Sound Espressivo Winners Concert

Sound Espressivo and Virtual Concert Halls are broadcasting a series of live online concerts by Winners of Sound Espressivo Competitions. Join us to hear today the brilliant stars of tomorrow!

Watch on YouTube:

https://youtu.be/hWe2BDHnwoM

Program:

Jeffrey Zhang, piano

Songs Without Words Op 67 No 2 by Mendelssohn

Arabesque No 2 by Debussy

Contra Dances I II III by Beethoven

Junwen Liang , piano

Chopin  Four Mazurkas, Op. 41

Ravel  Sonatine

Maria Narodytska

J. Bach: Prelude and Fugue g-moll WTC II

M. Ravel: "Alborada del Grazioso" from "Mirroirs"

Aleksei Rozov

Jewish tunes arranged for violin solo

Hosted by Dr. Anna Ouspenskaya  

VCHS Production Team:  Frane Rusinovic, Fedor Ouspensky, Igor Zubkovsky, Chris Au, Ante Bozic-Kudric

About the artists:

Jeffrey Zhang (age 9), started to study piano performance with Dr. Olga Chichova at age 6. He has participated in many competitions, music festivals, piano recitals. In the recent years, he has played and won numerous First Places and various winner’s trophies/medals/certificates in the Peel Music Festival, the OMFA Provincial Festival, the Steinway Piano Competition, the North York Music Festival, the Unionville Music Competition, the New York Open Music Festival and Sound Espressivo Competition. Jeffrey also passed the RCM Level 8 Piano Practical Examination in December 2020 with an outstanding mark. He enjoys performing and sharing his passion for music.

Chinese-born pianist Junwen Liang began his piano studies at nine and made his solo debut at the age of thirteen. Junwen has performed in major cities in China, Canada, and the United States. His achievements include the most recent two-time concert appearances at Carnegie Hall and Kimmel Center in Philadelphia; one public broadcast performance of Prokofiev’s Third Piano Concerto with Ithaca College Orchestra on WSKG radio in New York State, and a solo performance broadcasted on Philadelphia’s WRTI Classical Radio. Upcoming performance engagement in 2022 – 2023 includes live and virtual concerts in France, Italy, and the United States.

He was also invited to participate in music festivals such as Lunigiana International Music Festival, Baltimore International Piano Festival, Philadelphia Young Pianists’ Academy, Orford Musique, Art of the Piano, and Aspen Music Festival. Junwen has won major prizes in multiple competitions such as The American Prize, Juliusz Zarębski International Piano Competition, New York International Piano Competition, and Philadelphia International Piano Competition. 

Junwen recently completed a Doctoral of Musical Arts degree at Penn State, where he served as a Graduate Teaching Assistant in Piano. He earned his bachelor degree with a full scholarship at Ithaca College. And a master degree at Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, where he served as an Associate Instructor in Piano. His major mentors include Charis Dimaras, Edward Auer, Roberto Plano and Christopher Guzman. This fall, Junwen will pursue a Graduate Performance Diploma at the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University, under the tutelage of Richard Goode.

Aleksei Rozov / Aleksey Rozov / Alexey Rozov / Alexei Rozov / Алексей Розов

violinist 

Born 1965-10-10 in Moscow, Russia, USSR 

EDUCATION: 

1970-1972 - started violin at "Vesnyanka" folk children choir studio, Moscow 

1972-1983 - studied violin at Gnessins' middle music school, Moscow 

1984-1990 - studied violin and sound engineering at Gnessins' Musical Institute 

(now Russian Academy of Music named after Gnessins)   

1983-1984 and 1986-1988 - studied jazz violin at Moscow Improvisation Arts Studio 

(former Moscow Jazz Studioat Moskvorech'ye cultural center)

1989-1990 - studied sound engineering at State Commitee of Radio and TV, USSR 

1996-2000 - studied soundengineering at State Institute of Cinematography named after Gerasimov as an auditor

2002-2013 - studied klezmer music at Klezfest in Sankt-Petersbourg, Russia 

2004-2007 - studied violin and stage performing arts at Moscow State University of Culture (before and now - Moscow State Institute of Culture) 

2005-2006 - studied klezmer music at London Klezfest, London, United Kingdom 

2006-2019 - studied klezmer music at Yiddish Summer Weimar, Weimar, Germany 

2007-2010 - studied barock violin at Summer Barock Classes in Szombathely, Hungary (SAVARIA RÉGI ZENE MŰHELY)

MAIN VIOLIN TEACHERS:

Vladimir Rabei, Emil Kunin, Alexander Komarnitski, Zsolt Kallo. 

