B.A.S.S. 2023 - The Project Symposium

Dr. Johanna Michel

born in Berlin
is a physician for anesthesia , intensive care , special pain therapy,
Author of medical books and a now newly published deep relaxation guide (audio and accompanying booklet).
As author and dramaturge she realizes the implementation of the Valle Venia concepts and events and is responsible for the thematic orientation of the scientific and artistic content. She was born with a love of music and art.
Poetry, literature and philosophy have accompanied her since her childhood in a humanistic family 
and then also during her medical studies and her work as a doctor.
 
Dr. Johanna Michel founded and leads together with Leo Philipp Schmidt
alias Dr. Hermann Schmidt, founded and runs the Medical Care Center for Interdisciplinary Pain Therapy in Neustadt an der Weinstrasse.


Dr. Hermann Schmidt alias Leo Philipp Schmidt

Composer, visual artist, multi-media artist, author. 
"...Leo Philipp Schmidt composer - one who amazes mightily with mysterious minimalist patterns that are addictive..." He comes from a family that was influenced by painting. Since his childhood he has been engaged in visual arts. He realizes all the possibilities of implementation up to land art, architecture and interior design, fine art, photography. Since the age of six he had music lessons. As a rock musician, he performed in the program with international rock greats at the age of 16. Leo Philipp Schmidt's compositions cross styles to contemporary music. He realized his compositions in cooperation with many international artists. For example, the millennium edition of Playboy chose Contemporary X, composed, arranged and recorded by Leo, as the best classical CD. He received a nomination for the German Record Critics Award and participated in the Championat la Francophonie as a writer, Toronto Music Week. Leo had radio chart placements in Canada and set plays to music. Numerous radio and television broadcasts followed, including a portrait program on ZDF together with John Cage and the artistic design of the television anniversary program Klassische Musik on ZDF.
As a physician-orthopedic surgeon, trauma surgeon, pain therapist, he founded and leads together with
Dr. Johanna Michel the medical care center for interdisciplinary pain therapy. 


Alex Schwers

is a German musician, concert and festival organizer. He organizes the punk festivals Ruhrpott Rodeo and Punk im Pott and is, among other things, the drummer of the punk band Slime and Universum 25.

He is from Gladbeck in the Ruhr area and started playing drums at the age of 9 as a self-taught drummer after seeing a performance of the NDW band Trio.

Since the age of 16 he has toured with many bands and can be heard on quite a few national and international productions.

In addition to his activities as a musician, Schwers has organized the indoor festival Punk im Pott in the Ruhr region since 1999 and the Ruhrpott Rodeo, now Germany's largest punk festival, since 2007.


Artiom Ordiyants

Violon Turkmenistan

Artiom Ordiyants was born in 1983 in Turkmenistan. At the age of six, he started playing the violin. When he was ten, he and his parents moved to Moscow where he studied music at the highly renowned “Piotr Tschaikowsky” music school for the next 8 years.

In 2001, he moved to Germany where he successfully graduated from “Universität der Künste” (UdK, Berlin) and received his music diploma in 2010. During this time, he performed as the first violinist at the “Deutsche Oper” Berlin.

At the moment Artiom is working as the second concertmaster at “Brandenburg Symphoniker” and collaborates with many different groups in chamber music concerts.


Balu Rajendrakurups

Percussion India

Balu Rajendrakurups is a South Indian Percussionist and a Carnatic Vocalist. He was born in Kerala, India into a family with a musical background.  Hence, it was no surprise that he started learning Carnatic Music and Tabla from the age of five along with his sister.

Later he had the opportunity to be trained by famous Mridangists in India at the age of 10.In addition Balu learned classical vocal in Chennai.

He started performing at the age of 12 and won several contests at youth festivals and academies. Furthermore, he performed for Indian media like radio and TV. His unique South Indian percussion techniques impressed world music artists, which explains why he collaborates with so many of them.

Known for adapting traditional South Indian percussion instruments to modern instruments like Djembe and Cajon, he formed a music group in Germany called “Amano”, performing all around Europe and passes on the art to new generations in multiple music schools in Germany.


