Ms. Shields began her piano studies with Elaine Felder at the Music Institute of Chicago. She first gained recognition, at the age of nine, as a prize winner in the YKAA International Piano Competition in Winter Park, Florida. Most recently, she was a top prize winner in the Kosciuszko Chopin Competition in 2002.

Highly regarded as a chamber musician, she has participated in such festivals as the Yellow Barn Music Festival, the Banff Chamber Music Festival, the Taos School of Music, and the Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival. She has collaborated with such well-known artists as Barbara Stein Mallow, Itzhak Perlman, Kathy Murdock, Pinchas Zukerman, and Andre Emelianoff. In 2001 she received the Carmen Mihalache Dimulescu Memorial Award, given by the Cleveland Institute of Music in recognition of outstanding collaborative achievement by a young pianist.

Initially reared in the rich singing tradition offered at All Saints' in Chevy Chase, Maryland, soloistic qualities were elaborated upon at home by virtue of a mother who was a concert pianist who also enjoyed singing with her five children clustered around the piano, and then put into full swing with private voice lessons at home once moved to Piedmont, California.

Continuing a rich singing life, Mary was continuously the youngest ever admitted to whatever established group it was she was singing in, and following a passion for madrigals, founded The Troubadours, which today annually remains a tradition with some talented Piedmont High School students, who indepedently hold auditions to keep the singing positions filled and going strong.

In addition to bringing out new facets of the traditional repertoire, Dr. Shpachenko enjoys applying her deep interpretation to new repertoire by performing and premiering music by contemporary composers. Her recent notable premieres include Michael Garson’s Homage to Ligeti at Carnegie Hall, a Piano Quartet by Ukrainian composer Yuri Ishchenko at the Ukrainian Institute of America, and the West Coast premiere of Elliott Carter’s Dialogues for Piano and Chamber Orchestra with the Nimbus Ensemble in Los Angeles. Dr. Shpachenko is also touring a series of lecture-recitals exploring the relations between modern art and modern music, including one on Unorthodox Use of Piano by 20th Century American Composers and one commissioned by the Phillips Collection in Washington, DC to accompany its Modigliani exhibit.

Born in Ukraine, Dr. Shpachenko completed her Doctor of Musical Arts and Master of Music degrees at the University of Southern California, where she was awarded the title of Outstanding Graduate. Her principal teachers have included such distinguished musicians as John Perry in Los Angeles, Victor Rosenbaum in Boston, and Victor Derevianko in Israel. She has won top prizes in numerous competitions, including the California International Young Artists Piano Competition, Wideman International Piano Competition, Grace Welsh International Prize for Piano, Corpus Christi International Piano Competition, National Federation of Music Clubs Young Artist Competition, MTNA Collegiate Piano Competition, and the USC Piano Concerto Competition. Dr. Shpachenko has performed at the International Holland Music Sessions, Aspen, Cliburn, Manchester, Orford, Sarasota, Music Academy of the West, Tel-Hai, and Saluzzo International Music Festivals. Her performances have been featured on many radio and television stations in California, Massachusetts, New York, Ukraine, the UK, and Italy and released on CDs in Europe and the U.S.

Recently called 'protean and refined' by the New York Times, Shteinberg recorded for the Israeli 'Voice of Music' radio station, WQXR, WHMT, the Bavarian Radio and the Yamaha Disklavier; collaborated with New York Philharmonic members and the cellists Han-Na Chang and Natalia Gutman. Besides solo and chamber music performances, Shteinberg frequently appears with concert-lectures; also plays harpsichord and period pianos. His interest in new music has led to world premieres and numerous commissions.

Dmitri Shteinberg is a prizewinner in twenty competitions worldwide, including the first prize in 'Citta de Senigallia' International Competition in Italy. In the United States, he won the Naomi Foundation Competition and the Artists International Debut Award, and received the Salon De Virtuosi Fellowship Grant.

