Guerguan Tsenov began his conducting career in his native country Bulgaria where he conducted most of the top orchestras including Sofia State Philharmonic, New Symphony Orchestra and Classic FM Symphony Orchestra. In 2005 Guerguan Tsenov was awarded a full scholarship by the Bruno Walter Foundation to study orchestral conducting at The Juilliard School. There he studied under the direction of James DePreist. Prior to his studies at The Juilliard School Mr. Tsenov has earned his first Master’s Degree in orchestral and opera conducting from the National Music Academy in Sofia, Bulgaria where he studied with Vassil Kazandjiev. In the United States Mr. Tsenov has worked and performed with orchestras such as AACA Orchestra at the Aspen Music Festival, Detroit Civic Orchestra, Philadelphia Youth Orchestra, Juilliard Conductors Orchestra, Manhattan School of Music Symphony Orchestra and others. Immediately after his graduation from The Juilliard School in 2007 he was appointed conductor of NYU Symphony Orchestra in New York. In the same year he was invited as a conducting fellow at the Aspen Music Festival. In 2009 Mr. Tsenov had the opportunity to work under the direction of Kurt Masur in a seminar given by the legendary maestro in New York. Other conductors with whom Guerguan Tsenov has closely collaborated include David Zinman, George Manahan and Michael Tilson Thomas.

Mr. Tsenov is a recipient of many prizes and distinctions including the Prize of the International Academy of Arts and the Prize of the foundation Open Society.

Mr. Tsenov is also an accomplished pianist with Master’s Degree in Piano performance. His performances as a conductor and pianist have been broadcast on Bulgarian National Television, Bulgarian National Radio and NYU Television. Recording with his live performance of J. S. Bach’s D minor Concerto for Keyboard and Orchestra was released by Unison Records.

Matthew Oberstein was recently in residence with the Vienna Philharmonic at the Salzburg Festival as winner of the prestigious Ansbacher Fellowship for Young Conductors (formerly known as the Karajan Fellowship). He is principal conductor and executive director of the Artemis Chamber Ensemble, and, in June, completed a two-year appointment as assistant conductor of Regina Opera. Recent engagements have included collaborations with the Kronos Quartet, Westchester Philharmonic, Slovak Sinfonietta Zilina, Purchase Chorus and SYREN Modern Dance.

Of Mr. Oberstein’s first performance with NASO, Vivien Schweitzer of The New York Times wrote, «Mr. Oberstein elicited sharply etched phrasing, an ideal buoyancy and…ably captured the youthful energy of the sunny work…»

Mr. Oberstein has served as assistant to conductor Jane Glover in performances by the Chicago Opera Theatre at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, and at The Performing Arts Center at Purchase College. He is founder and conductor of the Purchase Chamber Orchestra and Purchase Pops, and recently returned to his alma mater as guest conductor of the Purchase Chorus. He is a recipient of the 2005 State University of New York Chancellor’s Award for Student Excellence and the Purchase College President’s Award for Achievement. He was awarded the Tilles Scholar Award by the Tilles Center for the Performing Arts and the Special Conductor’s Award at the C.W. Post Chamber Music Festival.

Mr. Oberstein has participated in master classes and workshops with such notable conductors as Seiji Ozawa, Marin Alsop, Gustav Meier, Donald Thulean, Daniel Lewis, John Farrer, Neil Thompson, Larry Rachleff and Harold Farberman. His principal teachers have been Mark Stringer, Yuji Yuasa, Miriam Burns, Michael Adelson, Scott Jackson Wiley, Thomas Pinto, and the late Jesse Levine; piano studies with Stephanie Brown.

Mr. Oberstein’s graduate and undergraduate studies were completed at Purchase College, State University of New York, with a postgraduate diploma from the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna.

The Taiwanese-American pianist Weiyin Chen has performed internationally as a soloist, recitalist and chamber musician. She marked her debut with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of maestro Edo de Waart in May of 2008. Recent highlights include concerto engagements with the National Symphony Orchestra in Taipei, the China National Symphony Orchestra in Beijing, the Evergreen Symphony Orchestra with renowned violinist Cho-Liang Lin at the Taipei National Concert Hall, Evergreen Symphony Orchestra at the Shanghai Concert Hall during the orchestra's 2006 tour to the Shanghai International Music Festival, the Kaohsiung City Symphony Orchestra in Taiwan and the Orquesta Sinfуnica Millennium in Spain. Her recital appearances include engagements in France, Holland, Panama and New York. Ms. Chen's performances have been televised nationally in Taiwan, China and on UCSDTV in California. Her playing was broadcasted on WQXR's Young Artists Showcase, WQXR's Reflections from the Keyboard hosted by David Dubal, NPR's Performance Today and NPR's From the Top where her performance received the Audience Choice Award and was selected to be on the show's CD release in 2003.