Berlin Music Ensemble

The Berlin Music Ensemble was founded in 2011 and consists of musicians from Deutsche Oper Berlin, Staatskapelle Berlin, Komischen Oper Berlin, Konzerthausorchester Berlin, Berliner Philharmoniker, Rundfunk Sinfonieorchester Berlin as well as freelance musicians.
The Ensemble specializes in CD recordings and soundtracks for international film and television productions including Holy Motors (Directed by Leos Carax, starring Edith Scob, Eva Mendez, Denis Lavant and Kylie Minogue) and the song, "Who Were We", from the film's soundtrack, performed by Kylie Minogue.

Berlin Music Ensemble has also collaborated with a number of established international acts including Olafur Arnalds, Malky, Flying Steps, Ketan &Vivan Bhatti for recordings, concerts and Live Shows and has also recorded music for films like Into the Forest (music by Max Richter) and the Flowers of Yesterday (music by Annette Focks).
Additionally, the Berlin Music Ensemble regularly collaborates with well known German directors, composers, actors and and has recorded for many television movies shown on German TV networks including Arte, 3Sat and ZDFKultur.

The Berlin Music Ensemble has won the Reel Music Award 2017 and received the Quarterly Critics‘ Choice from the renowned German Record Critics Award (Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik) in 2018 in the category best film music, for the recording of the George Martin album.

The press has been extensively reported worldwide about the album, among others in the Australia‘s classical magazine Limelight, BR Klassik, Deutschlandfunk, Classical Radio Boston, NMZ and the Rolling Stone magazine.

 


Carla Oya

Choreographer Spain

Choreographer of international events -TV shows -Film coaching

Education:
John Cranko School (Stuttgart)
Master class with Marcia Haydée
Classical ballet dancer
Conservatory of Valencia
 


Clemens Hund-Göschel

PIANO GERMANY

Clemens Hund-Göschel (piano), born in Frankfurt/Oder, received his piano diploma at the HfM "Hanns Eisler" Berlin. This was followed by a master's degree in "Specialized Musical Performance - Contemporary Music" in Basel, which he completed with distinction. He received further inspiration from musicians such as Birgitta Wollenweber, Yukiko Sugawara, Nicolas Hodges, Marino Formenti, Ian Pace and Manuel Nawri.

He is interested in new performance concepts, which he realizes with the Eunoia Quintet and the Ensemble Inverspace, among others. He is particularly interested in interdisciplinary exchange with other art forms and sciences as well as in the mediation of contemporary music.

Clemens Hund-Göschel has given numerous world premieres of works by Isabel Mundry, Heinz Holliger, Mike Svoboda, Carola Bauckholt, among others, and has collaborated with composers such as Helmut Lachenmann, Salvatore Sciarrino, Hèctor Parra and Helmut Oehring. In his busy concert schedule, he has performed at the Berlin Philharmonie, the Konzerthaus Berlin, the Berlin State Opera, the Presidential Palace in Warsaw, the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow, the Odessa Philharmonic, the "CrossSound Festival" in Alaska, Wien Modern, the Salzburg Biennale, the Teatro del Canal and the Auditorio Nacional in Madrid, the WEF in Davos and the Philharmonie Luxembourg.


Dilhan Kantas

Viola Turkey

The violist Irem Dilhan Kantas was born in Bursa / Turkey.
For her, music means "the fullness of my life and the most faithful companion of my life".
At the age of 12, she was accepted to the State Conservatory of Uludag University Bursa and then studied at the Ankara State Conservatory with Prof. Betil Basegmezler.
As part of an Erasmus scholarship at the Leipzig Conservatory she was taught by Prof. Tatjana Masurenko. Afterwards she continued her studies with Prof. Claudia Bussian.After completing his diploma, Dilhan went to the Masters degree program at the University of Arts Berlin under Yuta Nishiyama.
Already during her studies she played with youth orchestras as well as professional orchestras in Germany, at numerous festivals like "Bachfest, Leipzig", "SWR Festspiele, Schwetzingen" and "Mecklenburg Vorpommern Festspiele".
As a scholarship holder of the "Villa Musica, Rheinland-Pfalz" she has performed together with renowned musicians such as Daniel Gaede, Andreas Lehnert, Wolfram Christ, Jenz Peter Maintz, Christian Rieger and Midori Seiler.
"She attended masterclasses with Tatjana Masurenko and the Apple Hill Summer Chamber Music Festival in the USA.
Dilhan was an academician of the "Komische Oper, Berlin".
In 2015, she has been invited to Japan as a chamber music teacher for the Chichibu International Music Festival.
She is a member of the "Mendelssohn Chamber Orchestra, Leipzig" and a passionate chamber music player in various occupations.


