INSTRUMENTAL COMPETITION JUDGES
Gregory Cherninsky is a former Principal Conductor of the Symphony Orchestra at the famous Stolarsky Special High School of Odessa (Ukraine); founding Music Director of the Odessa Chamber Orchestra. In 1986 the First prize Winner at the National Competition of Chamber Orchestras. Guest conductor of numerous orchestras.
Gregory Cherninsky was born in Odessa, Ukraine. After graduating musical college, he studied conducting and music theory at the Conservatory of Odessa, Ukraine. Mr. Cherninsky started his professional career as Music Director and Conductor of the Odessa’s Boys Chorus. In 1977 he gathered together well-known musicians in Odessa to create the Chamber Orchestra of Odessa. He was conductor of the orchestra for 11 years. During this time the Chamber Orchestra of Odessa won first prize at the National Competition of Chambers Orchestras. As a result, it performed numerous concerts all over the former Soviet Union. In 1982 Mr. Cherninsky became conductor of the Odessa Philharmonic Orchestra and was appointed Principal Conductor of the Symphony Orchestra at Stolarsky Special High School. Together with the Chamber Orchestra of Odessa, Gregory Cherninsky participated in many Chamber Music Festivals, such as “White Nights,” St. Petersburg, (Russia); “Komitas,” Yerevan, (Armenia); and “White Acacia,” Odessa, (Ukraine).
In 1988 Gregory Cherninsky emigrated to the United States with his family. He now lives in Los Angeles, California. In 2001 he joined “The David Nowakowsky Foundation” and served as a Director and Conductor of “The David Nowakowsky International Music Festival.” Cherninsky still works as an editor of the David Nowakowsky archives, editing and arranging the composer’s manuscripts for publications and/or performance. In 2003, Mr. Cherninsky founded the Beverly Hills International Music Festival and Master Classes. As a Music Director and Founder of the BHIMF, he devoted all his time to this event. He is currently President of the DMG Music Association, Inc.
Dr. Svetlana Transky was born in the former Soviet Union and is a graduate of the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music. Svetlana obtained a Masters and a Doctoral Degree in Musical Arts with a major in Piano Performance as well as a minor in Keyboard Collaborative Arts and Music Education. She studied with the renowned piano professor Daniel Pollack and was a recipient of the prestigious John Crown Memorial Music Award in Keyboard Studies.
In 2005 Dr. Svetlana Transky was a prizewinner in the International Piano Competition of the International Summer Academy of Music in Michelstadt, Germany. She is also a winner of the Los Angeles Liszt Piano Competition, and a finalist of the Missouri Southern International Piano Competition.
In addition to concertizing as a piano soloist throughout Europe and the United States, Dr. Transky often collaborates with various chamber ensembles and vocalists for performances. She has performed for Sundays Live – KUSC Radio program from LACMA and was a recording pianist for PBS-NOVA movie special “Darwin’s Darkest Hour” shown on KCET. Dr. Transky is a creative director, lecturer and a performer in a “Great Composers and Performers” series for Unity in Diversity Arts Foundation. Dr. Svetlana Transky has a successful piano teaching studio and is currently on the piano faculty of the Evergreen Music Conservatory. Many of Dr.Transky’s students are winners of various competitions and music festivals and several go on to become professional musicians.
Dr. Angela Cholakyan is an international concert pianist and teacher. Born and raised in Russia, she was trained in the best traditions of Moscow School of piano performance. At the age of 13, she had her orchestra debut performing Liszt’s Piano Concerto #1 in E-flat Major with the State Symphony Orchestra. From her first professional engagements and throughout her career, Dr. Cholakyan remained passionate for bringing new works of contemporary composers to life. During her time at Tchaikovsky School for Gifted Children, she worked closely with many celebrated as well as young composers, premiering and recording their music. The Composers’ Union of Armenia highly acclaimed Angela Cholakyan and named her the most popular young performer of contemporary music.
At Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory, Ms. Cholakyan studied with Professor Yevgeni Malinin, a student and assistant of legendary Heinrich Neuhaus. She was a laureate in the Zakavkazski and Vsesoyuzni Piano Competitions in the former Soviet Union. Dr. Cholakyan graduated from Moscow Conservatory with honors, and performed multiple solo and chamber recitals in the Soviet Union and abroad. In 1988, Angela Cholakyan immigrated to the United States. In 1993, she became a laureate of the International Piano Competition in Florida, and in 1998, she founded Tchaikovsky Music Academy in Los Angeles, California.
Ms. Cholakyan received her Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Southern California, where she is currently completing the Artist Diploma performance program. She won first prize in the prestigious Concerto Competition at Thornton School of Music. At USC, Dr. Cholakyan studied with Professor Norman Krieger, simultaneously working as his assistant. For outstanding achievement during her tenure at USC, Ms. Cholakyan was honored with the two highest Thornton School of Music awards: ‘Outstanding Doctoral Class of 2009’ from the keyboard department and ‘Outstanding Doctoral Class of 2009’ from Thornton School of Music. She was a recipient of the Sima Mannick Endowed Music Scholar, Adele Marcus Foundation Music Scholarship, USC Friends of Armenian Music Scholarship, and the Harley Hamilton Endowed Music Scholarship.
Over the past few years Dr. Cholakyan’s performance and teaching career have grown, both nationally and internationally. Among the highlights are performances of Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto #1 in B-flat minor with the Thornton Symphony and celebrated conductor Carl St.Clair; Olivier Messiaen’s Oiseaux Exotiques with the Thornton Wind and Percussion Ensemble and Dr. Larry Livingston; lecture-recitals dedicated to piano compositions of two great composers, Arno Babajanian and Peter Tchaikovsky; performances at the Hawaii Performing Arts Festival, solo and chamber ensemble performances in the Chopin Festival and LACMA’s Sundays Live, performance of Chopin Concerto #2 with san Bernardino Symphony; multiple broadcasts at much respected radio station KUSC, premiers of works of contemporary composers, and numerous concert tours, lectures and master classes in China.
