Gary Levinson, Artistic Director and violinist
Gary Levinson has served as the Senior Principal Associate Concertmaster of the Dallas Symphony since 2002. Praised for his intense musicality and adroit technique by American and European critics, he was chosen by Zubin Mehta at age 21 to join the New York Philharmonic before the completion of his undergraduate degree from the Juilliard School in 1988. Mr. Levinson then made his New York Philharmonic solo debut in 1991, coinciding with the completion of his Master’s of Music degree at Juilliard, where his teachers included Dorothy DeLay, Glenn Dicterow, Lillian Fuchs and Felix Galimir.
Born in St. Petersburg, Russia, Levinson began studying the violin at the age of five with Professor Sergeev at the Leningrad Special Music School. After immigrating to the United States in 1977, he won the top prize at the 1986 Romano Romanini International Violin Competition in Brescia, Italy, as well as becoming the top American Prize winner at the 1987 Jacques Thibaud International Violin Competition in Paris, France.
Much sought-after as a chamber musician, Mr. Levinson has collaborated with Yo-Yo Ma, Lynn Harrell, Asher Fisch, Eugenia Zukerman, Lukas Foss, Carter Brey, Christopher O’Riley and Adam Neiman. Along with Ms. Zukerman and Mr. Neiman, they perform as Trio Virtuosi internationally. In March 1998, Mr. Levinson was appointed as the first violinist of the Elysium String Quartet. He performed at the inaugural season of the Mykonos International Music Festival in August 1998 as well as a gala concert honoring the Elysium String Quartet at the United States Ambassador’s Residence in Athens, Greece. The summer season takes him to various music festivals, such as the Florida Music Festival in Sarasota, Florida, the Utah Music Festival in Park City, Utah and the Arcady Music Festival in Maine. He returns to the faculty of the Aspen Music Festival annually to lead the American Academy of Conducting Orchestra as well as other orchestras of the AMFS at the request of David Zinman. Abroad, he was featured in the Banhoff Rolandseck Festival, Germany in 1990 and South Korea in 1990 and 1994. He has directed the Élan International Music Festrival in Dallas since 2007.
Daredjan Baya Kakouberi, piano
Daredjan Baya Kakouberi, pianist, was born in Tbilisi, Georgia, and made her debut at the age of eleven. After graduating from Tbilisi Special School of Music for the Talented and Gifted, she entered the Moscow Conservatory, where she continued her studies on the Master’s and Doctoral levels under the tutelage of famous pianist and professor, Sergei Dorenski, and Tchaikovsky Competition Gold Medalist, Vladimir Krainev.
In 2008 she collaborated with violinist Gary Levinson in the recording of the complete sonatas for piano and violin by Beethoven. The project was spearheaded by the Classical Music Recording Foundation. The four CD set is slated for release n 2009. Ms. Kakouberi has appeared as a soloist with orchestras in Moscow, Georgia, Armenia, Latvia, Italy and the United States.
In the summer of 2009, Ms. Kakouberi is engaged to tour China as a soloist in Rhapsody in Blue. Due to her sought after teaching skills, she is also rounding out the cultural event by presenting master classes in the leading conservatories in mainland China. In 1996, she was among the “World’s Ten Most Distinguished Pianists” chosen by the Palm Beach Invitational Piano Competition. In the summer of 2000, Ms. Kakouberi was chosen as recipient of the “Most Outstanding and Distinguished Pianist” award in the IBLA International Competition in Italy. In addition to her solo recitals, she has appeared as guest soloist in concerts throughout the US and Europe, including performances at Moscow Conservatory Great Hall, Steinway Hall in New York, and the Cerritos Center for Performing Arts in California. As a chamber performer Ms. Kakouberi made her debut at Carnegie Weill Recital Hall in New York in February 2002. Ms. Kakouberi returns to that venue in a scheduled appearance on the CMRF annual gala concert in the fall of 2010 at Weill Hall.
