Cited by the press as a "virtuoso of emotions", violinist Itamar Zorman is the winner of the 2011 International Tchaikovsky Competition in Russia, where he subsequently performed in the winners' concerts with Maestro Valery Gergiev and the Mariinsky Orchestra. He previously won the first prize and special prize for best performance of a Mozart Concerto at the 2010 Freiburg International Violin Competition in Germany. In April 2011, upon winning the Juilliard Berg Concerto Competition, he made his Avery Fisher Hall debut with the Juilliard Orchestra led by James DePreist.

Mr. Zorman has performed as a soloist with the American Symphony Orchestra in Carnegie Hall, and with the St. Petersburg Philharmonic, Jerusalem Symphony, Philharmonie Baden-Baden, Israeli Chamber Crchestra, Israel Sinfonietta, Polish Radio Chamber Orchestra, Südwestdeutsches Kammerorchester Pforzheim, and the Salina Symphony. His concerts have been broadcast live on radio stations in Israel, the United States, Austria, Russia, and France. He was featured on New-York's WQXR "Young Artist Showcase" and performed a solo recital broadcast by Radio France at the Festival de Radio France in Montpellier.

As a chamber musician, Mr. Zorman has appeared at Lincoln Center, in Zankel Hall and Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, and at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. A founding member of the "Israeli Chamber Project", Mr. Zorman has toured with the internationally-acclaimed group across Israel and North America for the past four seasons. Mr. Zorman is also a member of the Lysander Piano Trio, which was recently awarded the Grand Prize at the 2011 Coleman Competition. This summer, he is participating in the Marlboro Music Festival.

Born in Tel-Aviv, Israel, to a family of musicians, Mr. Zorman holds a Bachelor’s degree from the Jerusalem Academy of Music where he studied with Nava Milo and Hagai Shaham. He received his Master's degree from The Juilliard School in 2009, where he worked with Robert Mann and Sylvia Rosenberg, and an Artist Diploma from Manhattan School of Music in 2010. Currently, Mr. Zorman continues his studies with Ms. Rosenberg in the Artist Diploma Program at The Juilliard School. He is supported by the America-Israel Cultural Foundation and the Ilona Feher Foundation. Itamar Zorman plays on a 1737 Pietro Guarneri violin from the private collection of Yehuda Zisapel.

The 2011-12 season marks Franz Welser-Möst’s tenth year as Music Director of The Cleveland Orchestra, with a long-term commitment extending to the Orch estra’s centennial in 2018. He holds the Orchestra’s Kelvin Smith Family Endowed Chair. Under his direction, the Orchestra is acclaimed for its continuing artistic excellence, is presented in a series of ongoing residencies in the United States and Europe, continues its championship of new composers through commissions and premieres, and has re-established itself as an important operatic ensemble. Concurrently with his Cleveland post, Mr. Welser-Möst is General Music Director of the Vienna State Opera.

   Under Mr. Welser-Möst’s leadership, The Cleveland Orch estra has launched a series of residencies in important cultural locations around the world. These include residencies at Vienna’s Musikverein and Switzerland’s Lucerne Festival, as well as programs at New York’s Lincoln Center Festival and at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music. The Orchestra’s ongoing activities in Miami, under the name The Cleveland Orchestra Miami, feature multiple weeks of concerts coupled with more than a dozen partnerships across Miami-Dade organizations and educational institutions.

Franz Welser-Möst has led opera performances each season during his tenure in Cleveland. Following six opera-in-concert presentations, he brought fully staged opera back to Severance Hall with a three-season cycle of Zurich Opera productions of the Mozart-Da Ponte operas. He leads concert performances of Strauss’s Salome at Severance Hall and at Carnegie Hall during the 2011-12 season.

In addition to his post as General Music Director of the Vienna State Opera, Mr. Welser-Möst maintains an ongoing relationship with the Vienna Philharmonic, where his recent performances have included appearances at the Lucerne Festival and Salzburg Festival, in Tokyo, and in concert at La Scala Milan. Across a decade-long tenure with the Zurich Opera, culminating in three seasons as General Music Director (2005-08), he led the company in more than 40 new productions.

Mr. Welser-Möst’s recordings and videos have won international awards and two Grammy nominations. Mr. Welser-Möst has led The Cleveland Orchestra in video recordings of live performances of Bruckner Symphonies Nos. 5, 7, 8, and 9. Together they have released a recording of Wagner’s Wesendonck Songs with soprano Measha Brueggergosman and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony.

Franz Welser-Möst has been recognized by the Western Law Center for Disability Rights and is an honorary member of the Vienna Singverein. Musical America named him the 2003 Conductor of the Year. He is the co-author of Cadences: Observations and Conversations, published in a German edition in 2007.

Celebrated as one of the foremost violinists of today, Danish musician Nikolaj Znaider made his Cleveland Orchestra debut in 1999. He is performing with the Orchestra this season at Severance Hall in Cleveland and during this West Coast tour.

Born in Denmark in 1975 to Polish-Israeli parents, Nikolaj Znaider studied with Milan Vitek at the Royal Danish Academy of Music. After receiving First Prize in the 1992 Carl Nielsen International Violin Competition at age 16, he began working with Dorothy DeLay at the Juilliard School. He achieved international acclaim by winning First Prize at the 1997 Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels. In 1999, he became a student of Boris Kushnir at the Vienna Conservatory. Nikolaj Znaider is founder and artistic director of the Nordic Music Academy, a summer school for string players.

Mr. Znaider regularly performs with the Berlin Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, St. Petersburg Philharmonic, and the Vienna Philharmonic. As a chamber musician, he collaborates with Leif Ove Andsnes, Daniel Barenboim, Yuri Bashmet, Yefim Bronfman, Lynn Harrell, Lang Lang, and Pinchas Zukerman, among others.

Nikolaj Znaider is also a conductor. Since 2008, he has been principal guest conductor of the Swedish Chamber Orchestra and, in 2010, became principal guest conductor of the Mariinsky Theater Symphony Orchestra in St. Petersburg. His recent and upcoming guest conducting engagements are with the Bergen Philharmonic, Czech Philharmonic, Dresden Staatskapelle, Hallé Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Munich Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Russian National Orchestra, and the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra.

