Violin Viola Cello Piano
Violin
Karen Aroutiounian
Karen Aroutiounian completed his studies at the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory under the tutelage of one of the greatest violinists in history, Leonid Kogan. Mr. Aroutiounian graduated with the highest distinction.
A laureate of international competitions, Mr. Aroutiounian is a visiting professor at several conservatories in Belgium and France. As of 2017, he is also President of the Leonid Kogan International Competition for Young Violinists.
Mr. Aroutiounian has concertized extensively in Europe and North America, with performances at the Grand Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, Concertgebouw (Amsterdam), Palais des Beaux Arts (Brussels), Philharmonie Luxembourg, Théâtre des Champs Elysées (Paris), and Auditorio Nacional (Madrid) among others. He has made multiple recordings as a soloist alongside great conductors including Yuri Simonov, Valery Gergiev, Maxim Shostakovich, and Peter Lilie. Mr. Aroutiounian has collaborated with renowned musicians such as S. Richter, G. Kremer, V. Tretyakov, P. Hirschhorn, A. Korsakov, V. Spivakov, and N. Yashvili.
Karen Aroutiounian is the founder, artistic director, conductor, and soloist of the “Virtuosi” chamber orchestra with which he toured the former USSR countries and Western Europe. The ensemble has also made a number of recordings.
In 1990, after a series of concerts in Belgium, Mr. Aroutiounian was awarded the Honorary Citizen Gold Medal of Brussels by the city’s mayor. In 1994, Mr. Aroutiounian gave two recitals in Belgium organized for him by Yehudi Menuhin.
Karen Aroutiounian is regularly invited to give masterclasses in Russia, Spain, and France. Over the course of his pedagogical career, several of his students have made it to the top at international competitions.
"K. Aroutiounian is a very interesting, talented and brilliant violinist. He has a sound of a rare beauty, masters perfectly his instrument and has a great artistic flair."
-Leonid Kogan
"K. Aroutiounian is a remarkable interpreter, a consummate artist in power as well as in finesse."
-Lord Yehudi Menuhin
"K. Aroutiounian demonstrates his blinding virtuosity, his exceptional lyrical gift, a warm sonority, a perfect accuracy, a clear and analytical phrasing."
-Martine Dumont Mergeay (La Libre Belgique)
Sergei Galperin
A native of Moscow, Russia, Sergei Galperin began violin studies at the age of five and shortly thereafter gave his first public performance in the Concert Hall of the Moscow Conservatory.
After his studies at the Moscow Conservatory with professor N. Boyarsky, Mr. Galperin received his Bachelor and Master degrees from The Juilliard School, where he was a full scholarship student in the class of Dorothy DeLay and Hyo Kang. Later he earned Artist Diplomas from Indiana University and Peabody Conservatory in the class of Z. Gilels, N. Shkolnikova and H. Greenberg.
Mr. Galperin made his American solo orchestral debut in May 1982 at the age of 16, playing the Wieniawski Violin Concerto with the Symphony Orchestra of New York at Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center. He has also performed as a soloist with the Houston Symphony Orchestra in their Educational and Pops Series, as well as with the Indiana University, Aspen Symphony, and Dallas Festival Orchestras.
As a winner of Artist International auditions, Mr. Galperin made his New York solo recital debut in March 1988 at the Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall. After winning New York's National Arts Club Competition in 1987, he was featured in recital on live ABC and PBS news shows. Subsequently he appeared in recital at Alice Tully and Merkin Concert Halls at Lincoln Center. In May of 1993, Sergei won an honorable mention award as a finalist of a prestigious Concert Artist Guild competition in New York.
Currently a first violinist of the Houston Symphony Orchestra, Mr. Galperin has also been invited to serve as Concertmaster for the Rochester Philharmonic in New York in the 2004-05 Season, as well as the Adelaide Symphony in Australia. Prior to his current position, Mr. Galperin was a member of the Pittsburgh Symphony first violin section from 1999-2003. He has also worked with the Chicago and Baltimore symphony orchestras, as well as the Grant Park, Aspen and Grand Teton festival orchestras, A. Schneider String Seminar, and Taos Chamber Music Festival. As a member of Chamber and Symphony Orchestras Mr. Galperin has toured internationally in Australia, Malaysia, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Brazil, Argentina, and all of Europe, including festivals in Lucerne, Berlin, Vienna, Copenhagen, and Edinburgh. In the US he has performed on numerous occasions at Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., in addition to Symphony Halls in Boston, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Houston, Philadelphia and many others.
Sergei Galperin served as a faculty member at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh in 1999-2003, as well as a Professor of Violin at the University of St. Thomas in Houston in 1998-99 and teaching assistant at the Indiana University School of Music from 1990-1994.
Oleg Pokhanovski
Oleg Pokhanovski is an accomplished virtuosic violinist, pianist, and music educator currently holding the position of Professor of Violin at the University of Manitoba’s Desautels Faculty of Music. He has performed over 2000 concerts as a soloist nationally and internationally on both violin and piano in symphonic, recital and chamber music performances. Oleg Pokhanovski is a top prizewinner of eight prestigious international violin competitions including the Paganini in Genova, Sarasate in Pamplona and CIEM in Geneva among others. The First Prize Winner of the 1990 Scheveningen International Violin Competition in Netherlands, he twice received the prestigious Canada Council National Career Development Grant, and multiple Conseil des Arts du Quebec and Manitoba Arts Council Grants.
Dr. Pokhanovski is in much demand as a pedagogue and previously held a professorial position at the Lake State Superior University in Michigan. He is frequently invited and has adjudicated both strings and piano at music festivals all across Canada. Dr. Pokhanovski is also renowned for creating over 100 virtuosic transcriptions for violin and piano, as well as other instruments, and has produced professional CD recordings of many of these. He has recently formed the Desautels Piano Trio with colleagues Judy Kehler-Siebert (piano) and Minna Rose Chung (cello). The Trio has to date already performed in Canada and abroad.
Dr. Pokhanovski began his career as a violinist at the age of 6, giving his first performance with the Kuybyshev Symphony in Russia. At 10, he was accepted into the renowned Special Music School for Gifted Children in Moscow and later studied at the Moscow State Conservatory with professor Valery Klimov, the grand prizewinner of the Tchaikovsky International Violin Competition. Dr. Pokhanovski cites his most influential teachers to be his uncle violinist Lev Zaides, and piano instructor Svetlana Vorobyova. Invited to move to the United States, he received full scholarships at The Juilliard School and the Manhattan School of Music studying with Dorothy DeLay, Pinchas Zukerman and Ani Kavafian, and took part in the “Solisti dal Mondo” program at the St. Louis Conservatory under violin professor Taras Gabora. He received a doctorate degree at the Université de Montreal in violin performance, with a focus on Paganini.
