George Borisov received his professional training in Piano Performance and Chamber Ensembles from S.Rachmaninov State Conservatory in Rostov City (B.M, M.M.), M.Glinka State Conservatory in Novosibirsk (D.M.A.), and completed his Ph.D. in Musicology in the All-Russia Institute of Musicology in Moscow (Russia). He is Professor Honoris Causa of the Krasnodar State University of Arts (Russia), where he taught piano solo and chamber ensemble courses. His performance experience includes piano solo and collaborative recitals in the Soviet Union, Austria, France, Norway, and the United States. Dr. Borisov is a jury member of International and National piano competitions, including the Rome International Piano Competition (Italy), the Chopin International Piano Competition (CT, USA), the NJMTA, NJMEA, NGPT, and SMEA piano competitions and festivals (USA). He is a founder of the Golden Key International Music Festival and the Alberti Piano Competition (USA, Russia, Indonesia).
Tünde Gaal graduated Summa Cum Laude with a Masters Degree from the Franz Liszt Music Academy in Hungary. She studied with Ruggerio Ricci, Thomas Zehetmeyer, Lorant Fenyves, Denes Kovacs, Istvan Kertesz. She has performed with the Budapest Festival Orchestra (under the baton of Ivan Fisher), the Salieri Chamber Orchestra (music director Thomas Pal), the Kennedy Center Opera Orchestra (music director Placido Domingo), the Fairfax Symphony Orchestra, the Arlington Symphony, and the National Gallery Orchestra in Washington DC. She has played numerous solo recitals at the Franz Liszt Music Academy, and in cities throughout Hungary, as well as in and around Washington DC. Her teaching experience includes faculty positions at the Bartok Conservatory in Budapest and the Levin School of Music in Washington, DC. She maintains a private violin studio in New Jersey.Her students have won numerous competitions, and many of them are training to be a professional performers and teachers.
Joseph Graziose has a B.S. in Music Education from Hofstra University. He studied with Blance Abram, Edna Golandsky, Natan Brand, and Jonathan Feldman (Julliard School). He has gained a nationwide reputation for his master classes and lectures on technique and interpretation. He adjudicates extensively for the MTNA, NGPT, AMTL, the Chopin Festival in Connecticut, and other competitions.
Marianne Lauffer holds a BM and MM in piano performance from Indiana University, studying with Karen Shaw. She did post graduate work at The Juilliard School as a student of Irwin Freundlich, Jacob Lateiner, and German Diez. Ms. Lauffer was the featured pianist with the American Repertory Ballet Company at McCarter Theater in Princeton, the State Theater, and George Street Playhouse in New Brunswick, and in New York City in a premier performance of Pas de dux to the music of John Field. Ms. Lauffer is the assistant director of faculty and extensions and director of the summer music camp program at Westminster Conservatory. She served as state president of the New Jersey Music Teachers Association from 2000 to 2002 and frequently adjudicates for many state music festivals and competitions sponsored by NJMTA, Music Educators Association, Piano Teacher's Forum, Shore Music Educators Association, and the Teen Arts Festival. Ms. Lauffer resides in Ewing Township where she maintains a private piano studio.
Krystian Tkaczewski received his professional training in Paderewski Music School in Tarnów, the Chopin College in Warsaw (1995-2000), the Academy of Music in Wroclaw, and University of Hartford Hartt School (class of Oxana Yablonskaya). Recently he has been pursuing his Doctor of Music Arts degree at the University of Hartford. Mr. Tkaczewski is a winner of numerous International Piano competitions in Poland, Greece, Morocco, Italy, Macedonia, Spain, Andorra and United States. Mr.Tkaczewsky has performed in many countries including Poland, Germany, Italy, France, Austria, Netherlands, Spain, Greece, the Czech Republic, Macedonia, Morocco, and the US. His triumphant debut at Carnegie Hall in 2007 was enthusiastically reviewed by the New York Concert Review. A CD of his piano performances of Chopin, Rachmaninov, Mussorgsky and Mendelssohn/Liszt/Horowitz will be released soon by Acte Prealable. He has been a frequent judge for piano competitions in Europe and North America, and is a founder and artistic director of Chopin International Piano Competition in Hartford.
Mr. Tsai earned his Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers Uuniversity as a student of Arnold Steinhardt, as well as Glenn Dicterow and Dorothy Delay of the Juilliard School. Kevin has given solo recitals and master classes and has performed as a soloist and in string quartets in North America, Taiwan, and Europe. He has appeared in major venues such as the Avery Fisher Hall, Carnegie Hall, and Alice Tully Hall and collaborated with artists such as Arnold Steinhardt, Michael Tree, and Pinchas Zukermann. Dr. Tsai currently serves on the violin/viola faculty at the Mercer County College. He is a member of the Opera of New Jersey, the Princeton Symphony Orchestra and the Princeton ProMusica Orchestra. He also serves as the assistant concertmaster in the Edison Symphony Orchestra and as concertmaster in the Vancouver Metropolitan Orchestra (Canada), Sinfonietta Nova, and the New Brunswick Chamber Orchestra.
