Stanislav Khristenko
Ukrainian born pianist Stanislav Khristenko has been performing on four continents since his first solo recital at the age of eleven. His performances have been praised in international media such as Gramophone Magazine (UK), Washington Post (USA), Le Soir (Belgium), El Pais (Spain).
Mr. Khristenko has appeared as a soloist with the National Symphony Orchestra of Belgium, the Cleveland Orchestra, Phoenix Symphony, Hong Kong Chamber Orchestra, Berliner Musikfreunde Orchestra, Takamatsu Symphony Orchestra, Arkansas Symphony, Northwest Florida Symphony and Moscow Conservatory Orchestra, among others.
His performance highlights include solo recitals in Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall, Schubertsaal in Vienna, Phillips Collection in Washington; and performances with orchestra in Grosser Hall of Berlin Philharmonie, Severance Hall in Cleveland, Moscow Conservatory Great Hall and Hong Kong City Hall.
Mr. Khristenko has won top prizes at some of the most prestigious international piano competitions. In 2013 alone he won First Prize at the 2013 Cleveland International Piano Competition, First Prize at the 2013 Maria Canals International Music Competition, and was named Fourth Laureate at the 2013 Queen Elisabeth Competition. Mr. Khristenko also was a recipient of the Emil Gilels Award of the Mstislav Rostropovich Foundation and a Russian Performance Art Foundation Award.
Vera Holczer, a native of Budapest, Hungary, began her piano studies at the age of nine. After receiving the first prize at the Budapest Junior Piano Competition, she was accepted to the Bartok High School conservatory in 1991. While studying at the conservatory, she gave solo and chamber recitals throughout Germany and Hungary. In 1996, Vera was accepted to the studio of the world-class pianist and teacher Vitaly Margulis at the University of California, Los Angeles. While residing at UCLA, she received the Elein Klein Scholarship and the Gluck Fellowship. She performed several times as the soloist for the 2nd concerto by Dmitri Shostakovitch, including a debut performance at UCLA' s Royce Hall. In 2000, Vera moved to Cleveland for her Graduate studies at the Cleveland Institute of Music. She regularly performs in the Cleveland-Akron area and also for Access To The Arts. Vera has a passion for teaching and is particularly competent at teaching pre-school aged children. Vera regularily performs live and prerecorded performances on WCLV 104.9FM. In addition to teaching, Vera is also the founder and director of the Aurora School of Music.