Dr. Pokhanovski has performed as a violinist in the U.S., Canada, Europe, Israel and Russia. He has been presented in Carnegie Recital Hall, the Grand Hall in Moscow, the Concertgebouw, Knight Hall in Prague, Place des Arts in Montréal and others. His solo appearances with orchestra included the Moscow Philharmonic, Moscow Virtuosi, The Hague Symphony, Toronto Symphony, Montréal Symphony and Winnipeg Symphony orchestras. His concerts brought rave reviews calling him a “Russian Paganini” and describing his playing as “brilliant”, “phenomenal”, “outstanding”, and “extraordinary”. He has been invited to perform on national television and radio in Russia, Serbia, Poland, Canada and The Netherlands. Dr. Pokhanovski is active as a chamber musician and has appeared in the International Virtuosi Series in Germany, International Music Academy in Kiev, Ukraine, Domaine Forget in Quebec, Centara New Music, Agassiz Summer Chamber Music, Orford and Pender Harbour Music festivals in Canada. He is a Founder and Artistic Director of the “Oleg and Friends” concert series in Winnipeg.
Dr. Pokhanovski has recorded several CDs including The Mirror Image and La Valse, and in live performances on Youtube. Other CDs he has recorded include solo violin works, and the complete works for violin and piano by Sophia C. Eckhardt-Gramatté in collaboration with pianist Megumi Masaki. The Mirror Image and La Valse are comprised of his transcriptions for violin and piano, of which he continues to give concerts regularly including performances as part of his concert series “Oleg and Friends” and at recitals with international prize-winning pianist Scott Meek.
Dr. Pokhanovski’s deep admiration for the great musicians of the past, including Heifetz, Hofmann, Rubinstein, Milstein, Kreisler and others is evident in his sensitive, passionate style of playing.
“Pokhanovski’s high-energy performances are characterized by an unmistakably genuine passion for the music. Urgent, serious and heartfelt – all words that aptly describe Oleg Pokhanovski’s playing.” (Gwenda Nemerofsky, Winnipeg Free Press)
Karen Shahgaldyan
One of the most brilliant musicians of modern Russia, violinist Karen Shahgaldyan is a Laureate of the Pablo Sarasate International Competition. He completed his studies in the Moscow State Conservatory in the class of Victor Tretiakov, and at the Moscow State Conservatory Graduate School in the studio of Maia Samuilovna Glezarova. Karen has performed in masterclasses for Yehudi Menuhin, Vladimir Spivakov, Grigorii Zhislin, and Evgeniia Chugaeva. For several years, he was a member of the "Virtuosos of Moscow" orchestra, under the direction of Vladimir Spivakov. He has performed at such venues as Carnegie Hall in New York, Bolshoy Hall in Moscow, Royal Festival Hall and the Purcell Room in London, Musikverein in Vienna, Laeizhalle in Hamburg, Koerner Hall in Toronto, Suntory and Opera City Halls in Tokyo, and many others. Karen has performed in over 200 cities across the United States, China, Canada, South Korea, Germany, Great Britain, Japan, Austria, Australia, Sweden, Spain, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Czech Republic, Georgia, Kuwait, Moldova, Russia, and Armenia. Karen has been the violinist of the Khachaturian Trio since 2006.
Viola
Misha Galaganov
Dr. Misha Galaganov is Professor of Viola and Chair of Strings at Texas Christian University (TCU). Before accepting a full time teaching position at TCU as viola and chamber music professor, he had worked with the New Orlando Quartet in Amsterdam, Holland and had been engaged by Young Artists International for concerts in the USA.
An avid proponent of chamber music, Galaganov is the founder and director/coordinator of the following programs: Chamber Music Roundup Intensive String Quartet Seminar for string students of the highest levels; Chamber Music Roundup festival, which gives amateur musicians the rare opportunity to rehearse and perform with top concert artists in the same ensembles; Chamber Music Roundup Academy for amateur musicians that functions on semester basis; Student Chamber Music at Oklahoma Summer Arts Institute; Chamber Music Program at the Youth Orchestra of the Greater Fort Worth; and Chamber Music Center in Steinway Hall, Fort Worth (co-founder).
Galaganov is a member of Trio Con Brio, a unique group combining viola, clarinet (Gary Whitman), and piano (John Owings). The group has received eighteen new compositions in the last sixteen years from several composers of different countries around the world. Trio’s performances and premieres of new works took place in many prestigious venues, including Carnegie Hall and Shanghai Concert Hall. The group released an Albany Records CD, “A Musical Celebration,” with works by Eric Ewazen (USA) and Elena Sokolovski (Israel), written for the ensemble.
Solo and chamber music engagements have taken Galaganov to concert halls in the USA, Middle East, Latin America, Europe, and Asia. He has given lectures and master classes in major conservatories around the world, including Juilliard, Rice University, Beijing Conservatory, Kookmin University, and Shanghai Conservatory. He has taught and performed in several European and American Festivals, such as EuroArts festival in Germany, Orlando Festival in Holland, InterHarmony festival in Italy, and Mimir festival, Summit Music Festival, Conservatory Music in the Mountains, and Wintergreen Festival in the USA. His former viola and violin students can be heard as principal players in orchestras, seen as university teachers, and enjoyed in recitals and concerts as soloists and chamber music performers.
Galaganov performs on a French viola, Mansuy a Paris.
Elvira Misbakhova
Winner of the 2019 Opus Prize for “Concert of the Year” with her ensemble Kleztory, violinist-violist Elvira Misbakhova holds a Doctorate in Music Performance from the University of Montreal. She is associate principal viola of Montreal’s Orchestre Métropolitain, and both the Trois-Rivières and Longeuil Symphony Orchestras, as well as principal viola of the New Generation Chamber Orchestra. She has performed as a soloist with Orchestre Métropolitain, the Drummondville Symphony Orchestra, the New Generation Chamber Orchestra, and I Musici de Montréal, and gave the Canadian premiere of Boris Pivogat’s “Holocaust” with the Montreal Intercultural Orchestra.