A passionate chamber musician, Ms. Chen has performed and participated in numerous prestigious festivals including La Jolla SummerFest in California, Verbier Festival&Academy in Switzerland, Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern in Germany, Sarasota Music Festival in Florida, Chamber Music at the Perlman Music Program and Chamber Music at the Banff Centre in Canada. She has performed with soloists such as violinists Cho-Liang Lin, Ilya Gringolts, David Chan, Alina Pogostkina, violist Paul Neubauer, cellist Gary Hoffman and Felix Fan.

Ms. Chen is a winner of Princess Cecilia di Medici's La Gesse Foundation Fellowship in 2006. She is also a prizewinner of the Sorantin International Young Artists Award in 2001.

Born in 1983, Ms. Chen has received her Bachelor Degree of Music from The Juilliard School where she studied piano with Oxana Yablonskaya and chamber music with Joseph Kalichstein. She is currently pursuing studies with renowned pianist and conductor Leon Fleisher.

As one of 12 conductors worldwide selected to compete in the 9th Arturo Toscanini International Conducting Competition in the fall of 2010, Vladimir Kulenovic continues to make his mark as a rising conductor.  The upcoming season will also include his debut concert with the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra in the Kolarac National Philharmonic Hall in March of 2011, as well as two concerts in Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall with the Juilliard Conductors’ Orchestra. Mr. Kulenovic made his professional conducting debut in 2006 with the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa, Canada. Since then, he has conducted performances with the Verbier Festival Orchestra, Beethoven-Orchester Bonn, Deutsche Kammerakademie Neuss am Rhein, Aspen Music Festival AACA Orchestra, Cabrillo Festival Orchestra, Indian Hill Orchestra, Connecticut Valley Chamber Orchestra, Juilliard Conductors' Orchestra, Manhattan School of Music Symphony Orchestra, Peabody Institute Symphony Orchestra and The Boston Conservatory Orchestra. In addition to spending the summer of 2010 at the Aspen Music Festival as a conducting fellow, he has also been invited to conduct in prestigious music festivals world wide, including the Verbier Festival in Switzerland, National Arts Centre Conducting Programme, Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music in Santa Cruz, CA and the Mozarteum Internationale Sommerakademie in Salzburg. Mr. Kulenovic has been studying with maestro Kurt Masur since the 2008 Kurt Masur Conducting Seminar in New York City, where he returned in 2009, and continued studies with the maestro in Bonn with the Beethoven-Orchester Bonn. He was subsequently one of four conductors worldwide invited by Maestro Masur to the Verbier Festival in Switzerland where he had the opportunity to intensively work and perform with the Verbier Festival Orchestra in the two final concerts of the Festival, which were televised internationally on Medici TV.


As a recipient of the Bruno Walter memorial scholarship, Mr. Kulenovic will complete his postgraduate conducting studies at the Juilliard School under the mentorship of Maestro James DePreist in May of 2011. At Juilliard, he also had the opportunity to work with maestri Alan Gilbert and Leonard Slatkin. Prior to his studies at Juilliard, Mr. Kulenovic was engaged as the cover conductor of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, assistant conductor of the Baltimore Opera Company and the Graduate Conducting Assistant of Orchestras at the Peabody Institute where he earned his Graduate Performance Diploma in Orchestral Conducting under the tutelage of Gustav Meier and Marin Alsop.


From 2003 to 2007, Mr. Kulenovic was the Assistant Conductor of the Connecticut Valley Chamber Orchestra, the Indian Hill Orchestra and the Boston Conservatory Orchestra, where he also earned his Master’s degree in Conducting and Bachelor’s degree in Piano Performance, graduating summa cum laude as Valedictorian, and earning the prestigious Alfred B. Whitney Prize for the highest scholastic achievement.  As a pianist, Mr. Kulenovic was awarded the Second Prize at the Rubinstein International Piano Competition in Paris and the First Prize at the Churchill Piano Competition in Boston.

Soprano Angela Leson began her musical journey at the age of 5 participating in Canadian Music festivals in her home town of Canora, Saskatchewan. She was then enrolled in the Royal Conservatory of Music Program at the age of twelve, excelling in both voice and piano. Since then, she has developed into a mature vocal artist that combines beautiful sound with a keen sense of role interpretation.

As a soprano soloist she has performed in Messiah, Faurй's Requiem, Haydn's Lord Nelson Mass, Bach Magnificat, and Mahler's Symphony No. 2. Angela received degrees in vocal performance from the University of Saskatchewan and the University of Kentucky. She was also a studio artist with Central City Opera, where she was cast in the world premiere of the opera Gabriel’s Daughter. She recently performed Anna Bolena and Giulietta in Les Contes D’Hoffman with Opera Forum of New York.

