purcell and his contemporaries, Elisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre, François Couperin, and most recently the three books of Pièces de Clavecin of J.Ph. Rameau.  Annual summer workshop and festival appearances include the International Baroque Institute at Longy, and the Amherst Early Music Festival, where he served as artistic director of the Baroque Academy from 2002-2011.  Mr. Haas is Professor of Harpsichord and Early Music at Stony Brook University where he leads the award winning Stony Brook Baroque Players, and is also on the faculty of the Yale School of Music and Mannes College of Music. 

Polina Ushakova was born on the 21st of February 1991 in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia. Already as a child she won notable amount of music competitions and prizes. At the age of ten, as the youngest participant she got two Grand-Prix in two different age categories of Piano International Competition Val Tidone (Italy, 2001). Followed by the next achievements: the first Prize of the international competition for the young pianists in Belgrad (Serbia, 2003), awards by the festival "New Names" in Nizhny Novgorod/Moscow (Russia, 2003/2004), third Prize of the competition "Talents of the New Century" in Moscow (Russia, 2004), the second Prize as well as the special award from Karl Heinz Kämmerling by "Grotrian Steinweg" piano competition in Braunschweig (Germany, 2006). Polina Ushakova is the Prizewinner of the Clavarte Foundation Competition in Berlin (Germany, 2015), International Piano Competition "Klavierpodium" in Munich, (Germany, 2015), she recieved the second Prize of the "Concours national du jura" (Switzerland, 2015), the first Prize of the Kiefer Hablitzel Music Competition (Bern, Switzerland, 2015) and the first Prize of the "New York Piano Festival and Competition“ (New York, USA, 2016). When she was ten, Polina Ushakova made her debut as a soloist with the philarmonic symphony orchestra of Nizhny Novgorod (Russia, 2001), performing Mozart Concerto d-moll KV 466. Her interpretation of the Es-Dur Concerto by Franz Liszt with the Basel Symphony Orchester in Basel Stadtcasino (Switzerland, 2013) was announced as a mature convincing performance. Polina Ushakova began to study in 1995 in Nizhny Novgorod at the music school with Prof. Nataly Fisch and later at the Sibelius Academy in Finland. In 2009 she started her studies in Switzerland and continued in Paris, France. Polina recieved the important impulses during the study years and masterclasses with Matti Raekallio, Paavali Jumppanen, Vitaly Berson, Adrian Oetiker, Elisabeth Leonskaja, Dmitri Bashkirov and Marian Rybicki. 

Pianist Matei Varga is established as one of the leading young artists of his native Romania. He has performed at major venues around the world, among them Carnegie Hall (New York), the Auditorium du Louvre and Salle Gaveau (Paris), Konzerthaus (Berlin), the Romanian Athenaeum and the Radio Hall (Bucharest), Royal Dramatic Theater (Stockholm) and Casals Hall (Tokyo). Mr. Varga is a prizewinner of numerous international competitions, including the Young Concert Artists International Auditions, the Maria Canals Competition in Barcelona, the Porto International Piano Competition and the George Enescu Competition in Bucharest. International reviewers described his performances as "magical" (Süddeutsche Zeitung), "elegant" (The Hartford Courant), "masterful" (New York Concert Review), while Harry Rolnick of ConcertoNet called Mr. Varga a "fearless performer". His recent CD released by Naxos and produced by multiple Grammy winner Max Wilcox, with piano music by George Enescu, was received enthusiastically by critics who wrote that "Varga makes a vivid impression" (Fanfare) and "tears into the sinew of this music with great bite and forcefulness" (American Record Guide) declaring the recording a "must" (Ritmo, Spain). During the 2012-2013 season he will present recitals all over the world with the complete piano works of Dinu Lipatti.

Mr. Varga has also participated in various prestigious music festivals, including the International Keyboard Festival in New York City, the Music Festival of the Hamptons, Festival de Sintra (Portugal); Festival dei Due Mondi (Spoleto, Italy), Young Euro Classics (Berlin), Festival Européen "Jeunes Talents" (Paris) and the "Hariclea Darclée" and "George Enescu" International Festivals in Romania. He has collaborated with such artists as soprano Mariana Nicolesco, flautist Carol Wincenc, pianist Ben Schoeman and conductors Otto-Werner Mueller, Edward Cumming, Eduard Zilberkant, Ludovic Bacs and Adrian Sunshine, among others. He appeared as a soloist with the "George Enescu" Philharmonic, the Hartford Symphony, the Romanian National Radio Orchestra, Manhattan Chamber Orchestra, Porto National Orchestra, and the Morocco Philharmonic.

Matei Varga graduated from the National University of Music in Bucharest, and received a Master of Music degree and a Professional Studies Diploma from New York's Mannes College of Music. He studied with Pavlina Dokovska, Sandu Sandrin, Ana Pitis, Ioana Minei and participated in Master Classes presented by Murray Perahia, Richard Goode and Raoul Sosa. Mr. Varga lives in New York City, where he is a teacher at the Lucy Moses Music School and the Project Manager of the Vendome Prize Piano Competition. He is a movie aficionado, a devoted fan of actress Meryl Streep, as well as a passionate follower of the Romanian New Wave.