Ms. Misbakhova began her violin studies at the age of seven in her native Tartarstan. She was admitted to the Kazan State Conservatory in 1994, where she became the assistant principal viola of La Primavera chamber orchestra. After arriving in Canada in 1999 to continue her studies under the tutelage of Eleonora Turovsky, Ms. Misbakhova served as principal viola in the Orchestre de l’Université de Montréal, and was a winner of the university’s prestigious concerto competition. She was awarded a scholarship from the Québec Research Fund for Society and Culture (FQRSC) and a Merit Scholarship from the Faculty of Superior Studies (FESP) for her doctoral studies.
In the year 2000, Ms. Misbakhova discovered she had a talent for improvisation, as well as a passion for Klezmer music. Her explorations of the Klezmer style soon led her to join the celebrated Canadian ensemble Kleztory. As violinist of the group, she has performed in front of the Montreal, Québec, Longeuil, and Laval Symphony Orchestras, Orchestre Métropolitain, the Brussels and McGill Chamber Orchestras, and Les Violons du Roy, among others. Kleztory has recorded five albums to date, and is working on a sixth. One of their recordings, on the prestigious Chandos Records label, was made in collaboration with I Musici de Montreal.
Ms. Misbakhova is a founding musician of the Trio Con Moto (with harpist Valérie Milot), and a member of the Isometrik trio (clarinet, viola, and piano). She frequently returns to Russia to perform with La Primavera and the Tatarstan National Symphony Orchestra.
Elvira Misbakhova performs on a 1962 Giacomo and Leandro Bisiach viola, on generous loan from the Canimex Foundation.
Listen on YouTube: Boris Pigovat - Sonata for Viola and Piano
Maxim Novikov
Born in Moscow, Russia, Maxim Novikov started playing the violin at the age of six.
In 1989 he entered the Academic Music College of the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory as a violist and in 1993 he entered the Conservatoire itself (class of Yuri Bashmet).
While still a student, Novikov made a name for himself as a dazzling interpreter of both classical and contemporary works, many of which he premiered. The composers Georgs Pelēcis, Tolibkhon Shakhidi, Aivars Kaleijs, Vache Sharafyan, Eduard Airapetian, Anna Segal, Eliezer Elper,Arshia Samsaminia, Roberto Di Marino and Pavel Karmanov have dedicated viola pieces to Novikov.
He has a successful career appearing with chamber ensembles and has worked with well-known musicians including Kirill Petrenko, Gianluca Marciano, Anita Rachvelishvili, Aivars Kalējs, Andy Miles, Polina Osetinskaya, Jacob Katsnelson, Boris Andrianov, Denis Shapovalov, Nikoloz Rachvelli, Sergei Smbatyan, Zhang Guoyong, En Shao, Kuss Quartet, New Russian Quartet, and others.
Maxim Novikov has a close creative relationship with the Khachaturian Trio: Karen Shakhgaldian, Armine Grigorian and Karen Kocharian. Novikov has performed as a soloist with the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra, Orchestra Ecxellence (Italy), National Chamber Orchestra of Armenia (NCOA), Orchester der Niederschlesischen Philharmonie Jelenia Góra (Hirschberg), State Youth Orchestra of Armenia, Filarmónica Juvenil de Cámara de Bogotá (Columbia), Orquesta Filarmónica de Cochabamba (Bolivia), Charlemagne Orchestra for Europe, Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra (China), as well as symphony and chamber orchestras in towns and cities across Russia.
He has given recitals at the Berlin Philharmonic's Chamber Hall, the Ernst-Reuter-Saal (Berlin), St. Petersburg Philharmonic's Great Hall, the Mariinsky Theater Concert Hall, Flagey Studio (Brussels, Belgium), the Concert Hall named after Aram Khachaturian (Yerevan) etc.
The Stanza duo set up by Maxim Novikov and Valentina Borisova won the V International V. Dulova Festival and Competition (2011).
Maxim Novikov founded the festival Spring Music Academy and the festival's first concerts proved a great success in 2012 in Latvia. The same year saw the release of Novikov’s CD Vi O La that was highly appreciated by the Gramophone magazine.
He plays on his own instrument, crafted by Enrico Ceruti, Cremona.
He has also been a sound producer on 6 CDs: the latest was recorded with Oviedo Philharmonic (Spain) for DECCA (2016).
From 2016, Maxim Novikov was appointed executive director of The Al-Bustan Festival orchestra (Beirut, Lebanon).
In 2017, Maxim with his partner Gianluca Marciano founded a new festival, "Suoni dal Golfo" in Lerici, Italy.
Cello
Minna Rose Chung
Korean-American cellist Minna Rose Chung is Associate Professor at the University of Manitoba- Desautels Faculty of Music and co-author of “CelloMind: Intonation and Technique”, a critical pedagogy method book published through Ovation Press, Chicago. Minna Rose performs internationally as recitalist and cellist of multiple chamber ensembles. Dr. Chung was awarded the University of Manitoba’s Rh Award for Outstanding Contributions to Scholarship and Research in the Creative Works and is featured in the April 2018 issue of Strad Magazine’s “Teaching & Playing”.
Upon her arrival to Canada, Minna Rose was quickly reviewed as “a bright light on the Winnipeg music scene, her intelligent musicality and rich resonance a wonderful addition to any ensemble, devoted and playing with admirable gusto!” (Winnipeg Free Press). An avid chamber musician, Minna Rose made her Carnegie Hall debut in 2007 as a founding member with her New York ensemble, the Pangea String Quartet and currently performs with the Desautels Piano Trio and the Nacka Duo with faculty colleagues Judith Kehler-Siebert (piano) and Oleg Pokhanovski (violin). Skilled in both orchestral and chamber repertoire, Minna regularly performs as a touring member of the Munich Symphony Orchestra and assistant principal of the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra, “Canada’s tiny, perfect chamber orchestra” (Toronto Star).
Minna Rose is a returning guest artist, teacher, and chamber musician to several international music festivals, including the historic Meadowmount School of Music (New York), the Canadian International Cello Festival, Santo Domingo Music Festival (Dominican Republic), Rio International Cello Encounter (Rio de Janeiro), and the Piracicaba Music Festival (Sao Paulo, Brazil). A dedicated and gifted teacher, Minna Rose has given master classes and clinics throughout North America, South America, Europe and Asia.
Dr. Chung earned her Bachelor of Music in Cello performance at Oberlin Conservatory (Ohio) with Norman Fischer and Peter Rejto; Masters of Music degree at Northwestern University Beinen School of Music (Evanston, IL) with Hans J. Jensen; and Doctor of Musical Arts at SUNY Stony Brook University (NY) with Colin Carr.
