Washington International Piano Festival: Community Concert Series

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Jordan Kitt's Music and Washington International Piano Festival are proud to announce the Community Concert Series, which will take place at the Jordan Kitt's Music Rockville Showroom (12303 Twinbrook Parkway, Rockville, MD 20852). The 2011-2012 season will consist of six concerts and will feature outstanding artists presenting programs that include variety of styles from solo and chamber music performances to music theater. All performaces are free of charge, but due to limited seating, RSVP is required. To RSVP, please send an email to tgrace@jordankitts.com or call us at 301-770-9081.

Monday, December 12, at 7:00 PM. Katerina Zaitseva and Nikita Fitenko present a piano duo recital including excerpts from Tchaikovsky's "Nutcracker", Prokofiev's "Cinderella" and other audience favorites. Click here to view the program. RSVP.

Michael Mermagen made his debut at age sixteen with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra after receiving the BSO Young Soloist's Award. He has presented solo appearances with the Juilliard Orchestra and the National Orchestra of New York, where he also held the prestigious Emanuel Feuermann principal cello chair. Recently, he gave concerto performances with the Stockton and Fairfax symphonies. An avid chamber musician, Mr. Mermagen is currently a member of the Aspen Ensemble; he also toured during the last two decades with the Arista Piano Trio, called "Artists to Watch" by Chamber Music America, and also with the American Chamber Players, a chamber music ensemble founded at the Library of Congress Summer Chamber Festival. Mr. Mermagen spends his summers as Artist Faculty at the Aspen music festival where for 23 consecutive summers, he has performed as principal cellist of the Aspen Chamber Symphony and has collaborated in chamber music performances with artists including Joshua Bell, Gil Shaham, Sarah Chang, Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, Cho Liang Lin, Vladimir Feltsman, the Takacs Quartet and Lynn Harrell to name a few. At the Seattle Chamber Music Society, he recently premiered works by Patrick Zimmerli and later recorded them for Arabesque Records. His principal teachers were Zara Nelsova and Stephen Kates and he has participated in Master Classes with Yo-Yo Ma, János Starker, and Bernard Greenhouse. He received his Bachelor of Music degree from Peabody Conservatory and his Master of Music degree from the Juilliard School. He has appeared numerous times on NPR's Performance Today, Garrison Keilor's Prairie Home Companion, WQXR's "Concerts Plus", and WNYC's "Around New York". Some recent appearances include the performance of the Brahms Double Concerto with violinist Livia Sohn and the Stockton Symphony and the Beethoven Triple Concerto with Elisabeth Adkins and Edward Newman and the Fairfax Symphony. As a record producer, Mr. Mermagen has produced and engineered recordings for Naxos, Albany, Summit, ESS.A.Y, and Vangaurd Records. He is currently associate professor of cello at The Catholic University of America. He performs on a Nicola Gagliano cello, Naples (1774).

Internationally acclaimed pianist and Yamaha Artist Nikita Fitenko has performed recitals and with orchestras in the former Soviet Union, Europe, Asia, and South and North America. He has appeared as a soloist with such orchestras as St. Petersburg Capella Symphony, Russian Chamber Philharmonic, Russian Philharmonic Orchestra of Moscow, St. Petersburg State Conservatory Orchestra, State Hermitage Orchestra, Slovak National Philharmonic, Lewisville Symphony, Rapides Symphony, Northeast Texas Symphony, and Northwestern Symphony Orchestra. His future engagements this year besides the concerts in the US will bring him to Italy, China, South Korea, Japan, and Russia.

