2010 Jury

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.

RONNA BINN HERSH earned her Masters Degree in Piano Performance from California Institute of the Arts, Valencia, in 1993, and received her B.A. from California State University, Northridge. She has studied with many prominent musicians including Sara Compinsky, Charles Fierro, Mario Feninger, Thomas Otten, Bryan Pezzone and Tyler Tom to name a few. She has performed for the Women’s Committee of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Musical Chairs, Chamber Music Suppers, Second Sunday Concerts, Opera Encores, Concerts at Home, Steinway Hall, Sanctuario de Guadelupe in Santa Fe and at the Civic Arts plaza in Valencia to name a few. She has also given numerous performances for various musical professional groups and at libraries and colleges and universities. She has also been deeply involved in helping to bring music to the community for over 45 years by opening her home to musicians for performances and benefit concerts. Ronna is the founder of “Classical Encounters Foundation”, a non-profit corporation dedicated to presenting high quality concerts in the San Fernando Valley. To learn more about the current season please go to the web site at www.classicalencounters.org Ronna has also volunteered her time and expertise for many musical organizations including “The Women’s Committee of the Los Angeles Philharmonic”, The Sara Compinsky Master Class”, “Ev-Ron and Friends”, The Music Teachers Association of California” and “The Mu Phi Epsilon International Music Fraternity” where she was in charge of running their “Phyllis Loeb Competition” for several years. This Competition gives cash awards to college students to be used to further their musical education. Ronna currently resides in Tarzana with her loving husband, Louis R. Hersh, who is an Attorney and also a very talented photographer. Together they like to tour the world, take photographs, try new foods, and make new friends.

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.

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 than 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”.

ANATOLY BERKOVICH is one of Russia’s most distinguished baritones, having performed in major opera houses through the former Soviet Union. His repertoire consists of over 60 operas and operettas, including “Carmen”, “Faust”, “I Pagliacci”, “Tosca”, “Il Barbiere di Siviglia”,  “Le nozze Di Figaro”, “Eugene Onegin”, “Rigoletto”, “Die Fiedermaus”, “The Merry Widow”, and numerous romances and art songs of Russian And European composers. Mr. Berkovich is a recipient of the federal Government Award for best Performance of vocal Chamber music of Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff. His professional accomplishments  were highlighted in several art shows on national television. In 1995 Mr.Berkovich  was distinguished as the Honored Artist of Russia. He is an outstanding vocal coach and the leader of acting workshops. In 1999, he immigrated to the U.S. Since then Anatoly Berkovich has performed in solo recitals that have been received with great enthusiasm and praise.

AGASSI TOPCHIAN worked as a reporter for “Новый Взгляд” (New Outlook) Moscow-based weekly published by Evgeniy Dodolev, a well-known Russian publicist and journalist. Agassi Topchian was promoted by Mr. Dodolev to the position of Editor-in-Chief and after moving to the United Stated in 1993, he established a presence of The New Outlook International publication in Los Angeles. He represented “ALLA” magazine (published by Alla Pugacheva ); co-published and edited The West Hollywood Tribune biweekly publication. His articles and interviews were published in dozens of publications in the United States and Russia. From 2000 to 2004 Agassi Topchian served as a member of the Russian Advisory Board in the City of West Hollywood. In 2001, he became the Director of the
Russian Style annual cultural festival in West Hollywood. In 2004, Agassi Topchian was appointed as a City Commissioner (Rent Stabilization Commission) by Honorable Abbe Land, Mayor-Pro-Temp of the City of West Hollywood.