Praised for her “warm lyricism and flawless technique” by Le soir (Belgium) and for her “gripping performance of music by Grazyna Bacewicz” by The Washington Post, Polish-American violinist, Marta Szlubowska is a sought- after soloist, chamber musician, teacher and a concertmaster. Her concerts have taken her to over 15 countries throughout Europe and Americas. She is the former Concertmaster and Soloist of the Mississippi Symphony Orchestra in Jackson, MS (2005-2022). Ms. Szlubowska has been a recipient of the prestigious 2019/20 Artist Fellowship Award and the Project Grant in 2022/23 from the Mississippi Arts Commission to further her artistic career.

A winner of numerous awards, fellowships and prizes such as 1st Prizes at the Marbury and Yale Gordon Competitions and the 2nd Prize in the Bryan International String Competition, Ms. Szlubowska has appeared as a soloist with the Everett Symphony Orchestra, Rochester Philharmonic, North Carolina Symphony, La Crosse Symphony Orchestra, Tacoma Symphony Orchestra, Mississippi Symphony Orchestra, Bellevue Philharmonic, and many others. Since moving to the United States, Ms. Szlubowska has proudly represented Poland and US in the Queen Elizabeth, Sibelius, and Wieniawski International Violin Competitions. She has given numerous performances at Tanglewood, Meadowmount and Colorado Music Festivals. Ms. Szlubowska performed under the baton of Leonard Bernstein and Seiji Ozawa at Tanglewood, as well as Alexander Schneider at Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts making her Carnegie Hall debut in 1984.

Her passion for solo and chamber music led Ms. Szlubowska to performances with various ensembles such as Szlubowska/Belsky Duo (violin and piano, who made an award-winning CD entitled “Myth and Romance”, music for violin and piano by Polish composers), Mississippi Fine Arts String Trio, Mississippi String Quartet, Inaugural Piano Trio, Tango Rendezvous Ensemble, Duo Vivace (with her daughter, violist, Julia Kirk) as well as Marta Szlubowska Ensemble, a vibrant and exciting strings and accordion ensemble that showcases light classical and popular music from around the world. Recent concert venues where Ms. Szlubowska has been featured include the Polish Museum of America and Sheridian Music Studio in Chicago, IL, St. Paul Concert Series in Meridian,MS, Arts and Lecture Series at Millsaps College, Old Capitol Museum and Mississippi Arts Museum in Jackson, MS and many more.

A recipient of the prestigious Joseph Maddy Scholarship, Ms. Szlubowska received her Bachelor’s in Violin Performance and Artist Diploma degrees from the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University and Master’s Degree in Violin Performance from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Her teachers include Janusz Szok, Charles Libove, Berl Senofsky and Charles Treger.

You can find more information about Ms.Szlubowska’s concert activities as well as her recordings at: www.martaszlubowska.com.

Hailed by critics as an “extraordinary musician” (Washington Post), cellist Andrey Tchekmazov is known for his versatility as a soloist, recitalist and chamber musician. The Grand Prize winner of the Vittorio Gui International Chamber Music Competition and the Premio Trio di Trieste, Mr. Tchekmazov has performed extensively throughout North and South America, Europe, Russia and Asia, appearing at the Great Hall of Moscow Conservatory, Osaka Symphony Hall in Japan, New York’s Alice Tully Hall, and Brazil’s Sala Cecilia Mereles with orchestras such as the Sao Paolo Symphony, the Moscow Chamber Orchestra, the Kiev Philharmonic and the Teatro Alfa Symphony. Among his other prizes and awards are the Koussevitsky Cello Competition in New York, the Schadt Competition, Artist International, Premio della Critica in Trieste and the Russian National Competition in Moscow. Since his critically acclaimed debut at Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall, Mr. Tchekmazov has enjoyed an active career as a recitalist and chamber musician, performing at such renowned venues as the Phillips Collection in Washington D.C, Bargemusic, Jupiter Chamber Players, Lukas Foss’s Music Festival at The Hamptons, Lyric Chamber Music Society in New York, Rhode Island Chamber Music Series, Bar Harbor Music Festival, Zankel Hall, Merkin Hall, Caramoor and Hampden Sydney where he was invited to perform by the members of the Emerson String Quartet. Mr. Tchekmazov is a faculty member at the Summit, Waterville Valley and Summertrios Music Festivals. Mr. Tchekmazov’s performances have been featured on WQXR, WGBH, NPR, and other TV and radio stations across Eastern and Western Europe and South America. He has made recordings for the NAXOS label with the Russian National Philharmonic, as well as the Delos label.

