Piano

GIACOMO BATTARINO (Italy)

Piano Professor at the “G.Verdi” Conservatory of Music in Milan, Italy.
Acclaimed for his "explosive personality" (Il Giornale) and his "striking maturity" (Corriere della Sera), he performed in all major Italian cities (Rome, Milan, Bologna, Turin, Genoa, Bari..) and abroad (Austria, France, Romania, Poland, Lithuania, Switzerland, Slovenia, Germany, Serbia and Montenegro, and USA). Soloist with orchestras: J. Ch. Bach of Genoa, Italy, P. Constantinescu Symphony Orchestra of Ploiesti, Rumania, and the Americans Oberlin Chamber Orchestra, Firelands Symphony Orchestra and Perrysburg Symphony Orchestra. Conductors: A. Gambula, I. Ionescu-Galati, G. Young, J. Santos-Perez. Prizewinner Rina Sala Gallo, Monza, Los Angeles Liszt Competition, E. Porrino, Cagliari and ten more piano competitions.
Recordings: DeVega, Philarmonia. Vocal coach at the Mozarteum Summerfestival in Salzburg and at the Shandong University, China. Formerly piano collaborator and then teacher at the Casalmaggiore International Festival since the first edition, 1997.

Piano

MEGUMI MASAKI (Canada)

Award-winning pianist Megumi Masaki has established herself as an international artist renowned for her warmth and rapport with audiences and her superb musicianship. Her multi-faceted career as acclaimed soloist, chamber musician, champion of Contemporary music, teacher, conductor and multidisciplinary researcher has taken her across Canada, the USA, Europe and Asia.

Her collaborations include partnerships with Koh Gabriel Kameda, Oleg Pokhanovski, Thomas Wiebe, Shauna Rolston, Yuri Hooker, Hartmut Brauer and The Penderecki Quartet. She made her film debut in “Appassionata: The Extraordinary Life and Works of Eckhardt-Gramatté” for CBC's Opening Night in 2006. She is the Artistic Director of the Eckhardt-Gramatté National Competition, the International Virtuosi Concert Series in Frankfurt Germany and the annual Waterford Summer Music Festival in Utah.

Megumi has received numerous awards from the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada Government, Canada Council, Manitoba Arts Council, and British Council. She was awarded the Willi-Daume Prize NOK Deutschland for her multidisciplinary project “Music and the Olympic Games” for the 2002 Winter Olympics. Her research in Peak Performance and the training of Elite Athletes has resulted in her method “Training Pianists as Athletes: A Basic Training Method for Optimal Performance”.

Megumi studied with Leonard Isaacs, Ronald Turini, Rudolf Kehrer and Kendall Taylor. She is presently Associate Professor of Piano at Brandon University.

Piano

SEDMARA ZAKARIAN RUTSTEIN (Russia/USA)

Tenured Professor, Oberlin College Conservatory of Music. Competitions winner. Former Faculty, Leningrad, USSR, State Conservatory.
Solo recitals, performances with the chamber groups and orchestras in USA, Europe, and Asia.
Master classes throughout USA, China, Hong Kong, Europe and Russia. 12 solo record albums made with a number of the US and Russian record companies. Critical acclaims include The New York Times, Washington Post, Fanfare and Ovation Magazines, among many others.
Extensive repertoire includes works of all major European, American, and Russian composers.
Ms. Rutstein's numerous national and international competitions prize winning students are successfully pursuing their careers as performers and Piano Faculty members at various Universities and Conservatories.

Violin

TARAS GABORA (Canada/USA)

Professor Violin, Oberlin Conservatory, Vancouver Academy of Music; formerly Montreal Conservatory, McGill University, St. Louis Conservatory. Master classes and performances: USA, Canada, Italy, Greece, Japan, Korea and China. Serves on juries of international competitions (Tchaikovsky Competition, Moscow 2002 / Paganini Competition 1989, 1996, 2001 / Sarasate Competition 1997, 2003 / Ifrah Neaman International Violin Competition, Mainz, Germany 1999). Teachers: Yury Yankelevich (Moscow), Szymon Goldberg, Henryk Szeryng, Ernst Morawec (Vienna). Graduate, Vienna Academy of Music. Recordings: Tirreno, CBC, LoveLied.

Violin

DENISE LUPIEN (Canada)

Concertmaster Emeritus of the Orchestre Métropolitain de Montréal, Denise
Lupien enjoyed a very active musical career as chamber musician and
soloist.
After winning first prize in the CBC Competition, and second Prize in the
Montreal Symphony Orchestra Competition in 1974, she appeared as soloist
with the Orchestre Métropolitain, the McGill Chamber Orchestra, the
Montreal Symphony Orchestra, and the Maracaibo Symphony Orchestra (in
Venezuela).
In 1979, she founded the Morency String Quartet, and for over fifteen years
was a member of the Société de Musique Contemporaine du Québec.
She holds a master's degree from the New-York Julliard School of Music
where she studied with Ivan Galamian, Dorothy Delay, and Ruggiero Ricci.
She coached the Jeunesses Musicales World Orchestra (in Spain, Canada,
Switzerland and Taiwan).
Denise Lupien currently teaches at McGill University (Montréal).