Noted as an outstanding Chamber Music Artist, Ms. Kakouberi is the Artistic Director of the Blue Candlelight Music Series in Dallas, Texas, where she enjoys collaboration with internationally renowned artists. As a noted chamber musician she has appeared numerous times at the Music in the Mountains Festival in Durango, CO, where she was also a frequent soloist. She is a household name at the major venues in North Texas, such as the University of North Texas in Denton, TX, the Dallas Museum of Art and the Eisemann Center for the Performing Arts where she has appeared as a concerto soloist. Ms. Kakouberi regularly appears with her most gifted students at the Giovanni Adulti Concert Series held at the Piano Gallery in Dallas. In an unprecedented project in the spring of 2009, Ms. Kakouberi has recorded the music contained in the three books of the Russian Piano Technique, based on the teachings of Professor Alexandr Nikolaev. This invaluable resource is intended for use in practice and performance techniques for students of all levels.
Eugene Osadchy, cello
Cellist Eugene Osadchy is hailed as having “the most refined and balanced string playing” by the New York Times and has been called “a paragon of Russian élan” by the Vancouver Sun. Newsday writes he is “a soloist with a clearly defined musical personality” and is noted for his “extraordinary playing” by the Dallas Morning News. “Mr. Osadchy possesses a very rich tone and is steeped in the great classical tradition. It is good to know that there are ardent keepers of the flame.” The New York Sun.
Currently Professor of Cello at the University of North Texas, Eugene Osadchy is a Principal cellist with the Plano Symphony and the Dallas Chamber Orchestra. He is also the Artistic Advisor of the Vetta Chamber Music Series in Vancouver, Canada and the Blue Candlelight Music Series in Dallas,TX.
Eugene Osadchy regularly performs and gives master classes throughout Canada, the United States, Europe, Asia, and South Africa. He has performed at the Weill Recital Hall in Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall at the Lincoln Center, and the Glenn Gould Studio in Toronto. In addition, Mr. Osadchy makes frequent appearances at the Bargemusic series in New York, the Autumn Classic series in Anchorage, Chamber Music International in Dallas, Strings in the Mountains at Steamboat Springs, Colorado, International Niagara Music Festival in Canada and Summit Festival in New York.
Mr. Osadchy has also performed in Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan. He has participated in numerous festivals around the world including the Amsterdam and Groningen International Festivals in Holland, the Stellenbosch International Music Festival in South Africa, Famalicao Music Festival in Portugal, the Vetta Chamber Music Series in Vancouver (where he formerly served as Artistic Director), Music at Blair Athol in Scotland, the Castel Franko di Veneto Festival in Italy, the Mozart Festival in Woodstock, Illinois, as well as Vancouver, Victoria, Banff, Seattle, Sitka, Durango, the Mozart Festival in Long Island, NY, and Maui Music Festivals.
Other musical credits of Mr. Osadchy include recordings with the CBC Radio Orchestra which have received numerous Juno awards – the Canadian equivalent of the Grammies. He has composed two film scores and has several CD’s on the Melodia label featuring his own compositions and arrangements. Mr. Osadchy has more than 60 arrangements for various cello ensembles. For the past nine years, Mr. Osadchy has presented his Annual North Texas Summer Cello Clinic.
Sergey Kravchenko, violin
Professor of the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatoire Sergey Kravchenko was born in 1947. He graduated from the famous Stolyarsky School of Music in Odessa in 1965 and entered the Moscow Conservatoire. His teacher was world-renowned violinist, professor, musician Leonid Kogan.
After he became a Prize winner at Paganini competition in Geneva (in 1969), his concert career began. Later he also became a Prize winner in J. Thibaut competition in Paris (in 1971) and in Competition of String Quartets in Liege, Belgium (in 1972).