While performing a wide and diverse repertoire, Nikita Fitenko is an acknowledged master of Russian piano music. His CDs for Altarus Records of complete piano works by leading contemporary Russian composers Georgy Sviridov (1997) and Sergei Slonimsky (2000) have garnered rave reviews from the international music press. Fanfare Music Review wrote, "Fitenko plays magnificently!" Slonimsky himself described Fitenko's interpretation of his piano music as "outstanding." He also added, "It is very vivid, imaginative, virtuosic, fascinating, and pianistically brilliant." Mr. Fitenko's recording of Scriabin's Piano Concerto with the Russian Philharmonic Orchestra of Moscow was released internationally on Classical Records label in December 2007. His latest recording of works by Bach, Beethoven, Mussorgsky, and Rachmaninov for Classical Records will be released this fall.
Native of St. Petersburg, Russia, Nikita Fitenko graduated from the St. Petersburg State Conservatory with a citation for excellence given to only five other graduates in the last fifty years. After receiving the Anton Rubinstein Memorial Award he came to study to the US pursuing his master's and doctoral degrees from the University of North Texas. His principal teachers included Roman Lebedev, Igor Lebedev, and Joseph Banowetz.
Dr. Fitenko has been invited to serve on many international piano competition juries, including 2011 Chopin International Piano Competition (Hartford, CT), 2010 Scriabin International Piano Competition (Grosetto, Italy), 2009 American Pianists Association's Classical Fellowship Awards (Indianapolis, IN), 2008 Rachmaninov International Piano Competition (Moscow, Russia), 2008 Nordic International Piano Competition (Malmo, Sweden), and 2003 World International Piano Competition (Cincinnati, OH) among others. He has presented master classes at the Verdi Conservatory of Music (Turin, Italy), Hochschule fur Musik (Saarbruken, Germany), Estonian Academy of Music (Tallinn, Estonia), Ettlebruck Conservatory (Luxemburg), Yeonsei, Hanyang, and Suwon Universities (South Korea), Sichuan Conservatory, Jinan University, Xinghai Conservatory, and University of Hangzhou (China), as well as at the 2010 Convention of the Maryland State Music Teachers Association, 2009 Chinese-American International Piano Institute (Chengdu, China), and 2009 University of Florida Young Pianists Festival (Gainesville, FL). Among his students are winners of national and international competitions including National MTNA Competition.
Currently, Dr. Fitenko holds a position of Associate Professor of Piano at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. and co-directs the Washington International Piano Festival. Prior to that he was Associate Professor and Coordinator of Keyboard Area at Northwestern State University of Louisiana. Mr. Fitenko is the founder and artistic director of the Louisiana International Piano Competition as well as one of the organizers and the Vice-President of the Florida International Piano Competition (formerly Orlando International Piano Competition). Until 2008 he was also the artistic director of the Louisiana Piano Series International held on NSU's campus.

Born in Sofia, granddaughter of one of the most famous Bulgarian composers and pedagouges - Bentzion Eliezer. She studied at the National Music School of Bulgaria. In 2004 Lilia graduated from the Royal Academy of Music in London with Bachelor's Degree and Postgraduate Diploma where she studied 5 years with Prof. Lydia Mordkovich. She received a special award for her final recital.
During her studies Lilia won several competitions. Already at the age of only 8, she was awarded 1st prize at the "Talented Young Musicians" Festival in Sofia, Bulgaria.She was also a prize-winner of Kotzian Violin Competition (1990) in Prague and Estoril Competition - Portugal (1996). At the Royal Academy, Lilia was given a number of awards and scholarships including Barbara Kesterton Award, the Belmoore Woodgate Award, the Picker Trust Award, the John Mundy Award and the 1st prize of Winifred Violin Prize for best interpretation of music by Bach and Paganini.
Lilia performes regularly as a soloist and chamber musician, having played at the International Music Festival of Estoril in Portugal, Festival Iberico in Spain,Genius of the Violin Festival in London, Cremona Exhibition of Stradivarius Violinsin Italy, where she played a Stardivarius violin from the Royal Academy's Collection, Nancymphonies Festival - France, Classic Stars in Germany, Sofia Music Weeks Festival - Bulgaria, Kotor Art Festival - Montenegro and others. Lilia has also performed at prestigious venues such as the Isaac Stern and the Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall - New York, Purcell Room at the Queen Elizabeth Hall - London, Verdi Hall - Milano, Smetana Hall - Prague, Teatro Filharmonico - Verona and others. Recently Lilia recorded her first CD - Cantabile which includes some of the most famous pieces written for violin and piano. In 2008 she gave her first Master - class at the Miami University - USA. Lilia is currently a soloist of the Cascais & Oeiras Chamber Orchestra in Portugal and a violin professor at the Cascais Conservatory of Music and St. Jullian's School. She plays on Italian violin by E. Marchetti 1901 and French bow by N. Basin.

