ABOUT THE ARTISTS 2023

ELEANOR VALKENBURG, soprano, is Artistic Director of Poetica Musica. She has performed in some of the most prestigious festivals and chamber music series including the Bergen Festival, the Istanbul International Music Festival, the Sarajevo Festival, L’ Octobre Festival du Carthage, the Martinu Festival in the Czech Republic, at the Library of Congress in Washington, DC, the Victoria and Albert Museum and the St-Martin-in-the Fields in London. She has performed in more than 50 countries on 4 continents including Tunisia, Bosnia, India, Serbia, Tajikistan, Azerbaijan, Syria, and others, while conducting master classes as well as performing concerts. She has taught seminars and master classes at the Higher Institute of Music in Damascus, the Music Academies of Sofia, Istanbul, Bucharest, Bratislava, and Belgrade. Along with the members of Poetica Musica, she has performed in the Hans Christian Andersen celebration at Carnegie Hall and sponsored by Royal Danish Consulate in New York and the Hans Christian Andersen Foundation in Copenhagen. She recently performed at the Edvard Grieg Centennial Festival sponsored by Royal Norwegian Consulate in New York. Ms. Valkenburg has appeared in radio and television broadcasts for the CNN World Report, CNN Turk, Polish and Czech Television and has received praise for her work and artistry from the New York Times, Newsday, and the Washington Post. In 2015 Eleanor was awarded the Ambassador's Award for Cultural Diplomacy.

YASMIN ALAMI, pianist, has been deemed "a truly remarkable young pianist" and "extremely musical” by the renowned pianist and conductor Philippe Entremont. A Jordanian pianist, Miss Alami established herself as an international musician appearing as both a soloist and chamber musician. She has given extensive performances across the Middle East, Europe, and the United States. In 2006, Yasmin made her New York City debut at Steinway Hall. Other notable performances include a private solo recital in honor of Her Royal Highness Princess Wijdan Ali, a solo performance at the residence of the French Ambassador in Jordan under the patronage of Her Royal Highness Princess Basma Bint Ali in celebration of International Women’s Day, and a solo recital in memory of the Fukushima disaster under the patronage of the Japanese Ambassador to Jordan.  Recently, she has given solo performances at the Palm Beach Atlantic International Piano Festival and at the Amman Spring Festival in Jordan.  Her past performances include recitals at the Bibliotheque Communale de Braine l’Alleud in Brussels, Municipal Theater Baltazar Dias in Madeira, Portugal, the Ecole Normale de Musique-Alfred Cortot in Paris, Salle Ockeghem and Espace Malreaux in Tours, France, and the Conservatoire d’Orleans in Orleans, France. Miss Alami also performs regularly in her native country, Jordan, at such venues as the King Hussein Concert Hall and the University of Jordan. Yasmin holds a Master of Music degree in piano performance from the Manhattan School of Music, a Bachelor of Music degree in piano performance and chamber music from the Conservatoire National de Région De Tours, and a Bachelor of Arts in musicology from the Universite Francois-Rabelais de Tours.

HAYK ARSENYAN, a native of Armenia, has appeared in numerous recitals in USA, Canada, Armenia, Russia, France, Italy, Spain, Canary Islands, Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Argentina, Uruguay, Colombia, Syria, and Lebanon. His performance venues have included Carnegie Hall (New York), Palais d'UNESCO and Salle Cortot (Paris), Tchaikovsky Concert Hall and Kremlin (Moscow), "Petranka" House-Museum of Mozart (Prague),  Auditorio de Miguel Delibes (Valladolid), Dar-Al-Assad Opera House (Damascus), and appearances at the Dame Myra Hess Concert Series in Chicago and the Phillips Collection Concert Series in Washington DC. At the age of 11 Mr. Arsenyan made his orchestral debut with the Armenian National Philharmonic. Mr. Arsenyan has taught at New York University Tisch School of the Arts. He holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Piano Performance and Pedagogy from the University of Iowa and a Master’s degree from the Gnessin Music Academy in Moscow. In 2007 he was awarded the full-tuition Yevgeny Kissin Scholarship for the Professional-Studies performance program at Manhattan School of Music in New York. Mr. Arsenyan also studied the piano in Paris at École Normale Supérieure de Musique de Paris Alfred Cortot and the Conservatoire National de Region D'Aubervillier La-Courneuve. He is a scholar of Iberian Early Music and has compiled a Performance Guide to Three Keyboard Sonatas of Antonio Soler as a part of his Doctoral dissertation, published by the University of Iowa Press.

