Franghiz Ali-Zadeh

Composer/Azerbaijani

Franghiz Ali-Zadeh is an Azerbaijani composer and pianist, currently living in Germany. She is best known for her works that combine the musical tradition of the Azerbaijani mugam and 20th century Western compositional techniques, especially those of Arnold Schoenberg and Gara Garayev. Her works have been performed by Yo-Yo Ma and the Kronos Quartet. On June 20, 2007, Ali-Zadeh was elected chair of the Composers' Union of Azerbaijan.

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.

Francisco Vila

Cellist/Ecuador

“Vila brought out the fervour and vitality…consummate projection.”  — The Strad Magazine, April 2012 Francisco Vila began playing the cello at age eight and had his solo debut with an orchestra at age fourteen.  Having performed in concerts throughout Europe, North and South America, Vila has been described by cellist Janos Starker as “an exceptionally talented young cellist and musician. He is heading for an important place in the world of music.”  As a chamber musician, Francisco has collaborated with Nobuko Imai, Cho-Liang Lin, Gary Hoffman, Martin Chalifour, and others.  As a soloist, he has appeared with the Houston Symphony, Liège Royal Philharmonic, the Royal Chamber Orchestra of Wallonia, Aalborg Symphonyorkester, the Bolivia Clásica Youth Orchestra, Mexico National Orchestra, South Dakota Symphony and all principal orchestras in his native Ecuador.  He has been a participant in Ravinia Steans Institute festival in Chicago, guest artist at the Beaumaris, Santander and the Stavelot Music Festival, among others.  As an iPalpiti artist since 2009, he has performed at Zankel Carnegie Hall, Philadelphia’s Kimmel Center, the Walt Disney Concert Hall, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in a radio broadcasted recitals, Mozarteum Salzburg, and on international tours. Francisco was granted Presidential Scholarship to the Boston Conservatory for his Bachelor studies, after which he received a Performance Diploma from Indiana University where his teachers were Janos Starker, Sharon Robinson and Menahem Pressler. In 2012, he was selected to the inaugural cello class at the prestigious Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel in Belgium, where he earned an Artist Diploma under the famed cellist Gary Hoffman. In the same year he became the second-prize laureate of the Sphinx Competition in Detroit Michigan. Francisco views teaching as an important aspect of music-making. In 2015 he has founded the International Music Festival of Esmeraldas (Ecuador), his hometown – supported by a grant from iPalpiti Artists International - social project of free master classes to young talents from Central and South America.  In its inaugural 2015 season, iPalpiti alumnus violinist Daniel Austrich was among its international guest artists. For his work, Francisco also received grants from the US State Department, Tarisio Trust, and the Sphinx MPower Grant. Francisco serves on the faculty at the Longy School of Music at Bard College, MA. He was a Principal Cellist of the Aalborg Symphoiorkester in Denmark – in a happy collaborations with concertmaster Vesselin Demirev and Principal 2nd Alexander Dzyubinsky, both iPalpiti alumni.  Francisco performs on a fine 1790 Vincenzo Panormo cello, on generous life-term loan from the “Karl McNutt Family Trust”, as well as the “ex-Janos Starker” E. Tubbs bow.

Ian Barber

Pianist/France

Ian Barber started studying piano at age seven in Colorado with Patricia Chen, continuing with Larry Graham and Rodney Mobley in high school. He has also worked with several prestigious teachers including Jullian Martin and Yoheved Kaplinsky from the Juilliard School of Music, Emilio del Rosario from the Music Institute of Chicago and French pianists Jean-Yves Thibaudet and Jean-Claude Pennetier. Winner of several national competitions, he was twice chosen to serve a two-year term on the Young Musicians Foundation Roster. After winning Yamaha Piano Competition in 2004, he was selected to perform with the National Repertory Orchestra in the Breckenridge Music Festival, and the following year, as a winner of the Denver/Steinway Piano Competition, he was the soloist with the Colorado Symphony and reinvited to perform with the National Repertory Orchestra playing Rachmaninoff's 2nd piano concerto. In 2008 he won Indiana University's concerto competition and performed Brahms 2nd piano concerto with the University Symphony Orchestra. With French violinist and cellist Boris Borgolotto and Marc Girard Garcia, Ian founded the Zadig Trio. Since its creation in 2014, the Trio has won 11 international prizes in France, the USA, Austria and Italy, and is regularly invited to play in great halls worldwide. The Zadig Trio is currently a resident of the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel, under the tutelage of Artemis Quartet. The Trio’s first album, called “Something in Between”, was released in March 2019. It features music by Leonard Bernstein, Benjamin Attahir and Maurice Ravel.