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Julia Bushkova, violin, from a family of renowned violinists in Moscow, began her study of the violin at five and made her concert debut at fifteen in Poland.  She graduated from Moscow Conservatory where she studied with Professor I. Bezrodny, after which Ms. Bushkova performed extensively in Hungary, Poland, Bulgaria, and the former USSR, and taught at the Gnesin Institute of Music in Moscow.  Since her arrival in the US Ms. Bushkova has appeared as a concert soloist throughout the US, Germany and the United Kingdom, and has performed on radio and television stations nationwide, including NPR’s Performance Today.  Ms. Bushkova has presented master classes throughout the US, in Germany, the UK, Bulgaria and Chile, where she served on the jury of the Luis Sigall International Violin Competition.  Ms. Bushkova is currently on the faculty of the Interlochen Center of the Arts, teaching young violinists from all over the world who have then gone on to attend the finest music conservatories.

Carter Enyeart, cello, since graduation from the Eastman School, has enjoyed a varied and distinguished musical career.  He has been a member of many American orchestras, and was principal cellist of the Dallas Opera.  He was a member of the Philadelphia String Quartet, the American Piano Trio, and since 1989 he has been the associate artistic director of the Chamber Music Society of Fort Worth.  He has been on the faculties of Ball State University, Northwestern University, and the University of North Texas, and is now at the Rose Ann Carr Millsap/Missourri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music, where he is also coordinator of string chamber music. He has performed in North and South America, Europe, and Asia.  He recently recorded a CD for Centaur.

Arnold Gregorian, double bass, was educated at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore.  After studying there with John Mathews, Mr. Gregorian was engaged as assistant principal bass of the Dallas Symphony.  During his five-year tenure in Dallas he was featured in a recording of Gunther Schuller’s Quartet for Double Basses on Turnabout Records.  His chamber music studies were pursued at Kneisel Hall in Blue Hill, Maine with Lillian Fuchs.  In 1972 he became a member of the Baltimore Symphony.  A frequent recitalist and soloist, Mr. Gregorian has transcribed many works for the solo double bass and small ensemble.  He made his New York solo debut in 1985 at Carnegie Hall.  He is currently an active member of Arts Excel, presenting music of the double bass to school-age children in the Baltimore area.

Gudny Gudmundsdottir, violin, studied at the Reykjavik College of Music, Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, Royal College of Music in London, and the Juilliard School in New York.  Her violin teachers were Bjorn Olafsson, Carroll Glenn, and Dorothy DeLay, and she studied chamber music with John Celentano, Felix Galimir, and Robert Mann.  Gudny has been the concertmaster of the Iceland Symphony Orchestra since 1974.  During this time she has been highly active as a soloist and in chamber music, both at home and abroad.  Besides Europe and the US, she has performed in Israel, Japan, China, and Mexico.  Gudny has for years taught at the Reykjavik College of Music and brought up a new generation of violinists, some of whom have done exceedingly well in international competitions.  She was awarded the DV cultural prize in 1991, and in 1989 she was awarded the Knight’s Cross of the Icelandic Order of the Falcon for her work in music.

Eugenia Monacelli, piano, graduated from the Mannes College of Music and the Accademia di Santa Cecilia where she studied with Nadia Reisenber and Carlo Zechi.  She was a Fulbright Scholar and won 1st prize at both the Viotti (Italy) and Chopin International (Spain) competitions.  She has toured Europe, North and South America, and the Far East and has appeared with many orchestras worldwide, including the New York Philharmonic, the Salzburg Chamber Orchestra, and the RAI Orchestra of Turin.

Amy Oshiro, violin, a member of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, began playing violin at the age of three.  Prior to accepting a position in St. Louis, she was studying at the Juilliard School under Robert Mann, former first violin with the Juilliard String Quartet.  Ms. Oshiro has also studied with Professors Roland and Almita Vamos and Myron Kartman and is a graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory.  She has also served as assistant concertmaster of Chicago’s Grant Park Symphony Orchestra, associate concertmaster of the Colorado Symphony Orchestra, concertmaster of the Pacific Music Festival Orchestra in Japan (under conductors Michael Tilson-Thomas and Yutaka Sado), and concertmaster of the Juilliard Symphony Orchestra.  She has appeared as a soloist with many ensembles, and is the recipient of numerous awards, including first prize in the 1995 Robert Mondavi International Competition for Strings.  In addition, Ms. Oshiro was the only American semi-finalist at the 1995 Sibelius International Violin Competition in Helsinki, Finland.

Almita Vamos, violin, is a graduate of the Juilliard School (as a student of M. Mischakoff and L. Persinger).  She has performed and recorded as soloist and chamber musician throughout the US, Mexico, and Asia.  She and her sister, Eugenia Monacelli, received rave reviews for their two Carnegie Recital Hall concerts.  Her success as a teacher is attested to by the accompluishments of her students, who have been winners in many national and international competitions, and hold positions in major orchestras all over the world.  She is professor of Violin at the Oberlin Conservatory, the Music Institute of Chicago, and Northwestern University.

Roland Vamos, violin and viola, a graduate of the Juilliard School (as a student of Oscar Shumsky and William Lincer), is known as an orchestral conductor, violinist/violist, and teacher.  He has recorded extensively and has appeared as conductor and soloist in Asia, Europe, and the US.  He is currently Professor of Violin and Viola at Oberlin Conservatory of Music, the Music Institute of Chicago, and Northwestern Chicago.  Mr. and Mrs. Vamos’ students have appeared with major symphony orchestras here and abroad, and have won important national and international competitions, including the Tchaikovsky, Paganini, Carl Flesch, Lexus, Sibelius, Nielsen, Naumburg, International Bach, Szigeti, Kreisler, Tibor Varga St. Louis, Stuhlberg, and IM Klein Competition.  Mr. and Mrs. Vamos were awarded the 1995 Northern Ohio Live Award in the field of education, and the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts granted them the 1996 Coca-Cola Foundation Distinguished Teacher in the Arts Award.  They were also featured on the CBS Television program ‘Sunday Morning.’

Velitchka Yotcheva, cello, was born in Bulgaria and began her studies at the age of five.  At 17 she was accepted at the Moscow State Conservatory “Piotr I. Tchaikovsky,” where she studied with Marina Tchaikovskaya and later under the direction of Professor Valentin Feigin, and in quartet classes with cellist Alexander Korchagin, a member of the Shostakovich Quartet.  In 1992 she received a Master of Arts diploma from the Moscow State Conservatory.  Winner of two national competitions in Bulgaria, she also earned the second prize of the First International Competition of the Orford Center of Arts in 1996.  She recently obtained her DMA at the University of Montreal, under the direction of Yuli Turovsky.  Mrs. Yotcheva has given many concerts in France, Russia, Bulgaria, Canada, and the US.  She has performed as a chamber musician with the Rachmaninoff Trio and as a soloist with various orchestras.  She has conducted a Master Class at Lawrence University in Wisconsin, and in August 2000 Mrs. Yotcheva, as a member of the Rachmaninoff Trio, was invited as a resident artist at the International School of Music Arts, where she taught cello and chamber music and performed numerous concerts at the Niagara International Chamber Music Festival.  Her marked interest for chamber music has led Velitchka Yotcheva to co-found the Montreal Chamber Music Society of which she is artistic director.  

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