Prizewinner of international piano competitions and a Bösendorfer Concert Artist, pianist Ivo Kaltchev is enjoying a successful performing career as recitalist, soloist with orchestras, chamber musician and recording artist. "Formidable technique" (Piano Journal, England), "possesses the genius of rubato"(Diapason, France), "superb musicianship" (Phar, Israel), "distinctive and original" (Soviet Culture, Russia), "impressive" (Frankfurter Neue Presse, Germany), "most beautifully and idiomatically played" (International Record Review, England), "glittering," " big technique" (The Washington Post, USA), "his tonal qualities are astounding…first class" (American Record Guide, USA), "fine" (Fanfare, USA), "a master of the whole range of pianistic attacks and coloristic effects" (The Star Ledger, USA) - these are some of the words which music critics have used to describe Mr. Kaltchev's unique artistry.
Dr. Kaltchev has performed in musical centers throughout the world, including Carnegie Weill Concert Hall, Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall, Kennedy Center, Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory Malii and Rachmaninov Halls, St. Petersburg State Philharmonic Hall, Warsaw National Philharmonic Hall, Salle Moliere (Lyon, France), Teatro Verdi (Salerno, Italy), Tel Aviv Museum Recanati Auditorium (Israel), Mendelssohn Hochschule für Musik Hall (Leipzig, Germany), Princeton University's Richardson Auditorium, the Library of Congress, and the Bulgaria Great Hall.
He has performed and taught at music festivals throughout the world including the Washington International Piano Festival (Washington DC), the European Academy for Music and Arts (Montepulciano, Italy), the Chinese-American International Piano Institute (Changdu, China), the Perugia International Music Festival (Italy), Nancyphonies International Music Festival (France), Mozart International Music Festival (Frankfurt, Germany), the Toledo International Music Festival (Spain), the Sofia Music Weeks International Festival (Bulgaria), the Lincoln Center French Music Festival, the Prague Spring International Music Festival (Czech Republic), the Varna Summer International Festival (Bulgaria), the Rutgers SummerFest (USA), Vivace International Music Festival (USA), and Florida University Young Pianist Festival (USA). Some of the highlights of recent seasons include both a solo recital and a concerto performance with the New York Festival Orchestra (now EOS Orchestra) in Alice Tully Hall, performances of the complete solo piano works of Debussy and the complete songs of Henri Duparc as well as concerts in the U.S., China, Russia, Germany, Spain, Finland, Bulgaria, Italy, France, Czech Republic and the Virgin Islands. A respected chamber musician, Mr. Kaltchev has collaborated with the New York Metropolitan Opera soloists Sharon Christman, Fabiana Bravo and Patrick Carfizzi; pianist Ilana Vered; Essex Quartet; French actress Marie Christine Barrault as well as members of the New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony, National Symphony Orchestra and Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. His engagements for the 2010-11 concert season include recitals and master classes in the United States, Thailand, Singapore, Portugal, Switzerland, Mexico, and China.
Mr. Kaltchev's critically acclaimed commercial recordings on the Bulgarian "Gega New" label include an all-Charles Griffes CD (hailed by the French magazine Diapason as "the most accomplished interpretation known until now") and a CD with the world premieres of solo piano works by the French composer Florent Schmitt. Mr. Kaltchev has been a featured artist for the New York City's WNYC and WQXR Radio Stations, Radio Free Europe (Germany), Radio Moscow, Klara Radio Station (Brussels, Belgium), Bulgarian National TV and Radio, and many others.
Mr. Kaltchev holds the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Rutgers University (USA), the Master of Music degree from Yale University (USA), the Bachelor of Music degree from the Sofia State Academy of Music (Bulgaria) and a Diploma from the Franz Liszt Hoscschule fur Musik (Weimar, Germany). His principal teachers include pianists Ilana Vered, Boris Berman, Milena Mollova as well as chamber musicians from the Guarneri and Tokyo String Quartets.
Dr. Kaltchev is a recipient of pedagogy awards for teaching excellence from the Piano Teachers Society of America and the Princeton Steinway Society. He has presented lectures, workshops and master classes at the World Piano Pedagogy Conference, the European Piano Teachers Association Conference, the American College Music Society Conference, the Improving University Teaching International Conference, the Yale University as well as in the United States, Europe, China, Korea and the Virgin Islands. Dr. Kaltchev is an active adjudicator and has judged the following international piano competitions: Maria Clara Cullell International Latin American Piano Competition (Costa Rica), Louisiana International Piano Competition (USA), Vladigerov International Piano Competition (Bulgaria), Jacinto Guerrero Piano Competition (Spain), Florida International Piano Competition (USA), Andorra International Piano Competition, International Young Artist Piano Competition (USA), Liszt-Garrison International Piano Competition (USA) and Los Angeles International Liszt Piano Competition (USA). Mr. Kaltchev's students are prizewinners of more than 20 piano competitions and have performed with numerous orchestras including I Solisti di Perugia (Italy). Dr. Kaltchev is the Founder and Artistic Director of the Bulgarian Music Society Concert Series at the Bulgarian Embassy in Washington DC (www.bulgarianmusicsociety.org).
Currently, Dr. Kaltchev is Associate Professor of Piano and Chair of the Piano Division at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C, USA. He is also a Visiting Professor at the China Conservatory of Music in Beijing, China and Co-Director and Co-Founder of the Washington International Piano Festival in Washington DC. During the Fall 2010 semester, Dr. Kaltchev taught at the Yale University School of Music as a Visiting Professor.

