• Festival of Mandolin Chamber Music IX

    Festival of Mandolin Chamber Music Hosting Two Russian Masters

    Bellows Falls, Vt. — The Festival of Mandolin Chamber Music is proud to present, from Russia, two masters of traditional Russian music: Aleksei Aleksandrov and Ekaterina Skliar.

    They will be teaching workshops and coaching ensembles throughout the June 15-18 weekend at the Festival of Mandolin Chamber Music IX, directed by August Watters.

    Alex and Kate are prize-winning virtuosos of the domra, a Russian folk instrument with a rich and diverse literature. Alex and Kate are also masters of the American-style mandolin, and perform music drawing on classical and jazz idioms.

    Aleksei Aleksandrov completed his Bachelor degree, Master degree, and DMA program in Domra Performance from the Novosibirsk State Conservatory, where he defended his thesis on the "Basics of Improvisation on Domra." He has performed extensively throughout Russia, in solo, chamber, and symphony orchestra concerts. His repertoire includes transcriptions of classical music, original works for Domra, contemporary and jazz music, and his own compositions. He is a prizewinner of many National and International competitions, including the All-Russian competition "Young Talents of Russia."

    Ekaterina Skliar was eleven when she made her concerto debut performing with Russian Folk Instrument Orchestra of the Buryatia Republic. Since then Kate has been concertizing throughout Russia giving solo recitals, and performing with chamber ensembles and Russian Folk Instrument orchestras. In 2011 she finished Novosibirsk Specialized Music School, one of the two most prestigious music schools of music. Ekaterina received her Bachelor degree with Honors in Music Performance from Novosibirsk State Conservatory, playing domra and mandolin. Kate is a prizewinner of national and international competitions. Besides classical music, she researches and performs Russian ethnic music.

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