Baritone Christopher DeVage was recently heralded as “Impressive” by the New York Times’ Anthony Tommasini for his creation of the title role in the world premiere of Francesco Cilluffo’s Il Caso Mortara (Dicapo Opera Theatre). ForumOpera.com declared, “The most convincing performance comes from Christopher DeVage…who plays the adult Edgardo Mortara. DeVage possesses a sweet and sensual baritone and offers a remarkable acting performance.” During the 2009-10 season Mr. DeVage was also heard in Haydn’s Missa in Angustiis (Artemis Chamber Ensemble), the world premiere of Jeffrey Parola’s oratorio Such Beautiful Things (Choral Chameleon), Rorem’s Evidence of Things Not Seen (Washington Vocal Arts Society’s America Sings Festival), Haydn’s The Seasons (Academy Chamber Society), in Bach to the Beginning: Baroque Oratorio; a masterclass with Kent Tritle (Metropolitan Opera Guild); with the NY Choral Artists in Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis (NY Philharmonic), with the Concert Chorale of NY in D’Indy’s Fervaal and Schumann’s Szene aus Goethe’s Faust (American Symphony Orchestra) and in Mozart’s Davidde Penitente (Mostly Mozart). Other notable performances include his solo debut with the New York Philharmonic at Carnegie Hall (Bernstein’s West Side Story Suites); solo appearances in J.S. Bach’s Cantata #82, Ich habe genug (Symphony Space’s Wall to Wall Bach) and Brahms’ Neue Liebeslieder Walzer (Alice Tully Hall); a recital appearance as part of Church of Saint Ignatius Loyola’s Sacred Music in a Sacred Space; as Baron Douphol in Verdi’s La Traviata (New Rochelle Opera) and as Il Conte in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro (Modus Opera). Upcoming engagements include Schumann’s Das Paradies und die Peri (UMD’s Schumann Bicentennial Festival) and Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem (New Amsterdam Symphony Orchestra). A graduate of The Juilliard School’s Artist Diploma program, Mr. DeVage has performed as a young artist with Santa Fe Opera, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, The Steans Institute (Ravinia Festival) and Music Academy of the West. He was a winner in the Oratorio Society of New York solo competition, a district winner in the Metropolitan Opera National Council auditions and a semi-finalist in the inaugural MEZZO Television International Opera Competition in Hungary. Christopher has been awarded the Santa Fe Opera Foundation Grant, the MONC Encouragement Award, the Shenandoah University Young Career Award and the University of Maryland School of Music Ulrich Award for Excellence. Mr. DeVage holds a Master of Music from the University of Maryland and a Bachelor of Music from Shenandoah Conservatory.

Michael Kerschner has developed a national reputation for choral excellence. Michael is the Artistic Director of the Metropolitan Youth Orchestra Chorale, which has performed at Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall. He received a B.S. in Music Education from Duquesne University and his Master of Music in Choral Conducting from the University of North Texas. While at UNT he served as Assistant to the Director of Choral Studies, and was assistant conductor of the A Cappella Choir, Baroque Orchestra and Collegium Singers. As a choral singer he has performed in nine European countries and at regional and national confer ences. He has taught at the NYSSSA choral studies program and at the National High School Music Institute at Northwestern University as choral director and Music Education specialist. Choirs under his direction have performed the Command Performance at the Nevada All -State Conference, the Western Division ACDA Student Symposium, and with the Las Vegas Philharmonic and Long Island Pops Orchestra. Michael was the director of choirs at Durango High School in Las Vegas, Nevada, where his choirs consistently received the highest possible ratings at local and national festivals. He currently is Director of Choral Activities at North Shore High School, and his ensembles there have received gold with distinction honors at NYSSMA festivals, and completed a performance tour through Italy.

Since spring, 2001, the Young New Yorkers' Chorus has brought together the finest choral musicians from the thousands of young people who flock to this city for its excitement and artistic life. Under the leadership of Music Director Michael Kerschner, the choir performs works by classical greats such as Brahms, Durufle and Bernstein, and debuts original works through the annual Competition for Young Composers. YNYC also provides a close-knit fellowship for talented singers in their twenties and early thirties.

Pianist Gabrielius Alekna is the first Lithuanian to hold a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the Juilliard School. The winner of the second prize at the 2005 International Beethoven Piano Competition in Vienna, Austria, Mr. Alekna has appeared as a soloist in Vienna’s Musikverein with the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra (RSO Wien) under the baton of Bertrand de Billy. Mr. Alekna has been a featured soloist with the Juilliard Orchestra in New York and with the Belarus State Symphony Orchestra in Minsk, while in his native country the pianist appears regularly with major orchestras, including the National Symphony, the State Symphony, the Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra, and the Christopher Chamber Orchestra. Daniel Barenboim recently recognized him as a highly gifted pianist and musician. Mr. Alekna has garnered more than a dozen top prizes in competitions on both sides of the Atlantic, such as Hilton Head (United States), Maria Canals (Spain), and Ciurlionis (Lithuania) International Piano Competitions.

