KINGA AUGUSTYN

Polish-born violinist Kinga Augustyn performed her New York recital debut in Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie hall in March 2008. Described as “a violinist for whom nothing seems too difficult” (Nowy Dziennik), Ms. Augustyn has also released a CD featuring 24 Caprices for Solo Violin by Nicolò Paganini.

A Bachelors and Masters graduate of The Juilliard School, where she studied with Cho Liang Lin, Naoko Tanaka, and the legendary Dorothy DeLay, Ms. Augustyn has appeared with the Magdeburg Philharmonic Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra Leopoldinum, Wroclaw Philharmonic Orchestra, and the American Academy of Conducting Orchestra at the Aspen Music Festival, among others. As a soloist and a chamber musician, she has performed in the United States at Carnegie Hall (Weill Recital Hall and Stern Auditorium), Alice Tully, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Kosciuszko Foundation, and the Polish Embassy in Washington, D.C., among others.  She has also performed extensively throughout Europe.  Interested in promoting Polish music in the United States, she frequently performs her native composers' music.

Ms. Augustyn has won many international awards, including the Special Award of the Artist International Presentations (New York), second prize at the Kosciuszko Foundation Violin Competition (New York), the Special Audience Award at the Johannes Brahms International Competition (Austria), the First Prize at the J.S. Bach String Competition (Poland), the Special Prize for Virtuosity, and the Fourth Prize at the Kloster Schöntal International Competition (Germany). She is currently a doctoral candidate at the SUNY, Stony Brook, where she has worked with Philippe Graffin, Philip Setzer, and Pamela Frank.

YELENA DOF-DONSKAYA

Soprano Yelena Dof-Donskaya enjoys a distinguished international career ranging from her native Moscow, to capitals in Eastern and Western Europe, Israel and the United States. A pupil of the great Russian operatic soprano Zara Dolukhanova, Ms. Dof-Donskaya has a degree in Choral Conducting from the Ippolitov-Ivanov Musical College, and a degree in Voice from the Gnessin Institute, Moscow. She has also studied at the Accademia d’Arte Lirica in Italy under Sergio Segalini, and taken master classes with Giuseppe di Stefano.

Among many artistic accomplishments, she has participated in the Institute of Vocal Arts Metropolitan Opera-New Israeli Opera Program, a joint venture taking place in New York and Tel Aviv, which resulted in performances with Fiorenza Cossoto, Ghena Dimitrova, Louis Quilico, and Virgnia Zeani, as well as special collaborations with the Joan Dornemann, the renowned vocal coach of the Metropolitan Opera. She has toured internationally with performances in opera, oratorio and chamber music and includes among her repertoire the leading soprano roles in Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Don Giovanni, Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Francesca da Rimini, Lucia di Lammermoor, La Traviata, and Die Zauberflöte, in addition to lieder, chansons, and Jewish music. Ms. Dof-Donskaya has appeared in concert with the Moscow Philharmonic under the baton of Sir Yehudi Menuhin, the USSR State Symphony Orchestra under Gennady Rozhdestvenskiy and with the USSR Cinematography Orchestra, conducted by Emin Khachaturian. She has also appeared as a soloist with the State Chamber Choir of the USSR on tours of Western Europe, Turkey and Canada.

A laureate of the Glinka Competitions in Baku and Riga and the Competition of Musicians in Natania, Israel, she has also sung in concerts organized by the Government of Israel in commemoration of the 50th Anniversary of Victory in World War II, and the State Funeral in Memory of Yitzhak Rabin, with the Chamber Orchestra of the Israeli Army at the Philharmonic in Tel-Aviv. Her discography includes Schubert’s Mass in G Major, and Vaughn Williams Symphonies Nos. 5 and 6, under the baton of G. Rozhdestvenskiy; the soprano solo in Schnittke's Concerto for Choir; Sergey Prokofiev's Three Songs of Ophelia with E. Khachaturian; and Tarnapolskiy’s operetta Three Graces, also conducted by Rozhdestvenskiy. Ms. Dof-Donskaya has made her home in the United States for the last eleven years, where she performs extensively as a recitalist and guest artist.

ANNA SHELEST

Having been hailed by critics as the “female reincarnation of Liszt” and a “piano lioness,” Ukrainian-born pianist Anna Shelest made her international debut at age eleven at the UNESCO Headquarters in Paris as the youngest winner of the Milosz Magin International Piano Competition. At twelve she appeared with the Kharkiv Symphony Orchestra, playing Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 1. Since then she has been a soloist with some of the world’s most renowned orchestras, including the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Montreal Symphony Orchestra, Netherlands Symphony Orchestra, and the Saint Petersburg Philharmonic.

Ms. Shelest is a 2009 first prize winner of the Bradshaw & Buono International Piano Competition. She has also won first prizes in the Louisiana International Piano Competition, the Kawai American Recording Contest, The Third Netherlands International Piano Competition for Young Musicians, and The Corpus Christi International Competition for Piano and Strings.

Her discography includes an all-Rachmaninoff CD featuring Études-Tableaux Op. 39 and Moments-Musicaux Op. 16, as well as a collaborative recording with Cristian Ganicenco, principal trombonist of Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra on the CD, “Beyond Oblivion” featuring music for trombone and piano.

Currently living in New York, Ms. Shelest is a graduate of The Juilliard School, where she studied with Jerome Lowenthal. Her recent performances include her Alice Tully Hall and Stern Auditorium debuts, both in conjunction with The Alexander & Buono Competitions and their partner foundation, The Sorel Organization.