Irina Tseitlin Studied at the Moscow Central Music School for Exceptionally Gifted Children and the Tchaikovsky Conservatory with Yuri Yankelevich and Leonid Kogan. Upon graduating she joined the faculty at the College of Moscow Conservatory. She has won top prizes in the Queen Elisabeth Competition and the ARD Bayerische Rundfunk International Competition.

In 1980 Ms Tseitlin was awarded a grant from the National Endowment for the arts and made her NY debut at Alice Tully Hall. She has appeared with the Montreal Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Liege Philharmonic and the San Diego Symphony among others. She has toured the world performing and has recorded for Deutsche Grammophon, Duchesne and CAMUS and in 1985 she was awarded the Zzymanovski Prize for her performances and recordings of Karol Szymanovski’s music. Ms Tseitlin has a passion for teaching as has taught at the California Institute of Music in San Diego with many of her students winning top prizes.

Michael Tseitlin is renowned master teacher, composer and visual artist residing in Southern California. Tseitlin’s students have consistently won important international competitions including the Tchaikovsky, Indianapolis, Queen Elisabeth, Paganini, ARD Bayerischer Rundfunk, Leventrit and Yehudi Menuhin competitions and held concertmaster positions at Rotterdam Philharmonic, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, London Philharmonia, Milwaukee Symphony, San Diego Symphony, Soul Radio Orchestra and Hong Kong Philharmonic and professorships at the Juilliard School of Music, Amsterdam and Rotterdam Conservatories, Northwestern University, North Texas University, Stanford University, New York University at Purchase and  the Kyungpook University, Korea.

Michael Tseitlin was born in Moscow, Russia into a family of five generations of musicians. His father, Alexander Tseitlin, was a composer and conductor at the Bolshoi Theater and his great-uncle, Lev Tseitlin, student of Leopold Auer, was one of the founders of the Tchaikovsky Moscow Conservatory in the post-revolution era. Michael studied violin with Piotr Bondarenko at the Gnesin’s College and later with Felix Andrievsky at the Gnesin’s Institute. Other major influences and mentors were Rostislav Dubinsky and Yehudi Menuhin.

In 1975, he came to the United States with his wife, concert violinist Irina Tseitlin. They settled in California where he taught at the California State University, Los Angeles; the San Diego State University and since 1990 the California Institute of Music. Mr. Tseitlin was Executive Director of music festivals in New Mexico, California, Germany, Italy and Portugal.

Michael Tseitlin is also an accomplished composer. His music was performed to high critical acclaim and published in Europe, Japan and United States. Although, lifelong musician, he also pursued visual art since early childhood and his art is exhibited in museums, galleries and private collections.

IVO-JAN VAN DER WERFF has attained accolades as a chamber player, recitalist, guest artist and teacher throughout Europe and North America. As a member of the Medici String Quartet for 30 years, Mr. van der Werff has performed in well over 2,000 concerts in major festivals and venues world wide, broadcasting regularly on radio and television. The Medici quartet made more than 40 recordings for EMI, Nimbus, Hyperion and Koch, and won many awards for works ranging from Haydn, Britten, Janacek, Schubert and the Beethoven cycle to more eclectic works of John Tavener, Saint-Saens, Wajahat Khan and Nigel Osborne. The quartet has had collaborations with many artists across the musical, literary and theatrical spectrum including the Royal Shakespeare Company, George Martin, Alan Bennett, John Williams, John Thaw and Jack Brymer.