Jessie Brown

Singer -vocal coach Canada

Jessie Brown-A great award-winning singer -vocal teacher, with an incredible, multi-faceted voice, grounded by the stunning wild landscape of Canada's Atlantic coast.

 


Josep Castanyer Alonso

Cello Barcelona

Josep Castanyer Alonso has been a member of the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra since 2019. He studied cello with Maria Kliegel at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz in Cologne and string quartet with Günter Pichler (Alban Berg Quartett) at the Escuela de Música Reina Sofía in Madrid.

He has performed in several festivals and attended different academies, such as the Verbier Festival in Switzerland or the Accademia Chigiana in Siena, Italy, with mentors such as András Schiff, Lynn Harrell, Ferenc Rados, Gustav Rivinius, Wen-Sinn Yang or Gábor Takács-Nagy.

Performing regularly in different chamber music groups, Josep Castanyer Alonso has as well been member of the Alinde Quartett. He is also frequently involved in other chamber music projects with colleagues from the WDR Symphony Orchestra in Cologne, the Vienna Philharmonic, the Staatskapelle Dresden and from the vast German and European orchestral scene. He was a student of the RSPO Orchestra Academy, by the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, and he was the first student of this academy to become a member of the orchestra. 


Junko Fujii

Cello Japan/China

Junko Fujii was born in Tokyo, Japan. In 2002 she met a future teacher who invited her to study in Moscow, Russia. She entered the Pre-college of “Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory” and later the “Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory”, where she studied with the legendary Professor Natalia Shakhovskaya and from where she graduated with distinction.

In 2013 she moved to Germany to continue her studies in “Leopold-Mozart-Zentrum” in Augsburg under Prof. Julius Berger. In 2018 she became a postgraduate student in the cello class of Prof. Danjulo Ishizaka in “Musik Akademie Basel” and additionally, since November 2017, she attends the Orchestra Academy in “Brandenburger Theater/Symphoniker”.

During her studies she has been awarded at several international competitions. Both as a soloist and chamber musician she has performed at numerous festivals and her frequent concert activities took her all over the world in such prestigious venues as Carnegie Hall, the Théâtre des Champs Elysées in Paris and Victoria Hall in Geneva.


Katrin Hansmeier

Actress Germany

Katrin Hansmeier completed her studies at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg. Afterwards she was an ensemble member at the Volkstheater Rostock.

Since then, film and television has been her focus.

 Katrin Hansmeier is also a trainer at the German Institute for Humor.


Larry Bjornson

Bass Canada

La formation musicale de Larry Bjornson a commencé à l'atelier de jazz du Centre for Creative Studies de Detroit, dirigé par le grand trompettiste Marcus Belgrave. C'est dans cet environnement que Bjornson s'est épanoui, tout comme Kenny Garrett, James Carter, Geri Allen, Rodney Whitaker et Bob Hurst, pour n'en citer que quelques-uns. Larry Bjornson a poursuivi ses études et obtenu un Bachelor of Music en performance jazz à l'université McGill de Montréal, avant de poursuivre ses études à l'université Wayne State de Détroit. Après son retour à Détroit, Larry est devenu un bassiste régulier pour son mentor Marcus Belgrave et a eu un programme de concerts, de clubs et de tournées bien rempli. Pendant cette période, il est également devenu membre de l'orchestre du Michigan Opera Theatre, Detroit's Opera. Larry s'est produit avec un très large éventail d'artistes, allant de The Moody Blues, Nell Carter, Mitsou, des musiciens de jazz de haut niveau comme Charles MacPherson, James Carter et Charles Tolliver, jusqu'à l'accompagnement de personnalités comme Joan Rivers et Regis Philbin. Larry est actuellement membre de la Musique de l'Aviation royale canadienne et vit avec sa femme et ses trois enfants à Halifax, en Nouvelle-Écosse.



