Taconic Music International – Padua, Italy
2024 Faculty and Guest Artists

FACULTY
* Festival Directors

Bulgarian pianist GERGANA BOYCHEVA* has performed as a soloist and chamber musician and is a prizewinner of several prominent competitions – “Svetoslav Obretenov” in Provadia; “Dimitar Nenov” in Shumen and "Mozart" in Sofia. She graduated with honors from National Music School “Dobrin Petkov” in Plovdiv and holds undergraduate and graduate degrees in piano and organ studies from the National Academy of Music "Pancho Vladigerov" in Sofia.

Before moving to Italy, Gergana served on the piano faculty of NUMTI “Dobrin Petkov’ in Plovdiv, taught piano, music theory and solfeggio in Rakovski and was organist at the Catholic Cathedral of Sofia and Plovdiv. Currently Gergana works as an organist of the Catholic Parish Church of Legnaro (PD), Italy and is active as a teacher and collaborative pianist with various local projects, musical associations, and schools.

Bulgarian-born violinist JOANA GENOVA* has built a diverse career as a chamber and orchestral musician, soloist, and pedagogue. She is co-artistic director of Taconic Music in Manchester, Vermont- a non-for-profit organization which provides year-round chamber music concerts and educational programs. Joana has been Artist Associate at Williams College since 2007 and served as Assistant Professor at The University of Indianapolis from 2017 to 2022. In the fall of 2022, she became Adjunct Professor and coordinator of chamber music at Montclair State University, and Violin and Viola Instructor at Bennington College.
Joana is the second violinist of The Indianapolis Quartet, member of Taconic Chamber Players, and appears as a frequent guest at festivals and concert series. She has performed extensively on the East Coast, Arizona, Colorado and Louisiana, and internationally in Bulgaria, Holland, Germany, Italy, and Bosnia-Herzegovina.She has appeared live on GNAT-TV and CAT-TV in Vermont, Wish TV Indianapolis, WQXR Albany, Vermont Public Radio-Live, WBAA and WICR in Indiana.

Her recordings include Chamber Music of Vittorio Giannini (MSR Classics), Vision: Music of the 20th and 21st Centuries (Eroica Classical Recordings) and Four Seasons x2: Piazzolla and Vivaldi (Manchester Music Festival), Reflections and Whimsies: Chamber Music for Strings and Voice by Frank Felice, Robert Paterson’s String Quartets 1-3 and Maxine Linehan’s This Time of Year. In 2022 Joana and pianist Willis Delony recorded the complete violin sonatas of Stephen Dankner which will be released in 2024.

As soloist, Joana has been featured with the Metropolitan, Rockaway, Danbury, and Berkshire symphonies, Adelphi Chamber Orchestra, Harlem Chamber Players, Manchester Festival Orchestra, Yonkers Philharmonic, and under the baton of Raymond Leppard with the University of Indianapolis Gala Orchestra. Joana is principal second violinist of the Berkshire Symphony Orchestra in Williamstown, Massachusetts and in 2023-24 season serves as guest concertmaster of Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra and Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra.

Joana graduated from National Music School “Dobrin Petkov” in Plovdiv where she made her solo debut at age 12 with the Plovdiv Chamber Orchestra and is a top prizewinner of the “Svetoslav Obretenov” National Competition in Provadia, Bulgaria. She earned her bachelor’s degree at the Conservatory of Amsterdam and her master’s in chamber music at the Rotterdam Conservatory in the Netherlands. Her teachers include Boyanka Shopova, Alexander Spirov, Peter Brunt, Ilya Grubert, and Samuel Thaviu. Joana performs on a Johannes Cuypers violin made in The Hague in 1786.

Cellist ELISA KOHANSKI* enjoys a diverse performing career, appearing regularly as soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral player, and championing unique collaborations with artists of other disciplines. A highly regarded solo performer, Elisa has performed with a number of orchestras including the Edgewood Symphony Orchestra and was featured in the world premiere of Richard Danielpour’s Come Up From the Fields Father with the Wheeling Symphony.