Mr. van der Werff has performed as recitalist in places as far afield as New York, New Zealand and Hong Kong as well as numerous venues throughout the United Kingdom. His recordings for ASV and Koch include the sonata by Max Reger and the complete works for viola and piano/harp by Arnold Bax. His latest release on the Guild label are works by Britten, Al-Zand and Shostakovich.

Mr. van der Werff is regularly invited to perform with chamber ensembles throughout Europe, the USA and the Antipodes, such as the Alberni, Coull, Bridge and New Zealand string quartets, Trio con brio of Copenhagen and the Montrose Trio.

Before joining the Medici Quartet, Mr. van der Werff’s freelance career saw him working under many conductors including Sir George Solti, Bernard Haitink and Klaus Tennstedt and he has since been invited to appear as guest principal viola and soloist with many of the United Kingdom’s leading orchestras.

Mr. van der Werff has been a professor of viola and chamber music at the Royal College of Music in London; he has also developed a private viola program near London and is director of the ‘Catskills’ and ‘Lakes’ Viola Retreat’ in Upstate New York and the UK. He has performed and taught at many summer schools including Dartington and Oxford in the UK, Schlern in the Italian Alps, in Sweden, at the Texas Music Festival, Domaine Forget, California Summer Music Madeleine Island and Bowdoin in the USA.

Mr van der Werff has given masterclasses all over the world at schools such as Eastman, Colburn, Vanderbilt and Santa Barbara in the USA, Trinity College, the Royal Northern College and the Royal College in the UK, the Royal Academy in Stockholm, the Hong Kong Academy for the Performing Arts amongst others.

Many of his former students hold principal and regular positions in orchestras such as the BBC Symphony, Philharmonia, London Symphony, English Chamber and English National Ballet as well as orchestras in Spain, Portugal, Norway, USA and France.

For many years he played in London studios on literally hundreds of sound tracks for film, pop and tv ranging from Harry Potter and James Bond to Madonna and Maria Carey to Pride and Prejudice and Doctor Who.

In 2011 he published ‘A Notebook for Viola Players’, a book consisting of exercises and explanations on and about viola technique, based in large part on his own studies with the great violist and pedagogue Bruno Giuranna and inspired by his viola mentors Margaret Major and Peter Shidlof.

Mr. van der Werff plays on a viola by Giovanni Grancino, of Milan, c1690.

An outstanding interpreter of J.S. Bach and contemporary composers, pianist Peter Vinograde regularly tours the U.S., Canada, and Asia. Recent seasons featured performances in Nanjing, Rome, Santa Fe, San Francisco, Singapore, Taipei, and Xiamen. More recently, he recorded Arnold Rosner’s Piano Concerto #2 with the London Philharmonic, and gave two recitals at the new Usina Art Center in Buenos Aires. A recent National Gallery recital featured all seven Bach Toccatas.

As a chamber musician, Peter Vinograde has appeared at the Bard, Bargemusic, Caramoor, and Wolftrap Festivals.  As a collaborative artist, he toured throughout Asia with violinist Midori, including her Singapore debut, also performing with her at the Cape Cod and Mostly Mozart Festivals.  

His numerous distinctions began with first prize in the 1971 J.S. Bach International Competition, followed by a New York debut at Carnegie Recital Hall and an N.E.A.-sponsored Lincoln Center recital at Alice Tully Hall. He has been featured on NPR’s Performance Today and CBC-TV’s the Journal. CDs include releases on the Albany, CBC, Decca and Phoenix labels. His primary teacher was Zenon Fishbein.

In conjunction with his Bach for Pianists class at the Manhattan School of Music, Dr. Vinograde annually presents Bach recital/lectures at conservatories and universities, most recently at C.S.U. Northridge, Juilliard, Oberlin, and Northwestern. 

