José Alejandro Guzmán,
Conductor
In a career spanning 36 years Maestro Guzmán
has gained wide acclaim as a conductor of the symphonic, operatic and choral repertoire with many New York based orchestras
and opera companies.
He has recently stepped down, after 26 years, as music director of the
Regina Opera to devote more time to his first love, the symphonic repertoire. He
is the music director of the Bronx Symphony Orchestra, the Rockaway-Five Towns Symphony Orchestra and the Staten Island Philharmonic.
In May, 2010 he will lead the Staten Island Philharmonic in the Beethoven Symphony #9. With the Rockaway-Five Towns Symphony he will be
performing, among several works, the Dvorak 6th Symphony and the Haydn Symphony #101 [“the clock”]. With
the Bronx Symphony he has programmed the Beethoven 8th Symphony and the Schumann 2nd Symphony.
In addition he is in high demand as a guest conductor. As a guest he will return this season to
lead the Centre Symphony, based in Manhattan, in two concerts which include the Sibelius 2nd Symphony and the Schumann
1st Symphony.
Maestro Guzman will make his debut this season as a guest conductor with the South Shore Symphony Orchestra in works
of Wagner, Strauss and Mendelssohn.
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| Lawrence Malin, October 2009 (Photo by Kate Eisemann Pictures) |
Lawrence C. Malin is a product of Brooklyn public schools and the
Mannes College of Music where he graduated with honors. His major teachers were William Vacchiano and Raymond
Mase. Mr. Malin has performed professionally with The Summit Brass, The Goldman Band, The Gramercy Brass Band of New York,
The Bronx Symphony, The Brooklyn Symphony Orchestra, The Opera Orchestra of New York, The New York Grand Opera, The Florida
Symphony Orchestra, The Harkness Ballet, Radio City Music Hall Symphony Orchestra, Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey
Circus and Broadway and Off-Broadway musicals. He has worked directly with such diverse artists as Morton
Gould, Leonard Slatkin, Murray Perahia, Edward Villella, Sarah Vaughn, Erroll Garner, Marian McPartland, John Pizzarelli Jr.
and Ginger Rogers. As a soloist, Mr. Malin has performed the Haydn
Trumpet Concerto with the New York Symphonic Arts Ensemble and the Bronx Symphony Orchestra. He has also
been a soloist with the Brooklyn Chamber Orchestra (Haydn Trumpet Concerto, Vivaldi Concerto for Two Trumpets), St Georges
Chorale Society (Vivaldi Concerto for Two Trumpets, Bach Cantata 51), The Riverside Orchestra (Copland Quiet City) and the
International Bach Society under the direction of Rosalind Tureck. As an educator Mr. Malin has taught literally thousands
of children to play band instruments. He has coaches the brass sections of three of the renown InterSchool
Orchestras of New York and teaches at his own studio. He has taught at the Manhattan School of Music Summer
Music Camp and is the Band Director of P.S. 87 in Manhattan as well as a teaching artist in the Brooklyn Philharmonic smartsARTS
program.
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| Byung Kook-Kwak, Violin, May 2009 |
Internationally acclaimed as one of the finest violinists of this generation, Byung-Kook
Kwak enjoys a versatile career as a soloist, chamber musician, and educator. From coast to coast, critics have hailed
him as a premier violinist whose musical gifts and technical wizardry are powerful and sensitive. Mr. Kwak has received critical acclaim
for his performances with orchestras such as Baltimore Symphony, Atlanta Symphony, American Symphony, Kansas Philharmonic,
Edmonton Symphony, Montreal Symphony, New Philharmonic of New Jersey, Westchester Symphony, Houston Symphony, North Carolina
Symphony, Chicago Civic Orchestra, Long Beach Symphony, Queens Symphony, Little Orchestra Society, as well as Los Angeles
Chamber Symphony. In Europe, he has appeared as a soloist
with Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, Cologne Radio Orchestra, Bamberger Symphony, Rotterdam Philharmonic, and French National
Orchestra. He has been featured soloist with New York Virtuosi on its European tour in 14 major cities, including Ton-Halle
in Cologne, Civic Hall in Hanover, Royal Albert Hall in London, and most of the major concert halls in Germany, Holland, and
France. In Scandinavia, he has appeared with Helsinki Philharmonic, Gothemberg Symphony,
and Oslo Philharmonic. Active as a chamber musician, Mr. Kwak participates in chamber music in diversity, playing from baroque
ensemble to Schonberg and Penderecski, and is a member of world renowned Sea Cliff Chamber Players. He is also very active
as a concertmaster and appears in that capacity with virtually every major symphony orchestra around the Metropolitan New
York area.Mr. Kwak has occupied himself with a busy conducting
schedule as well. He has been the conductor of the Summit Music Festival Orchestra for the past five years, has conducted
the Queens Symphony Orchestra, and the Manhattan School of Music Summer Festival Orchestra in the summer of 1999. During the
season of 1999-2000, he has been engaged as a guest conductor with the Long Beach Symphony and the Queens Symphony Orchestra,
as well as the Orchestra of the Westchester Conservatory of Music, and the Manhattan School of Music Summer Festival Orchestra.
