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.

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.

Agnieszka Podlucka

Violist/Poland

Born in Łódź, Agnieszka started her violin education at the age of seven. Since, she has been awarded First Prizes at numerous national and international violin, viola and chamber music competitions, including ARD International Music Competition in Munich (2018), Michał Spisak XI International Music Competition (2017), Intercollegiate Viola Competition (2017), II Baltic Competition for String Duos (2016), II Chamber Music Competition in students category (2015), XX International Johannes Brahms Viola Competition (2012, semifinal); IV Tadeusz Wronski Young Solo Violin Competition (2012, distinction).

She was awarded the “Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage” scholarship and continues her studies at the Frederik Chopin University of Music in violin and viola with professors Jan Stanienda and Piotr Reichert. Agnieszka has been a participant in many festivals as violinist, violist, chamber musician and orchestral player, including International Summer Academy of the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, Musethica International Chamber Music Festival in Spain, Sweden and Germany, International Chamber Music Festival in Wałbrzych, International Chamber Music Festival “Quarto Mondi” in Poznan, Warsaw Festival, Summer Academy of Music from Berliner Philharmoniker, and in master  classes worked with Tabea Zimmerman, Jerzy Kosamala, Stefan Kamasa, Wolfgang Boettcher, Peter Riegelbauer, Jose Gallardo, and  many others.

Agnieszka has performed extensively as a soloist, chamber and orchestral musician in her native Poland in as well as in different countries of Europe, Japan, South Korea, United States. She was a member of Sinfonia Varsovia Academy as a violist and a member of European Union Youth Orchestra. In 2020, Agnieszka joined the Warsaw Philharmonic/Sinfonia Varsovia as its principal violist. This is Agnieszka’s “third” season with iPalpiti. Recommended by iPalpiti alumni Maria Machowska (2004-2009) who is a Concertmistress of the Warsaw Philharmonic [Filhamonia Narodowa/Sinfonia Varsovia] since 2008, Agnieszka joined iPalpiti in 2019, and applied to the 2020 season with her newly formed Splot quartet. Due to COVID restrictions, quartet was not able to travel; we are delighted to welcome Agnieszka and her Splot as quartet-in-residence this 2022 festival.

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.

Midori Maruyama

Violist/Japan

Midori started playing violin at the age of four and has studied at the Tokyo college of Music from 2004-2010 with Prof. Takashi Shimizu and Saiko Azuma. During these years she attended many master classes in Japan, Portugal, Italy, and Austria. In 2008 she won the third prize at the Japan Players Competition and also began to study the viola and play chamber music. She won the 2nd prize at the Osaka International Competition and received a Special award at the Japan Ensemble Competition with her quartet. Midori continued her studies as a violist at Scuola di Musica di Fiesole in Italy with Antonello Farulli and Felice Cusano as a scholarship student in Corso di Perfezionamento, and participated in the master class of Jürgen Kussmaul and in summer course of Jurij Bashmet at the Accademia Chigiana in Siena.  Midori is a recipient of numerous awards: the "Grand Prix d'Honneu" at the Concours International de Musique Léopold Bellan in Paris, France with piano quintet (2011), First Prize as a soloist at the 4th Concorso Musicale Europea Città di Filadelfia and 10th International Music Competition Premio Vittoria Caffa Righetti (2012), First Prize at Concorso Internazione di Musica “Euterpe” di Corato and VII Concorso Internazionale di Musica da Camera Città di Chieti as member of duo (2013).  As Mozarteum Summerakademie "praistreger", Midori performed in prestigious concert halls in the Salzburg Festspiele in 2012 and during the same season was selected to join iPalpiti. Midor has been a leading violist at The Hyogo Performing Arts Center Orchestra, Japan since 2014; in 2017, Midori accepted a principal position at the Kyoto Symphony.  Midori has been member of iPalpiti since 2012.