Sergey Kravchenko toured extensively throughout Russia and abroad. He played and gave master classes in Germany, Hungary, Austria, Poland, Italy, Japan, Taiwan, South and North Korea, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, France, Spain, Belgium, Luxemburg, Brazil, Finland, Israel, USA, Australia.
Since 1972 he has been teaching violin at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatoire, where he started as Leonid Kogan’s assistant and then became a full-time Professor. From 1996-2001 he was the Dean of Orchestral Faculty.
Many of his students are winners of international competitions: V. Igolinsky, V. Mullova, A. Lukirsky, S. Krylov, A. Halapsis, I. Gaisin, A. Kagan, J. Ko, N. Sachenko, A. Stepanenko, E. Stembolsky, O. Shurgot, N. Kozhuhar and others.
He is a member of jury at many prestige International competitions: Tchaikovsky competition, Brahms competition, Oistrakh competition, Enescu competition, Lysenko competition and others.
Sergey Kravchenko has made numerous recordings in Russia, Germany, France, Italy and other countries. He is also an author of several methodic books for violin.
For his outstanding achievements Sergey Kravchenko was awarded an honorary title: “Distinguished Artist of Russia”.
ALEXANDER TREGER, violin
Alexander Treger, noted violinist, accomplished conductor, and gifted educator, just celebrated his tenth year as Music Director of one of the country’s leading youth orchestras, the American Youth Symphony. Recognized for his in-depth and inspiring work with young and talented musicians, he held the position of Violin Professor at UCLA from 1977 to 1997, and has served as Music Director/Conductor of the Crossroads Chamber Orchestra since 1993.
Mr. Treger began his musical training at the age of five in his native Russia, where he studied violin and piano. By the age of thirteen he had won numerous music competitions, and was later chosen by renowned violinist David Oistrakh to study at the prestigious Moscow Conservatory. Treger describes his six years spent at the Conservatory with mentor Oistrakh as “among the most influential on my development as a musician.” While a student there, he also took a great interest in conducting.
After graduating, Mr. Treger became a member of the Moscow Radio Orchestra under Gennady Rojdesvenski and subsequently left Russia to become the Concertmaster/Soloist of the Israel Chamber Orchestra. He joined the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 1974, was appointed Assistant Concertmaster in 1978, and promoted to Concertmaster in 1985. He has won high praise for his numerous solo performances with the Los Angeles Philharmonic which have included concertos by Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, Bartok, Mendelssohn, Sibelius, Shostakovich, and Prokofiev under the direction of Zubin Mehta, Carlo Maria Giulini, Simon Rattle, Pierre Boulez, Vladimir Ashkenazi, Valery Gergiev, Yuri Temirkanov, and Esa-Pekka Salonen.
Mr. Treger has appeared as a soloist with a number of other major U.S. orchestras including the San Francisco, Denver, Dallas, and Houston symphonies. An avid chamber performer, he has collaborated in concerts with Radu Lupu, Yefim Bronfman, Andre Previn, Bernard Greenhouse, and Emanuel Ax.
While serving as Concertmaster of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Mr. Treger continually devotes more of his time to conducting. He appeared as guest conductor with the Santa Barbara Chamber Orchestra, California’s Music in the Mountains Festival Orchestra, the New World Symphony, and the Santa Monica Symphony. In addition, he served as the interim conductor of the UCLA Symphony in 1992. In recent years, he was asked to step in at the last minute to conduct the Los Angeles Philharmonic, replacing the indisposed Franz Welser-Möst. He conducted the Turku Philharmonic in Finland, and the State Academic Orchestra of Russia in the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory. He was invited to China to conduct the Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra in September 2009, and returned to Yerevan in June 2010 to lead the Armenian Philharmonic.