BARRY CRAWFORD is currently Principal Flute of the Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players, Poetica Musica, Ensemble Pi and Sedna Winds. He regularly performs as a guest artist with some of New York's leading ensembles, including the American Ballet Theater, Brandenburg Ensemble, the Manhattan Chamber Orchestra, the Zankel Band, Cygnus, Fireworks, Argento, Quintet of the Americas and the Riverside Symphony. He has participated in numerous internationally recognized music festivals, such as Mostly Mozart, the Lincoln Center Festival, the Spoleto Festival in Spoleto, Italy, and the Pablo Casals Festival, in San Juan, Puerto Rico.  As part of Poetica Musica, he has performed at the Bergen Festival in Norway, the International Music Festival in Istanbul, Turkey, as well as chamber music festivals in Poland, Czech Republic, Tunisia, Denmark, Jamaica, Tajikistan and Azerbaijan. Mr. Crawford has been a guest soloist in many of the most important concert halls in the United States, including Boston Symphony Hall, Kimmel Center in Philadelphia, Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco, and the Symphony Center in Chicago. He has been featured on the McGraw-Hill Young Artist's Showcase on WQXR as both a soloist and chamber player, has been heard on WNYC and has performed as a soloist for Lincoln Center's Great Performers series. Mr. Crawford attended Purchase College Conservatory of Music as a student of Tara Helen O'Connor, the Mannes College of Music, where he received a Master of Music degree and a Professional Studies Diploma, as a student of Judith Mendenhall. Mr. Crawford was an Affiliate Teaching Artist at Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, NY and a Professor of Flute and Director of the flute ensemble at the University at Buffalo (SUNY). He is currently on the faculty at SUNY Fredonia and has recorded for Albany Records.


OREN FADER, guitarist, has performed hundreds of concerts in the US, Europe and Asia with a wide range of classical and new music groups, including the Met Chamber Ensemble, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, New York City Opera, New York City Ballet, New York Philharmonic, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Mark Morris Dance Group, Da Capo Chamber Players, New World Symphony, Absolute Ensemble, and Speculum Musicae. A champion of new music, he has premiered over 150 works with guitar. He also performs, tours and records with the new music ensembles Cygnus, Fireworks, and Glass Farm. Mr. Fader has participated in a three week tour with Poetica Musica performing in Turkey (Istanbul International Festival), Azerbaijan, and Tajikistan (United States State Department). Recent concerto appearances include the “Concerto de Aranjuez” with the Manchester Music Festival. He has performed works of Carter, Davidovsky and Chin at the Tanglewood Music Festival. Mr. Fader can be heard on over 30 commercial recordings and film, including the classical guitar parts for the recent film “Everything is Illuminated.” His solo recordings include “Another’s Fandango," featuring 500 years of guitar music, and “First Flight," a CD of 10 premiere solos written for Mr. Fader by New York City composers. Since 1994 Mr. Fader has been on the guitar and chamber music faculty of the Manhattan School of Music.  

NENAD KAČAR, is a native in Zagreb, Croatia. During his music education he extensively concertized, and he was able to obtain prestigious State Scholarships. He graduated from the Zagreb Academy of Music and has performed in all the major music centers of Croatia as well as throughout Europe including Slovenia, Italy, Germany, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden, Bulgaria, Macedonia and Russia. He has recorded for various domestic and foreign radio and TV stations. He has collaborated in chamber music with a number of prominent musicians and ensembles. Since 2017, he has partnered with pianist Nataša Mitrović in 2 piano works. At the Croatian Music Institute in Zagreb he has performed with the Croatian Chamber Orchestra under the baton of Conductor Diana Tchobanov. Most recently he was piano soloist in the "Mozart Concerto in D minor, No. 20," which was released on CD in 2019. Prof. Kačar is Chairman of the piano department at the Music Academy of Zlatko Balokovic. He has held a series of professional seminars, masterclasses and lectures in Croatia, Europe and Russia.

NATASA MITROVIC, pianist, received her undergraduate and graduate degrees at the Music Academy in Belgrade where she now serves on the faculty. In 2005 Ms Mitrovic received a Fulbright Grant to attend the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor where she continued her studies. Further studies included work at the Moscow Conservatory of Music and piano studies in Vienna with Ava Kouyoumdjian and in Prague with Jan Novotny. Ms Mitrovic studied at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and has won many prizes for piano performance including a prize from the Music Academy in Belgrade for her contribution as pedagogue and performer, First prize at the International Competition in San Bartolomeo al Mare in Italy, and Second prize at the International Competition for pianists in Rome. Ms Mitrovic has performed as a  soloist with most of the major orchestras in Serbia and Montenegro and with the Bulgarian Philharmonic, and the orchestras in Frankfurt, Germany. She has appeared in recitals and performed as a chamber musician in France, Italy, the Czech Republic, Macedonia, Bulgaria and the United States and has recorded for television and radio in Belgrade, Novi Sad, Macedonia and with RAI in Italy.