A native Rhode Islander, Elisa has a love of travel which, combined with her passion for music, has brought her to over 60 countries around the world. She recently visited her 7th continent, Antarctica, and performed there to an audience of people and penguins, who seemed to enjoy it! In Africa she has explored Tunisia, Morocco, Egypt, Tanzania, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Mozambique and Botswana. A love for Africa was the inspiration for a three-country tour of the Continent with Trio Nova Mundi, presenting nine concerts over the course of two weeks, in addition to numerous workshops and performances for children. The African tour inspired future tours to Mexico and Chile.

Described after a Pittsburgh Ballet performance by the Pittsburgh Tribune Review as “most superb,” Elisa was appointed Principal Cellist of the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre in 2009. She holds principal position with the Wheeling Symphony and is a member of the cello section in the Pittsburgh Opera and performs regularly with the Pittsburgh Symphony.
Elisa is a founding member of IonSound Project which has received critical acclaim for original programming, a fresh approach to contemporary music, and a commitment to the city of Pittsburgh. Elisa has been praised in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review for her “ardent” playing in performance with IonSound Project. In addition to the IonSound CD, Elisa can be heard on several recordings ranging from orchestral to popular music including Giacinto Scelsi- The Orchestral Works 1, Daphne Alderson’s albums, Joan of Arc and 16 and Trio Nova Mundi's debut CD, Canticum.

Each summer, Elisa performs with Music on the Hill, in which Rhode Island natives return to perform chamber concerts throughout the state. Elisa has performed in several summer festivals including the Interharmony International Music Festival in Italy; the AIMS Festival Orchestra in Austria; Music & More SummerFest in Bosnia and Herzegovina; Piccolo Spoleto Festival, and the Heidelberg Castle Festival.
A passionate educator, Elisa currently serves as adjunct faculty at Grove City College and Washington and Jefferson College, and maintains a private studio (ranging in age from five to seventy-five). She has been on the faculties of Westminster College, Seton Hill University, Westmoreland Suzuki School, the Carlow College Campus String Program and the Carnegie Mellon Summer Strings Program.

Elisa earned her Bachelor of Music Degree from the Eastman School of Music as a student of Pamela Frame. She received her Master of Music Degree from Carnegie Mellon University where she studied with Pittsburgh Symphony cellists Anne Martindale Williams and David Premo. Other notable teachers include Timothy Terranella, Carol Pellegrino, and Elizabeth Reardon.

The artistic path of the violinist ALESSANDRO FAGIUOLI is characterized by a passion and curiosity towards new and unusual repertoires and styles. Alessandro graduated from Benedetto Marcello Conservatory in Venice, followed by study with Enzo Porta in twentieth-century violin repertoire. He was awarded a scholarship from the Venice Biennale for the performance of late Louigi Nono works, allowing him to specialize in contemporary music, bringing collaborations with new music ensembles and leading to the creation of the Paul Klee 4tet, with which he is the first violinist. The Quartet has participated in festivals and concert seasons throughout Europe and in the United States, with a number of world premières and residencies at the Abbaye Royale de Fontevraud and Evry University in France.

Alessandro’s recordings for French, Italian, German and Swiss labels include first recording of Sonata (1926) by Louis Aubert, the complete quartets of Philip Glass (Blueserge); the Quatuor pour la fin du Temps by Olivier Messian; La Creation du monde by Darius Milhaud, complete sonatas for violin and piano by George Antheil, Beethoven Folksongs for Trio and various voices, and Sonatas for violin and piano by composer Fritz Brun. He has held seminars and masterclasses in Italy, France and China, masterclasses on the contemporary repertoire for string quartet and for violin and electronics at the B. Marcello Conservatory in Venice and at the Tartini Conservatory in Trieste, as well as violin and string quartet courses at the Ischia Musica.

Alessandro is Artistic Director of the Music Perspectives competition and the Autumn Concerts series at the Auditorium dell'Assunta in Rubano (Padua), as well as the Musica in Serra summer festival held in Serra de' Conti in the Marche region of Italy. In 2013 he became a member of a research group on “Soundscapes” (Galassetti, Galfetti, Rocca, Piricò) at the DFA of SUPSI (Professional University School of Italian Switzerland) in Locarno. Alessandro is violin and ensemble music professor at “Marchesi” Music High school in Padua, where he also conducts the orchestra.