In 2009/20010, Gabrielius Alekna collaborates with the two-time Grammy-winning producer Judith Sherman and the two-time Grammy-nominated pianist Ursula Oppens in recording complete Mots by the Lithuanian composer Vytautas Bacevicius for the British label ‘Toccata Classics.‘ Other activities include solo recitals in Adelphi University in New York, in large halls of National Philharmonic Societies of Lithuania and Belarus, and in Lozzo di Cadore, Italy, while orchestra engagements include performances with the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra and Belarus State Symphony Orchestra. In 2010, piano works by Jeronimas Kacinskas, recorded by Mr. Alekna, have been released by LMIPC. Mr. Alekna’s recent engagements have included solo recitals in Vienna’s Musikverein,Bцsendorfer Saal, and Stadtsalon, New York's Deutsches Haus, and Greenwich, Connecticut’s Bruce Museum; performance of Bartok’s Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion with the pianist Ursula Oppens and the New York Philharmonic’s timpanist Joe Pereira in New York’s Yamaha Piano Salon; chamber music appearances with the cellist Zvi Harel (Israel) and with both the Vilnius String Quartet and the Ciurlionis String Quartet (Vilnius); and performances at festivals such as Liszt in Vredenburg Festival in Utrecht (Netherlands), Music Festival of the Hamptons (New York), Piano Century and Chamberfest at Alice Tully Hall (New York), and Europeisches Musikfest Muensterland (Muenster, Germany). In 2007, the Lithuanian National Radio released a CD of cello and piano music recorded by Gabrielius Alekna and Edvardas Armonas. In 2003, Mr. Alekna was one of only six pianists invited by Carnegie Hall (New York) for The Daniel Barenboim Workshop: The Beethoven Piano Sonatas. His recorded concerto performances were broadcast on the BBC, Цsterreich 1, and EuroClassic radio programs in twelve European countries, while in the US he was heard on WQXR (New York) and on XM satellite radio (Channel 113). Excerpts of Mr. Alekna’s recorded Beethoven interpretations were featured in conference papers on Beethoven in Warsaw (2005), on musical semiotics in Paris and Imatra, Finland (2004), as well as in the conference on performing studies Performa07 in Aveiro, Portugal (2007). The pianist was named the Artist in Residence for the 2002-2003 season at International House, New York, a community of selected graduate students and interns from around the globe.

Born in Vilnius, Lithuania, the pianist began his music studies at the age of five. After graduation from the M. K. Ciurlionis Arts Gymnasium in Vilnius, he continued his studies at the Lithuanian Music Academy. In 1996, Gabrielius Alekna was invited to attend the Juilliard School, where he studied with Jerome Lowenthal, receiving Bachelor’s, Master’s, and Doctoral degrees in music.

Described as an "energetic" conductor who leads with "clear authority and enthusiasm" by the New York Times after his Carnegie Hall debut, Ankush Kumar Bahl is currently the Music Director of the New Jersey Youth Symphony. A native of the San Francisco Bay Area, Bahl received a double degree in Music and Rhetoric from the University of California at Berkeley. He has been a conducting fellow at the Aspen Music Festival and completed his Master’s Degree in conducting at the Manhattan School of Music with teachers Zdenek Macal, George Manahan and David Gilbert. Prior to MSM, Mr. Bahl’s principal conducting teachers were Kenneth Kiesler, Alasdair Neale, and David Milnes. He is also fortunate to have participated in master classes and workshops with Sir Colin Davis, Michael Tilson Thomas, Christoph Eschenbach, Kurt Masur, David Zinman, David Robertson, James Conlon, Sergiu Comissiona, Gunther Schuller, Gustav Meier, Larry Rachleff, Jorma Panula, Michael Stern, Murry Sidlin, Colin Metters, and David Effron. Mr. Bahl lives in New York City where he regularly works with the conservatories, regional orchestras and professional orchestras in the area. Recent seasons have also included repeat guest conducting stints with the Ridgefield Symphony, the Chelsea Symphony, the New Amsterdam Symphony Orchestra as well as his debuts with the Portland Symphony (Maine) and Indianapolis Symphony. In the summer of 2006, Bahl was one of three Americans invited out of over 500 applications to compete in the Solti International Conducting Competition and this past fall he was invited by incoming Music Director, Alan Gilbert, to conduct the New York Philharmonic as part of their periodic «young conductor readings.» This past spring, Mr. Bahl conducted in concert at a workshop with Kurt Masur where he once again caught the attention of the NY Times who wrote «By Saturday the orchestra had become as fine a Mendelssohn vehicle as any young conductor could want, and most handled it capably, though without carrying it to great heights of inspiration. One who did seem to inspire it was Ankush Kumar Bahl, in the finale of the «Reformation» Symphony. Mr. Bahl was also one of the few who, in the earlier sessions, took the lead in rehearsing the orchestra in detail rather than simply waiting for Mr. Masur to interrupt and take matters into his own hands… the «Reformation» Symphony was a great success.» Mr. Bahl currently spends his summers in Vermont as a guest conductor of the Kinhaven Music School and in Switzerland as the Artistic Director of the International Goppisberger Music Festival. As a 2009 recipient of the Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy Scholarship, Bahl will spend part of next season in Leipzig working privately with Maestro Masur and the Gewandhaus Orchestra as the city celebrates the 200th anniversary of the composer’s birth.

