Azer Damirov

Violinist/Azerbaijan

Azer began his musical studies at the age of eight. At 14, he was accepted in the Musical College of the Tchaikovsky Moscow State Conservatory in the class of Professor Maria Keselman from which he graduated in 2007 at the age of 20 with an equivalent of a Bachelor Degree Diploma. Azer participated in master classes and festivals in Dortmund in Germany, Britten-Pearce Orchestra in Great Britain, and Volga Regional Young Symphony festival. Recipient of the Ministry of Culture Russian Federation’s Stipend, Azer is a Laureate of numerous national competitions. In 2007 Azer received a Diploma at the 14th Andrea Postacchini International Violin Competition in Fermo, Italy, and a special iPalpiti prize for participation in the iPalpiti Festival of International Laureates in Los Angeles. In the fall 2010, Azer was accepted into Bachelor of Music Program at Boyer College at Temple University in the class of Professor Schmieder, where, subsequently he completed his Master's degree in 2013, and, this year completed his Doctoral degree in Music Performance. Active performer in Philadelphia, Azer formed the Philadelphia-based The Amaranth Piano Trio with several performances in its debut season. In 2012, he performed at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall as a winner the American Protégé International Competition of Romantic Music. Highlights of the last two seasons were special invitation by the Ministry of Culture of Azerbaijan for solo recitals and master class in Baku, Azerbaijan’s capital, and a series of concerts in Southern California as a winner of the Beverly Hills National Auditions. Azer is a member of iPalpiti since 2009, including East Coast residency and in concerts at the Kimmel Center and Carnegie Hall, and Los Angeles festivals.

Sara Dragan

Violinist/Poland - Spain

Sara Dragan was born in 1999 in Poland and began learning to play the violin at the age of 7, under the tutelage of her parents, Konrad and Alicja Dragan. She attended the Music School in Legnica and concurrently studied with Prof. Zakahr Bron in his Meisterklasse Interlaken in Switzerland, continuing with him at the Escuela Superior de Musica Reina Sofia in Madrid. Despite her young age, Sara won first prizes/Grand Prix in about 50 violin competitions in Europe and the USA, including International Violin Wieniawski & Lipinski Competition, New York International Artists Association Competition, International Telemann Violin Competition, and International Violin Young Paganini Competition. Sara made her debut as the soloist with orchestra at the age of 7 playing Wieniawski's Obertas and since, performed with many orchestras including the Orchester Berlin, RRCMC Moscow Orchestra, Ukrainian National Orchestra, Uzbekistan National Symphony, important Polish philharmonic orchestras, with virtuosi repertoire such as Paganini’s Concerto No.1 and Carmen Fantasie by F. Waxman when she was only 12. At 15, she made her United States debut at Carnegie Hall (NYC) where she played Wieniawski's Concerto in F-Minor and The Last Rose of Summer by Ernst, and gave concerts at the Berlin Philharmonic, Rachmaninov Concert Hall in Moscow, Polish Royal Palace in Warsaw, Auditorium Sony in Madrid, touring around Europe and the United States. Sara has participated at prestigious festivals including Schleswig-Holstein and Mozarteum in Salzburg and is a laureate of many awards. For her outstanding artistic achievements she received "Young Poland" scholarships from the Ministry of Culture and the National Heritage, is a multiple grantee of the National Fund for Gifted Children in Warsaw. She is engaged in many charity events performing for promotion of talented children, as well as taking part in charity auctions for children with Down's syndrome. Sara was given opportunity playing on instruments of the best Italian luthiers by Guarneri, Vuillaume and Gagliano. Currently, Sara is playing on Nicolo Amati (1666) on the generous loan from Florian Leonhard Fine Violins. This is her second season with iPalpiti.

Lorenzo Mazzamuto

violinist/Italy

Born in Catania in 1986, Lorenzo graduated in 2005 from the Vincenzo Bellini Musical Institute of Catania with cum laude as a student of Professor Vito Imperato, with a solo debut with an orchestra at the age of 11. In 2013, he graduated from the famous Tchaikovsky Moscow State Conservatory with the highest scores in the class of the People’s Artist of Russia Sergey Girshenko. Lorenzo has taken part in over 25 national and international musical competitions, obtaining in all either first prize or absolute first prize. Under the patronage of the President of the Italian Republic, at the age 14, he received a special merit admission to study with Maestro Salvatore Accardo at the Senior Specialization Course of the Walter Stauffer Academy of Music; the honor which is given only with a performance degree, exempts younger students who are deemed by to possess exceptional talent. Lorenzo’s talent has on many occasions been encouraged by famous international musicians, such as Igor Oistrach, Michail Kugel, Rocco Filippini, Katia Ricciarelli, Giuliano Carmignola, Glenn Dicterow, Bruno Canino, Vladimir Skanavi, Irina Bochkova, etc. Lorenzo has given recitals for many important concert associations in Italy, Europe, Russia and in the U.S.A. As a soloist with orchestra, he performed the Ploesti Symphony Orchestra, the Kiev's Camerata, the Russian chamber orchestra and others. Since October 2004, he has been first violinist with "L'offerta Musicale Ensemble." The ensemble, under the guidance of Riccardo Insolia, focus in 20th century and contemporary music. In Russia he has played in White Hall, Rachmaninov Hall, Small Hall and Big Hall of the Moscow conservatory. He plays a Claude Lebet Violin of 2010. This is his second season with iPalpiti.