Kira Kraftzoff
Kira Kraftzoff, leader and founder of the Rastrelli Cello Quartet, Russian Quattro and Rastrelli Chamber Orchestra was born in 1971 in Leningrad, USSR (now St. Petersburg, Russia).
Aged six, he began his studies at “The Special Music School for Highly Talented Children” of the St. Petersburg State Conservatory, under the tutorship of Prof. Mark Reisenstock. He had his public debut at the age of 14 with the St. Petersburg Radio Symphony Orchestra, performing Aram Khachaturian Cello Concerto in The Grand Concert Hall of the St. Petersburg Philharmonic.
In 1987, Mr. Kraftzoff took part in the “All-Russia Cello Competition”, where he was awarded a Diploma. In 1988, he was the youngest finalist ever in the “All-USSR Cello Competition”, winning a Diploma and a Special Award for “Most Brilliant Perspective”.
Mr. Kraftzoff continued his studies in the class of the late Prof. Anatoly Nikitin at the St. Petersburg State Conservatory named after Rimsky-Korsakov, which he graduated with honors in 1994. Upon graduating, he became Prof. Nikitin's Teaching Assistant, a position he held for four years while also studying with the legendary performer Daniil Shafran. In 1993, Mr. Kraftzoff received the high distinction of representing the St. Petersburg Conservatory in Mstislav Rostropovich’s first masterclass in Russia after his long exile. As a partaker of a student exchange, he came to Stuttgart, completing his studies with Prof. Peter Buck (cellist of the "Melos-Quartet") and graduating as a student laureate.
Kira Kraftzoff won prizes in the following international competitions:
1990 Murcia (Spain): First Prize
1992 Pretoria (South Africa): Third prize in "UNISA String Competition"
1994 Trapani (Italy): Second Prize in "Chamber Music Competition" (no First Prize awarded)
1995 Munich (Germany): Third Prize in "Konzertgesellschaft Wettbewerb"
1997 Vienna (Austria): First Prize in "Vienna International Competition"
Mr. Kraftzoff has performed as a soloist in many of the great concert halls. Among these are The Grand Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, The Grand Hall of the St. Petersburg Philharmonic, The Philharmonie Berlin, Alte Oper Frankfurt, Herkulessaal und Gasteig Munich, Tonhalle Zurich, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Laeiszhalle Hamburg, Stefaniensaal Graz, Mozarteum Salzburg, Grand Park Chicago, Taegue Philharmonic South Korea, and many others. .
Kira Kraftzoff has been invited to perform in numerous festivals all over the world, such as the Davos Music Festival, Schwetzingen Festspiele, Beethoven Festival in Bonn, Freiburger Zeltwunder Festival, Colorado Music Festival, Savonlinna Festival Finland, Musical Olympus St. Petersburg. He has collaborated with artists such as Gidon Kremer, Krzysztof Penderecki, Gilles Apap, Giora Feidman and Justus Frantz. Mr. Kraftzoff has appeared in countless radio and television broadcasts, including the NBC, BR, SWR, HR, NDR, NHK & Russia 1, which broadcast a forty-minute film about his life and career in 1993.
In 1997, Mr. Kraftzoff was invited to perform at the Daniil Shafran Memorial Concert, playing the Saint-Saens Cello Concerto for the late grandmaster of Cello.
Before he founded the Rastrelli Cello Quartet, Mr. Kraftzoff was the principal cellist of the St. Petersburg Soloists (1991-1994), and later the principal cellist of the Wurttembergisches Kammerorchester (1998-2005, Germany).
The creation of the Rastrelli Cello Quartet in 2002 made him world-famous; he began his career as a conductor in 2010 and founded the Rastrelli Chamber Orchestra. In 2012, he founded yet another group - Russian Quattro - the first string quartet with two violins and two cellos.
Yang Li
Yang Li is one of the founders of Centralfield Art Institute, the chairman and artistic director of the Centralfield Art Academic Committee, the director and chief artist of the Art Committee of the La Plantation International Art Center, and the special signed cello soloist of China National Symphony Orchestra.
As a music prodigy in his boyhood, Yang Li was meticulously tutored and arduously trained by his father Zhong-ping Li, a member of cellists in the China National Symphony Orchestra. His academic study started from the Central Conservatory of Music (China), where his teacher enumerated Prof. Zhiwen Situ.
After the graduation, Li went to the United States for broadening institutional education. He applied full scholarship at the New England Conservatory and joined a course by cellist Prof. David Wells. In less than a year, he acquired the “Artist” diploma of the University of Hartford and began to study there with David Finckel, cellist of the world-renowned Emerson String Quartet.
Later, he entered the State University of New York (SUNY) for Master of Music and became the first Chinese student ever entitled full SUNY Music Conservatory Dean Scholarship. His professor was celebrated Russian virtuoso Vagram Sarajian, who once served as assistant to the world greatest cellist Mstislav Rostropovich at the Tchaikowsky Conservatory in Moscow. Meanwhile, he also studied chamber playing with Peter Willey, the distinguished SUNY professor and cellist of the famous Guarneri String Quartet. His several on-campus solo recitals at the Wechester Lincoln Performing Art Center were warmly received by the audience.
The only merit-awarded graduate of the year, Li obtained his Master of Music degree. He followed Prof. Sarajian to the School of Music of the Houston University in pursuit of doctorate of art (performance doctor). He was appointed assistant to Prof. Sarajian in the cello department while gave lessons at the Saratoga School of Music.
Over these American years, Li also received pedagogic coaching from Nathaniel Rosen and Zara Nelsova, two seasoned hands in the circle. And he was graced by personal instruction from Mstislav Rostropovich and the maestro very much commended his playing.
During his stay in US, Li became a faculty member of the Central Conservatory of Music (China). Li became a faculty member of Renmin University of China as well.
Li’s playing is awash of passion, a testimony to his profound understanding and fluid performance of music, especially on German-Austrian and Slav compositions. His extensive repertoire includes a substantial amount of Romantic works.
During his stay in the United States, he appeared on concert stage with many orchestras, including Waterbury Symphony Orchestra, Springfield Symphony Orchestra, New Rochester, Balmore Symphony Orchestra, New China Philharmonic Orchestra Beijing Symphony Orchestra and Earling Opera House. He also performed at recitals in New York, Boston, Baltimore, Huston, Dallas, Connecticut and New Jersey and European countries, His technical brilliance and convincing interpretation, which made him winner of many concerto competitions, won him high appraisal from entire audience, lay and pro, but the esoteric coterie in particular.