Born in Caracas, Venezuela, 25-year-old pianist Gabriela Martinez has already amassed an impressive list of recital, concerto, and chamber music performance credits. Since making her orchestral debut at age 7, Ms. Martinez has appeared as soloist with the New Jersey, Fort Worth, Pacific and San Francisco Symphonies, Stuttgarter Philharmoniker, MDR Rundfunkorchester, Symphonisches Staatsorchester Halle, Tivoli Philharmonic, and regularly performs with the Simón Bolívar Youth Symphony Orchestra and Gustavo Dudamel. She regularly performs with Itzhak Perlman, and has collaborated with the Takacs quartet. Ms. Martinez has performed under the batons of conductors Lawrence Foster, James Gaffigan, Dirk Brosse, Klauspeter Seibel, Giordano Bellincampi, Guillermo Figueroa, David Machado, Anne Manson, James Conlon, Charles Dutoit, Egmon Colomer, Pedro and Cristobal Halffter among others.

Ms. Martinez regularly performs at Carnegie Hall, and has performed at Avery Fisher, and Alice Tully Halls, Grosses Festspielhaus in Salzburg; Semperoper in Dresden, Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen, the Verbier Festival, Dresden Music Festival, Snow and Symphony Festival in St. Moritz, Festival de Radio France et Montpellier, Festival dei Due Mondi, The International Holland Music Sessions, and the Mostly Mozart and Tokyo International Music Festivals. She has toured both as soloist and chamber musician in over 50 concert halls in the U.S. and Germany, as well as in Salzburg, Copenhagen, Holland, St. Moritz, Verbier, Sendai, Tel Aviv, Tokyo, Montpellier, Rome, Venice, London, Spoleto, Brussels, Caracas, and Bogota.

Ms. Martinez has won numerous national and international prizes and awards. Her most recent accomplishments include first prize and audience award at the Anton Rubinstein International Piano Competition in Dresden. She was a semifinalist at the 12th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, where she also received a Jury Discretionary Award. Her performances have been featured on MDR Kultur (Germany), NHK (Japan), Radio France (France), RAI (Italy), Deutsche Welle (Germany), National Public Radio, CNN, PBS, 60 minutes, ABC, From the Top (USA), and numerous television and radio stations in Venezuela.

Ms. Martinez earned her Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from The Juilliard School as a full scholarship student of Yoheved Kaplinsky, and is currently pursuing her doctorate in Halle, Germany with Professor Marco Antonio de Almeida. From 2007-2009, Ms. Martinez was a member of the fellowship "The Academy- a Program of Carnegie Hall, the Juilliard School, and the Weill Music Institute.» Ms. Martinez was invited to join the Kean University Concert Artist Faculty in 2008.

Michael Boriskin is widely hailed as one of the most versatile and dynamic American pianists of his generation. He has taken audiences in the United States and over 30 countries on vividly-guided, provocative journeys across three centuries of music. He appears regularly at many of the world’s foremost concert venues, including the Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, BBC in London, Theatre des Champs-Elysées in Paris, and Vienna’s Arnold Schoenberg Center. He also performs with leading international orchestras, including the Munich and Polish National Radio Orchestras, San Francisco, Utah, and Seattle Symphonies, UNAM Philharmonic of Mexico, and American Composers Orchestra, and, as a sought-after chamber music collaborator, with the Borromeo, Lark, St. Lawrence, and St. Petersburg String Quartets, Dorian and Arioso Wind Quintets, and New York Philharmonic Ensembles. A prolific recording artist, his discography ranges widely from Brahms and Tchaikovsky to the present on BMG/Conifer, New World, Koch, Bridge, Arabesque, and many other labels. His innovative National Public Radio series, CENTURYVIEW, was heard regularly for three years on over 200 stations coast-to-coast, and he was Music Director for three seasons of Mikhail Baryshnikov’s White Oak Dance Project. His writing has appeared in many publications, and he has served as an artistic advisor or program consultant for the New York Philharmonic, Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, and the U. S. State Department. He is Artistic and Executive Director of Copland House, the unique creative center for American music based at Aaron Copland’s restored, landmark home near New York City.