Violin

ANNE SHIH (Germany/Canada)

Professor of Violin, Musikhochschule in Rheinland-Pfalz, Uni-Mainz, Germany. Formerly, Professor of Violin, Oberlin Conservatory and the Lawrence University Conservatory of Music. Co-founder of the Wisconsin Virtuosi Artist Series in the USA. Artistic Director of Music in Norfolk in the UK. Student and assistant of Josef Gingold, Indiana University. Teaches and performs at numerous international Festivals, including the International Beethovenfest in Bonn, Casalmaggiore International Festival, Euro and Auer Festivals. Masterclasses throughout Europe, Asia and North America. Performances and master classes on violin, viola and piano throughout Europe, North America and the Far East. International jurist. Performs on a 1711 Guarnerius Joseph filius Andreae violin, also known as the ex -Wurlitzer.

Violin

FANG YUAN (China)

One of China¹s leading soloists and teachers in China today, Fang Yuan has performed with numerous orchestras including the China National Symphony Orchestra, Sarajevo Philharmonic, China Opera Orchestra, China Lanzhou Symphony and has performed in Beijing, Shanghai, Tokyo, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Sydney, Cleveland, Vancouver, Paris, Macau. He is a prizewinner of numerous national and international competitions. He is a graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music where he studied with Taras Gabora.

Viola and Chamber Music Coordination

ROGER CHASE (United Kingdom/USA)

Professor at Roosevelt University, Chicago, formerly Oberlin Conservatory, Royal College of Music, the Guildhall School (London) and the Royal Northern College of Music. Performed as soloist or chamber musician in major cities throughout the world. Has been invited to play as a principal viola with every major British orchestra and many others in North America and Europe, including the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. Teachers: Bernard Shore (Royal College of Music), Steven Staryk, Lionel Tertis. Recordings: EMI, CRD, Hyperion, Cala, Virgin, Floating Earth Records.

Cello

MELISSA PHELPS (United Kingdom)

Melissa Phelps has demonstrated a wide range of musical interests throughout her career. Described by the Guardian as 'one of the most talented 'cellists of her generation', she has played throughout the world as soloist, recitalist and chamber
musician and is a highly respected teacher. She has played 'concertos with the London Sinfonietta, the Bournemouth and BBC Welsh Symphony Orchestras, recitals and chamber music at many international festivals, including Edinburgh,
Cheltenham, Bath, Kuhmo, Maggio Musicale and the International Musicians Seminar in Cornwall. Her chamber music collaborations have included performances with Sandor Vegh, Salvatore Accardo, Bruno Giuranna and Thomas Zehetmair. She has given recitals in all the main London concert halls and recorded for BBC radio and television.

Melissa Phelps has taught at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and the Conservatory of Amsterdam, she is currently a professor at the Royal College of Music. She also taught for many years at the Yehudi Menuhin School where several of her students won major prizes. Her own teachers were Joan Dickson and Paul Tortelier and other major influences have been Johannes Goritzki, William Pleeth, Sandor Vegh and the late Jacqueline du Pre who was a close friend. She played in her masterclasses recorded for the BBC.

Melissa Phelps has premiered many new works including pieces by Witold Lutoslawski, Mark Anthony Turnage and Michael Nyman. She has recorded for Decca, ASV, Meridian and Teldec winning a 'Best Chamber Music Record of the Year Award'.
She plays on a 'cello by Francesco Goffriller, made in Venice in 1723.

Voice

JEAN MacPHAIL (Canada)

Born and trained in Canada, Miss MacPhail has also performed and studied abroad in the United States, England and Italy. Her Professors were Robert Weede, Vera Rosza, Luigi Ricci, Daniel Ferro and Irene Jessner. She has performed for the BBC, the CBC, the English National Opera, the Canadian Opera Company as well as the TSO, the NAC and the Calgary Philharmonic.
Her students have been winners of the Metropolitan Opera Auditions, The Marlyn Horne Competition, the Operalia Competition, the Jeunes Ambassadeurs Lyriques, and the George London Competition.  They have also performed  with the Metropolitan Opera, the San Francisco Opera, the Chicago Lyric Opera, La Scala, Covent Garden, the Opera de Montreal and the Canadian Opera Company. They have sung at the Merola Program and the Ravinia Festival.
Miss MacPhail is a Professor in Voice Studies at the University of Toronto and the Glenn Gould Program. She also has a private Voice Studio. Miss MacPhail was the founding President of the Ontario Chapter of the National Association of Teachers of Singing. In the summer of 2008 Miss MacPhail will teach at the Casalmaggiore Festival in Italy.
A lecturer on Voice Studies and Opera, and a panelist on the Metropolitan Opera Broadcast on CBC, and a Judge on the Metropolitan Opera Competition, Miss MacPhail has also adjudicated and contributed to the initial program of the Glenn Gould School in Toronto.