Leandro Saint-Hill

Saxophone Cuba

Leandro Saint-Hill, born in Cuba, received violin lessons from the age of seven through his father, conductor Marcelo Saint-Hill Sweeney. At the age of eleven, he switched to the saxophone and received lessons from Mario Lombida, J. Blanco and A. Thompson. After graduating from the Escuela Profesional de Musica in Camagüey, he worked as a lecturer at the Conservatory in Las Tunas. Then he moved to Havana, where he worked with the bolerosinger Beatriz Márquez, the salsa star Manolín, el médico de la Salsa or the Carlos Maza Jazz Quintet.

In the mid-1990s, Saint-Hill moved to Hamburg, where he was soon in demand as a session musician, for example with Jan Degenhardt, Patrice, Jamaica Papa Curvin, Markus Baltensperger, Nena, Modern Talking or Helene Fischer. He has also played with Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Roberto Santamaria, the Klazz Brothers and Trilok Gurtu and regularly performs alongside Omar Sosa in his Quarteto AfroCubano, with whom he has also recorded several albums.

With his own band Saint-Hill Colectivo and their album Son My Soul, Saint-Hill achieved placement on the Latin Grammies shortlist in 2011 (in the categories of "best recorded album," "best new artist" and "album of the year"). The quartet with which he presented his album Cadencias (2020) is composed of Matthew Winnitzki (piano), Omar Rodriguez Calvo (bass) and Nené Vasquez (percussion). His soundtrack for the road movie "Cuban Dreams" earned him a He also composed for the documentary film The Mafia Paradise - Cuba before the 1959 Revolution.

Durch seinen einzigartigen Stil ist Leandro St. Hill einer der beliebtesten Saxophonisten der Latin-Funk-Szene.


Mari Sawada

Violin - Japan Germany

Mari Sawada, daughter of Japanese parents, was born and raised in Essen, Germany. At the age of four, she started playing the violin with her mother. Later, Prof. Keiko Wataya became her teacher and an important reference person. Her studies led her from Utrecht via Aachen to Berlin, where she has lived ever since. Since 2007, she has been playing with the soloist ensemble Kaleidoskop in Berlin, with which she feels deeply connected and which is very close to her heart. Other formative people in her life include Charles André Linale, Michael Vaiman, Joyce Tan and especially her family.

 


Martina L. Smith

Mental health speaker, Podcast host , Model, Actress Canada

Martina L. Smith is passionate about living a life on purpose. She works as a speaker in mental health and is the host of the Life Out Loud Podcast. Tapping into more creative work, Martina explores new opportunities as a model and actress in various roles. Inspired by merging the arts and mental health,

Martina  completed a diploma in Human Services (Addictions Counselling concentration) from the Nova Scotia Community College (NSCC), as well as a BA (hons) in Psychology from Mount St. Vincent University.

Martina is looking forward to being a part of the B.A.S.S. Project, as a way of nurturing creative expression.


Mathilde Irrmann

Actress - France

Mathilde Irrmann is a French actress based in Berlin. She recently interpreted Vicky in the two seasons of the German series Bad banks

Mathilde studied acting at the Conservatoire d’art dramatique de Strasbourg and graduated 2014. Mathilde's extensive work in the French theatre scene includes authors like Molière, Marivaux, Beaumarchais with director Jacques Bachelier and TPH/HPD: Histrionic personality disorder, a self-directed show reflecting on the actor’s work. She also interpreted Juliet in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. After relocating to Berlin, she decided to experience acting in front of the camera. 2016 she played in the German TV movie A  summer in southern France (Ein Sommer in Südfrankreich). As a French women working in German and English mainly, languages have always been of major importance to her as they open new perspectives on the world and facilitate empathy for one an other.