B.D. Wong can currently be seen on "Law and Order: SVU" as Dr. George Huang. Wong gained notice as a cast regular on the critically acclaimed series "Oz," playing the resilient prison priest, Father Ray, for the show’s five-season run. Other television credits include a starring role in "All-American Girl," "And the Band Played On," "Welcome to New York," "Chicago Hope," "The X-Files," "Bless This House," "Shannon’s Deal" and the Hallmark miniseries "Marco Polo." Wong has also appeared in more than 20 feature films, including Steven Spielberg’s "Jurassic Park," and "The Freshman" opposite Marlon Brando and Matthew Broderick. Wong can also be heard as the voice of Shang in the Disney animated film "Mulan."

Wong is the only actor ever to have received all five major New York theater awards for a single role. For his performance in "M. Butterfly," his Broadway debut, he received the Tony Award, the Drama Desk Award, the Outer Critics Circle Award, the Theater World Award, and the Clarence Derwent Award. Additional New York theater credits include "The Tempest," "A Language of Their Own," "As Thousands Cheer," the Broadway musical revival of "You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown," in a critically acclaimed performance as Linus, and the Roundabout Theatre’s production of Stephen Sondheim’s "Pacific Overtures," for which he received a Drama League nomination for distinguished performance.

Nathan Madsen is completing his third season as Music Director of the Bard Orchestra, which is gaining a reputation throughout the Hudson Valley for its innovative programming and artistic excellence.

Recent guest conducting appearances include performances with the Woodstock Chamber Orchestra, the Bard College Conservatory of Music, the Da Capo Chamber Players, and the Bard Musical Theatre Group. In addition, Mr. Madsen is a frequent guest clinician with youth orchestras, including the Empire State Youth Orchestra, Albuquerque Youth Symphony, Greater Princeton Youth Orchestra, and the Colorado Springs Youth Symphony.

A strong and passionate advocate of new compositions, he regularly appears at the Conductors Institute’s Composer-Conductor Week, and has collaborated with Scottish conceptual artist Martin Creed in a British commission for the dedication of the Hessel Museum . In 2008 he commissioned a new work for Grammy-award winning soprano Kelley O’Connor from American composer Jennifer Jolley. That same month, he assisted James Bagwell and Dawn Upshaw In the production of a new opera by English composer David Bruce.

Mr. Madsen received his master’s degree from The Conductors Institute at the Bard College Conservatory of Music, where he studied with Harold Farberman. He holds a dual degree in music and East Asian languages and cultures from the University of Southern California . A recipient of a study grant from the Freeman Foundation, he also attended The Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Jessica Lee, the First Prize Winner of the 2005 Concert Artists Guild International Competition, was featured in the «Launch Pad» column of The Strad as the magazine’s «pick of up-and-coming musicians» for June 2007. Describing her recent recital on the Ravinia Rising Stars series, the Chicago Tribune said: «...Lee’s breathtaking dexterity should enchant anyone within hearing distance.»

Current engagements for Ms. Lee include a concerto appearance with the Modesto Symphony in California and her debut recital at Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium, as well as festival appearances at the Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival and Santa Fe Music Festival. Special projects comprise a number of featured performances with dance companies, including Lar Lubovitch, Mikhail Baryshnikov and the Richmond Ballet.

Jessica Lee’s 2006 concerto debut at Alice Tully Hall, performing Beethoven’s Violin Concerto with the Park Avenue Chamber Symphony, was broadcast twice on WQXR-FM. Commenting on an April 2007 performance of The Lark Ascending with the Richmond Symphony, her hometown orchestra, the Richmond Times-Dispatch said: «Her performance was flawless.»

Other recent recital highlights include Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall on the CAG/Winners Series, as well as recitals at the Phillips Collection in Washington, DC, Caramoor Festival in New York, Asociación Nacional de Conciertos in Panama and Purdue University. Her recital for the Chamber Music Society of Little Rock was selected by the Arkansas Democrat Gazette as one of the «Top Ten Classical Concerts of 2007.»

Born in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, Georgy Valtchev began his violin studies at the age of six and gave his first performance with orchestra six years later at the Music Academy of his native city. He received his basic music education first at the Plovdiv Music School, and then at the State Music School "Lubomir Pipkov", Sofia as a student of Boyanka Shopova, Vlado Vladigerov, Mitcho Dimitrov and Prof. Dora Ivanova. At age sixteen, he won the Grand Prize and the Special Prize at the "Kocian" International Competition in the then Czechoslovakia. Georgy Valtchev came to the United States as a scholarship student of Dorothy Delay and Masao Kawasaki at the Juilliard School in New York, where he earned his Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees.