As an RCA Red Seal/BMG Sony Masterworks artist, Nikolaj Znaider has recorded the violin concertos of Beethoven, Brahms, Korngold, and Mendelssohn, as well as Brahms’s complete works for violin and piano. His recording of Prokofiev’s and Glazunov’s violin concertos received the Editor’s Choice award from Gramophone Magazine. For EMI Classics, his discography includes Mozart’s piano trios with Daniel Barenboim and the Nielsen and Bruch violin concertos.

Mr. Znaider plays the “Kreisler” Guarnerius del Gesù 1741 violin, on extended loan from the Royal Danish Theater through the generosity of the Velux Foundations and Knud Højgaard Foundation.

The Cleveland Orchestra

Under the leadership of Music Director Franz Welser-Möst, The Cleveland Orchestra has become one of the most sought-after performing ensembles in the world. In concerts at its winter home at Severance Hall and at each summer’s Blossom Festival, in ongoing residencies from Miami to Vienna, and on tour around the world, The Cleveland Orchestra sets the highest standards of artistic excellence, creative programming, and community engagement.

The partnership with Franz Welser-Möst, now in its tenth season, has earned The Cleveland Orchestra unprecedented residencies in the United States and in Europe, including one at the Musik verein in Vienna, the first of its kind by an American orchestra. The Orchestra returned to Vienna earlier this season for its fifth Musik verein Residency as part of a thirteen-concert tour. The Orchestra regularly appears at European festivals, including an ongoing series of biennial residencies at the Lucerne Festival (featuring Roche Commissions, a project involving the Orchestra, the Festival, and Carnegie Hall). In the United States, Mr. Welser-Möst and the Orch estra have toured from coast to coast, including regular appearances at Carnegie Hall. In January 2007, they launched The Cleveland Orchestra Miami, an unprecedented long-term project in Miami, Florida, where the Orchestra performs annually at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County and provides a wide array of community and educational activities. In addition, the Orchestra has performed in residence at Indiana University and began a new residency program in New York City with four concerts as part of the 2011 Lincoln Center Festival.

The Cleveland Orchestra has a long and distinguished recording and broadcast history. A series of DVD and CD recordings under the direction of Franz Welser-Möst has recently been added to an extensive and widely praised catalog of audio recordings made during the tenures of the ensemble’s former music directors. In addition, Cleveland Orchestra concerts are heard in syndication each season on radio stations throughout North America and Europe.

The Cleveland Orchestra was founded in 1918 by a group of local citizens intent on creating an ensemble worthy of joining America’s top rank of symphony orchestras. Over the next decades, the Orchestra grew from a fine regional organization to being one of the most admired symphonic ensembles in the world. Seven music directors (Nikolai Sokoloff 1918-33, Artur Rodzinski 1933-43, Erich Leinsdorf 1943-46, George Szell 1946-70, Lorin Maazel 1972-82, Christoph von Dohnányi 1984-2002, and Franz Welser-Möst from 2002) have guided and shaped the ensemble’s growth and sound. Touring performances throughout the United States and, beginning in 1957, to Europe and across the globe have confirmed Cleveland’s place among the world’s top orchestras. Year-round performances became a reality with the first Blossom Festival in 1968, presented at an award-winning, purpose-built outdoor facility located just south of the Cleveland metropolitan area near Akron, Ohio. Today, touring, residencies, radio broadcasts, and recordings available by internet download, DVD, and CD provide access to the Orchestra’s music-making to a broad and loyal constituency around the world.

For additional information, please visit clevelandorchestra.com.

Pianist Euntaek Kim, native of Incheon, South Korea and based in New York, has established himself as one of the most promising young talents of his generation. Hailed by La Libre Belgique as “sovereign… with luminous sonority,” Mr. Kim won prizes from many prestigious competitions, the 2001 Oberlin International Competition and the 2002 International Tchaikovsky Competition for Young Musicians among many others, and was also invited to participate in the 2007 Queen Elisabeth Music Competition in Brussels.

Mr. Kim has appeared at major venues around the world, such as Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts and Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall in New York, Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, Kumho Art Hall in Seoul, the Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts, the Brown Theatre in Louisville, KY, and Benedict Music Tent at Aspen, CO.

A frequent guest in major summer music festivals, Mr. Kim has been present in Aspen Music Festival and School, Music Academy of the West, and Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival. He began his piano studies at four, and at age eleven, he entered the Pre-College Division of Korean National University of Arts in Seoul as a pupil of Bokhee Chang. In 2001, He moved to New York and soon began his studies at Juilliard’s Pre-College Division with the support of the Nordmann Full Scholarship. He holds both bachelor and master of music degrees from The Juilliard School where he studied with Jerome Lowenthal. He is currently pursuing the Artist Diploma program at Yale School of Music under the guidance of Boris Berman.

12/29/2011

The pianist Noreen Polera ranks amount the most highly-regarded collaborative pianists and diverse chamber artists performing today, and maintains a career that has taken her to every major American music center and abroad to Europe, Russia, and Asian centers of Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing and Seoul. Recent performances include those at Alice Tully Hall, Zankel Hall, Weill Recital Hall, 92nd Street Y, Jordan Hall, Gardner Museum, Kennedy Center, Salle Cortot, and appearances at festivals including Caramoor, Bard and Grand Teton, as well as engagements at the Chamber Music Societies of Philadelphia and La Jolla. She has recorded for EMI, Audiophon and Centaur Records.

Noreen Polera has collaborated with leading soloists including David Shifrin, Matt Haimovitz, Carter Brey, Antonio Menesis, Aurora-Natalie Ginastera, Yo-Yo Ma and Leonard Rose. Winner of the Accompanying Prize at the Eighth International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, she regularly collaborates with laureates of the Queen Elisabeth, Tchaikovsky and Naumburg international competitions.

Ms. Polera's mastery and affection for the complete standard cello-piano repertory is well-known, as is her attention and dedication to the works of living composers. In recent seasons she performed Elliott Carter's venerable Sonata for Cello and Piano on tour in Paris, New York and Philadelphia, along with new works by Lowell Liebermann and YCA composers Benjamin C.S. Boyle and Kenji Bunch to critical acclaim. Her CD recording Sound Vessels (with cellist Scott Kluksdahl) features the recording premiere of Richard Wernick's Duo, as well as works of Robert Helps, Augusta Read Thomas and Elliott Carter.