2016 she started working behind the camera in documentaries and music videos. 2017 she directed her first short film Piensa en me. 2019 Mathilde contributed to the radio KCRW Berlin with her own stories. She is currently preparing a feature documentary about Balkan artists dealing with their traumatic experience from the war co-directing with Greg Blakey (Wedgetail). 

Now, in between acting, directing and her artistic works, Mathilde is continuing to explore various mediums to help focus attention towards issues and topics she believes are worth being discussed to find new ways to shape our future.


Max Solo

Guitar – Russia

Max Solo is an exceptional guitarist who combines so many different styles. Drawing on this wealth, he creates his own unmistakable way of playing.

The Russian-born Max Solo not only has a musical talent, but also speaks 4 foreign languages, including English, his native language Russian, German and Japanese.

Max Solo studied at the Moscow State University of Civil Engineering. He then completed a post-graduate degree at the Technical University of Berlin. Simultaneously with his studies in Moscow, he took a music course at the "May Lian's Guitar School" in Moscow.

He was a prizewinner at the Russian National Guitar Competition and won the 1st Prize at the Star FM Pop for Rock Contest in Berlin.

Max Solo has been involved in CD productions with Alexey Vitakov, Joana Zimmer, Stella Nova and Blind Bankers and others.

In addition to the music program at Aida Cruises, he has participated in various musical productions such as Hair, Rocky Horror Show, the Karl Marx Musical, We Will Rock You.

And he was and is represented at numerous festivals from the Carnival of Cultures to the Chiemsee Reggae Summer.


Miguel Pérez Iñesta

Conductor - SpainB

Always at home in theatrical or operatic contexts, Miguel Pérez Iñesta (Valladolid, Spanien, 1980) has worked with stage directors like Matthias Rebstock, Sabrina Hölzer, Iñigo Giner Miranda, Daniel Pfluger or Frederic Wake-Walker, conducting the Tonhalle Orchester Zürich, the Kammerakademie Potsdam, the Zafraan Ensemble, the AsianArt Ensemble, the Ensemble Kaleidoskop, the Andromeda Mega Express Orchestra and, most recently, the musicians of the Karajan Akademie der Berliner Philharmoniker or Munich Philharmonic. He has worked with the Bundes Jugendballet and has brought the Podium Festival Chamber Orchestra to important venues like the Luzern Festival, the Berliner Konzerthaus, the Radialsystem or the Pierre Boulez Saal. He is involved since 2019 in the beautiful Community Project “Musik schafft Perspektive”, conducting once a year a different education concert with the Kammerakademie Potsdam. He is Artist in Residence of the Munor Ensemble and the Harald Harfagre Kammerorchester in Haugesund, Norway.

Miguel studied clarinet, piano and ballet in Asturias and conducting at the Universidad de Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, before moving to Berlin, where he completed his studies at the Hanns Eisler Musikhochschule and at the Karajan Akademie of the Berliner Philharmoniker. There he had the opportunity to work closely with conductors like Sir Simon Rattle, Seiji Ozawa, Zubin Mehta, Bernard Haitink or Christian Thielemann. More recently he has received important musical impulses from Peter Eötvös and Titus Engel. Founding member and, between 2012 and 2017, artistic director of the Berlin based Zafraan Ensemble, Miguel has worked with the greatest composers of our time, such as Helmut Lachenmann, Hèctor Parra, Gyorgy Kurtág, Tristan Murail, Chaya Czernowin or Pierre Boulez.


Natalia Tsarikova

Singer Finland-Russia

From Saint Petersburg - now living in Helsinki.

Complete 5-year opera singing education in Milan- Italy

Ballads and songsinger


Natalie Plöger

Double Bass - Germany

Natalie Plöger studied classical double bass, instrumental pedagogy and school music at the Detmold University of Applied Sciences. During her studies she gained experience in various big bands and jazz pop formations. Today she is active in various musical styles: besides engagements in the field of orchestral, chamber and theater music (Orchestra Mozart, Detmold Chamber Orchestra, Ensemble Vinorosso, Berlin Music Ensemble, Volksbühne and others. ), she is a permanent member of the pop band ELAIZA, which participated for Germany in the Eurovison Song Contest in 2014 and received a gold record for its single "Is it right", as well as the Ladin-speaking band GANES from South Tyrol, which looks back on several years of concert activity throughout Europe.

