About the Performers 2013-2014

Season 16 Performers

Ukrainian soprano Uliana Alexyuk is a featured soloist at the Bolshoi Theater, where she has been singing since 2010. Her roles include Brigitta in Iolanta; First Lady in The Magic Flute; Adele in Die Fledermaus; Lyudmila in Ruslan and Lyudmila; Frasquita inCarmen; Marfa in The Tsar’s Bride; Fire, Princess, and Nightingale in Ravel’s L’enfant et les sortilèges; and, most recently, Amina inLa sonnambula. She returned there in December 2013 to sing Adele in Die Fledermaus. In 2011, she sang in the world premieres ofLe Cerisaie by Philippe Fénelon at the Opéra National de Paris and Lo stesso mare by Fabbio Vacchi at Teatro Petruzelli in Bari, Italy. Last summer she sang the role of Zerbinetta in Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos with the Glyndebourne Festival.
Beth Madison Fellow

strong>Ricardo Anglada, a native of Northern New Mexico, began playing guitar at age 12. In 2003 Anglada won 1st place in the Festival Flamenco Internacional Concurso.  Under the studies of first his father, Ricardo later studied with Jose “Chuscales” Valle and has taken classes with artists such as Jesus de Rosario, Pedro Sierra, Calvin Hazen, Santiago Aguilar, Anton Jimenez, Pedro Cortes and other local flamenco artists.  He works with the flamenco program at the University of New Mexico and at the National Institute of Flamenco under the direction of Eva Encinias-Sandoval.  Ricardo is currently the guitarist for the American Flamenco Repertory Company, “Yjastros” under the direction of Joaquin Encinias. Ricardo has also worked with the companies of Maria Benitez, Carlota Santana’s Flamenco Vivo, and Juan Siddi & company.  In addition he has worked with many flamenco artisits and groups throughout his career and works closely alongside his cousin Vicente Griego and has become one of the most sought after guitarists in the southwest.  In 2006 Ricardo co-starred in the film “Cante Jondo” directed by Lewis Teague (Cujo, Navy Seals).  With his passion for flamenco song, dance, and music, Ricardo is a powerful performer and promises to be one of America’s top flamenco artists yet to come.

Described as a “virtuoso” and “intensely soulful” by the New York Times, and  “Spell binding” by The New Yorker, Syrian clarinetist and composer Kinan Azmeh is the first Arab to win the first prize at the Nicolay Rubinstein international competition in Moscow 1997. A graduate of the Juilliard School in New York, the High Institute of Music and the Faculty of Electrical Engineering in Damascus. He holds a doctorate in musical arts  from the City University of New York.
Kinan has appeared as soloist, composer and improviser worldwide including The Library of Congress, The Kennedy Center, Opera Bastille, Berlin’s Philharmonie, The Mozarteum, Carnegie Hall, UN’s General Assembly and the Damascus Opera for its opening concert. He has shared the stage and/or recorded with artists such as Marcel Khalife, Yo-Yo Ma,Francois Rabbath, Zakir Hussein and Daniel Barenboim.
He is the artistic director of the Damascus Festival Chamber Players, and member of Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Ensemble. www.kinanazmeh.com

Over the course of eight years, with three albums as a leader, several studio projects as a sideman, and countless worldwide performances, pianist and composer Gerald Clayton has established himself as a leading figure in the up-and-coming generation of jazz artists who are fluent in the range of styles that make up today’s jazz lexicon. Hailed by The New York Times for his “huge, authoritative presence,” Clayton is well on his way toward etching his own enduring mark in the long and rich tradition of jazz. Never has this been more apparent than in Life Forum, his latest recording on Concord Jazz and his most ambitious project to date.

“What comes after Life Forum is anyone’s guess,” says Clayton, who does not want to be defined by any one musical tradition: “I prefer to ignore the boxes, the genre distinctions,” he says. ”I focus on creating honest musical expressions and collaborating with people whose ideas resonate with my own.”

Grammy-nominated Sandeep Das is considered one of the leading tabla players today. His concerts have taken him to Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Royce Hall, Royal Albert Hall, Hollywood Bowl and the Petronas Tower Hall in Malaysia. Sandeep has composed for and performed internationally with the Silk Road Ensemble with Yo-Yo Ma since the group’s founding in 2000. With the Ensemble, he performed at the United Nations General Assembly in New York in 2008, played the BBC Proms in 2004 and 2009, and is the only Indian artist to have performed for the Opening Ceremony of the Special Olympics in Shanghai. Sandeep began playing tabla at the age of 8 and had his debut at 16 with the legendary Pt. Ravi Shankar. In 1991, on his first trip outside India, Das performed with steel drum bands in Trinidad. In 2001 he performed a work composed by Kayhan Kalhor with the New York Philharmonic under the direction of Kurt Masur (father of former San Antonio Symphony Conductor – Ken David Masur). His composition “Tarang” was chosen as the theme music for “Blind Sight”, a documentary about the first Everest climb by six blind climbers, and his piece “Mohini” became theme music for the Japanese TV channel NHK’s 10-episode documentary on the Silk Road. Sandeep was awarded the Most Valuable Young Musician Award by the President of India in 2004. Also a cultural and educational entrepreneur, he founded HUM (Harmony and Universality through Music), an ensemble of world-class artists whose goal is to promote global understanding through musical performance and education.

Protégés of Maestro Zubin Mehta, international concert pianists Bishara Haroni and Yaron Kohlberg joined forces in 2011, forming the Israeli-Palestinian Piano Duo Amal.
A collaboration which started in a concert for peace in the Opera House in Oslo has led to a permanent partnership which is becoming a highlight in the world’s classical music scene.  The duo’s performances in prominent halls throughout the globe, such as the Beijing Concert Hall, the Melbourne Recital Centre, and Goyang Center of the arts in Korea, have led to critical acclaim and enthusiastic feedback. Future performances include recitals at New York’s Metropolitan Museum, Salle Gaveau in Paris, Mushashino Center in Tokyo, London City Festival, among many others. Duo Amal will also play concert tours with the Israel Philharmonic and Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino Orchestra in Italy, conducted by Maestro Zubin Mehta and Maestro Christoph von Dohnanyi.

Kohlberg and Haroni have both played recitals since a young age, and have performed at the Carnegie Hall in NYC, Kremlin in Moscow, Kennedy Center in Washington DC, Bellas Artes in Mexico City, among many others.  Haroni and Kohlberg are active in efforts to bring Palestinians and Israelis together, and have formed a Palestinian-Israeli Cultural Club in Berlin. On a personal level, they have become close friends.

The Flying Balalaika Brothers consists of three famous representatives of Russian Balalaika school.  The Original Flying Balalaika Brothers were formed in Los Angeles in 1995 by Zhenya Kolykhanov (a.k.a. Z Rock), the former lead guitarist of the Russian surf/rockabilly group Red Elvises.  The group started as a street band and later transformed into the group Red Elvises; which had a large history of performing for clubs, motion pictures, and TV shows in California.   After Zhenya set up shop in Austin, he reestablished The Flying Balalaika Brothers.  The band represents a blend of traditional world music and original Russian-infused musical pieces.   The group has found a perfect home in the musically rich culture of Austin, Texas.