Noreen Polera holds Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees from the Juilliard School, where she studied with Martin Canin.

Vladimir Spivakov, well known to orchestras and audiences alike as one of the leading violinists of our time, equally enjoys a multifaceted career as a respected conductor and committed humanitarian. He is artistic director and principal conductor of the National Philharmonic of Russia and president of the Moscow Performing Arts Centre since 2003. From 1999 to 2002 Spivakov served as principal conductor of the Russian National Orchestra. As a chamber and symphony orchestra conductor, Vladimir Spivakov has appeared in the world's most important concert venues and has conducted European and American orchestras, including the symphony orchestras of London, Chicago, Philadelphia, Cleveland and Budapest, the La Scala Symphony Orchestra, the orchestra of the Accademia "Santa Cecilia", the Cologne Philharmonic Orchestra, the French Radio Orchestra as well as all the leading Russian orchestras.

Mr. Spivakov made his United States recital debut in 1975 and international engagements quickly followed. As a violinist, he has performed as soloist with the most important orchestras in the world, including those of Moscow, Leningrad, Berlin, Vienna, London, New York, Paris, Chicago, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Cleveland. He has collaborated with some of the 20th century's most eminent conductors, including Svetlanov, Kondrashin, Temirkanov, Rostropovich, Bernstein, Leinsdorf, Ozawa, Maazel, Giulini, Masur, Chailly, Conlon and Abbado. Critics of the leading musical countries unanimously appreciate Spivakov's deep insight into composers' intentions, the richness, beauty and volume of his tone, his fine phrasing and nuance, his emotional impact on his audiences, and his refined artistry and intelligence.

In 1979 Vladimir Spivakov, together with some of his colleagues who shared his flair for chamber music, formed a new chamber orchestra named "Moscow Virtuosi". He has been its artistic director, conductor and soloist ever since. Maestro Spivakov studied conducting with Professor Izrail Gusman in Russia. He furthered his skills with a couple of private lessons from the great Leonard Bernstein in the United States. Leonard Bernstein presented him with his own baton as a sign of his belief in Mr. Spivakov's conducting future. Vladimir Spivakov is never separated from this precious gift.

Mr. Spivakov founded the International Colmar Music Festival in France in 1989, and has been its artistic director until today. Many prominent musical groups have appeared at the festival during the sixteen years of its existence as well as great world famous artists such as Mstislav Rostropovich, Yehudi Menuhin, Evgeny Svetlanov, Krzysztof Penderecki, Jose van Dam, Jessye Norman, Robert Hall, Thomas Quasthoff, Kristian Zimmermann, Michel Plasson, Evgeny Kissin, Vadim Repin, Nikolay Lugansky, Vladimir Kraynev and Sergey Leiferkus. Mr. Spivakov has taken part as a jury member in many well-known international competitions since 1989 (e.g., those of Paris, Genoa, London, Montreal); he is president of the Sarasate Violin Contest in Spain. In 2002 he presided over the jury of the Tchaikovsky International Violin Competition in Moscow. Mr. Spivakov succeeded Nathan Milstein in leading the very prestigious annual violin master classes in Zurich in 1994.

For Vladimir Spivakov charity work is a philosophy of life; and for many years he has been involved in humanitarian and charitable activities. Together with the "Moscow Virtuosi" Chamber Orchestra Maestro Spivakov performed in Armenia soon after the horrible earthquake of 1988 and in Ukraine three days after the Chernobyl disaster, and has given hundreds of charity concerts throughout the territory of the former Soviet Union. In 1994 Mr. Spivakov founded the Vladimir Spivakov International Charity Foundation, devoted to humanitarian, artistic and educational work. Most specifically, the Foundation's mission is to improve living standards for orphans and disabled children and to provide creative conditions, through scholarships and grants, to develop young talents. For 15 years the Foundation has helped thousands of children and launched many young talents.

Mr. Spivakov was awarded the honorary titles of the People's Artist of the USSR (1989), the State Prize of the USSR (1989) and the Order of Peoples' Friendship (1993). The Russian Space Center gave the name of Spivakov to a small planet on the occasion of his 50th birthday. In 1996 Mr. Spivakov was awarded the Order for Merits of Grade III (Ukraine). In 1999 he was decorated with high state awards in several countries, among them l'Officier de l'Ordre des Arts et Letters (France), the St. Mesrop Mashtots Order (Armenia), and the Order for Services To Fatherland, Grade III (Russia). In 2000 Mr. Spivakov received l'Ordre de la Legion d'Honneur from the President of France. In 2002 he was elected an honorary doctor of the Moscow Lomonosov University, while in May 2005, together with Alexander Solzhenitsyn and Leonid Roshal, he was chosen "the Russian of the Year" in the "Russia Without Borders" program. In 2006 Vladimir Spivakov was designated a UNESCO Artist for Peace for his great contributions to the world of art and his activities aimed at peace and dialogue between cultures. In the United States, Maestro Spivakov is the recipient of the Liberty Prize awarded for outstanding contributions to the Russian/American culture.

Born in Oufa, in the Soviet Republic of Bashkiria, Vladimir Spivakov studied violin with Yuri Yankelevich, the famous professor at the Moscow Conservatory, and later with his idol, David Oistrakh, one of the greatest violinists of the 20th century. While still very young, Vladimir Spivakov was awarded high prizes at several important international contests, such as the Marguerite Long – Jacques Thibaud Competition in Paris (1965), the Paganini Competition in Genoa (1967), the Montreal International Competition (1969) and the Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow (1970).

Mr. Spivakov has recorded extensively both as soloist and conductor, and his more than forty recordings (most made for BMG Classics) reflect different musical styles and eras, from the European baroque to the works of 20th century composers including Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Penderecki, Schnittke, Pärt, Kancheli, Shchedrin and Gubaidulina.

Until 1997 Mr. Spivakov played a violin by Francesco Gobetti, which had been a present from Professor Yankelevich. Since 1997 he has been playing a Stradivari loaned to him for life.

In 2009, Vladimir Spivakov celebrates his 65th birthday as well as the 30th anniversary since the creation of the Moscow Virtuosi with a special concert on June 3, 2009 at the Barbican in London. Maestro Spivakov lives in Moscow and Paris.