BASIL VENDRYES is the Principal Violist of the Colorado Symphony, and is a former member of the San Francisco Symphony, the New York Philharmonic and Rochester Philharmonic orchestras.  He currently serves on the faculty of the Lamont School of Music of the University of Denver. As a member of the Aurora String Quartet (1986-95) Mr. Vendryes performed recitals in New York, London and Tokyo as well as west coast premieres of works by John Harbison, George Perle, Richard Danielpour, Benjamin Lees and many others.  From 2000-2018 Basil directed the Colorado Young Sinfonia (which he also founded), comprised of some of the best young talent in the Denver area.

Basil was born in 1961 to West Indian parents, and began his musical training in the public schools of New York City at the age of eleven.  He received scholarships to the Manhattan School of Music and the Eastman School of Music, where he studied with Sally O’Reilly, Francis Tursi and Heidi Castleman.  Basil joined the San Francisco Symphony in 1982 at the age of 21 and the New York Philharmonic two years later. Basil joined the Colorado Symphony as Principal Viola in 1993.   He has also served as guest principal violist for the  Western Australia Symphony Orchestra and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra.

Basil has appeared in many festivals, including Spoleto, Buzzards Bay, Sunflower, Midsummer Mozart, Interharmony, Green Mountain, Taconic Music and the Grand Tetons.  Working with promising talent is one of his passions, and Basil has given classes in viola and chamber music in Europe and throughout the United States.  Mr. Vendryes has served as a juror for the Sphinx Competition for African American and Latino string players and the Hong Kong International Music Festival.   In April of 2008 Mr. Vendryes performed the American premiere of Giya Kancheli’s Styx with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra (under the baton of Jeffrey Kahane) to critical acclaim.  The Kancheli was subsequently repeated at the 2008 League of American Orchestras National Conference.  In May 2023 Basil premiered the Concerto for Viola, Strings, Harp and Percussion by American Composer William Hill.

The 2023–24 season includes the release of a recording an all-American music for Toccata Next (his third recording for the Toccata label), performances in Charleston SC, Sacramento CA, and masterclasses in New York, Texas, Nevada and Arizona.  Festivals include Sunflower (Kansas), Interharmony, and Taconic Padua (Italy).  In September 2024, Basil will be a resident artist at Javierana University in Bogota, Colombia.

Basil Vendryes has recorded for the Albany, Ariel, Cadenza Music, Centaur, CRI, Naxos and Toccata labels in addition to his contributions as an orchestral violist for RCA, Decca, Nonesuch, Telarc, Columbia, BIS and Hyperion.  His solo recordings of Russian sonatas and music of Paul Juon have received fine reviews from Fanfare and Strad magazines, as well as the Journal of the American Viola Society.  Mr. Vendryes plays on a fine viola made in 2023 by Alexander Tzankow.   

GUEST ARTISTS

Bulgarian-born pianist ANTONINA GERASSIMOVA has been a faculty member and a collaborative pianist at the Community Music School at Webster University in St. Louis, Missouri (U.S.) since 2007. She has maintained a private studio for the last 25 years and is frequently invited as an accompanist for strings and vocal competitions. Antonina studied piano and music education at the Music and Arts School in her hometown Rousse and at the Music Academy in Sofia, Bulgaria with Stela Dimitrova-Maystorova, where she was awarded a scholarship for best contemporary performance at the piano competition. Antonina has performed as a soloist in Bulgaria, France, and Switzerland, where she worked with Stella Perifanova and Rudolf Buchbinder.

PENKA TRENEVA is active as a freelance flutist with several orchestras and chamber ensembles. She is a graduate of NUMTI “Dobrin Petkov” in Plovdiv, Bulgaria and the National Music Academy “Pancho Vladiguerov” in Sofia, where she studied with Lydia Oshavkova. Penka is a first-prize winner of the “Svetoslav Obretenov” national competition and won second prize at “Nikola Stefanov” Academic Competition. She has participated in masterclasses with András Adorján, Philippe Bernold, Emmanuel Pahud, and baroque flute with Christo Christov in Berlin. As a soloist, Penka has concertized with Sofia Academic Orchestra, Plovdiv Philharmonic, and Women’s Chamber Orchestra, among others, and has toured with the Electroacoustic Music Ensemble in Bulgaria and abroad. Penka has appeared at the Apollonia and Varna Summer Festivals and has made numerous recordings at the Bulgarian National Radio and TV studios.