He has also been active as a choral conductor for over twenty years. Combining all these with a teaching career, he has been an assistant to the legendary
Aaron Rosand at Mannes College of Music for ten years, and he is currently a faculty member at Manhattan School of Music Pre-College,
Lehman College, Queens College, Westchester Conservatory of Music, and chairman
of strings at Jewish Academy of Fine Arts. Born in Seoul, Korea, Mr. Kwak was hailed as a child
prodigy who made his orchestral debut at the age of seven with Seoul Philharmonic. He was awarded first prizes in most prestigious
competitions in Seoul, including 5.16 president’s
award and Dong-A National competition. Continuing his studies in the U.S., he became one of the youngest violinists ever to be accepted to study with Jascha Heifetz at
age twelve. Having earned his Bachelor and Master of Music degree from the Juilliard School, he studied
with Dorothy DeLay, Ivan Galamian, and chamber music with Felix Galimir and the Juilliard Quartet. Mr. Kwak plays on a J.B. Guadagnini,
ex ”Brodsky”, circa 1751.
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| Natalia Galebsky, Cello |
Natalia Galebsky
Cello
Natalia Galebsky, cellist, is a native
of Saint Peterburg, Russia. She attended the prestigious Saint Petersburg Conservatory. Immediately following her graduation
she served five years as a cellist at the Maley Opera House,Saint
Petersburg. In 1990 Ms. Galebsky immigrated to Israel, were she was appointed principal cellist of the Raanana
Simfonette. She toured Europe extensively with this orchestra, collaborating with such performers as Ray Charles, Manhattan Transfer,
Stevie Wonder, Maxim Shostakovitch and Konstantin Orbelian. In 1999, Ms. Galebsky arrived in the United States and settled in Brooklyn, New York. She now freelances
with several symphonic and opera orchestras, including The Bronx Symphony Orchestra, The Westchester Chamber Orchestra, Regina
Opera, Camerata NY,
and the Adelphi Symphony Orchestra. Ms.Galebsky has recently recorded a CD with jazz musicians Igor Butman,
Lenny White, and Eddie Gomez and was a soloist with the Greenwich Village Orchestra in a Vivaldi double Concerto, with the
Bronx Symphony Orchestra in Beethoven Triple Concerto, and with the Center Symphony Orchestra in Saint-Saens cello Concerto. This
concert marks her debut as a soloist with the Rockaway-Five Towns Symphony Orchestra.
Leonarda Priore
Mezzo Soprano
Debuting in 2001 at Carnegie Hall as a featured soloist, Ms. Priore is a well-known, versatile artist that has
performed with companies throughout the United States in opera, jazz, sacred, classical and popular genres. She has sung leading
roles in Cavalleria Rusticana, Gianni Schicchi, Suor Angelica, The Mikado, Rigoletto, Le Nozze di Figaro, Hansel
and Gretel, Falstaff, Little Red Riding Hood, Samson et Dalilah, Un ballo in maschera and the title role of Carmen.
She has performed professionally with symphony orchestras and her oratorio credits include Bach's Magnificat, Mozart's
Coronation Mass, Solemn Vespers and Regina Coeli, Bernstein's Chichester Psalms, Faure's Requiem,
Mendelssohn's Elijah, Vivladi's Gloria, Handel's Dittengen Te Deum and Beethoven's Mass in
C. Her recent performance as Augusta in The Ballad of Baby Doe garnered aclaim..."Priore sang beautifully and
with great warmth, commanding the stage whenever she was on...Priore manages to inhabit (Augusta) fully, with obvious affection
and understanding."
Leonarda is the co-founder/producer of Chelsea Opera in New York City. She has just returned from her hometown of Utica,
NY where she was the featured artist in a concert at the prestigious Munson Williams Proctor Arts Institute. Upcoming performances
include Gianni Schicchi and Suor Angelica.
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| Dina Nesterenko - Violin (December 1, 2007) |
Dina Nesterenko (violin)
was born in Omsk, Russia in 1980. She started studying
violin at the age of four with her parents who are violin players themselves. At the age of ten Dina moved to Novosibirsk to study violin at the famed
Specialized
Music School established by the Novosibirsk conservatory.
In 1998 Dina entered the world-renowned Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. She studied there with Victor Danchenko
who was a pupil of David Oistrakh. In addition, she participated in Curtis Symphony Orchestra master classes and performances
with conductors Simon Rattle, Roger Norrington, Charles Dutoit, Mstislav Rostropovich, Yury Temirkanov, Wolfgang Sawallisch,
Christoph Eschenbach. In May 2002 Dina graduated from the Curtis Institute of Music and received her Artist’s Diploma.
In May 2006 Dina graduated from The Juilliard School with a Bachelor’s degree in the studio of Robert Mann.
During
her musical career, Dina has frequently soloed with orchestras and participated in numerous competitions that include:
·
Kloster-Schoental (Germany, 1995). Received 2nd Prize and a special
“Virtuozo” Prize.
·
Classica Nova (Germany, 1996). Won 1st Prize and a special
prize for interpretation of Shostakovich music.
·
All-Russian Competition, Senior Division (Moscow, 1997). Received 2nd Prize. She was
the youngest participant at the competition.
·
Tchaikovsky (Senior) Competition (Moscow, 1998). Received a semi-finalist
diploma.
In October 2003 she was an alternate (2nd place) in the Mozart concerto competition
in The Juilliard school. Currently, she is a recipient of Starr scholarship for studying in the Juilliard school. As a long-term
goal, Dina sees herself as a performing musician and a teacher. She would like to perform as a soloist and in chamber ensembles.
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