Since then has been honored with a number of awards, and has appeared as a soloist, recitalist and chamber musician throughout the United States , Europe and Asia, most recently in recitals, and as soloist with orchestras in New York, Boston, Bangor, Baton Rouge, Chicago, Dallas, Miami, London, Tel Aviv and in his native Bulgaria. His concerts have been broadcast live on Bulgarian TV and Radio, Swedish Radio and WFMT Chicago. His most recent CD, Sonatas and Rhapsodies for violin and piano by Bela Bartók, recorded with his wife and chamber music partner, pianist Lora Tchekoratova, was released to critical acclaim in 2008 by GEGA New label.

Teresa Cheung is in her third season as the assistant conductor for the American Symphony Orchestra and her second season as the music director and conductor for the Manhattan College Orchestra. She began her conducting career as apprentice conductor of the Nashville Symphony Orchestra. For six years, Cheung served as resident conductor for the Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra and conductor of the Evansville Philharmonic Youth Orchestra and Evansville Philharmonic Chorus. During her tenure in Evansville, Cheung played a major role in the musical life of the community. Among her many initiatives, she led the Evansville Philharmonic Youth Orchestra on its first international concert tour to Japan in 2002. A strong advocate for music education for all ages, Cheung has created numerous innovative concerts and lectures for educational programs with the Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra and the American Symphony Orchestra. Cheung is equally at home with orchestral and choral genres and is in frequent demand for symphonic, choral, and operatic productions in New York City, including the world premiere of Ruth Schonthal’s opera Jocasta. She was also the rehearsal conductor for Marc Blitzstein’s Regina and the first US fully-staged production of Robert Schumann’s Genoveva while serving as assistant conductor to Maestro Leon Botstein at the Bard SummerScape and the Bard Music Festival. Recent and upcoming guest conducting appearances include Bard Music Festival with the American Symphony Orchestra, Altoona Symphony Orchestra, Centre Symphony, Fort Wayne Philharmonic, New Amsterdam Symphony Orchestra, New York Metro Vocal Arts Ensemble, and Phoenix Symphony. A native of Hong Kong, Cheung earned her MM in Conducting from the Eastman School of Music. She is the recipient of the JoAnn Falletta Conducting Award for the most promising female conductors.

Samuel Banks became a member of the bassoon section of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra in June 2004. Born in the San Francisco Bay area, Banks began his instrumental career on the clarinet at age 9 and switched to bassoon at age 11. His father, Ridgway Banks, was a composer who studied with Nadia Boulanger and provided early encouragement to Samuel’s pursuit of music.

Samuel Banks earned a B.M. degree from Northwestern University where he studied with Robert Barris. Before coming to Indianapolis, he played with the Chicago Civic Orchestra, where his bassoon coach was Bill Buchman, the Elgin Symphony and as a substitute with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. He won first prize in the Van Waynen Winds Competition and has played with the National Repertory Orchestra, the New York String Orchestra and the Kent-Blossom Music Festival. Away from the Orchestra Banks enjoys cooking, running, playing chamber music and rooting for his beloved Oakland A’s.

Karen Lubeck attracts attention as a promising artist with a beautiful voice, intelligent musicianship, and thoughtful interpretation. She made her Carnegie Hall debut in 2002, sharing the stage with trumpeter Arturo Sandoval. She recently sang Frasquita in Carmen with the Duluth-Superior Symphony and appeared as a guest soloist with the New York Choral Society in Orff's Carmina Burana. She was also featured as a soloist with the Brooklyn Philharmonic as part of the Interfaith Committee of Remembrance's concert. In New York, she sang the role of Sophie in a concert version of Strauss' Der Rosenkavalier with Dell'Arte Opera. Ms. Lubeck has appeared with Opera Illinois as Despina in Mozart's Cosм Fan Tutte, and as soloist in numerous performances throughout the United States and Europe. She appeared as Papagena in Die Zauberflцte with Opera Illinois and was a soloist at the American Symphony Orchestra League's convention in Washington, D.C.

Highlights of recent seasons include a performance of Mahler's Fourth Symphony with the Keene Chamber Symphony, and Mozart concert arias for the Westchester Symphony's 10th anniversary concert. Her engagements included Faurй's La Bonne Chanson with Newburgh Chamber Music and at the Apple Hill Center for Chamber Music, song recitals at the Washington County Museum of Fine Arts in Maryland and the Norfolk Library in Connecticut, as well as concerts throughout the United States.

Ms. Lubeck participated in a Gershwin celebration at the Tilles Center in Long Island and appeared at the Berkshire Opera in Mozart's Die Zauberflцte. She also took part in the National Symphony Orchestra's Mozart Festival with a concert at the Austrian Ambassador's residence. Switzerland's Verbier Academy invited her to its summer workshop with Gundula Janowitz and Brigitte Fassbaender. She attended the European Mozart Academy, where she studied with Benita Valente, Eva Blahova,
and Kerstin Meyer, most notably, and was a featured soloist in concerts in Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. She made her European operatic debut as Silvia in Haydn's L'isola disabitata at the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival in Germany.