Hailed by the Fanfare magazine as a pianist with "imaginative and colorful interpretive approach", Katerina Zaitseva has performed in the United States, Germany, Luxemburg, France, Portugal, South Korea, Japan, and Russia including concert appearances at the Moscow State Conservatory Hall (Moscow, Russia), John F. Kennedy Center, National Gallery of Art (Washington D.C.), and Steinway Hall (Dallas, Texas). She was also privileged to play for the King of Spain, Juan Carlos, at the opening of the Meadows Museum of Arts in Dallas. Ms. Zaitseva has been featured as soloist with the Russian Philharmonic Orchestra, Dallas Chamber Orchestra, Meadows Symphony Orchestra, Corvallis Symphony, and Lewisville Lake Symphony aong others. Her recording of Glazunov's Concerto No. 2 with the Russian Philharmonic Orchestra released by the Classical Records has garnered international critical acclaim. She will be recording her first solo CD of piano works by Schubert, Schumann, and Liszt in December 2011 in Moscow, Russia for the Classical Records label.
In addition to solo recitals, Katerina Zaitseva performs extensively in piano duo with Nikita Fitenko. Praised by critics for their "superlative sound, superlative interpretation, and superlative pianism…", the duo has performed worldwide with most recent appearances at the Moscow Conservatory Hall (Russia), Yamaha Hall (NYC), University of Florida Young Pianists Festival, Piano Duo Series (Tokyo, Japan), Nancyphonies Music Festival (Nancy, France), Madeira Music Festival (Funchal, Portugal), Berkeley University (California, USA), as well as at Yonsei University (Seoul, South Korea). Their critically acclaimed CD featuring works for piano four hands by Schumann and Brahms has been released by the Classical Records and is available through Amazon.
Katerina Zaitseva is currently on the faculty of the International School of Music in Washington, DC area. Prior to that she was a full time piano faculty and Artist in Residence at Louisiana College for five years. She presented master classes at the University of Florida, Han Yang University (Seoul, Korea) and Showa University (Tokyo, Japan). She has been a member of the Music Teachers National Association since 1997. Katerina is a winner of national competitions and awards including the MTNA Competition, SMU Concerto Competition, Von Mickwitz Prize in Piano, as well as the University of North Texas Outstanding Undergraduate Student Award among others. She holds her Master of Music degree from the Southern Methodist University, the Bachelor of Music degree magna cum laude from the University of North Texas, and Diploma from the Music School affiliated with the Moscow State Conservatory in Russia. Her principal teachers include Joaquín Achúcarro, Pamela Mia Paul, and Marina Prozorova.

Born in 1989 in Tokyo, Japan, Yoshio Hamano graduated from the Tokyo University of the Arts High School. He is currently attending the Tokyo University of the Arts. Currently taught by Dr. Atsuko Okada, Prof. Elena Ashkenazi, and Dr. Nikita Fitenko. Yoshio is the prizewinner of numerous international piano competitions, including the F. Mendelssohn Memorial Russian Youth Competition (Moscow, 2003), the Chopin Association of Italy "Rome-2003" International Piano Competition, the 5th Karamanov Youth Pianists International Competition (Simferopol, 2005), the 2nd biennial M. Nojima Yokosuka Piano Competition (2008), the 5th London International Music Competition (2010), and the 12th International Russian Music Piano Competition (San Jose CA, 2011, 2nd prize/Best Performance of Russian Music Award). In October 2011, the absolute vote of the jury as well as the audience gave Yoshio the 1st prize at the prestigious annual Music Competition of Japan, the most recognized national competition in Japan (Final stage: Piano Concerto No. 2 by S. Prokofiev). Yoshio is extensively performing with various orchestras and chamber ensembles, including the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, the Geidai Philharmonia, the Tchaikovsky String Quartet of Moscow Conservatory, and the Rasumofsky Quartet (Vienna), as well as in solo recitals: Japan, including the EXPO-2005 Aichi venue, Russia (most recently - July 2011 at the Bogolyubov Arts Library Hall, Moscow), and London (St Martin-in-the-Fields). To date performed at various music festivals, including the "Grachtenfestival" (Amsterdam), "Spring in Russia" Music Festival (Moscow), the Japan-Russia Artists' Association "Sound Route 2008 Japan - Ukraine" Festival, the Washington International Piano Festival (inaugural 2009 - 2011), and the "RED SQUARE FESTIVAL" (Moscow, 2011). For three consecutive years 2006 - 2008, Yoshio has held the "Bishkek-Tokyo" concert series in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, performing solo and jointly with the City of Bishkek Grand Symphony Orchestra (Cond. - Mo. A. Georgiev), thus receiving an award for "Promotion of the musical culture in Kyrgyzstan" from the Kyrgyz National Conservatory and the City Government of Bishkek. Besides performing, Yoshio is successfully acting as a project manager at various projects related to classical music: charity concerts ("Global Partnership Concert" series, organized jointly with pianist Toshihiro Kaneshige as the artistic unit "Renaissance Projects Worldwide"), performances in the Tohoku region of Japan, worst damaged by the Higashinihon Earthquake and Tsunami in March, 2011 ("Furusato Classic Caravan"). Yoshio is supported by CHANEL K.K. as a 2012 CHANEL Pygmalion Days artist.