Furthermore, Natalie Plöger is particularly interested in musical work with children, which is characterized by her involvement in Hangarmusik, an orchestra project for refugee children at Tempelhofer Feld, and many years of teaching.

 


Olga Holdorff-Myriangou

Violin- Greece-Germany

Olga Holdorff-Myriangou is the daughter of Chios architect and town planer Stella Holdorff-Myriangou and German architect Burkhard Holdorff. She had her first courses of violin at the age of four, received the German national scholarship for preparatory studies at the age of 14 and went on to graduate as an educator and violinist from the Berlin University of Arts (UdK Berlin) and the University of Music and Theatre of Leipzig “Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy”. She has performed, among others, in the State Orchestra Theatre of Braunschweig, the Komische Oper Berlin, Staatsoper Hannover and performed regularly at the Infektion Festival of the Berlin State Opera, and with the Symphony Orchestra Berliner Symphoniker, as well as with various chamber music ensembles, such as the Ensemble Modern (Paxos Summer Academy) and the Ensemble Lux:nm. She has taught music for the Barenboim-Said-Foundation in Palestine and for “El Sistema” in Venezuela, where she also gave seminars and concerts, with the support of Deutscher Musikrat and Goethe-Institute. In 2011, Olga Holdorff-Myriangou founded the Berlin Music Ensemble (berlin-music-ensemble.com), specializing in recordings, which received the Quarterly Critics’ Choice from the renowned German Record Critics Award (Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik) in 2018.

 


Olvido Ruiz

Singer Cuba

Olvido Ruiz Castellanos is a singer and recording artist from Havana, Cuba. She began her career with her mother, the famous singer Jaqueline Castellanos (a.k.a. La Dama del Son), and made her debut on Cuban television at the age of five. She began her formal musical training at the age of 8 at the National Academy of Arts and Music (Paulita Conception), studying violin, piano and choral conducting.
Olvido became the youngest member and lead singer of the well-known female band Azucar, which won the award as Cuba's most popular band on Cuban national television and toured internationally throughout Latin America. During her time in Cuba, she participated in several albums directed by Maestro Joaquin Betacourt and other Cuban producers in collaboration with the Cuban record company EGREM.
Olvido Ruiz moved from Havana to Barcelona and performed in numerous concerts and festivals throughout Europe, including with the legendary singer Celia Cruz and the Afro Cuban All Stars.
The new version with Olvido's interpretation of the Buena Vista Social Club song Chan Chan became a great success and the music video went around the world... g
Olvido Ruiz, along with Grammy nominees Klazz Brothers, formed the Cuba Nova project, which led to the release of the album Agua by Sony BMG and worldwide tours.
She was invited by one of Germany's best-known hip-hop groups Die Fantastischen Vier to be a special guest at an MTV Unplugged concert, which included the release of a corresponding DVD.
She became the lead singer of the show Caribbean Cocktail directed by Rey Rodriguez and toured Europe.
She collaborated with funk legend Bootsy Collins, for whom she recorded her composition Siento Bombo, which was released on his album The Funk Capital of the World. "
With Cuban pianist Lazara Cachao had recorded a new album Perlas de Cuba. She is regularly invited as a soloist and tours with various artists such as Marialy Pacheco, the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra, the Lithuania Philharmonic Orchestra the Duisburg Philharmonic Orchestra.... 
Olvido is gifted with a fantastic voice and a unique stage presence and is a passionate singer. She fascinates the audience. Her feeling and talent allows her to adapt to any style of music, from classical music to salsa, jazz, pop, rock, funk, dance music and Latin jazz.
 


