Alexander Malikov was born in Volgograd, Russia in 1989 and started his piano studies at the age of seven. When he was ten years old, he immigrated to Calgary, Alberta with his family and continued his studies with Dmitry Nesterov. Malikov was an extensive participant in the Kiwanis Festival and the Canadian Music Competition, where he has won several national awards in both solo and chamber divisions. He is a three-time winner of the Calgary Concerto Competition and a laureate of the Knigge, the Canadian Chopin, the Toronto Symphony and l'Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal Competitions. Alexander is currently studying piano with Angela Cheng in the Bachelor of Music program at the Oberlin Conservatory.

Seventeen-year-old violinist Mayumi Kanagawa is an Academy student at The Colburn School in Los Angeles, where she studies with Robert Lipsett, and a senior at the Crossroads School for Arts and Sciences. First prize winner of the 2011 Irving M. Klein Competition in San Francisco, she has also won top prizes in the Cooper, Stulberg, and Corpus Christi International Competitions, and has soloed with many orchestras including the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, the New West Symphony, Culver City and Torrance Symphonies, and the Western Michigan University Orchestra. In April 2012 Mayumi made her debut at Walt Disney Concert Hall in a performance of the Barber Violin Concerto with The Colburn Orchestra.

Elizabeth Zharoff, soprano, was born and raised in Wenatchee, Washington. At a young age, Ms. Zharoff determined to pursue a career in music. Since then, she has studied at various institutions in the United States, France, and China, and obtained her bachelor’s degree in vocal performance from Oberlin Conservatory in May 2009. She is currently pursuing a master’s degree in opera at The Curtis Institute of Music, where she sings under the tutelage of Marlena Malas.

Born in 1993, cellist Cicely Parnas is one of the finest young artists performing today. A unique presence on the concert stage, she is recognized for her highly individualized sound, exquisite tone, and spontaneous creativity fueled by an affable fearlessness. Cicely’s cello studies began at age four, and she made her orchestral debut at nine. Since then Cicely has performed over thirty times as guest soloist with orchestras, including the New York String Orchestra conducted by master musician and conductor, Jaime Laredo, and David Alan Miller’s Albany Symphony Orchestra. Ms. Parnas has claimed her seventh 1st prize in soloist competitions winning the 2011 Cello Concerto Competition at the Jacobs School of Music.

Cicely is a full-tuition scholarship recipient in the prestigious Artist Diploma Program at Indiana University Jacobs School of Music studying with cellist Sharon Robinson.

Winner of the prestigious 2010 Gilmore Young Artist Award and the 2009 Young Concert Artists International Auditions, pianist Charlie Albright concluded the 2010-2011 season of debuts to critical acclaim. Hailed as being "among the most gifted musicians of his generation" (Washington Post) with "jaw-dropping technique" (New York Times), Mr. Albright made his New York and Kennedy Center recital debuts on the Young Concert Artists Series and at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. Orchestral debuts included the San Francisco Symphony with conductor Alondra de la Parra, the Seattle Symphony Orchestra with conductor Gerard Schwarz, and the Boston Pops with conductor Keith Lockhart.