Luigi Dominici graduated from the Conservatory of Torino in Pianoforte and Composition, achieving the highest marks and awards. His principal teachers included Remo Remoli (probably the most important student of Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli), Massimo Mila and Ruggero Maghini. Subsequentely he continued his studies at the Academy of Pescara where received the master's degree in Orchestra Conducting and in Antwerpen where he practiced the historical Fortepiano under the guidance of Jos Van Himmerselt. Luigi Dominici started very early a brilliant and intense career as a pianist, performing either in recitals or with orchestra or in chamber music concerts in various European countries(Italy, France, UK, Switzerland, Romania, Hungry, Yugoslavia, etc.), collaborating with eminent artists in different formation, such as the violinists Vittorio Marchese and Stefan Coles, the cellist Simon Gabor, the pianist Chiara Tavella, the singers Yetzabel Arias Fernandez and Laura Bonfante, the "J.Haydn" Trio. In the last year the collaboration with the young and gifted clarinettist Lucia Marino started. At the same time he worked as a conductor as well. During the many years spended in the "Teatro Regio di Torino" and in the most important Italian Opera Festivals as Maestro Sostituto he conducted operas of the italian and german repertoire collaborating with the most prestigious opera conductors. In the symphonic field he has been co-operating with the orchestras of Cluj, Arad, Bacau, Ploiesti, Craiova in Romania and Italy and with the "Orchestra Sinfonica della Valle d'Aosta", "I Cameristi di Genova", the "Orchestra da Camera di Alessandria", the"Orchestra Internazionale d'Italia" and many others in Italy and Switzerland, performing particularly and preferably the classic repertoire of Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert. Luigi Dominici is co-organizer of the Festival Musicale "Musica in Castello" in Racconigi(Italy) and has been on jury of various national and international Piano Competitions. He is now Professor at the Conservatory of Torino.

In 2002 Lucia Margherita Marino obtained the clarinet Diploma from the Conservatorio "G.F.Ghedini" of Cuneo, graduating with Honours. In 2002 she attended the "Accademia Superiore G.B. Pergolesi" (Biella) taking part in the Master Classes of A. Carbonare. She continued her training under the F.Meloni, P.Mariani, M.Mazzone, and G.Sobrino's direction. The same year she received a scholarship as the best clarinettist in Piedmont and won the second Camerino (Fi) Chamber Competition's prize. In 2003 she joined the Youth Orchestra of the Teatro Scala in Milan. She performed all over Italy with the chamber ensemble of the Academy during the 2003 Enel-Musica Tour. Since 2002 she has regularly performed with the Turin Philharmonic Orchestra (as the first clarinet) both in the regular symphonic season and in domestic and international tours of France, Spain, Switzerland, Austria, and Germany. In Turin, her home town, she played for 'Piemonte in Musica', 'Settembre Musica' and for 'Unione Musicale'. In 2006 she joined the Zephyr International Chamber Music Festival performing in Italy and in San Francisco, USA. She also performed with the International Italian Orchestra, the Sophia Ladies Orchestra, the Lublin Orchestra, the Arena di Verona Symphony Orchestra, the Filarmonica '900 (Teatro Regio di Torino), the Mannheimer Chamber Orchestra, and with the contemporary music ensemble Antidogma Musica. She also worked with directors Koji Miyazaki and Vincenzo Gamna in the Cantoregi Project sponsored by Turin Theatre Foundation and with Bruno Mondadori publishing house. Lucia Marino is a founder of Les Nuages Ensemble, the unique klezmer ladies quartet in Italy. With Les Nuages she recorded the "Appartenenze" CD. In 2007 Lucia Marino got her degree in Music History with Honours at the University of Turin.