Yining Wang received his B.S. in Music from the Shanghai Conservatory, where he was first-place winner at the entrance auditions. He later studied with Robert Lincoln and Ilana Vered at the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University, where he received his Master of Music degree. He has performed in master classes with Ann Schein and Richard Goode. He has appeared as a soloist and collaborative pianist in numerous concerts, as well as on TV and radio. His students have won prizes in local and state competitions, and have performed at state conventions and the World Piano Pedagogy Conference, as well as at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and Merkin Hall. They have also performed on cable TV. Mr. Wang is Nationally Certified by the Music Teachers National Association and the Piano Teachers Society of America. He is a recipient of many awards for his teaching, including the Genia Robiner Pedagogy Award of Excellence, and the Distinguished Pedagogy Award for Outstanding Teaching. He is a frequent adjudicator at the competitions and auditions for MEA, SMEA, SJMTA, NJMTA and TYMA, as well as the International Competition of World Piano Pedagogy Conference. He is the Past President of the New Jersey Music Teachers Association.
Hendry Wijaya received his D.M.A., M.M., B.M., in Piano Performance from Manhattan School of Music, and a L.R.S.M. Diploma "With Highest Distinction" from the Royal Schools of Music. He first attracted attention in 1996 when he won the Artist International's "Young Artist Piano Award" and made his critically acclaimed New York recital debut at Carnegie Hall. He debuted at age four on the National Public Radio of Indonesia. He studied piano with Constance Keene, Herbert Stessin, and Robert Weirich, and chamber music with Jeanne Baxtresser, Sylvia Rosenberg, Frank Morelli, and Linda Chesis. He has performed at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, the United Nations General Assembly Hall, Merkin Hall, Steinway Hall, Yamaha Hall, the Eastern Music Festival, and the Aspen Music Festival. He is also the author of an advice column for Staccato, a monthly music education magazine in Indonesia. He is chief Advisor and Visiting Artist at the E.L.M.S. Conservatory in Jakarta and a member of the Piano Faculty at Westminster Conservatory of Music.
Elzbieta Winnicki is a long-time teacher of the violin and Chair of the Strings Department at SCMC for sixteen years. Many of her students have received awards at violin competitions. She has also been a chamber music and orchestra coach with the New Jersey Youth Orchestra since 1988. Her past teaching experience includes the Hudson School for the Gifted, the Mustard Seed School in Hoboken, and twenty years of private studio lessons. She holds a degree in Violin Performance and Music Education from the Academy of Music in Wroclaw, Poland, and then continued violin studies in the United States with Masako Yanagita, Oscar Ravina (a member of the New York Philharmonic), and Burton Kaplan. She has attended several teaching workshops and seminars at the Hartt School of Music, Juilliard School of Music, the Starling-DeLay Symposium, and the American String Teachers Association Conference. Her professional engagements include concerts as a soloist and chamber musician at benefits and the "Sundays at Three" concert series at SCMC, the Kosciuszko Foundation in NY, and the Polish Cultural Foundation in Clark, NJ. Her orchestral experience includes the Riverside Symphonia of Lambertville, NJ, the New Jersey Philharmonic, the St. Peters by the Sea Orchestra, the Montclair Chamber Orchestra, and the Szczecin Symphony Orchestra in Poland. She has performed in most major concert halls in New York and New Jersey, including Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, and NJPAC. She has toured Italy, Germany, and South Korea, and has performed at the Spoleto Festival in Italy as well as the Bedford Spring Festival in Pennsylvania.
Yuka Yanagi holds a Bachelor of Music degree, Summa Cum Laude, and a Master of Arts degree in Piano Performance from Montclair State University. She studied with Edmund Battersby, Dr. Julie Jordan and Mark Pakman. She is currently an adjunct faculty member of the music department at County College of Morris and Music Prep Center at Montclair State University. Throughout her teaching career, Ms. Yanagi has excelled in classical piano performance instruction as her students have both participated in and won numerous major New York/New Jersey area piano competitions. In recognition of her teaching excellence, Ms. Yanagi has received seven Madame Genia Robinor Pedagogy Awards from 2003 to 2011 and in 2008 was the National Pedagogy Award recipient from the Piano Teacher's Society of America. She has also received seven consecutive Distinguished Pedagogy Awards from the Cecilian Music Club from 2004 to 2010, and has also served as the Co-Chair of Piano Competition for the Music Educators Association in New Jersey from 2005 to 2008. She has served as a frequent adjudicator of piano performance, including the Golden Key Festival audition, Music Educators Association Annual audition, and The New Jersey Federation of Music Club audition.
* Currently scheduled to judge recorded auditions in 2013.