Armenian cellist Narek Hakhnazaryan’s powerful and poetic playing has propelled him to the First Prize and Gold Medal at the 2011 International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow. Already hailed as a “seasoned phenom” in the Washington Post review of his Kennedy Center debut, Mr. Haknazaryan’s 2011-2012 season brings his first concerto appearance at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s under Ryan McAdams on the Young Concert Artists Gala, as well as performances with the London Symphony and the Mariinsky Orchestra under Valery Gergiev, a 5-concert tour across Europe with the Moscow Philharmonic; and with other international orchestras including the Verdi Orchestra in Milan, the Jerusalem Symphony, and the Tokyo Symphony at Suntory Hall.

Mr. Hakhnazaryan also appears in recitals throughout the States and with US orchestras including the Boston “Pops,” the Pasadena Symphony and the Naples Philharmonic under Jorge Mester. He is invited to perform in Europe at the Verbier Festival in Switzerland, the Beethoven Festival in Poland and the Tivoli Festival in Denmark.

As a chamber musician, Mr. Hakhnazaryan will be performing with the Boston Chamber Music Society and has performed at Ravinia’s Steans Institute; in the Caramoor Festival’s “Rising Stars” series; and at the Young Concert Artists Festival at Chanel’s Nexus Hall in Tokyo.

As First Prize winner in the 2008 Young Concert Artists International Auditions, Mr. Hakahnazaryanmade his New York debut in the Young Concert Artists Series at Carnegie’s Zankel Hall sponsored by the Jerome L. Greene Foundation, and in Washington, DC at the Kennedy Center, both to critical acclaim.

Scholarships from the Rostropovich Russian Performing Arts Fund brought him concerts in Russia, Europe, Great Britain, Greece, Turkey and Canada. His prizes include First Prize in the 2006 Aram Khachaturian International Competition in Armenia and First Place in the 2006 Johansen International Competition for Young String Players.

Mr. Hakhnazaryan was born in 1988 in Yerevan, Armenia, into a family of musicians: his father is a violinist and his mother is a pianist. His early studies were at the Sayat-Nova School of Music in Yerevan with Zareh Sarkisyan. At the age of 12, Mr. Hakhnazaryan began studies at the Moscow Conservatory with Alexey Seleznyov. Working with Laurence Lesser, he received an Artist Diploma from the New England Conservatory of Music in 2011. Mr. Hakhnazaryan plays a 1698 Tecchler cello, on loan from Valentine Saarmaa, granddaughter of the renowned luthier Jacques Francais.

Christopher Sumnicht is 16 years old attending Patrick Henry High School and studies with Sheryl Renk, Principal Clarinetist of the San Diego Symphony Orchestra (SDSO). He is currently the Principal Clarinetist in the International Youth Symphony and was the Principal Clarinetist in the San Diego Youth Symphony (SDYS) Orchestra and First Chair in the SDYS Philharmonia. Additionally, he was Principal Clarinetist for the SDSU Symphony Orchestra, and played in the “Best and Brightest Concert” performance with the SDSO.

Valerie Kim was the San Diego Symphony Orchestra’s 2008 “Hot Shot” and former concertmistress of SDYS Sinfonia, Valerie, 13, has made appearances at SummerFest as well as with live TV broadcasts, orchestras, and music festivals in New York, Florida and California. Her most recent teachers in San Diego include George Katz, Jeff Thayer, and Rebekah Yoon. Currently, Valerie studies violin with Itzhak Perlman and Donald Weilerstein, and piano with Ernest Barretta at The Juilliard School of Music.

Dominique Kim, 16, is the former principal flute for San Diego Youth Symphony (SDYS) Philharmonia and TPHS Wind Ensemble and currently attends LaGuardia High School of Performing Arts and The Juilliard School. Dominique was San Diego Symphony’s 2009 “Hot Shot” and the La Jolla Symphony’s 2010 Young Artist Competition’s Most Promising Young Talent. She has performed as piano and flute soloist with the San Diego Symphony Orchestra, University of San Diego Orchestra, Civic Youth Orchestra and Young Artists’ Symphony. George Katz, Jane Masur, Dana Burnett and Demarre McGill are among her local teachers.

Aileen Chung, 11, studies with Margaret Batjer, Concertmaster of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. Since 2009, Aileen has won first place in the SYMF Competition at CSULB, won the Bellflower Symphony’s Young Artists Concerto Competition, and served as Concertmaster for the Irvine Unified School District Honor Orchestra. This summer, she attended Interlochen Summer Arts Camp, performing on the Honor’s Recital and serving as Concertmaster for the Junior Orchestra. Aileen has taken master classes with Ivry Gitlis, Ruggiero Ricci, Emanel Borok, Joel Smirnoff and Aaron Rosand.

Carlos Aguilar, 15, is a sophomore at Escondido High School. He is currently a member of the San Diego Youth Symphony’s Symphony Orchestra and was the Assistant Principal Flute for Sinfonia in 2011. He began playing flute in the fourth grade in the school band. He studies with Dr. Elena Yarritu.

David Chang, age 15, studies with Margaret Batjer, Concertmaster of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. In 2009, David won first place in the IKPA Competition in Irvine, California and the following year won the VOCE Competition. In 2008, he was soloist with the All Southern Middle School Honor Orchestra. During the 2011-12 season, David will serve as a co-concertmaster for the Pacific Symphony Youth Orchestra. David has taken master classes with Ruggiero Ricci, Ken Iso and Aaron Rosand at the Montecito Summer Music Festival.

Ching Hwa (Anita) Chen, a junior at Torrey Pines High School, has been playing the violin since age six. She has studied with John Ramirez and currently studies with Michael and Irina Tseitlin. Anita was the concertmaster of the TPHS Advanced Orchestra from 2010-2011, placing second in the 2011 San Diego American String Teachers Association Competition and third in the 2011 Goodlin Competition. She was concertmaster of San Diego Youth Symphony Sinfonia and is now an assistant concertmaster in the Symphony Orchestra and Philharmonia.

Jessica Luce, 16, has been playing oboe for five years. She performs with the Mission Hills High School Band and studies privately with Gracie Fowler at Palomar College. In June, she was selected to tour Italy with an orchestra conducted by Frank Ticheli. Jessica successfully auditioned for the San Diego Youth Symphony and will join the Symphony Orchestra in the fall. She looks forward to performing and growing with fellow musicians of a high standard.