After listening to his performance, Maxim Vengerov, one of the world’s leading violinists, gave such comment, “Talented, very talented!” Mstislav Rostropovich could not agree more in his verdict, “Passionate, emotional and so powerful!”
Li has been interviewed and reported by many domestic authoritative medias like Top China, Chinese Music-Music Forum, China Arts Space, Chinese Art and Literature, China Daily, Music Weekly, CCTV Music Channel, Beijing TV, Shanghai TV and so on.
Vagram Saradjian
Vagram Saradjian gave his first public recital at age 9 and won his first prize at the Russian National Competition at age 18, which put him in the country’s national spotlight. International recognition of his prodigious talent came when he won awards at several major contests, including the Tchaikovsky International Competition in 1970 and the Geneva International Cello Competition in 1975. By the time he was twenty, Mr. Saradjian was being compared with such masters as Mstislav Rostropovich, his teacher of eight years at the Moscow Conservatory. As a recitalist, Mr. Saradjian has performed around the world in such concert halls as the Barbican Centre in London, Gaveau in Paris, La Scala in Milan, Victoria Hall in Geneva, Musikverein in Vienna, Tonhalle in Zurich, Auditorio Nacional in Madrid, Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires, Carnegie Hall in New York, the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, and the Leningrad Philharmonic Hall.
In 2002, Mr. Saradjian founded the Schlern International Music Festival in the town of Voels am Schlern in South Tyrol, Italy. In 2015, the festival was renamed to Semper Music International Festival, of which Mr. Saradjian was the general director. The festival took place each summer for sixteen years and welcomed distinguished guest artists and faculty.
His orchestral debut coincided with the conducting debut of his mentor, Mstislav Rostropovich, when in 1969, under the Maestro’s baton, young Saradjian triumphantly performed Dvorak’s Cello Concerto with the Kiev Philharmonic. He has since toured internationally with leading orchestras and has played with distinguished conductors, including Gergiev, Khachaturian, Kondrashin, Svetlanov, Rostropovich, Shostakovich, and Temirkanov.
Contemporary music has for many years been an important part of Mr. Saradjian’s repertoire. In recent seasons, he has premiered major works by internationally acclaimed composers, such as Alexander Tchaikovsky, Gia Kancheli, Karen Khachaturian, Arno Babadjanian, and Myroslav Skoryk. The highlights of the past seasons included Mr. Saradjian’s appearances at Valery Gergiev’s Stars of the White Nights Festival in St. Petersburg (Russia), the Shostakovich Festival in Houston, TX, extensive tour of Europe, where in addition to his solo performances Mr. Saradjian appeared in highly acclaimed new trio programs with violinist Maxim Vengerov and pianist Vag Papian. Mr. Saradjian’s extensive discography may be found on Melodya and Art & Electronics labels and includes Schumann and Honegger Cello Concertos with the Moscow Philharmonic (Valery Gergiev, Conductor), Saint-Saens Cello Concerto no. 1 and Tchaikovsky Rococo Variations with the Moscow RTV Orchestra (Vladimir Fedoseev, Conductor), Dvorak Cello Concerto with the Moscow Philharmonic (Fuat Mansurov, Conductor). Among his recent releases is the world premiere recording of Ilya Zelenka Cello Concerto with the Moscow Philharmonic (Yuri Bashmet, Conductor).
Born in Yerevan, Armenia, Vagram Saradjian began his cello studies at age 7 with Alexander Chaushian at the Special School for Gifted Children of the Yerevan Conservatory. Later, he was invited by Mstislav Rostropovich to enter his studio at the Moscow Conservatory, where he earned his Masters and Doctorate degrees. In the United States Mr. Saradjian has taught at Oberlin Conservatory, Connecticut College, Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College (CUNY, NY), Purchase Conservatory (SUNY), and numerous festivals and masterclasses. Currently he is Professor of Violoncello at the University of Houston.
Piano
Gwhyneth Chen
Ms Gwhyneth Chen (陳毓襄) is a Taiwanese-American pianist who in 1993, won the biggest cash prize in the history of piano competitions: $100,000.00. Ms. Chen, then a young woman of 23, was the youngest contestant at the Ivo Pogorelich International Piano Competition. Subsequent to the award, Mr. Pogorelich himself said of her talent, "She is too good to be true". Immediately recognized as one of the foremost pianists of her generation, her victory was broadcast internationally on CNN television. In recent years she has played joint concerts with Ivo Pogorelich in Switzerland and in Taiwan.
Born in Taiwan, Ms Chen emigrated to the United States with her family in 1980, where she continued her musical studies with Eduardo Delgado, Robert Turner, and Aube Tzerko. She received her Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from the Juilliard School. While in New York, her teachers were Martin Canin, Byron Janis and Yin Cheng-Zong.
At the age of twelve, she was the First Prize winner of the 50-State National Piano Competition of the Music Teachers’ National Association. Three years later, she won the National Competition again, setting a record by winning both the Junior High and Senior High Competitions. Ms. Chen continued by taking the Grand Prize in the International Recording Piano Competition, competing in the college division when she was only in high school.
At the age of nineteen, she was a finalist in the 1990 Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition in Moscow where she was awarded the “Best Lady Prize” for being the only female finalist. In 1992, she was the Bronze Medalist at the Prokofieff International Piano Competition in St. Petersburg, Russia. In 1991, Ms. Chen took First Prize at the Thomas Richner International Piano Competition in New York and in 1999 she was the Grand Prize winner at the International Web Concert Audition Competition, also in New York. As the Grand Prize winner of the Young Keyboard Artists National Piano Competition during her senior year of high school, she won a grand piano.
A leading Chinese musical figure, Ms. Gwhyneth Chen was included in the 1995 edition of the One Hundred Most Successful Chinese People and appeared in a nationally televised gala concert at the Presidential Palace in the presence of President Lee of Taiwan. In 2002, she was invited to perform and speak in Washington DC during First Lady Wu Shu-chen's Peace Journey to the United States. In 2008 she performed at the inaugural festivities for the newly elected President of Taiwan, Ma Ying-jeou.
Ms. Chen represented her country with the Taipei Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Lu Shao-chia, as "the Pride of Taiwan" in the opening concert at the National Grand Theatre ("Steel Egg") in Beijing, China, to celebrate the 2008 Olympics.
Ms. Chen's CD on the Chimei label, "Gwhyneth Chen: Chopin Favorites," celebrating Chopin's 200th anniversary, won "Best Performance" in the Golden Melody Awards in 2011.