In 2004, Jessica began her clarinet performance training with Andrew Lamy, Miriam Lockhart and David Sapadin. Jessica began her composition studies under Daniel Bar-Hava at the Manhattan School of Music Precollege, where she had her orchestral and chamber works frequently featured in performances. She has had both her orchestral works and chamber music performed by the Kinhaven Music School Symphony in 2003 and 2004.

Jessica continued her education at the New England Conservatory of Music with a minor in composition under Malcolm Peyton and studied clarinet with Ricardo Morales and Craig Nordstrom. In Boston, Jessica has had her music performed at venues including The New England Conservatory of Music’s Jordan Hall and Williams Hall, as well as the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s Café. Jessica was accepted into the prestigious New York Youth Symphony’s Making Score, where she studied under Derek Bermel. After the NYYS Making Score Final Concert at CAMI Hall, Jessica was mentioned in The Symphony Magazine (October, 2004) as having given “a star-turn performance” of her Clarinet Quintet. Jessica has had a reading of her music with the American Composers' Orchestra in May 2008. Her most recent performances include her Octet at Symphony Space in 2008, Debut Concert at The Kaufman Center’s Merkin Concert Hall in June 2009, and featured performance at Galapagos Art Space in August 2009.

I am currently in my 3rd year at Trinity college of music studying for a degree in Music Performance with study options including conducting, instrumental conducting, communication skills, arts in music, instrument repair, music therepy and music technology.

I have played with many ensembles and orchestras. At current I am the Principal Bass Trombone of the National Youth Brass Band of Great Britain and Principal Bass Trombone of the North London Philharmonic and Ernest Reed Symphony Orchestra. I also play in a Brass Quintet that does workshops and recitals throughout London and has been to Seattle.

Interesting work in the UK has included a series of concerts with Patrick Moore, the astronomer, where Debra appeared as guest artist and sang many of Mr. Moore’s own compositions. Extensive work abroad has included Operas and Concerts in Dortmund, Zurich, Munich, Berlin, Luxembourg, Venice, Japan and Jerusalem. As a renowned oratorio specialist her repertoire includes The Creation (Haydn), The Messiah (Handel), Nelson Mass (Haydn), Petite Messe Solenelle (Rossini), Carmina Burana (Orff) and the Requiems of Faure, Brahms and Mozart. Her operatic roles include Susanna (Marriage of Figaro), Zerlina (Don Giovanni), Sophie (Der Rosenkavalier), Queen of the Night (Magic Flute), Norina (Don Pasquale), Olympia (Tales of Hoffman), Despina (Cosi fan tutte) and Micaela (Carmen).

With Coro Cervantes Debra has performed in Spain, Mexico and Russia. She was featured soloist on Coro Cervantes’ first CD O Crux, which was voted Gramophone’s Critic’s Choice of the Year. As a session singer, Debra has recorded vocals for film soundtracks, CD library music, launch music for car companies and radio jingles. She was featured soloist during the opening and closing ceremonies for the Commonwealth Games in Manchester with music especially commissioned for the occasion and also performed the vocals for the soundtrack for the Beijing Olympic Torch Ceremony in London.

ABOUT THE ARTIST Richard Sladek, Pianist, has performed professionally in the Chicago area for the past 20 years. A native of Chicago, he has been the recipient of several awards including those from the Chicago Musical Arts Club and the Grace Welsh National Piano Competition. Mr. Sladek has received a New York Film Festivals award for Outstanding Achievement for his Original Music for Video with the nationally acclaimed education theater troupe, Wavelength. As their musical director/composer for 16 years, he performed for over 100,000 educators in North America and the Netherlands.

He has served as staff accompanist for Columbia College and the Second City National Touring Company. He has also accompanied for the Salt Creek Ballet, and The Academy of Movement and Music. He has played keyboards in numerous musical theater productions, most notably for the Shubert, Marriott Lincolnshire, Theater at the Center, Apple Tree and Circle Theaters, and the Candlelight Dinner Playhouse.