Samuel Nebyu

Violinist/Hungary-Ethiopia

Samuel is the winner of numerous national  and international competitions including Grand prizes at the National ASTA (American String Teachers  Association) Solo Competition (2015),  “Remember Enescu” International Violin Competition (Romania, 2013), the Flame International Violin Competition (Paris, 2008), and the Beverly Hills National Auditions (CA, 2014).  Born in Hungary of Ethiopian-Hungarian descent, Samuel spent most of his early childhood in Asia.  He started playing the violin at the age of six; at fifteen, he was admitted to the Young Talents Program at the Brussels Royal Conservatory where he received tutelage from renowned musicians, including Igor Oistrakh.  Samuel was a violinist-in-residence for several years at the prestigious Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel in Belgium. He continued his education in the US in the international violin class of Professor Eduard Schmieder at Boyer College of Music at Temple University in Philadelphia, where he received his BM, MM, and in May 2022, became a DMA. From 2017, Samuel teaches at the Community Music Scholars Program at Temple University. Samuel has performed as soloist with number of orchestras, including the Brussels Philharmonic, at important international music festivals, and in venues such as the Centre of Performing Arts in Brussels (BOZAR), the Peles Castle in Romania, the Wiener Saal in Salzburg, and Alice Tully Hall in New York. In 2015, he was selected as an iPalpiti Junior and was a featured soloist with iPalpiti orchestra in Los Angeles at the Wallis Annenberg Center. Since, he has returned to iPalpiti every season; in 2017 he was featured in Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante with iPalpiti alumnus violist Juan-Miguel Hernandez at Walt Disney Concert Hall, and in 2019 was a soloist in a West Coast premiere of Alexey Shor “Seascapes” violin concerto at the Conrad Performing Arts Center in La Jolla and at the Saban Theatre in Beverly Hills. In 2016, Samuel received the prestigious Clifton Emerging Artist Award and gave a recital at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts in Philadelphia; same year he became a prize winner of the Mozarteum Salzburg Festpiel competition – the only one of 291 violinists to be selected as one of the eight prize winners – and was further honored to conclude the winners concert at the Mozarteum Grosse Saal.  Highlights of the recent seasons included performance of a Concerto for Violin with Choir and Orchestra by Jennifer Higdon at Kimmel Center Verizon Hall in Philadelphia, recital with Professor Lambert Orkis (long-time piano partner of violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter),  a recital with Prof. Charles Abramovic (the collaborative pianist of Midori) at LACMA’s Sundays Live! Livestream series, and a South America’ tour with Mutter’s Virtuosi. Samuel is the 3rd iPalpiti artist chosen by the great violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter for her foundation (prior artists were cellist Kian Soltani and bassist Roman Patkolo).  His CD “Violin Gems from Black Composers” was released on BCM+D label in 2018; selected for Grammy nomination, it was named Best Album of the Year by numerous classic radio stations across the nation, including KUSC-FM.  This spring, Samuel performed Brahms’ Violin Concerto with the Temple Orchestra. After iPalpiti festival, he will give a solo recital at the Lucerne Festival in Switzerland. This is Samuel’s 7thseason with iPalpiti.

Semyon Promoe

Violinist/Russia

Named a principal soloist of the Novosibirsk Philharmonic Society in 2015, giving concerts throughout Russia, Finland and Israel, from 2019, Semyon also serves as a Concertmaster of the Tomsk Symphony Orchestra  and a Violin Faculty at Novosibirsk College of Music. As a member of the ensemble of violinists “Bright Bows” Semyon performed in numerous international festivals, including the Summit Music festival in New York. Promoe is an Honors Graduate of the Novosibirsk Glinka State Conservatory (with the qualifications of Life Performer, Orchestral Performer, Ensemble Performer, Teacher of Instrumental Performance Majoring in Instrumental Performance) from the class of Professor and Honored Art Worker of the Russian Federation Marina Kuzina. He has also completed Postgraduate studies in performance and musicology. He taught a violin class at the Novosibirsk Music College from 2011 to 2013 and participated in the International Forum Musical Performance and Pedagogy in Jyvaskyla, Finland. As a soloist, he has performed with numerous symphony orchestras throughout Siberia’s major cities such as Krasnoyarsk, Tomsk, Barnaul, and his home city of Novosibirsk. He is a founder of the string quartet Phaeton. Semyon was selected to iPalpiti in 2017 summer festival, and toured with iPalpiti in Israel and Mozarteum Salzburg. This is his 4th season with iPalpiti.

Takamori Arai

Violinist/Japan

Winner of numerous prizes in international and national competitions, Takamori has been performing in concerts and music festivals in Japan and Europe. This May 2022 he gave a debut solo performance at Weill Carnegie Hall in New York as a First Prize winner of IBLA Grand Award Japan international violin competition, with comments “…his tone production reminds the sound of the great vinyl records which are from violinists in the last century such as Oistrakh.”

 A graduate of The Tokyo University of Arts with the top score and the Acanthus Music Prize for the outstanding academic achievements, Takamori was selected numerous times as a soloist with the university symphony orchestras, and played under baton of such conductors as Professors Kazuki Sawa, Douglas Bostock, and Ken Takaseki. In 2014 he was selected as a soloist of the Musical Activity Supporting System by YAMAHA Music Foundation and performed throughout Europe. As participant in international  music festivals he performed at Mozarteum Salzburg, IBLA Sicily, and in iPalpiti festival of international laureates in Los Angeles.  During his college years he studied with professors Takashi Shimizu, Sungsic Yang, Eszter Perenyi, and Pierre Amoyal.  He studied with Professor Eduard Schmieder in his international class Artist Diploma program at the Boyer College of Music at Temple University in Philadelphia.  At present, he is an associate violinist at Musashino University of Music in Tokyo.

This is his third season with iPalpiti.