Ellen Taafe Zwilich, composer

Ms. Zwilich combines craft and inspiration, reflecting an optimistic and humanistic spirit that gives her compositions a unique musical voice. A recipient of numerous prizes and honors, including the 1983 Pulitzer Prize in Music (the first woman ever to receive this coveted award), an Academy Award, a Guggenheim Fellowship, four Grammy nominations, and the NPR and WNYC Gotham Award for her contributions to the musical world. Ms. Zwilich holds a doctorate from The Juilliard School and has received many honorary doctorates from such institutions as Oberlin College, Mannes College/The New School, Converse College and Michigan State University. She currently holds the Francis Eppes Distinguished Professorship at Florida State University.

Stanley Walens, lecturer

Anthropologist and cultural historian Stan Walens has been an avid musician ever since he picked up a pair of drumsticks, then a cello, and later trombone, double bass and viola da gamba. He studied cello with Orlando Cole, chamber music with members of the Curtis, de Pasquale, and Budapest string quartets and conducting with Wilfred Pelletier. He has been on the faculties of Northwestern University, the University of Wisconsin, the University of Virginia and UCSD.

Nicolas Reveles, lecturer

Composer, pianist and arts educator Nicolas Reveles is a San Diego County native. He holds a doctorate in piano from the Manhattan School of Music in New York and spent five seasons as the pianist for Mikhail Baryshnikov and the White Oak Dance Project. A former professor of music at the University of San Diego, Dr. Reveles is currently the Geisel Director of Education and Outreach for San Diego Opera and is the host of “OperaTalk with Nick Reveles” on UCSD-TV. His latest composition project was the chamber opera Sextet which recently premiered at the Diversionary Theatre.

Dianna Ruggerio, lecturer

Dianna Ruggiero, Dramatic Mezzo Soprano, earned degrees from the California Institute of the Arts and performed extensively in New York with the Metropolitan Opera Studio, Metropolitan Opera and New York City Opera. Dianna has a private Vocal Studio and has been a member of the National Association of Teachers of Singing since 1995. She is also a member of American Guild of Musical Artists, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, and Actors Equity Association.

Cynthia Stokes, lecturer

Stage Director Cynthia Stokes has devoted her professional career to creating provocative and thrilling productions across America. Her work has been described as having existential depths and evoking mythical resonance. She has directed works for Glimmerglass Opera, San Diego Opera, Cincinnatti Opera, Los Angeles Opera and Los Angeles Philharmonic. Ms Stokes started the La Jolla Playhouse’s Summer Conservatory and San Diego Opera’s Summer Opera Institute. She received her MFA in directing from UCSD, where she has taught acting and directing.

Now recognized as one of her generation’s great pianists, Olga Kern’s career began one decade ago with her award winning gold-medal performance at the Eleventh Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in 2001. Her second catapulting triumph came in New York City on May 4, 2004, with a highly acclaimed New York City recital debut at Carnegie’s Zankel Hall. In an unprecedented turn of events, Olga gave a second recital eight days later in Isaac Stern Auditorium at the invitation of Carnegie Hall.

With her vivid stage presence, passionately confident musicianship and extraordinary technique, the striking young Russian pianist continues to captivate fans and critics alike. In the 2011-2012 season Olga debuts with the Baltimore Symphony and the Sacramento Philharmonic, and will return to the Houston, Saint Louis, Colorado and Phoenix Symphonies and National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa. In winter of 2012 Olga will make an extensive recital tour of North America with the world renowned violinist Vladimir Spivakov, their first chamber music collaboration outside of Europe.

In April 2011, the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and The Van Cliburn Foundation undertook a special co-presentation of Olga Kern in celebration of her tremendous success of the last ten years. Her 2010-2011 season included opening week with the Colorado Symphony and closing week with the Detroit Symphony, as well as subscription weeks with Nashville, St. Louis and Pittsburgh Symphonies. Also, recitals at Longwood Gardens, Sanibel and Winter Park Music Festivals, Drake University and her debut at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto. At Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall she performed Chopin’s Piano Concerto No.1 for the composer’s 200^th Anniversary Celebration.

Summer 2011 appearances include her debut at Aspen Music Festival (Shostakovich Piano Concerto No.1), her long awaited return to the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl (Rachmaninoff Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini), and recitals with La Jolla Music Society and Bear Valley Music Festival.

Recent seasons have seen her debuts with the New Jersey Symphony, Vancouver Symphony, a special event concert with famed soprano Kathleen Battle at Carnegie Hall, repeat engagements with the Chicago Symphony at the Ravinia Festival and several recitals and master classes with the International Keyboard Institute in New York City.

Orchestra tours of North America have included a 35 city tour in 2007 with the National Philharmonic of Russia and Vladimir Spivakov, as well as in 2008 with Maestro Spivakov and the world renowned Moscow Virtuosi, presenting concerts in Boston, Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, Seattle, Washington DC and Toronto.

Recent European appearances and debuts have included a tour of Austria and Switzerland with the Warsaw Philharmonic and Maestro Antoni Wit, a tour of Germany with the Czech Philharmonic and Maestro Zdenek Maçal, performances with the orchestras of Copenhagen and Lyon, and recitals in Milan, Hamburg and Luxembourg. She made her London debut with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in 2006 followed by her Proms debut in 2008. Ms. Kern made her South American debut with the Orquestra de São Paulo in 2008, as well as her debut with the Seoul Philharmonic.

Miss Kern’s festival appearances include the Inaugural Concert of the Southeastern Piano Festival in Columbia, South Carolina. She is welcomed back frequently to the Interlochen Festival, Bravo! Vail Festival, and the Festival Casals in Puerto Rico in 2007, where she performed to a sold out venue. She has been a recent guest artist at several international music festivals, including the Klavier Ruhr and Kissinger Sommer festivals in Germany, the Radio-France Montpellier and Casadesus festivals in France, the Ohrid Festival in Macedonia, and the Busoni Festival in Italy.

In June of 2002 Olga Kern made an extensive tour of South Africa where she returned to tour again in February of 2005, performing all four Rachmaninoff piano concertos and Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini, with her brother, Vladimir Kern, conducting. She is now Artistic Director of the Cape Town Festival in South Africa and returns there annually.