ANATOLY ZATIN, piano
Dr. Anatoly Zatin is winner of international music competitions and performer at festivals in Russia, Korea, Italy and Hungary. He has been awarded with the UNICEF Medal of Honour for his activities as pianist and conductor. He has toured Sweden, Norway, Deutschland, Finland, England, France, Italy, Russia, Ukraine, Japan, China, Korea, United States of America and Mexico in numerous occasions, performing at many of the world’s most important concert venues. He has recorded for companies such as ‘Melodia’ in Russia, ‘Azzura Music’ in Italy, and ‘Aurora Records’ in Japan. Graduated as Doctor of Musical Arts at the San Petersburg’s Conservatory of Music, at the present time he is Chairman of the Music Department of the Fine Arts Institute of the University of Colima, Mexico.
VLADA VASSILIEVA, piano
Vlada Vassilieva has developed an important concert activity performing at the principal venues of Mexico, Russia, Ukraine, Austria, Italy, France, United States of America and Canada. Winner of the 2010 Nadia Reisenberg award for pianists in New York, laureate of international piano competitions in Mexico, Unites States, Canada and Ukraine, she has been awarded a performing fellowship by the National Foundation for Culture and Arts in Mexico. BM at the Fine Arts Institute of the University of Colima, MM at Mannes College for Music in New York City, as Fulbright Garcia–Robles grantee, Ms. Vassilieva is a faculty member at the Music Department of the University of Colima in Mexico since 2006.
ELENA TSVETKOVA, piano
Elena Tsvetkova graduated summa cum laude from the Mussorgsky Music College in St. Petersburg, Russia and the State Conservatory, St. Petersburg, Russia. After graduating, she was appointed as an Assistant Piano Professor and was the staff accompanist for strings at the Petrozavodsk Branch of the St. Petersburg Conservatory.
Ms. Tsvetkova began her career as a performer on radio and television in Russia at the age of ten. After graduating from the Conservatory, she performed extensively as an accompanist for the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra and has collaborated with many soloists in the All-Russia and international competitions, as well as various chamber music groups. From 1984 to 2001, she performed solo and chamber music recitals in the most famous concert halls of Saint Petersburg and Moscow. She was active as a piano teacher at several St. Petersburg music schools and received numerous awards for the excellence of teaching. In Russia, her students have won prizes in prestigious festivals and competitions, including the All Russia Chamber Music contest for young musicians.
Ms. Tsvetkova moved to the Dallas/Fort Worth area in 2001, and is in demand as a teacher, collaborative pianist, soloist, clinician and adjudicator. She has been giving lectures and master classes on the regional, national and international levels, and was a faculty member of several prestigious music festivals, including Heifetz International Music Institute, NH, the Elan International Music Festival in Dallas TX, the International Convention in Ithaca, NY. Ms. Tsvetkova continues to play solo, chamber music and piano duo recitals every year and has performed in major venues in North Texas, such as the Van Cliburn Recital Hall, Fort Worth; Steinway Recital Hall in Dallas; Meadows Museum, Southern Methodist University, Dallas Museum of Arts, University of North Dallas in Denton and University of Texas at Arlington, as well as around the country. Her international tours include Russia, Finland, Sweden, Israel, Germany and Mexico.
Ms. Tsvetkova teaches privately and her students have won top prizes in piano competitions and festivals in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, as well as in the regional and international competitions.
GREGORY SULLIVAN ISAACS, conductor
Gregory Sullivan Isaacs is a professional musician who has held numerous musical directorships of opera, choral, and symphonic organizations. Currently, he is the senior classical music critic for the online arts magazine, www.theaterjones.com as well as a free-lance writer for other publications, such as the Fort Worth Star Telegram and Arts and Culture Dallas Magazine. In 2009, he was the recipient of a distinguished fellowship with the NEA/Columbia Music Journalism Institute. He is also on the artistic advisory committee and principal orchestral conductor for the Élan International Music Festival in the summer in Dallas.