Egor Antonenko

Cellist/Russia

Russian-born cellist, Egor Antonenko has distinguished himself as a versatile soloist, chamber musician and orchestral player. Making his solo debut at the age of eight with the Kaliningrad Chamber Orchestra, he continued to perform with many of the prestigious Eastern European orchestras including the Moscow and Ryazan chamber orchestras, and the Petrozavodsk, Yaroslavi and Volograd Symphonies. Egor has made his American orchestral solo debut at the Longy School of Music performing the Dvorak Cello Concerto with Bard College Symphony, and most recently, performed Tchaikovsky's Rococo Variations with the Syracuse University Symphony Orchestra. As a soloist, Egor has performed under the baton of Marius Stravinsky, Leon Botstein, Miguel Etchegoncelay, Gil Rose, Benjamin Zander, Terry King  amongst many others. A prize winner in numerous competitions including the International Competition of Moscow’s Young Musicians “Rising Stars”, the 18^th “Citi di Barletta” Italian International Young Artist Competition, and “Gradus ad Parnassum” of Lithuania 2^nd International competition, he has collaborated in performances with Shanghai and Hausmann String Quartets, William Preucil, the Newport and Lyrica chamber music festivals and the International Music Festival of St. Marks.  Egor received diplomas from the Moscow State Conservatory and Central Music School as a student of Maria Zhuravleva, an undergraduate diploma in cello performance at Longy School of Music of Bard College as a student of Dr. Terry King and currently continues at the Setnor School of Music at Syracuse University as Teaching Assistant to his mentor Dr. King. In 2016, Egor toured more than 30 countries, performing over two hundred chamber music concerts through a partnership of the Lincoln Center Stage and the Holland America Line. He also participated in a live performance collaboration between BBC Earth and Holland America Line for a documentary series known as “Frozen Planet Live”.  Currently, Egor is a member of the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra under maestro Benjamin Zander, as well as principal cellist of Lyrica Chamber Orchestra and has participated as acting principal cellist with Boston Modern Orchestra Project. This is his second season with iPalpiti. Egor joined iPalpiti in 2019.

Sevak Avanesyan

Cellist/Armenia-Belgium

Armenian cellist Sevak Avanesyan was the youngest graduate of the Royal Conservatory of Brussels, graduating at age 19 with the highest distinction. Since, he has held position of the solo cellist of the National Orchestra of Belgium and was a winner of numerous international competitions, among which are First Prizes at the “Young Soloists” competition in Luxembourg, “Lions Club” European competition, “Golden Label” of the Belgian music press association, and “Belgische Stichting Roeping.” He continued his studies with the renowned cellist Claudio Bohorquez at the Hans Eissler Musikhochschule in Berlin, and took master classes from world famous artists such as Janos Starker, Bernard Greenhouse, Steven Isserlis, Mischa Maisky, Maria Kliegel, Liuis Claret, Garry Hofman, Wolfgang Boettcher, Igor Oistrakh, and Artemis Quartet. A regular guest at leading venues such as the Salle Gaveau and Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels, Sevak played at the grand opening of Queen Elizabeth Hall in Antwerpen in 2017. He appears as a soloist with many orchestras including Sinfonia Varsovia, National Orchestra of Belgium, Slovenia Symphony Orchestra, Indian Symphony Orchestra, La Chapelle Sauvage, and has collaborated with great conductors such as Hanns Graf, Hugh Wolf, Andrei Boreyko. The most recent world premiere of “DNA 15a15” by A. Irandian at Palais des Beaux Arts in Brussels was described as the “best concert of the season” by Belgian TV critics. Sevak has participated at notable international festivals where he performed in chamber ensembles with Augustin Dumay, Philippe Graffin, Pascal Devoyon, Pavel Gililov, Maxime Vengerov, Yuri Bashmet, Gidon Kremer. He also serves as a regular jury member of Ysaye, Triomphe de l'Art and AGBU music competitions. In 2016, the “Rhythm & Intervals” documentary by Gomes Schahbazyan about the life of Sevak Avanesyan in Berlin during the period of his studies was premiered on ARTR TV. Sevak plays on “The King” Mateo Gofriller cello from 1689, which is the very first Gofriller cello known, kindly given to him by Mischa Maisky. This is Sevak’s first season with iPalpiti.