Ms. Kern has performed in many of the world's most important venues, including the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, Symphony Hall in Osaka, Salzburger Festspielhaus, La Scala in Milan, Tonhalle in Zurich, and the Châtelet in Paris; she has appeared as soloist with the Bolshoi Theater, the Moscow Philharmonic, St. Petersburg Symphony, Russian National, China Symphony, Belgrade Philharmonic, La Scala Philharmonic, Torino Symphony, and Cape Town Symphony Orchestras. She has also performed with the Kirov Orchestra under the direction of Valery Gergiev at the Kennedy Center.

Ms. Kern was born into a family of musicians with direct links to Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff and began studying piano at the age of five. Winner of the first Rachmaninoff International Piano Competition when she was seventeen, she is a laureate of eleven international competitions and has toured throughout her native Russia, Europe, and the United States, as well as in Japan, South Africa, and South Korea. The recipient of an honorary scholarship from the President of Russia in 1996, she is a member of Russia’s International Academy of Arts. She began her formal training with acclaimed teacher Evgeny Timakin at the Moscow Central School and continued with Professor Sergei Dorensky at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory, where she was also a postgraduate student. She also studied with Boris Petrushansky at the acclaimed Accademia Pianistica Incontri col Maestro in Imola, Italy.

Ms. Kern records exclusively for Harmonia Mundi. Her discography includes recordings of Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1 with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra and Christopher Seaman (2003), a Rachmaninoff recording of Corelli Variations and other transcriptions (2004), a recital disk with works by Rachmaninoff and Balakirev (2005), Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 1 with the Warsaw Philharmonic and Antoni Wit (2006), Brahms Variations (2007) and a 2010 release of Chopin Piano Sonatas No. 2 and 3 (2010). She was also featured in the award-winning documentary about the 2001 Cliburn Competition, Playing on the Edge.

Violin 1

Sheryl Staples, concertmaster

Sheryl Staples joined the New York Philharmonic as Principal Associate Concertmaster in 1998, and made her solo debut with the Orchestra in 1999. She has appeared as soloist with more than 40 orchestras, including the Cleveland Orchestra and Los Angeles Philharmonic; participated in the Santa Fe, and Seattle chamber music festivals; and been a faculty artist at the Aspen, Bowdoin, and Sarasota music festivals. She is a former member of the Cleveland Orchestra Piano Trio, and currently performs with the New York Philharmonic Ensembles and the Lyric Chamber Music Society. She earned an artist diploma from the University of Southern California.

Jeanne Skrocki

Jeanne Skrocki is the Assistant Concertmaster of the Pacific Symphony and former Concertmaster of the Opera Pacific Orchestra. Her teachers include Bonnie Bell, Manuel Compinsky and the legendary Jascha Heifetz. She made her solo debut with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at age 14. Ms. Skrocki is on faculty at the University of Redlands, and a member of the California Quartet and Peter Sprague String Consort.

Bryan Lee

Bryan A. Lee studied at the Curtis Institute of Music with Pamela Frank. Mr. Lee has performed twice as a soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra, and was a top prize winner at the Albert M. Greenfield, Stulberg International and Kingsville International Competitions. He has attended Ravinia's Steans Institute for Young Artists, Music from Angel Fire's Young Artist Program, ENCORE School for Strings, Sarasota Music Festival, Music Academy of the West and Perlman Music Program.

Xiaoxiao Qiang

Xiaoxiao Qiang began musical studies at the age of four with her father, later attending the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing. She received her master’s degree from Rice University, where she studied with Cho-Liang Lin. She has earned top prizes at the Ruth Burr and Corpus Christi String Competitions and performed with the Houston and St. Louis Symphonies.

Violin 2

Sonja Harasim

Sonja Harasim, a native of Houston, Texas, has performed at festivals including Schleswig-Holstein, International Holland Music Sessions, Tanglewood, and Aspen. She holds degrees from the Cleveland Institute of Music and Rice University, where her teachers were David Updegraff and Kenneth Goldsmith. She is currently pursuing her Doctorate of Musical Arts as a student of Cho-Liang Lin.

Joel Link

Joel Link was a top prize winner of the Music Teachers National Association Junior High Strings Competition, Johansen Triennial International Competition and the first place winner and chamber prize winner of the Yehudi Menuhin International Competition. He has appeared as soloist with the Gwinnet Philharmonic, Prince George Philharmonic and served as concertmaster of the Curtis Institute Symphony Orchestra. He studied with Joseph Silverstein and Pamela Frank at the Curtis Institute of Music.

Julie Gigante

Julie Gigante is in demand as a chamber musician, soloist and recording artist. Educated at the Eastman School of Music, her solo appearances include performances with the New York String, Music Academy Festival and Los Angeles Chamber Orchestras and the National and Phoenix Symphonies. Active in the motion picture recording industry, she was assistant concertmaster of the Phoenix Symphony and has been a member of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra since 1986.

Viola

Zachary Carrettin

Zachary Carrettin completed Bachelor and Master of Music degrees in violin performance at Rice University, where he studied with Kenneth Goldsmith. He holds additional degrees in orchestral conducting from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the National University of Music in Bucharest. He has performed as soloist with the American Bach Soloists, Musica Angelica and Camerata Pacifica.

Milena Pajaro-van de Stadt

Milena Pajaro-van de Stadt has appeared as a soloist with the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra and collaborated with artists including Itzhak Perlman, Michael Tree and Joseph Silverstein. She has been a top prize winner at the Tertis and Tokyo International Viola Competitions and spent summers at the Marlboro, Bravo! Vail Valley and Santa Fe Chamber Music Festivals. She studied with Roberto Diaz and Michael Tree at the Curtis Institute of Music.

Travis Maril

Travis Maril was a top prize winner at the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, has had performances broadcast on "Performance Today" and collaborated with members of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. Mr. Maril plays frequently with the San Diego Symphony, and is Lecturer and Studio Artist Teacher of Viola at San Diego State University. Recent festival appearances include La Jolla Music Society's SummerFest, Mainly Mozart, the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival and the Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival.

Cello

Trevor Handy

Trevor Handy made his solo debut with the Boston Symphony Orchestra at age 15.  A graduate of The Juilliard School, his primary teacher was Leonard Rose.  As cellist of the Griffon String Quartet he won grand prize at the 1991 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition.  He is a member of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, and works for Hollywood’s motion picture and recording studios. 