Ms Chen has appeared as a soloist with a number of orchestras, including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Moscow Radio Symphony, Greenville Symphony, Bergen Philharmonic, Kyushu Symphony of Japan, Taiwan National Orchestra, Shanghai Symphonic, Moscow State Philharmonic, Pasadena Symphony, Pacific Symphonic, Aspen Music Festival Orchestra, Taipei City Symphony, Fort Worth Symphony, Orchestre Fresnes, Zagreb Philharmonic, and Lake Placid Sinfonietta. She was engaged to play with the Miami Symphony for six consecutive seasons. Ms Chen has collaborated with David Atherton and the Hong Kong Philharmonic on a tour of the United States and Canada, with Vladimir Fedoseyev and the Moscow Radio Symphony throughout North America and Mexico, and completed a tour of Taiwan with the Russian Philharmonic under Vladimir Ponkin. For the extravagant debut of the New Colorado Symphony, she was chosen as the first soloist performing the Tchaikovsky First Piano Concerto before a crowd of 15,000 at the McNichols Stadium.
In 1994, Ms. Gwhyneth Chen made her recital debut in Munich at Herkulessal, followed by a recital tour of Croatia and Spain. That same year, she played the opening concert of the season in the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory with the Russian National Orchestra under Mikhail Pletnev, performing the Rachmaninoff Third Piano Concerto. In 1999, she made her New York debut at Alice Tully Hall of Lincoln Center.
A popular figure at international festivals, Ms Chen has frequented the Aspen Music Festival, Montreal Music Festival, Pogorelich Festival, Bowdoin Music Festival, Chopin Festival in Majorca, Chopin Festival in Poland, Chopin Festival in Hanover, Chopin Festival in Vienna, and the Lake Placid Music Festival. In 2010, she performed the complete Chopin Nocturnes at the Chopin Festival in Taiwan, commemorating Chopin's 200th Anniversary. In 2011 she performed the twelve Transcendental Etudes of Liszt, for Liszt's 200th anniversary.
Her extensive concertizing career has thrilled audiences in halls such as the Kennedy Center, San Francisco's Davies Hall, the Los Angeles Music Center, Vancouver's Royal Theater, Victoria's Orpheum Theatre, the National Concert Hall in Taiwan, Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes In Mexico City, the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, the Tchaikovsky Hall of Moscow, and Debussy Hall in Cannes. She conducted a solo recital tour of Estonia in the Eduard Tubin Music Festival.
A frequent benefactor of charitable events, Ms. Chen performed a successful benefit concert for the 2011 Japan Disaster Relief in collaboration with Buddhist Tzu Chi Organization of Northern California. She has donated her talents to concerts for the Fountain Project of Northern California, the American Cancer Society and the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas, and the Dharma Realm Buddhist Association's branches.
She has been a jury member in the Taiwan Chopin Piano Competition in 2005 and 1999, the 2003 First Taiwan International Piano Competition, the 2003 Asian Division of the 6th Monopoli International Piano Competition, and the 1998 Taiwan Young Artists International Competition. She was on the faculty for the Perugia Music Festival in Italy in 2010.
In 2013, Ms. Chen was the recipient of the inaugural Distinguished Humanitarian Award, presented by the Hsuan Hua Foundation of Taiwan. She was cited for her contribution to the integration of arts and spirituality. In 2014 she was awarded the Filiality Award given by Taiwan’s Filiality Association, which names annually one exemplar of the highest expression of traditional Chinese culture.
Gwhyneth Chen is a Steinway Artist and was recently featured by Steinway & Sons in the global promotional video for the innovative Steinway Spirio, the world’s finest high resolution player piano.
Ms. Chen is a vegetarian, and since 1993, has integrated aspects of Buddhist spirituality into her musical training.
Eduardo Delgado
International audiences and critics have consistently recognized the fiery intensity, brilliance and contagious sensitivity in the pianism of Eduardo Delgado. His appearances have taken him to the major music capitals of four continents—Europe, South America, Asia and North America. Through the wide span of Delgado’s repertoire from Bach to modern composers, audiences immediately feel and hear that music affects him very deeply and that he shares these profound and personal emotions freely with every listener.
Some international plaudits include:
“Virtuosity, clean sound, and passion…the best” reports La Capital of Argentina. Following an appearance in Tokyo in the Pablo Casals Hall, critics hailed his playing as “a marvelous performance, deeply emotional as well as lyrical” (Musica Nova – Tokyo). Norwegian critics described Delgado as “a pianist of a thousand nuances, a fantastic experience.” (Kristiansand).In Russia, “Delgado’s Bach had brilliance, a profound meditation and a musical tone rarely heard” (Sovietskaya Kultura – Moscow).
Born in Rosario, Argentina, Eduardo Delgado began his early training with his mother, Amelia, followed by studies with Arminda Canteros in Rosario, and then continued with Sergio Lorenzi in Venice, Vicente Scaramuzza in Buenos Aires, Dora Zaslavsky of the Manhattan School of Music and Rosina Lhevinne of the Juilliard School. His numerous awards and prizes include the Vladimir Horowitz Award, and grants from the Mozarteum Argentino, Martha Baird Rockefeller, and the Concert Artists Guild.
Delgado is in constant local, national and international demand as a noted pedagogue, lecturer and artist teacher of master classes. Delgado has been on the artist piano faculties of several universities in Japan and in California. He is currently a full professor of piano at California State University, Fullerton, where he has established a scholarship fund for talented pianists in tribute to the renowned pianist Alicia de Larrocha. To help endow the scholarship, he performed an inaugural recital with Madame de Larrocha at the Richard Nixon Library in Yorba Linda, CA. Delgado has served on the juries of such international competition as the William Kapell, the Gina Bachauer, the Vega in Japan, the second Martha Argerich International Piano Competition in Buenos Aires, the San Jose International Piano Competion, and the Jose Iturbi Competition in Los Angeles.
Delgado performs at the Perugia and Dino Ciano Festivals in Italy, the Verbier Festival in Switzerland and the Martha Argerich Festival in Lugano and Buenos Aires. He has collaborated with Martha Argerich in several two piano and four-hand works. Their most recent duet performance in 2012 included Ravel’s Mother Goose and Schubert’s Fantasy in F minor.
