"Poetry must be made by all and not by one." (Lautreamont)
Left to Right: Adrian Daurov, Francisco Salazar, Whitney La Grange, Steven Graff, Steven Zynszajn, Maxim Pakhomov
Mission Statement Board
Biographies
Steven Zynszajn,
violinist and Artistic Director, was born in Evanston, Illinois, and grew up in France. He has performed throughout Europe and the United States at such venues as Orchestra Hall in Chicago, Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center in New York and the UNESCO Auditorium in Paris. He has appeared at music festivals on
both sides of the Atlantic and was one of the youngest winners of the Leopold Bellan Competion in France. He was invited to perform at the
Singer-Polignac Foundation in Paris at a special gala concert
celebrating the centennial of the birth of Nadia Boulanger. He has performed as
a soloist with orchestras in France and the United States, in concertos by Bach, Mozart,
Mendelssohn, Wieniawski and Goldmark. He has also appeared with the Brooklyn Philharmonia Chorus in a
program of Gershwin songs. A passionate chamber musician, Mr. Zynszajn has
collaborated with distinguished artists such as Sherban Lupu and Jean-Louis
Haguenauer. As the founder and director of Lautreamont Concerts, he has
appeared at the French Consulate, New York Historical Society and Chelsea Art Museum. Mr. Zynszajn’s broadcasts include
WNYC in New York, Radio Classique in France, and he has appeared on “Good Morning America” on ABC. Steven
Zynszajn completed his studies at the Paris Conservatory as one of its youngest students, and received
his Artist Diploma from the Juilliard School as a scholarship student of Dorothy
DeLay. He performs on a Cremonese violin by Aegidius Barzellini.
Steven Graff, piano, made his concerto debut with the
Chicago Symphony Orchestra, with whom he has appeared nine times, and has been the recipient of
numerous distinguished awards and glowing critical praise. Mr. Graff was born
in Chicago where he began
his musical training. A string of scholarships led to studies at The Juilliard
School where he received Bachelor's and Master's Degrees as a Petschek
scholarship awardee, and a Doctorate of Musical Arts from The Graduate School
of CUNY. A sought-after recitalist and chamber musician, Graff has performed at
Weill, Zankel and Stern Auditorium at Carnegie Hall, Lang Recital Hall and the
Kaye Playhouse at Hunter College, Merkin and Alice Tully Halls in New York City
and his performances have been broadcast on New York radio stations WQXR and
WNCN, and Chicago's WFMT. Steven Graff currently serves on the piano faculty at New York's Hunter College. He will be
performing a recital on November 16 at the United Church Fine Arts Series in Sayville, Long Island.
Maxim Pakhomov,
originally from the Far East region of Russia, completed his studies at the Moscow
State Conservatory. He has appeared
throughout Russia with various orchestras and has
toured England, Scotland, Austria and Estonia in both solo and chamber music
concerts. His American credits include
performances in Merkin Hall and Zankel Hall where he premiered his own
arrangement of Stravinsky’s Petrushka for piano duo. Currently, he maintains an active schedule as
a chamber musician with cellist, Teresa Kubiak and is a founding member of The
Bronx Chamber Players. Mr. Pakhomov has
performed with The Westchester Chorale and is the principal pianist of the
Bronx Opera Company. His solo
performances include piano concertos by Tchaikovsky, Saint-Saëns, Brahms and
Beethoven with the Orchestra of The Bronx, Beethoven’s Concerto No.4 with the
Orchestra of the Barge Music Festival, Bach’s D Minor Concerto with The
Lautreamont Chamber Orchestra and The Beethoven Choral Fantasy with One World
Symphony. He will be performing a solo
recital at the Congregational Church in Darien, CT, on October 25. Mr. Pakhomov is a recent winner of the Bronx
Council on The Arts’ BRIO (Bronx Recognizes Its Own) Award.
Francisco Eloy Salazar, violin, started performing in his
native Venezuela as a concert violinist from an early
age. He has toured North and South America as well as Europe with The Simon Bolivar Orchestra of Venezuela. Since coming
to the United States he has been active as a soloist and a chamber musician
performing in many venues including Alice Tully Hall, Paul Hall, Merkin Hall,
Carnegie's Weill Hall and others in the New York and Washington DC areas, and
collaborating with renowned artists like the late Ruth Laredo and Mark
Peskanov. He studied at The Juilliard School where he obtained his BM and MM
degrees as a scholarship student of Margaret Pardee. Mr. Salazar has been guest
concertmaster of the Harrisburg and Lancaster Symphonies as well as
the Jupiter Symphony and the Juilliard Orchestra, participating in the Japan and Korea tour. He was a winner of the MTNA
Competition, a finalist in the Five Towns competition and a semi-finalist in
the Concert Artist Guild Competition. He currently resides in New York City and is a member of the Harrisburg
Symphony, the Shakti PianoTrio and The Bastille String Quartet.
Whitney La Grange, viola, is from Mission, TX. She received her Bachelor of Music from The
Juilliard School. She also attended Yale University on full scholarship where she studied with Eric Friedman and the Tokyo
String Quartet in the Artist Diploma Program. She received her Master of Music
Degree from the University of Illinois
Champagne/Urbana where she was a teaching assistant to Sherban Lupu. First Violinist of
the St. Augustine String Quartet, she recorded the Bartok and Beethoven String
Quartets for the Fuller Sound Label, performing throughout the US and Canada.