“Instantly impressed as a pianist with a big technique, a lively mind, and a passionate commitment to the music.” The New York Times (N.Y. Debut)

Website: petervinograde.com 

An honoured Art worker, Professor Valery Vorona is an outstanding representative of the contemporary musical art elite of Russia. He graduated from the Gnesins State Music Pedagogical Institute (violin class) and did his post-graduate study at the P.I.Tchaikovsky Moscow Conservatory (violin). He has lead large-scale productive activities as a performer, conductor, pedagogue and public figure during his life.

At present Valery Vorona is an artistic director and chief conductor of the Moscow Youth Chamber Orchestra, soloist of the Moscow Philharmonic Society, the President of the Foundation “Russian Performing Art”. He is the rector of one of the leading music universities of Russia – the Ippolitov-Ivanov Music Pedagogical Institute and professor of the P.I. Tchaikovsky Moscow State Conservatory.

For the past ten years, as a violinist and conductor, Valery Vorona has been representing the best traditions of the Russian performing school. Under the auspices of the State Concert he regular performs at major odeums of the country and abroad, participates in prestigious music festivals as a performer and organizer.

Among them, is «St. Petersburg Musical Spring», International Music S. Gubaidulina Festival, Sakharov Festival in Nizhny Novgorod, «Copenhagen Musical Spring», Russian Festival in San Francisco, «Nancyphonies, Vladimir Spivakov Festival «Moscow Meets Friends», anniversary concerts dedicated to the 70th anniversary of M. Rostropovich, the 70th Anniversary of S. Gubaidulina, the 80th anniversary of V.Berlinsky, the cultural bridge «Japan – Russia» with M. Rostropovich, S. Ozawa, a symphony orchestra “New Japan Philharmonic” and more.

V. Vorona has worked as partner, soloist or conductor with famous musicians such as I. Kollegorskaya, Y. Bashmet, V. Berlinsky, M. Vengerov, V.Repin, A. Bonduryansky, V. Skanavi, S. Kravchenko, S. Sondetskis, V. Ponkin, O.Krysa and V. Viardot (USA), A. Engerer, H. Leclere and V. Afanasiev (France), D. Schwartzberg (Austria), J. Milkis (Canada), A. Zapolski (Denmark ), P. Valliere (Italy), etc.

Since the early 90′s V.Vorona became a member of the Presidium «Movement in Defense of Culture» together with major Russian figures of culture, science and politics, M.Rostropovich, A.Yakovlev, S.Velihov, S. Krasavchenko, M.Hutsiev and others. The head of the Presidium was a motion picture producer S. Kulish. From 1996 to 2000 he was a member of the Music Committee of Council under the President of Russian culture.

V. Vorona has achieved impressive results in all areas of his diverse performances and creative activities. The Youth Chamber Orchestra (headed by Valery Vorona) took the leading position among Russian and international youth teams and actively collaborates with the greatest conductors and soloists of our time.

Many students of V.Vorona’s class have won prestigious international competitions. In 2007 Valery Vorona was recognized as the “Person of the Year” by the newspaper, “Music Review”.

In 2008, V.Vorona was the artistic director of the youth cultural program XI of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum and participated in it as a conductor and soloist.

V.Vorona constantly participates in the organizing committees as a member of the jury of many international competitions, and conducts master-classes in many cities in Russia and abroad (Spain, Italy, Greece, Israel, the U.S., France, the CIS countries, etc.).

Among recent major projects organized by V.Vorona are such important initiatives as the International Festival «Support the Talent!», the International Music Festival and International Ippolitov-Ivanov Competition, the Establishment of the International prize in the field of musical pedagogy, etc.

In 2009, he was awarded an International Prize from the Hamburg Academy of Music «For outstanding achievements in the development of the culture of the Eastern Europe».

In 2013, V.Vorona together with M. Vengerov established an International award in the field of musical pedagogy named after M.M. Ippolitov-Ivanov. The presentation took place in the Big Hall of the P.I. Tchaikovsky Moscow State Conservatory.