Eduardo Delgado’s most recent orchestral appearance was with the Pacific Symphony and the Pacific Chorale, in the performances of Beethoven’s “Choral Fantasy” and “Rio Grande” by Lambert at the Orange County Performing Arts Center, Costa Mesa, CA. Other highlights include a shared recital wit h tenor Jose Cura in their native city of Rosario, Argentina as well as several performances for school children. Last December, he was chosen by the governor of his home state, Santa Fe, to perform at the Inauguration Ceremony of Governor Hermes Binner at the State Capital’s Municipal Theatre. For the past three summers Delgado has performed and taught at Music Fest Perugia in Perugia, Italy, and was invited to give recitals and master classes in Japan, for which he has been invited back in 2013. In June 2013 he will be judging the Top of the World Competition in Tromso, Norway. He has also been a judge at the San Antonio International Piano Competition in Texas.
Delgado has been awarded a medal of honor by UNESCO of Buenos Aires, and also by the Mayor of Rosario, Delgado’s hometown, for his contributions as an ambassador of music. In 2012 he played with Martha Argerich at the Teatro El Circulo in Rosario, and in 2014 he performed as guest of honor at the Universidad Nacional de Rosario.
In Summer 2014, Eduardo Delgado gave concerts and master classes at the Perugia Festival in Italy, after performing in Argentina, Texas, and in a duo with Gabriela Montero in Fullerton. In 2015, he will perform and teach in Israel, Japan and Argentina, in addition to his home base of California.
Some of Delgado’s recordings include:
The complete solo piano music of Alberto Ginastera in two volumes for MA Records in Tokyo.
A CD in Buenos Aires of romantic works of Schumann, Chopin and Mendelssohn, IRCO Records.
A CD with tenor Jose Cura for ERATO Records
Eduardo Delgado is a Steinway Artist.
Mark Fouxman
Dr. Mark Fouxman, a man of many talents—concert pianist, charismatic and inspiring piano teacher, inventor, audio and electronics engineer, microphone designer, and owner/chief designer of a successful microphone production company—has performed as a soloist, with orchestra, and in chamber music recitals in some of the greatest halls in Russia, Israel, and Holland, including the Grand Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, Tel Aviv Museum of Arts, Jerusalem Music Center, and the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam.
He started piano lessons with his father, Vladimir Fouxman (distinguished teacher at the Kemerovo Music College). Among the influences on his early musical education were Lev Naumov in Moscow, Michael Boguslavsky, Victor Derevianko, and Pnina Saltzman in Tel Aviv.
Mr. Fouxman moved to the US in 1998 to complete his DMA at Arizona State University under Professor Robert Hamilton. Concert engagements in the United States have included recitals at Scottsdale Steinway Hall, Chicago Steinway Hall, Arizona State University, University of Utah, Indiana University South Bend; a live broadcast on WFMT radio station in Chicago; and performances at the New York International Piano Festivals, as well as concert tours in Russia and Costa Rica. In 2015 season he performed an opening recital at the Russian Music Festival in Vancouver, Canada and Schlern International Festival in Italy. His appearances for 2016-17 included recitals and master classes at Weber University (Utah), Brownsville, Edinburg, and Canyon Universities (Texas), San Diego University (California), performances with Irkutsk Philharmonic orchestra in Russia, and solo recitals in Vancouver (Canada). The 2018 appearances include Weber University (Utah), San Diego University (California), Vancouver (Canada), solo recitals and master classes in Vladivostok and Irkutsk (Russia), Helsinki (Finland), Italy, concert hall Rudolfinum (Prague) and Petrof Gallery in Hradec Kralove (Czech Republic), among others.
Having a deep belief in the purity of music, Dr. Fouxman gives preference to a constant search for new ways of self-expression and perfecting the musical craft. In his playing critics emphasize his piano mastery, along with a deep and highly personal approach to music making. They also note that his attention to shaping the melodic line, voicing the music texture, and beauty of sound, link his work to the performing values of the past.
An integral part of Dr. Fouxman’s musical activity is his highly respected pedagogical work. At the core of his approach to teaching piano is the music itself, where a clear picture of the composer’s intentions and thorough analysis of musical content dictate the means of technical execution, and inspire personal emotional connection with music and performance.
Dr. Fouxman has been a faculty member at the Semper Music International Festival in Italy: www.sempermusicfestival.org and the Petrof International Summer Festival in Hradec Kralove, Czech Republic: www.petroffest.com.
Armine Grigoryan
The famous Armenian composer Eduard Mirzoyan expressed his admiration of Armine Grigoryan in these words: “I never tire of Armine’s playing and I don’t ever want to stop listening…it is unrepeatable.”
Armine Grigoryan is one of the brightest talents among contemporary Armenian pianists. She studied at the Yerevan Tchaikovsky School of Music and the Yerevan Komitas Conservatory, completing her postgraduate studies under the supervision of professors Georgiy and Sergei Sarajyan.
Double laureate of the 2003 “Roma” International Piano Competition, organized by the Cultural Association “Fryderyc Chopin” Association, Armine Grigoryan was awarded a medal by the Chamber of Deputies of Rome. Her piano duo “Sonet”, with pianist Sona Barseghyan, was also awarded a special prize for Best Performance of pieces by Sergio Calligaris.
A recipient of numerous special awards as a collaborative pianist in several international competitions, Armine Grigoryan has toured the world as both soloist and chamber musician. She has performed in Russia, Italy, Germany, the United Kingdom, Austria, the Czech Republic, Spain, Belgium, Bulgaria, the Baltic States, Finland, Sweden, the United Arab Emirates, Lebanon, China, Japan, Australia, Canada, and the United States of America, among others.
Armine Grigoryan has been a member of the Aram Khachaturian Trio since 2005, along with violinist Karen Shahgaldyan and cellist Karen Kocharyan. The ensemble has performed in such prestigious venues as Vienna’s Musikverein, Hamburg’s Laeiszhalle, Leipzig’s Gewandhaus, Munich’s Gasteig Philharmonic, London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall, Tokyo’s Suntory Hall, and Toronto’s Koerner Hall.
With the help of Assadour Guzelian, Armine Grigoryan and her trio colleagues established the Classical Music Development Foundation, which aims to support gifted young musicians while promoting the works of Armenian composers.
Armine Grigoryan has released several CDs, the album “Unknown Khachaturian” among them. As director of the Aram Khachaturian Museum, a position she has held since 2004, Armine Grigoryan actively promotes Khachaturian’s music and name in Armenia and abroad, and works to establish new relationships with museums across the globe.
Recipient of both Poland’s Gloria Artis Medal for Merit to Culture and Armenia’s Ministry of Culture Medal, Armine Grigoryan is a professor at the Yerevan State Conservatory.
