BORIS ALLAKHVERDYAN, clarinet
Born in Baku, Azerbaijan of Armenian descent, Boris Allakhverdyan started taking clarinet lessons from his father at the age of 9, shortly after his family moved to Russia. He graduated from the Tchaikovsky Moscow Conservatory with a Bachelor of Music Degree with honors in 2006. Boris graduated from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music with an Artist Diploma Degree in 2008. Currently, he is pursuing his Master of Music Degree at the Cleveland Institute of Music, studying with Franklin Cohen. His previous teachers include Richard Hawkins, Rafael Bagdasarian and Valery Allakhverdyan.
A first-prize winner of the Hellam Competition, the Tuesday Musical Competition and the Oberlin Concerto Competition, Mr. Allakhverdyan appeared as a soloist with the Springfield Symphony Orchestra, the Kremlin Chamber Orchestra and the Oberlin Chamber Orchestra. He participated in the Lucerne Festival Academy (under the direction of Pierre Boulez), the Mecklenburg-Vorpommen Festival in Germany, the Emilia Romagna Music Festival in Italy and the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival (Yale Summer School of Music). In 2008 he was appointed Principal clarinet for the Colorado Music Festival Orchestra, under the direction of Michael Christie. Mr. Allakhverdyan has performed as a soloist and with orchestras in Russia, Germany, Denmark, Venezuela, Italy, Switzerland and the United States of America.
DAVID BOGORAD, violin/viola
Danish/American violinist David Bogorad began his violin studies at the age of 5 at the local music school in town of Alleroed, Denmark. He has since then performed as soloist with various orchestras in both Denmark and the USA. David has also played several recitals at numerous festivals including the Copenhagen Summer Festival and the Frederiksvaerk Music Festival. He had his debut with the National Danish Radio Symphony in 2005 with Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto.
David received his Bachelor of Music from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music under the tutelage of Professor Milan Vitek. His previous teachers include Odin Rathnam, Kurt Nikkanen, Oessur Baek, Shannon Hawes and Anker Buch.
David Bogorad is a recipient of several awards and prizes at numerous competitions including 1st prize in the Jacob Gade violin competition twice (2000, 2002), 2nd prize and special award in the Oeresund Soloist competition (2005, 2007), 3rd Prize in the National Danish String Competition (2007) and 2nd prize in the Sorantin Competition (2007). In 2008 he received the Kaufmann Prize from the Oberlin Conservatory for outstanding studies in violin. David has participated in various master classes and summer programs in Denmark, Czech Republic, USA and England with e.g. Nikolaj Znaider, Gil Shaham, Aaron Rosand, Gyorgy Pauk, Sally Thomas, Jerrold Rubinstein, Odin Rathnam, Eszter Haffner, Christina Aastrand, Lars Bjoernkjaer and Anker Buch.
Mr. Bogorad plays a 1627 Amati violin that was offered to him in 2008 by the Augustinus Foundation.
ANASTASIA DEDIK, piano
Russian pianist Anastasia Dedik began her piano studies with her mother at age 5. She graduated from the St. Petersburg Conservatory with the Bachelor and Masters Degrees in 2004, studying with Professors Elena Shishko and Valery Vishnevsky. In 2006 Ms. Dedik earned the Artist Diploma at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, studying with Professor Sedmara Z. Rutstein. Anastasia Dedik has performed as soloist and featured pianist with orchestras in Russia, Germany, Italy, Greece, Slovakia, Poland, Finland, Estonia, Holland, and the United States.
Her 2007-08 concert season included three performances at Carnegie Hall (Weill Hall), a performance at the Bechstein Salon in New York for broadcast on ABC, a recital and master class at the University of South Dakota (Sioux Falls), and solo recitals in Italy, Germany, and Russia.
Ms. Dedik’s début solo album was released in February, 2008 (GPM Records, Recco, Italy).
Anastasia is a first-prize winner of the 2005 Russian International Piano Competition (San Jose, California), the 2006 Lee Biennial Piano Competition (Sioux Falls, South Dakota), the 2006 Rovero d’Oro International Piano Competition (San Bartolomeo, Italy), the Buono and Bradshaw International Piano Competition (New York, 2007) and the Asti International Piano Competition (Asti, Italy).
Ms. Dedik was invited to take part and perform at the Petrouchka Ball, a traditional Russian ball held annually in New York City. It is a major fundraising event for Russian orphans, which last year featured famous artists including Anna Netrebko, Dmitri Hvorostovsky and Maria Butyrskaya.