Owen ‘O’Sound’ Lee

Singer-Canada

Owen 'O'Sound' Lee is an artist, musician, songwriter, vocal arranger and producer from Toronto, Ontario. Owen grew up singing in church, and after studying vocal performance he studdierd jazz at York University. Owen has shared the stage and performed with numerous critically acclaimed artists

Owen expanded his musical reach to the east coast of Canada when he relocated to Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Owen has received numerous awards and nominations. Most recently, he was named the 2022 Songwriter of the Year by the African Nova Scotian Music Association. He was nominated for African Canadian Artist of the Year in 2021 for both Music Nova Scotia and the East Coast Music Association, and for Hip-Hop Recording of the Year for the East Coast Music Association.

O'Sound is also the touring keyboardist for Classified and has toured Canada extensively with the platinum-selling artist/producer.

In September 2022, Owen was honored with the late Queen Elizabeth's Platinum Jubilee Medal for exceptional service to the arts, community service and volunteerism.


Sarah and Susan Wang

Piano Duo - USA

Taiwanese-American twin sisters Susan and Sarah Wang are an internationally renowned piano duo team. Originally from the New York City area, they have appeared numerous times in concert in Weill Recital Hall, Alice Tully Hall, and Steinway Hall in New York City. Currently the sisters are living in Germany and actively performing world-wide as a piano duo team as well as teaching and performing solo and chamber music.

Susan and Sarah are recent prizewinners in the prestigious ARD International Two Piano Competition in Munich 2010. The sisters won 2nd prize in the world-renowned Murray Dranoff International Two Piano Competition in 2008. In addition, the sisters hold third prize in the Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy Preis in Berlin in 2009, third place in the 4th International Piano Duos Competition in Bialystok, Poland in 2008, and second prize in the Ellis National Duo Competition in the United States.

Orchestral performances include the Bayerischer Rundfunk Orchestra in Munich as well as with the Munich Rundfunk Orchestra, the Norddeutscher Philharmonic Orchestra in Rostock, the Atlantic Classical Orchestra, the Florida Classical Symphony Orchestra, and the University of Michigan Symphony under Kenneth Kiesler.

The twin sisters were born and raised in Ridgewood, NJ. They began piano and violin studies at the age of seven. They studied piano with Dmitry Rachmanov at the Manhattan School of Music Preparatory Division. Susan and Sarah both attended the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, where they received their Bachelor degrees in piano performance under the tutelage of Professor Louis Nagel. In 2007 they each completed their Masters degree in piano solo at Manhattan School of Music with Dr. Marc Silverman.

The sisters successfully completed their Konzert Exam studies at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Rostock, Germany in 2012 with Professors Hans-Peter and Volker Stenzl. They currently hold teaching positions in public and private schools in Rostock, Schwerin and Berlin.

Susan and Sarah have given outreach performance programs in the states of California, Florida, Michigan, New Jersey, and New York as well as in many cities in Germany.


Scott Ferguson

Drums -Studio Owner Canada

Picture this… It’s 1968 in a remote fishing village in eastern Canada. A six year old boy comes home from an afternoon jigging tommy cods on the wharf. He carefully drops the needle on “Rubber Soul”, his parents only Beatles album, adjusts his headphones and starts jamming to Ringo on his toy tin drum. These are the humble beginnings of what has become a great musical adventure. After a string of school concert bands, a Diploma in Jazz Studies and a Bachelor of Music from St. Francis Xavier University, Scott Ferguson has gone on to live his musical dreams. In the early 80’s Scott focused on his jazz passion studying with renowned drum teacher Jim Blackley in Toronto and performing with such greats as Oliver Jones, Peter Appleyard and Dave Young. Settling in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Scott broadened his stylistic scope and in 1992 embarked on a seven year tenure touring and recording with “The Rankin Family”. After hundreds of concerts in Canada, The United States, The U.K. and Australia Scott started pursuing his interest in studio production. Fueled by his work with legendary Nashville producers George Massenberg and John Jennings on the Rankin CDs “Uprooted” and “Endless Seasons”, Scott started “Ferguson Music Productions Inc.

 


Shivani Dhunna

Actress-Model Canada

Actress-Model

 

 


Solitha Shortte

Coach, Model