Jacob Katsnelson
The Moscow pianist Jacob Katsnelson, born in 1976, became Professor for Lied-Interpretation at the Gnessin Music School at the age of 23. He had begun his education in Piano, Transverse Flute and Dance here and had graduated with distinction in both instruments in 1993. Thereafter he studied at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory under Professor Elisso Wirssaladse until his graduation with a Diploma in Piano.
From 2001 he has worked as Assistant Professor and, since 2009, as Professor with his own piano class at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in his home city. Today, Jacob Katsnelson is a much sought after teacher who is regularly and repeatedly invited to national and international masterclasses, such as the masterclasses at Sermoneta in Italy, Riga in Latvia, Tiradentes in Brazil or to the summer academy at the Gnessin-Institute in Moscow.
Jacob’s artistic background is also impressive. He has been a prize winner in numerous renowned national and international piano competitions, both as a soloist and as a chamber musician with his ‘Akadem-Trio’
His extensive concert experience in Russia, as a soloist and sought after chamber musician, has opened up to him the concert halls throughout the whole of Europe, the American continent, as well as the Middle and Far East. At national and international festivals he is a most welcome guest and accompanies Russian and European Lied- and Opera-Singers with great spirit and enthusiasm.
To add to an already impressive c.v. he has performed in concerts with famous Orchestras conducted by such renowned conductors as G. Roshdestwenski, V. Ashkenasy, V.und I. Verbitzki, I. Solzhenitsyn, R. Kofman, A. Levin, Lew Marquis, V. Ponkin, I. Gaisin, Keith Clark, Yoon Kuk Lee and Thomas Sanderling.
A number of live recordings from concerts in the Tchaikovsky Conservatory are available on CD. In addition studio recordings with his Chamber Music colleagues, for example Maxim Rysanow, Viola Player or Kristine Blaumane, 1st cellist at the London Philharmonic Orchestra are also available. His Solo-CD, featuring works from J. S. Bach, has been highly praised by the musical press, in particular by the American musical trade magazine ‘Fanfare‘.
Frank Lévy
Pianist Frank Lévy has been hailed by audiences and critics alike as an artist of rare poetic insight and communicative powers. A semi-finalist in the Leeds and Clara Haskil international piano competitions, Frank Lévy has an international career as a recitalist performing on many of the world’s great stages, including the Avery Fisher Hall and Carnegie Hall in New York City, Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, Gusman Hall in Miami, Royce Hall in Los Angeles, The Gardner Hall in Salt Lake City, Teatro Municipal in Santiago, Chile and the Stadthaussaal in Winterthur. He has performed under the batons of Louis Langrée, Mehli Mehta, Paul Dunkel, David Josefowitz, Libi Lebel, Cornelia Kodkani-Laemmli, Ya-Hui Wang, Martin Stüder and other conductors.
Mr. Lévy is recording the complete piano works of Schubert and Brahms for the Canadian label, Palexa. He is also collaborating on recording the complete works of Chopin for MusOpen. Frank Lévy’s recordings and live performances have been broadcast by WQXR in New York City, the BBC in London, the RSR in Switzerland, the CBC in Canada and the Shanghai TV in China.
Mr. Lévy’s recent appearances include solo recitals in Santiago (Chile), Rio De Janeiro (Brazil), Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Montreal, New York City, San Francisco, Miami, Houston, San Diego, Berkeley, Palo Alto and Stanford, and benefit concerts for the Russian Children’s Welfare Society and for Haiti.
Award-winning teacher, Frank Lévy has served on the piano faculty of the Juilliard School Pre-College Division for 13 years. He is currently on the faculty of the City University of New York Graduate Center and the International Keyboard Institute and Festival at Mannes College.
Frank Lévy has given numerous lectures, lecture-recitals and master classes at universities, conservatories and music festivals around the world. His recent lectures include “The Art of Practicing: From Concept to Sound,” “Schubert and the Suspension of Time,” “Musical Offerings for a Monument: Masterpieces by Beethoven, Liszt and Schumann,” “Practicing Piano Creatively” and “The School of Piano: Understanding the Interaction between the Piano Mechanism and the Human Body.”
Mr. Lévy is also known for his children and youth programs. In 2012, Mr. Lévy played a series of children’s concerts titled “Classical Music Greats for Children” for a packed audience at the Palo Alto Jewish Community Center. This fun series, filled with delightful anecdotes, explored the theme of childhood through the magical musical childhood memories of great composers.
Frank Lévy, who grew up in Switzerland, entered the Geneva Conservatory at the age of fifteen and earned the bachelor’s and master’s degrees studying with renowned pianist and pedagogue Louis Hiltbrand, and the doctorate in performance studying with Maria Tipo. After winning the Kiefer-Hablitzel Prize, Frank Lévy went to study with Leon Fleisher at the Peabody Conservatory, from where he received the Artist Diploma. He studied collaborative piano with Samuel Sanders and Margo Garrett in the Professional Studies Program at the Juilliard School, where he also worked with Emanuel Ax. Mr. Lévy also studied with Vlado Perlemuter in Paris, Dorothy Taubman in New York, Maria Curcio, Radu Lupu and Murray Perahia in London.
Frank Lévy lived in New York City for over 20 years. In 2011, the Lévy family moved to San Francisco. Since then Frank has performed as a soloist and chamber musician at numerous local venues, including the Old First Concerts in San Francisco, the Campbell Hall at Stanford, the Beethoven Center at San Jose State University and Palo Alto OFJCC, among others.
Sergei Sarajyan
Pianist Sergei Sarajyan is a professor at the Yerevan Komitas State Conservatory. Since beginning his pedagogical and educational work in 1963, over 100 students have graduated under his tutelage, among whom are many winners of international competitions.
Dr. Sarajyan’s performing career began in the early 1970s, in collaboration with renowned cellist Vagram Saradjian. Their numerous performances led them around the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. They were awarded gold medals at international festivals in Bulgaria and Czechoslovakia.
Dr. Sarajyan holds masterclasses in the USA, UK, Italy, Russia, Georgia and Greece. Paralleled with his pedagogical career, Dr. Sarajyan has held administrative posts at the Yerevan Komitas State Conservatory. First as the Dean of the Piano Faculty and later, from 2002-2011, as the Rector.
Dr. Sarajyan is the recipient of the “Second-Class Medal of Services to the Motherland” in Armenia, as well as the “Decoration of Honor Meritorious for Polish Culture” in Poland.