Camden Shaw

Mr. Shaw has collaborated in chamber music with such artists as Mark O’Connor, Matt Haimovitz, and Ida Kavafian as a guest artist at Music from Angelfire. In addition to his love of chamber music, Shaw has an active career as a recitalist and soloist—highlights from the 2009-10 season include a concert series with the Kansas City Symphony performing the Brahms Double Concerto., and the release of his solo album by the audiophile label Unipheye Music.

Lachezar Kostov

Bulgarian cellist Lachezar Kostov was the National Winner at the 2006 MTNA competition and gave his Carnegie Hall debut in 2009. His first commercial CD was released by NAXOS in 2011 and includes the complete music for cello and piano by Nikolai Roslavets. He holds degrees from Yale University, North Carolina School for the Arts and the National Music Academy in Bulgaria.

Bass

Samuel Hager

Samuel Hager has been a member of the San Diego Symphony since October of 2006. Mr. Hager studied at Indiana University and USC with Bruce Bransby and David Moore. Mr. Hager has also played with the Oregon and Long Beach Symphonies and the Riverside and Los Angeles Philharmonics. He plays on a modern Italian double bass circa 1930 made by Giuseppi Tarantino.

Flute

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Pamela Vliek Martchev

Pamela Vliek Martchev is principal of the Boulder Philharmonic, and often plays with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the San Diego and Pacific Symphonies. She can be heard on many soundtracks including The Green Hornet, The Tourist and Spiderman 3. Ms. Martchev has performed with Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull, Billy Childs, Andrea Bocelli and Mariah Carey. Ms. Martchev attended the Manhattan School of Music and currently teaches at SDSU.

Oboe

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Andrea Overturf

Andrea Overturf plays English Horn with the San Diego Symphony, a position she previously held with the Florida Orchestra. Equally adept at the oboe, she received second prize in the 2007 International Double Reed Society Gillet-Fox Solo Oboe Competition. Ms. Overturf is the first oboist ever from The Juilliard School to receive an artist diploma after completing her master’s degree. She holds a bachelor’s degree from the Eastman School of Music.

Lara Wickes

Lara Wickes is the Principal Oboist of the Santa Barbara Symphony. She is an active performer in the Los Angeles area, playing regularly in many orchestras in the region, including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and in the film and television music industries. She holds a Doctorate of Musical Arts degree from the University of Southern California.

Bassoon

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Valentin Martchev

A native of Bulgaria, bassoonist Valentin Martchev joined the San Diego Symphony in 2001 as acting principal bassoonist, and was appointed principal bassoon in 2004. Prior to coming to San Diego, he was principal bassoon of the Charlottesville Symphony Orchestra, and was a member of the performance faculty at the University of Virginia from 1998 to 2001. His festival performances include Tanglewood, Mainly Mozart and Marlboro. He is on the faculty of SDSU and plays on a 1985 Heckel Biebrich.

Ryan Simmons

Ryan Simmons plays Second Bassoon with the San Diego Symphony and Principal Bassoon with Orchestra Nova San Diego. Mr. Simmons has also played with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra. A graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music, his teachers include Bernard Garfield, Steven Maxym and Norman Herzberg. He has played and participated in many festivals including Marlboro, Tanglewood, National Repertory Orchestra, Mainly Mozart and La Jolla Music Society’s SummerFest. In addition to performing, Ryan Simmons is the owner of RS Woodwinds, a woodwind repair shop.

French Horn

Keith Popejoy

Keith Popejoy is principal horn of the Pacific Symphony and has been principal horn of Opera Pacific, and assistant principal horn of the San Diego Symphony and San Diego Opera. He is a native of San Diego, where both parents and two grandparents played with the San Diego Symphony. Keith has played frequently with La Jolla Music Society’s SummerFest, and was featured in the nationally broadcast performance of Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto #1.

Tricia Skye

Currently in her thirteenth season with the San Diego Symphony, Tricia Skye has performed concerts with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Toronto Symphony, Phoenix Symphony and the Louisiana Philharmonic as well as La Jolla Music Society’s SummerFest, the Mainly Mozart festival and Orchestra Nova. She studied privately with Jerry Folsom, James Decker and Joseph Meyer. Ms. Skye has worked as a recording musician playing for numerous records, television shows and movies.

Trumpet

Ray Nowak

Ray Nowak is a founding member of the San Diego based brass quintet Presidio Brass. He has performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and London Philharmonics Orchestra, and the Pacific and San Diego Symphonies. He is currently a member of the Santa Barbara Symphony and the California Philharmonic, and was Assistant Principal Trumpet of the Orquesta Sinfonica de Tenerife. He holds degrees from California State Long Beach and UCLA.

Bill Owens

Bill Owens is a member of the Los Angeles-based national touring ensemble, Presidio Brass. Mr. Owens plays in southern California’s only brass, organ and percussion ensemble, Millennia Consort. He has performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the San Diego Symphony and the Ojai Festival Orchestra. He received his bachelor’s degree from The Julliard School in 2005.

Timpani

Jason Ginter

Former Principal Timpanist of the San Diego Symphony Orchestra, Mr. Ginter’s varied career includes solo performances with orchestra, appearances on recordings and authoring a book of exercises for percussionists. He founded JGpercussion, a company with the goal of creating the highest quality timpani mallets available. Mr. Ginter is a protégé of Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra Principal Timpanist Timothy Adams, Jr., with whom he studied at Carnegie Mellon University.

Violinist Tien-Hsin “Cindy” Wu enjoys a versatile career as a soloist and chamber musician. She has soloed with the Russian State Symphony Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra of Taiwan, and collaborated with Gary Graffman, Gary Hoffman, Kim Kashkashian, Ida Kavafian, William Preucil and members of the Alban Berg, Guarneri, Orion and Tokyo string quartets at prominent venues including the Kennedy Center, Library of Congress and Alice Tully Hall. Ms. Wu is as an adjunct professor at the Thornton School of Music at the University of Southern California.