Winner of the 2000 Gina Bachauer Piano Competition at the Juilliard School, Ching-Wen Hsiao has performed throughout the North America, Germany, Portugal, Mexico, and Asia. Ms. Hsiao made her concerto debut with the Cebu Youth Symphony Orchestra in the Philippines at age 16 and has appeared with the Ars Viva Orchestra in Chicago, New York Youth Symphony, Du Page County Youth Symphony, and Yi-Qi Orchestra at the Taiwan National Concert Hall.

After winning the first place in the 1995 Taiwan National Piano Competition, she continued her competition victory in the United States, winning the Steinway Society Solo Piano and Concerto Competition, American Musician Scholarship Competition, Chinese Arts Competition in Chicago, Concerto Competition at the Music Institute of Chicago, and was the second place winner of the Concerto Competition at Juilliard. Ms. Hsiao was also a national finalist of Music Teacher National Association Piano Competition and the audition for Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society II.

An avid chamber musician and Twentieth-Century music performer, Ms. Hsiao has performed with renowned violinist Cho-Liang Lin at Alice Tully Hall in Lincoln Center and University of Texas in Austin. Her performance of John Corigliano’s Etude Fantasy earned the composer’s acclaim. In 2006, she was awarded the “New Rising Star” prize in Taiwan, which led to two recitals at the Taiwan National Concert Hall in 2006-2008 seasons. Ms. Hsiao’s performances have been broadcasted live on WNIB in Chicago and WQXR in New York. She is scheduled to record with Cho-Liang Lin in 2008.

Ms. Hsiao has taught at the International Music Festival in Portugal, and attended the Aspen Music Festival, La Jolla Music Festival, Music at Menlo, and Music Academy of the West. She has performed in masterclasses for Krystian Zimerman, Arie Vardi, and Claude Frank, and worked with musicians such as Itzhak Perlman, Jeffrey Kahane, David Finckel, Gilbert Kalish, and Gary Hoffman.

Ms. Hsiao is currently a Doctoral of Musical Art candidate at the Juilliard School. She holds her B.M. and M.M. degrees from the Juilliard School, receiving the Alan Fay “Outstanding Pianist Award”. Her principal teachers include Yoheved Kaplinsky, Jerome Lowenthal, and Emilio del Rosario. Ms. Hsiao is an Assistant Professor of Piano at the Southeastern University in Florida.

Eugene Tzigane won Second Prize at the Fourth International Lovro von Matacic Competition of Young Conductors in Zagreb, Croatia, this past
September. Mr. Tzigane was also awarded the prize for “Best Artistic
Achievement” by the Croatian Society of Music Artists. Immediately following the final concert, he was invited to conduct the Zagreb Philharmonic in the coming seasons. In late November, Mr. Tzigane will compete in the Eighth Grzegorz Fitelberg International Competition for
Conductors in Katowice, Poland, having been chosen from over 200 applicants from 41 countries.

Mr. Tzigane is currently the Apprentice Conductor to the Royal
Stockholm Philharmonic where he is mentored by Alan Gilbert, the newly
appointed Music Director of the New York Philharmonic. Alongside his
apprenticeship, Mr. Tzigane works closely with renowned Finnish
conducting teacher Jorma Panula as a member of his conducting class at
the Royal College of Music in Stockholm.

Mr. Tzigane was a Conducting Fellow at the Aspen Music Festival for two summers, where he studied with David Zinman and conducted in a master
class of Alan Gilbert. In August 2006, Mr. Tzigane conducted the Trondheim Symphoniker in Norway as part of a master class with Jorma Panula. He has also participated in a number of opera master classes with George Manahan conducting scenes from Puccini’s La Bohиme and Donizetti’s Don Pasquale and Lucia di Lammermoor. Mr. Tzigane also recently conducted a performance of Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’Amore for Opera for Humanity, a non-profit organization that helps fund cancer research.

Mr. Tzigane holds a master’s degree in Orchestral Conducting from the
Juilliard School, where he worked with all of the Juilliard orchestral ensembles; highlights include numerous orchestral performances in Alice Tully Hall, Peter Jay Sharp Theater, Bruno Walter Auditorium, and Paul Hall. Mr. Tzigane conducted the Western Hemisphere performance of Hungarian composer Gyula Csapу’s "Tundragobelin" for the Magyar Legacy 2007 FOCUS! Festival at the Juilliard School. Mr. Tzigane is the
recipient of the Bruno Walter Memorial Scholarship at the Juilliard School, where he was a student of James DePreist.

Founded by Jenny Clarke in 2003, Melodia explores, performs and promotes rarely heard women’s choral music, including classical, contemporary and premiere works. Central to our mission is a commitment to create opportunities for women musicians and composers including through our annual composers’ commissioning program. Under the direction of conductor Cynthia Powell since its inception, the ensemble aspires to achieve the highest level of performance while offering innovative programs that appeal to broad audiences.