Her latest recording is Panic by Drew Krause on the CD, Powder, by Innova
Records. Her most recent solo appearances were Quadrille for Violin and
Orchestra by Drew Krause with the Musica Bella Orchestra of New York and the Bach Double Violin Concerto with the
Lautreamont Chamber Orchestra. She currently lives in New York.
Arthur Cook, cello, has
appeared as a chamber musician and soloist in summer festivals in the United States at Sandpoint, Meadowmount, Taos, Yale-at Norfolk, Rutgers,
Apple Hill and in Naples and Montecassino, Itlay. He was the recipient of the George Szell Award
and the Graduate Performance Award at Mannes College. He has been on the faculties of Seton Hall University and Smith College. Arthur Cook has performed with pianist Deborah Gilwood under the
name Blue Door since 1985. The Star-Ledger (NJ) noted that "Blue
Door was off to a fine start with some compelling performances. One marveled at
their delicate yet taut reading, flawlessly paced. They gave ample
demonstration of technical strength, musical intelligence, expressive power,
and open ears." They serve as artistic directors for Blue Door
Chamber Music at the Provincetown Art Association and Museum. Their recording Censored by Hitler: the Rediscovered Masterpieces - Sonatas by Weill, Toch and Hindemith, is available
through Centaur Records. His teachers include Arthur Follows, David Geber,
Felix Galimir, and Louis Krasner. Mr. Cook plays on a 1798 Josef Gagliano cello
presented to him by the Gandolphe Foundation.
Adrian Daurov, cellist, born in St.Petersburg, Russia, studied at the St.Petersburg
Conservatory with Anatoly Nikitin. He was involved in various chamber music
ensembles and projects and appeared as a soloist on the main concert stages of
St.Petersburg, Moscow, as well as in Europe and the U.S. He made his orchestra debut in 1997
with the St.Petersburg Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Daurov was awarded 1st
prizes at the international music competitions in Dobrich, Bulgaria (1996), Peter De Grote, Groningen, The Netherlands (2001) and the
LISMA Foundation Competition in NY (2006). In 2004 he toured Germany as a soloist with the St.Petersburg
Chamber Orchestra and was appointed the Principal Cellist of the Bayreuth
Festival Youth Orchestra under conductor Peter Gulke. He currently studies with
David Soyer at the Juilliard School of Music and performs chamber music with
such distinguished artists as Mark Peskanov, Gerald Robbins, Dmitry Rachmanov,
Julian Milkis and others. In June 2007, Mr. Daurov was appointed the Principal
Cellist of The Chamber Orchestra of New York under conductor Salvatore Di
Vittorio. He recently performed the World Premiere of Behzad Ranjbaran’s
“Fountains Of Fin” at the Bargemusic in New York. On June 12tth, 2008, Mr.
Daurov was featured in a Gala concert in celebration Of Russia’s Independence
Day at Carnegie Hall, with Soprano Elena Obraztsova and tenor Vladimir Galuzin.
Andrey Tchekmazov, cello, has been hailed by critics
as an "extraordinary musician" (Washington Post). He is the Grand Prize winner of Vittorio Gui
International Chamber Music Competition in Florence and Trio de Trieste, Italy. He has performed at the Great Hall
of the Moscow Conservatory, Osaka Symphony Hall in Japan, New York's Alice Tully Hall, Brazil 's Sala Cecilia Mereles, with orchestras such as Sao Paolo Symphony,
Moscow Chamber Orchestra, Kiev Philharmonic and Teatro Alfa Symphony. Among his
other prizes and awards are the Koussevitzky Cello Competition in New York, Stadt, Artists International,
Premio Della Critica in Trieste, and the Russian National
Competition in Moscow.
In the United States, after an aclaimed Weill Recital
Hall debut, he has performed at such venues as Barge Music, Rhode Island
Chamber Music Series, Bar Harbor Festival, Merkin Hall in New York City and Hampden Sydney, where he was
invited to perform by the members of Emerson Quartet. Mr. Tchekmazov is a
regular performer with the Jupiter Chamber Players in New York and Philips Collection in Washington DC. He studied at the Moscow State
Conservatory and the Juilliard School with Nataliya Shakhovskaya and
Harvey Shapiro.
Kristoffer Saebo, double bass, is a versatile
soloist, chamber musician, bass guitarist and composer in the New York area. He performs regularly with
Grammy Award winner Paul Halley; the Alaskan Native Band Pamyua, with
whom he showcased at the 45th Annual Grammy Awards; and with Young Artists
International's chamber orchestra I Palpiti, with whom he toured Europe,
North America and the Middle East. Mr. Saebo also performed at Chamberfest, the
Annual Baroque Ensemble with Lionel Party at Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall, and with the
renowned contemporary ensemble Alarm Will Sound. He currently is a
member of The Academy-A Program of Carnegie Hall, and Weill Hall Music
Institute. Kris holds a BM and an MM from The Juilliard School. 