WORK EXPERIENCE: 

1989-1993 - orchestral musician: 

- USSR State Orchestra of Jazz and Symphony Music under Alexander Mikhailov; 

- USSR State Symphony Orchestra of Cinematography; 

- Chamber Orchestra under Igor Zhukov; 

1989-present time - recording studios session musician; 

1992-present time - ensemble session musician; 

2005-present time - concert solo & ensemble performer. 

ACHIEVEMENTS: 

- 3-rd Festival of Arts "An Inspiration", Russia, Moscow, 2001, Grand prize

- 3-rd International Competition of Jewish Music Performers named after Leonid Sonts, Russia, Kazan, 2003, 3-rd prize 

- 3-rd International Competition-Festival "Contemporary Art and Education", Russia, Moscow, 2008, 1-st prize 

- 1-st International Competition "An Inspiration", Russia, Moscow, 2021, 2-nd place 

- 6-th International Competition of Performing Arts "Music Prospect", Russia, Moscow, 2022, 2-nd place

- Sound Espressivo Competition (live internet TV broadcast) Dec 2021 - Jan 2022, 1-st place

Maria Narodytska is a pianist of Ukrainian origin. Her international concert activity includes such venues as Carnegie Hall in New York; Laeiszhalle in Hamburg; Sala Maffeiana in Verona; Casa da Musica in Porto; Ruth Taylor Recital Hall in San Antonio; Hylton Performing Arts Center in Virginia as well as theaters and concert halls all over the world. 

In 2019 an album with Maria Narodytska playing Brahms was released under the label OnClassical for further worldwide distribution by Naxos of America. This work has already got a positive review at Rai Radio 3 – one of the most important radio stations in Italy, devoted to classical music. Her second album for Nationalux as a winner of “The most beloved artist” prize at Richter IPC was released on the 18th of September 2020. In 2021 and 2022 she released two Schubert albums under OnClassical, published by Naxos of America.

Recently Maria won:

• Ist absolute prize (Grand Prix) at Ischia IPC (online, 2021)

• Ist prize at Orbetello IPC (online, 2021)

• Ist prize at Citta di Oleggio IPC (online, 2021)

• Ist prize at Music International Grand Prix IMC (online, 2021)

• Ist prize at “Fujairah” IPC (online, 2020)

• Ist prize at “Sound Espressivo” International Music Competition (online, 2020)

• Ist prize at “Danubia Talents” IMC (online, 2020)

• Ist prize at “Triomph de l’Art” IPC (online, 2020)

• Ist prize at “Citta di Barletta” Music Competition (Barletta, Italy, 2020);

• Ist prize at Adilia Alieva IPC (Annemasse, France, 2020);

• Ist prize at Tkaczewski IPC (Busko-Zdroj, Poland, 2020); 

• Grand-prix at France Music Competition (Paris, France, 2020);

• Ist prize at “Future Piano Stars” IPC (online, 2019);

• Ist prize at “ISCART” IMC (online, 2020)

• IInd prize (no I awarded) at Mauro Paulo Monopoli IPC (Barletta, Italy, 2020);

• IInd prize at Campillos IPC (Malaga, Spain, 2020);

• IInd prize at Paderewski International Piano Competition (Hartford, the USA, 2020);

• IInd prize at Franz Liszt Center IPC (online, 2021);

• IInd prize and OnClassical special prize at “Nuova Coppa Pianisti” IPC (online, 2021);

• IIIrd prize at Santa Cecilia IPC; (Porto, Portugal, 2020);

• IIIrd prize at Livorno IPC (Livorno, Italy, 2021);

• IIIrd prize at AEVEA IPC (Verona, Italy, 2020);

• Vth prize at Singapore IPC (Singapore, 2021);

• Diploma at The Gurwitz IPC (San-Antonio, the USA, 2020), as well as prizes at more than 30 other international piano and composition competitions.

Narodytska graduated from Tchaikovsky National Music Academy of Ukraine as a pianist under the guidance of prof. Natalia Tolpygo and as a composer, guided by Iryna Aleksiychuk. Since 2015 she continued her piano studies under prof. Ralf Nattkemper in High School of Music and Theater Hamburg. Now she studies with prof. Stepan Simonian in Hamburg as well as in Graz with prof. Dr. Milana Chernyavska. 

Maria Narodytska is supported by Vere Music Fund since 2021.

Participating in numerous master courses, Maria had a chance to take lessons from Daniel Pollack, Lily Dorfman, Andrzej Jasinski, Lev Natochenny, Grigory Gruzman, Mikhail Arkadev, Akiko Ebi, Olga Kern.

To learn more about the Artists and Sound Espressivo, please visit

https://www.soundespressivocompetition.com/

To learn about Virtual Concert Halls and Internet TV Broadcasting visit:

https://virtualconcerthalls.com/