Jeni Slotchiver's historic 1997 all-Busoni recital, at Merkin Concert Hall in New York City (the first in thirty years), received the 'heart-felt appreciation' of the Busoni Foundation. Her series, Busoni The Visionary has received worldwide critical acclaim. Anthony Tommasini, writing for The New York Times (December 30th 1999), selected her debut CD for an article titled 'Appropriate For Millennial Reflection.' Michael Tanner, in CLASSIC CD, described her performance as, "A towering spiritual statement, especially in a performance as fine as Slotchiver's, where the technical accomplishment is entirely at the service of the music's inward grandeur." From Singapore, Tony Gualtieri wrote, "A revelation…Bold and brazen…Jeni Slotchiver is a pianist of the highest artistry. Fully in control of this notoriously difficult material, she has the technical equipment to let the music speak without impediment…One feels the music is being allowed to sing." David Hurwitz, in Classics Today, made the point succinctly when he described her playing as, “Quite simply mesmerizing…positively physical."

Her North American piano repertoire ranges from Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, to Nathaniel Dett and Luis Gottschalk to the avant-garde Frederic Rzewski. Moreover, her expansive Latin American repertoire includes the work of; Alberto Ginastera, Carlos Guastavino, Ernesto Lecuona, Heitor Villa-Lobos, Francisco Mignone, Win Muller, Astor Piazzolla, and Frutuoso Viana.

Between 2001-3, being awarded an Australian Postgraduate Award, Gregory undertook a Master of Creative Arts degree studying performance practice issues in Russian piano music. And has since undertaken research into the music of Nicholas Medtner. Gregory has presented several papers on the music of Medtner, including the Australian Musicological Society in Sydney in 2005, and the combined Australian and New Zealand Society Conference in Wellington in 2003.

Gregory is a freelance composer and accompanist. As a soloist he has played in Malaysia as part of the University of Newcastle's overseas graduation ceremonies, and Japan, as part of the Newcastle-Ube Sister City 20th Anniversary celebrations in 2000. In July 2001, he was a participant in the London Master classes, run by Norma Fisher.

Besides that stage-work she has made 15 albums, many of them being listed as indispensable to refined music lovers.

Raphaella Smits is internationally praised as an inspiring teacher for both guitar and chamber music. In addition to her chair at the Lemmens Institute in Belgium, she regularly gives master classes in West and East Europe, in North and South America and in Japan. Organizers of international music competitions ask Raphaella as a member of the jury because of her ability to listen and to judge so accurately.

He is a recipient of many prizes and awards including the Craxton Memorial Trust Award, London, and the Honours Diploma Award from the Royal Conservatoire in Madrid.

He has recorded for the BBC, and the Bulgarian and Spanish Radio & TV. He is a leader of the Schomberg String Quartet, and a guest leader of London Ensemble and London Schubert Players, amongst others.

A recipient of many grants and awards (Cziffra, Natexis, Umberto Micheli, Meyer Foundations), Juliana Steinbach has been a top prizewinner in several international piano competitions (Artlivre in São Paulo, Tel-Hai in Israel). The First Prize at the ‘Premio Vittorio Gui’ (Firenze, Italy) in 2002 and the Beethoven Prize at the Trieste Competition (Italy) in 2005 contributed greatly to the dynamism of her chamber music and recital career. Having already recorded four chamber music albums for French and German labels, Juliana Steinbach will present in 2008 her solo debut recording, among other discographic projects. Highlights of her 2008/09 season include a concerto premiere in New York, several Messiaen 2008 celebration performances, as well as recital and chamber music appearances in Europe, United States and Brazil.

Juliana Steinbach began her musical training in France; after earning the highest degrees at Paris Conservatory, she successfully pursued her piano studies at the prestigious Imola Academy in Italy and The Juilliard School in New York. She has studied with Joseph Kalichstein, Jacques Rouvier, Franco Scala, Pnina Salzman and Maria João Pires.