Ivan Vukčević is the Solo Viola of the Orchestra della Svizzera italiana (Lugano, Switzerland), a position he has held since 2002. He is also a founder and violist of the internationally renowned Quartetto Energie Nove, with whom he has recorded critically acclaimed Janáček and Prokofiev quartets for Dynamic. Since 2012, he is a Professor of Viola at the International Menuhin Music Academy, Gstaad, Switzerland.

As a soloist, he has performed the most important works from the viola repertoire and his performances have been broadcast throughout the world. Ivan has appeared as a soloist with ensembles in Australia and Europe, such as the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra (Norway), Camerata Menuhin, Camerata Lysy Gstaad (Switzerland), Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra, Montenegrin Symphony Orchestra, Chernivtsi Symphony Orchestra (Ukraine) and

the Orchestra della Svizzera italiana (Lugano, Switzerland). With the latter, he has recorded the Harold in Italy by H. Berlioz, Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante (with the violinist Klaidi Sahatci) and B. Bartók’s Viola Concerto under the batton of Alain Lombard. Ivan’s particular interest in contemporary music saw him premiere numerous compositions and receive dedications from notable composers.

Ivan’s orchestral engagements included a tenure as Co-Principal Violist of the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra (Norway) from 2001 to 2002, and the Solo Viola position with the Sinfonieorchester Basel in 2008. While a student, he was also regularly a guest violist with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra.

Ivan Vukčević is a former student of the Victorian College of the Arts, a First Class Honours graduate of the University of Western Australia and a graduate of the International Menuhin Music Academy, Gstaad. While at university, Vukčević was the winner of the 1998 Vose concerto prize, having performed Béla Bartók’s Viola Concerto with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra. He also won first prizes in several chamber music competitions, including the 1996 Margaret Bello Prize and the 1995 West Australian Chamber Music Competition. During this time, Ivan Vukčević was the Principal Violist of the Australian Youth Orchestra and Camerata Australia, touring throughout the world with these groups from 1996 to 1998. In 1997 he was awarded several scholarships including the Youth Music Australia Opportunity Grant and the University of Western Australia Travelling Scholarship, enabling him to take a study trip to Europe during that year, which subsequently lead to his acceptance into the International Menuhin Music Academy.

After his undergraduate studies, Ivan Vukčević completed a performance course at the International Menuhin Music Academy in 2001, having studied with Prof. Alberto Lysy and Prof. Johannes Eskaer. During his studies at this school he was also the principal violist of the Camerata Lysy Gstaad, appearing regularly as a soloist and in chamber formations in some of the most important venues and festivals in Europe. In 2001, he was the winner of the Köckert Viola Competition (Zurich, Switzerland).

Ivan Vukčević plays on a rare 1789 Joseph Gagliano viola and a 1991 F. Bissolotti instrument.

David Whiteside is Principal Flutist with the National Philharmonic Orchestra. The Washington Post called his playing “dazzling”, “eloquent” and “evocative” and the Boston Globe “fiery and virtuosic.” Solo appearances include the Boston Pops, the Manhattan Philharmonic, with Jean-Pierre Rampal and Julius Baker, with James Galway at the Edinburgh (Scotland) Festival, and the St. Cecilia Orchestra. He has appeared in recital throughout the Unites States and in Europe including Weill Recital Hall, Merkin Hall, and the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater to name a few. Whiteside is flutist with the VERGE Ensemble of the Contemporary Music Forum of Washington, the edgEnsemble, and the Dinosaur Annex Ensemble. He has worked closely with a number of eminent composers including George Crumb, Donald Martino, and Joseph Schwantner. In 1999 he gave the Washington premiere of Melinda Wagner’s Pulitzer Prize winning Concerto for Flute, Strings and Percussion. Whiteside played with the Aeolian Chamber Players and served on the faculty of the Bowdoin Summer School of Music (now the Bowdoin International Festival). Mr. Whiteside studied with James Galway, Jean-Pierre Rampal, Julius Baker and Walfrid Kujala and holds the Master of Music degree and Performer’s Certificate from the Eastman School of Music.