Graduate of the famed Leningrad Conservatoire, the pianist Sofia Kashper has had a distinguished 30-year-long career in the Soviet Union as a chamber music performer, accompanist, and a teacher. She had appeared in hundreds of concerts with the country’s leading singers and instrumentalists. Many of her students had won numerous prizes in the most prestigious international competitions.
Since coming to the United States in 1979, Professor Sofia Kashper continued being active in Southern California as an accompanist of choice and the most sought-after pedagogue. She has won praise and admiration of many of the area’s highly respected teachers and performers.
Diana Volman was born in Moldova and holds a Master Degree in Piano Performance from the Moldova State Conservatory of Music. She is a winner of the sixth international Tchurlyonis competition and the first prize winner of the Rachmaninoff All-State competition. She studied with such eminent teachers as Dmitry Bashkirov, Yevgeny Shenderovich and Vitaly Margulis.
In 1990 she immigrated to Los Angeles, where she has taken an active role in the cultural life of the community. As an accompanist , solo performer and chamber music collaborator, she has played thousands of concerts in such venues as Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, The Thousand Oaks Civic Auditorium, Orange County Center for the Performing Arts and the San Gabriel Auditorium. Mrs. Volman has received numerous recognitions from the City of West Hollywood for her participation in the cultural life of the Russian Community, among them is The Role Model of the Year 2011. She also established herself as a successful piano teacher – her students have been winners of many competitions.
VOCAL COMPETITION JUDGES
Oleg Vidov was born in the suburbs of Moscow on 11 June 1943 to Varvara Vidova, a teacher, and Boris Nikolaievich Garnevich, an economist. As a child he lived with his mother, who worked for the Soviet government in the field of education in Mongolia and East Germany. When his mother was sent to China on assignment, he went to live with his aunt Anuta in Kazakstan. Eventually he moved with his mother and aunt to Moscow. At 18, competing against hundreds of would-be actors, he was accepted to the acting department of the state film school VGIK.
Oleg appeared in 50 films since 1961, mostly in starring roles. He was a sex symbol of his generation in Russia, and many of his films are still played on Russian television today. Here his credits include “Red Heat,” “Wild Orchid,” and “Thirteen Days.”
In 1985, he defected to the U.S. and began acting in films and television there. Oleg and his wife obtained international distribution rights to the award-winning Soyuzmultfilm Studio animation library in 1992 and helped popularize Russian animation around the world. Together they produced numerous series based on animation they digitally restored from the Soyuzmultfilm animation library including “Animated Classic Showcase,” “Mikhail Baryshnikov’s Stories from My Childhood,” “Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book,” “Masters of Russian Animation,” “The Adventures of Cheburashka and Friends,” and “Animated Soviet Propaganda.” In 2007 they sold the library to a Russian oligarch.
Born and raised in the former Soviet Union, Zinovy Shersher began his artistic life in his early youth. Already attending music school, he began to study art at the age of 9. Once he had finished high school, Shersher began his studies at the University of Fine Arts in the city of Kursk. After being awarded the Master of Arts degree in 1970, he enrolled in the College of Music, graduating in 1976.
In 1972 Shersher moved to Moscow, where he unofficially began his career in visual arts. Since he refused to paint politically-related images, such as portraits of Soviet political leaders, the Soviet authorities would not allow Shersher to exhibit his art to the public. With the help of his friends, he showed his works of art in underground exhibitions, in secrecy from the authorities. Regardless of the obstacles on the path of his artistic career, Shersher did not give up his creativity and continued to work in both visual arts and in music.
Upon arrival in the United States, Shersher enrolled in New York’s prestigious School of Visual Arts. It was not long before his art was flourishing with his new found freedom and began to receive critical acclaim in one-person and group shows in New York galleries.
A composer as well as a painter, Shersher creates lyrical paintings which merge the emotional and intellectual into melodic images of passionate tranquility. Strong feelings for movement, expressed with curvilinear lines and cubist sensibilities, form a counterpoint to the artist’s peaceful and harmonious themes.
In 1992, Shersher was commissioned to create stained glass windows for the Russian Chabbad Synagogue in Los Angeles. In windows, in his own style, he created historical compositions of Moses, first Temple, God Creation of the World, etc.
In 1993 he was commissioned to do a painting with the portraits of First Oscar winners for the 65th Anniversary of the Oscars.
In addition to galleries, he is also represented by the R&S Gallery of The Los Angeles County Museum of Art and The Hollywood Entertainment Museum.
Zinovy Shersher is an award winning member of The Oil Pastel Association.
More then 100 articles, TV and Radio interviews devoted to Zinovy Shersher. His biography is in the “Encyclopedia of living artists in America”, “Who is who in Art” and “Who is who in the West”.
Mrs. Alla Konviser was born in Minsk, Belorussia. She graduated Minsk State Conservatory with Master Degree in piano performance, and was appointed to faculty of music in Minsk State Pedagogical Institute where she was teaching the piano until immigrating to the United States in 1988. In the former Soviet Union Mrs. Alla had a very successful career as an accompanist for the ballet and opera singers. In Los Angeles Mrs. Alla participated to numerous musical events, festivals, and TV show. Since 1995 Mrs. Alla Konviser has become a faculty member of International School of Arts in Idyllwild, CA. At the present time Mrs. Konviser is a faculty member of the International School of Arts in Idyllwild, CA.