MOLLY MORKOSKI, pianist, made her solo debut on Carnegie’s Stern Auditorium/Perelman stage in June 2007 and, has performed in the inaugural concert of Carnegie’s Zankel Hall under the direction of John Adams. Ms. Morkowski’s performances also include appearances at Carnegie’s Weill Hall, Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall, Merkin Hall and the Miller Theater. She has appeared as soloist at the Tanglewood Festival with Bang-on-a-Can, and Pacific Rim festivals, and performed concertos with the Raleigh Orchestra, Asheville Orchestra, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Orchestra, Tuscaloosa Symphony Orchestra, and Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra. She is a member of the Zankel Band, Open End Ensemble, Exponential Ensemble, and Meme. She has collaborated with the NY Philharmonic Chamber Players, the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, the St. Louis Symphony, the New World Symphony, Speculum Musicae, and Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. Additionally, Ms. Morkoski has collaborated with leading musicians including Dawn Upshaw, John Adams, John Corigliano and David Robertson. Her first solo CD, “Threads,” was released in March 2012 for Albany Records, as well as a CD of solo and chamber music by recent Grammy Award winning composer Gabriela Lena Frank. Ms. Morkoski was a Fulbright scholar in Paris, France where she was apprentice with the Ensemble Intercontemporain. She is a first recipient of the Teresa Sterne Career Grant and was given the Thayer-Ross Award upon completion of her doctorate. She earned a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a Master’s degree from Indiana University in Bloomington and a Doctorate degree from SUNY- Stony Brook. Ms. Morkoski is currently an Associate Professor at Lehman College in the Bronx.

EUGENE MOYE, is the principal cellist of the American Symphony Orchestra, the American Composers Orchestra, the Opera Orchestra of New York, and the Westchester Philharmonic Orchestra. As a soloist, he performed the world premier of a cello concerto by Francais Thorne at Carnegie Hall and the “Millennium Concerto” by Harold Farberman at Avery Fisher Hall. He also premiered the concerto by David Baker with the New York Philharmonic. After his recital at the 92nd Street Y, the New York Times called him one of the “foremost cellists of his generation.” In addition, he has collaborated with virtually every major pop artist, including Ricky Martin, Michael Jackson, Britney Spears, Tony Bennet, Garth Brooks, and Kiss on recordings, live performances and videos.

NIKLAS VALENTIN, Danish/Swiss violinist, has appeared with all the Danish Orchestras including the National Danish Radio Orchestra. He has with many of the world’s greatest orchestras such as Mario Venzago, Marc Soustro, Jean Throrell and Martin Yates. He has performed at prestigious venues such as the Philharmonia and the Marinsky Orchestra in St. Petersburg (Russia), Maison Danois (Paris).  Carnegie Hall (New York) and the Phillips Gallery in Washington, D.C. Mr. Valentin has represented Denmark in several festivals including Usedom Festival in Germany, the Basstrad Festival in Sweden, the XIX International Festival in the Ukraine and the Larissa Gergiev Festival in Russia. In March 2014, his first solo CD was released with works by Bach, Paganini and Ysaye. His second CD released in 2015 won the award for “Record of the Year” by Danish Radio. In early 2016 he recorded works by Lou Harbisson and in 2017 he recorded a CD, “Around the World,” with pianist, Alexander McKenzie.

ERIC WYRICK, violinist, has been Concertmaster of the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra since 1998. He is an established member of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra of which he is currently Artistic Director. In addition to annual New Jersey Symphony solo appearances, Wyrick has appeared as a soloist with Danish Radio Orchestra, the Orchestre de Toulouse and solo television appearances in the “Dance in America” presentation of Chausson’s Poème for American Ballet Theater on PBS, and as a featured soloist in the BBC’s “Great Composers” series playing Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 5. He has collaborated as soloist with Neeme Jaarvi, Jacques Lacombe, Zdenic Macal, Michel Plasson, Gunther Schuller and with Andrew Constantine. As a chamber musician, Wyrick can be heard with the NJSO Chamber Players and performs regularly with the Wyrick Chamber Players. Mr. Wyrick is a regular lecturer  at Richardson Auditorium as Concertmaster of the NJSO and has collaborated with the Richardson Chamber Players.