Violist and conductor Toby Hoffman’s international career includes performances at the most prestigious international music festivals and concerts halls including Salzburg, Ravinia, Marlboro, Mostly Mozart, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Concertgebouw, and Wigmore and Carnegie Halls. He holds degrees from The Juilliard School, and was a member of the Boston Chamber Music Society as well as guest violist for the Fine Arts and Tokyo String Quartets. A former faculty member of Carnegie-Mellon University, Mr. Hoffman now teaches chamber music at the Universidade do Minho in Portugal and a conducting teacher at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, Finland.

Felix Fan's versatility has made him one of the most sought after cellists of his generation. As a chamber musician, he has performed with Yo-Yo Ma, Gil Shaham, and Janos Starker in venues including Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center. In 1998, Fan founded Muzik3, a performance series and commissioning foundation dedicated to the advancement of modern music with an emphasis on integrating theater, dance, and video. Muzik3 led to the formation of cello/percussion/piano trio Real Quiet, which has premiered over 20 works. In 2005, Fan performed a series of radio plays written by acclaimed screenwriters Charlie Kaufman and the Coen Brothers, starring actors Steve Buscemi, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Meryl Streep.

Peter Myers studied at the Colburn Conservatory and the University of Southern California with Ronald Leonard and Ralph Kirshbaum. He is the cellist of the Saguaro Piano Trio, winners of the 2009 Hamburg International Chamber Music Competition. He has attended the Marlboro Music Festival, and will tour with musicians from the festival in in the fall. Mr. Myers is also a composer; he is currently completing a commission from violist Kim Kashkashian.

Dubbed a “Classical Rock Star” cellist Joshua Roman performances reflect the eclectic range of his musical influences and inspirations. Mr. Roman was Principal Cellist for the Seattle Symphony before embarking on a solo career that has brought concerto appearances with the San Francisco, Santa Barbara, and Seattle Symphonies and New York’s Mostly Mozart Festival. Committed to making classical music accessible to a wider audience, he has been awarded for his ongoing creative initiatives and was the only guest artist invited to play an unaccompanied solo during the YouTube Symphony Orchestra’s debut concert at Carnegie Hall. Mr. Roman holds a Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music.

Jian Wang made his professional debut in 1986 at Carnegie Hall. Since then, as both soloist and chamber musician, his many high profile performances around the world include playing for the President of China, touring Australia with the Malaysian Philharmonic, and performing with the Philadelphia and Cleveland Orchestras and Chicago Symphonies. In the upcoming season, he makes his debut with the London and Cincinnati Symphony Orchestras and returns for engagements with the Hong Kong Philharmonic and Swedish and Scottish Chamber Orchestras. Mr. Wang He studied at the Shanghai Conservatory and at the Yale School of Music, with the renowned cellist Aldo Parisot. His instrument is loaned to him by the family of the late Sau-Wing Lam.

Harold Robinson is currently Principal Bass of the Philadelphia Orchestra and has given recitals and master classes throughout the U.S., Korea, Japan, and Europe. A prizewinner at the 1982 Isle of Man Solo Competition, he has performed concertos with the Philadelphia and Houston Symphony Orchestras as well as the New York Philharmonic. He previously held the principal position with the National Symphony and New Mexico Symphony Orchestras and Assistant Principal Bass with the Houston Symphony Orchestra. A native of Houston, Mr. Robinson studied at Northwestern University and the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore. He is currently on faculty at the Curtis Institute of Music.

DaXun Zhang is an Avery Fisher Career Grant recipient, and the first bassist to win the Young Concert Artists International Auditions. Mr. Zhang has performed and toured extensively with the Silk Road Project, and was a member of Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center Two. Mr. Zhang has soloed with the Minnesota Orchestra, Pacific Symphony Orchestra and the Orchestra of St. Lukes. He has served on the faculty of Northwestern University and is currently Assistant Professor of Double Bass at the University of Texas at Austin.

Long known for his matchless exploration of unfamiliar pianistic terrain, Marc-André Hamelin is recognized worldwide for the originality and technical brilliance of his performances of the classic repertoire. Highlights of 2010/11 include performing the world premiere of Claude Baker’s piano concerto From Noon to Starry Night with the Indianapolis Symphony, and appearing with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Toronto Symphony, and Royal Scottish National Orchestra, among others. Mr. Hamelin has received eight Grammy nominations including a 2009 nomination for Marc-André Hamelin in a State of Jazz. Mr. Hamelin was recently presented with a lifetime achievement prize by the German Record Critic’s Award, and was made an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2003 and a Chevalier de l’Ordre du Québec in 2004.

Young piano prodigy Vladislav Kern was born in Moscow into a family of musicians. In 2009, Mr. Kern debuted in the United States in solo recital at the Lincoln center’s Alice Tully Hall, and has performed at the House of the Government of the Russian Federation. In the current season Mr. Kern will perform recitals in California, Italy and the Czech Republic, as well as various solo and orchestra performances throughout Europe, Russia and the United States.

Pianist André-Michel Schub has been described by The New York Times as "pianistically flawless... a formidable pianist with a fierce integrity." He has repeatedly performed with the world's most prestigious orchestras, among them the Boston Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, Chicago Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra and the Los Angeles and New York Philharmonics. He was the grand prize winner of the 1981 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, recipient of the 1977 Avery Fisher Recital Award, and winner of the 1974 Naumburg International Piano Competition.

Critically acclaimed as “the most gifted young pianist of her generation” with a “million-volt stage presence,” pianist Joyce Yang captivates audiences around the globe. Ms. Yang was awarded the silver medal at the 12th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition at age nineteen. Now just twenty-four, she has performed with the world’s top orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic and San Francisco Symphony. An avid chamber musician, she has collaborated with the Takàcs Quartet, and has toured with the Miró Quartet. Ms. Yang recently graduated from The Juilliard School and is the recipient of the 2010 Arthur Rubinstein Prize.

Liang Wang, oboe

Liang Wang is Principal Oboe of the New York Philharmonic. Previously he was principal with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Santa Fe Opera, and was a guest principal of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the San Francisco Symphony. Born in Qing Dao, China, he studied at the Beijing Central Conservatory and at the Idyllwild Arts Academy before receiving a degree from the Curtis Institute of Music. He has performed chamber music at the Santa Fe and Angel Fire Festivals; given master classes at the Cincinnati Conservatory; and is currently on the faculties of the Manhattan School of Music and New York University.