He is a Pulitzer Prize nominated composer and a winner of a Peabody Award for an operatic television performance as well as an ASCAP award for his commitment to American Music. His critically acclaimed three act opera for tenor and piano – “Henry Faust” – was produced for public television and was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. He holds a bachelor degree in music from the University of Miami (he completed his first two years at the University of Michigan) and a master degree in music from the prestigious music program at Indiana University in Bloomington. He studied composition with Dr. Leslie Bassett (student of Nadia Boulanger), conducting with Dr. Thor Johnson (protégé of Serge Koussevitzky and Bruno Walter), voice with Metropolitan Opera star Martha Lipton, and piano with Ivan Davis (protégé of Vladimir Horowitz).
FENIA CHANG, pianist
Pianist Fenia Chang has enchanted audiences from all over the United States with her beautiful tone in a wide range of repertoire. Ms. Chang’s recent concert engagements will take her to different cities in America, China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.
Ms. Chang made her solo debut at age 9, after wining the first Japan Kawai Piano Competition. The performance was broadcasted on national television in Taiwan. She has maintained a busy concert career in both solo and collaborative performances in Asia, France, Italy, and the United States. She has performed extensively at different venues including Avery Fisher Hall and Alice Tully at Lincoln Center, Carnegie’s Weil Recital Hall, the Museum of Modern Arts in New York, the Terrace Theater at Kennedy Center, the Corcoran Gallery in Washington DC, the Strathmore Hall, Fairfax Auditorium, the Ellipse Arts Center,, the National Concert Hall in Taipei, and the Concert Hall in Beijing and Shanghai, China. She has appeared as soloists with numerous orchestras including the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra, Maryland Chamber Orchestra, the Albuquerque Symphony, New World Symphony, and National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra.
A winner of several major international competitions, Ms. Chang is the recipient of many prestigious awards, including the top prizes at the Elizabeth Davis International Piano Competition, Thomas Richner International competition, Concert Artists Internationals, Young Artist International Piano Competition, and the Frinna Awerbuch International Piano Competition of the United States, as well as the Composer’s Prize from Olivier Messiaen’s International Piano Competition in Paris, France. Her performances have been broadcasted by the National Public Radio, WQXR (New York), WNYC (New York), WNCN (New York), WGTS (Washington DC), WFMT (Chicago) and WRR (Dallas), as well as other radio broadcast programs throughout Taiwan.
EUGENE LEVINSON, bass
Eugene Levinson enjoys a unique career as a world-class soloist, as Principal Bass of the New York Philharmonic 1985-2010, and as one of the foremost and world-renowned double bass teachers.
Mr. Levinson was born in Kiev and began his musical studies at the age of nine. He graduated from the Leningrad Conservatory, where he later received his doctoral degree and was, at the age of 29, the youngest member to be appointed to this illustrious institution’s faculty. For 13 years, Mr. Levinson was the principal bass of the Leningrad Chamber Orchestra and a member of the Leningrad Philharmonic for nearly 16years. During this period, he made many solo and ensemble appearances on U.S.S.R. radio and television, in addition to releasing three recordings on the Melodiya Records label.
Many of Mr. Levinson’s students have achieved positions as members of prestigious orchestras throughout the world, and some have been named principals. Mr. Levinson is often asked to participate in double bass forums in the U.S. and in Europe. He has led numerous master classes and orchestral playing workshops, most recently at the Toho School of Music in Tokyo, Japan. In 1995 he taught two master classes at the Hague State Conservatory in the Netherlands in 1995.
Since his arrival in the United States in 1977, Mr. Levinson has also been on the faculty of the Indiana University Summer School, and has been an annual faculty member of the Sarasota Music Festival and Aspen Music Festival & School1979-2010. He has been a member of the bass department faculty of The Juilliard School since 1985, where he has championed a number of new works that were written for him by prominent composers associated with Juilliard. He was co-chairman of the bass department from 1992-2002.
In 2003 Mr. Levinson was honored with the distinguished Special Recognition Award in Orchestral Performance from the International Society of Bassists for his “extraordinary skills and contribution to the worldwide community of bassists.”