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Swang Lin, violin
A native of Taipei, Taiwan, Swang Lin began the study of violin at the age of six. In 1984, he began studies with Zvi Zeitlin at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, where he earned both Bachelors and Masters Degrees in violin performance.
Before joining the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra in 1991, Lin performed with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and the Orchestra of St. Luke's in New York. Engagements with the latter groups have taken him to concert halls and festivals across the U. S. and Europe, including the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall in London, Carnegie Hall and Avery Fisher Hall in New York, Kennedy Performing Art Center in Washington D.C., Tanglewood Music Festival, among others. He has held Concertmaster positions with the Fort Worth Symphony
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Orchestra, Fort Worth Chamber Orchestra, West Virginia Symphony Orchestra, and the Bear Valley, California, Music Festival Orchestra. Swang serves as a member of the faculty of and as a performing artist for the Utah Music Festival in Logan and Snowbird.
A frequent and favorite soloist with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, Swang Lin has soloed before the West Virginia Symphony Orchestra, Kaohsiung City Symphony Orchestra (Taiwan), Shanghai Broadcast Symphony Orchestra, Kunming Symphony (China), and Taipei City Symphony Orchestra, among many others. His performances have been heard nationally on National Public Radio's Performance Today series and have been televised on CBS's Good Morning America and on PBS.
An active proponent of chamber music, Lin regularly performs with the Chamber Music Society of Fort Worth and with the Spectrum Chamber Music Society. He has performed at Utah Music Festival at Logan, Snowbird Institute String Chamber Music Festival in Utah, Bear Valley Music Festival in California, Steger International Music Festival in Oklahoma.
In recent seasons Swang made a successful Mainland China debut at the Shanghai Music Hall with Shanghai Broadcast Symphony under the direction of Tan Lihua. Upon the invitation from the 1999 Kunming International Horticultural Expo's committee, he has performed two sold-out concerts with Kunming Symphony Orchestra and gave masterclasses throughout the region. With a triumphant solo appearance before the Northeast Orchestra, Texas in 1996, Swang returned the following year to play Dvorak Violin Concerto.
In 2000, Lin has performed Stravinsky Violin Concerto with the Fort Worth Symphony at the Bass Performance Hall. He was also engaged to three-week concert tour in Australia and has released his first compact disc Serenade.
Hiighlights of recent seasons also include a "Distinguished Artists Series" recital at Coppel's Museum of Arts, Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto with Kaohsiung City Symphony Orchestra, a recital in Massachusetts, and performed Shostakovitch Violin Concerto under the direction of Miguel Harth-Bedoya.
A devoted and dynamic teacher, Swang has taught various institutions including University of Texas in Arlington and Charleston University in West Virginia. His students have earned numerous awards and prizes at both local and national competitions.
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Misha Galaganov, viola
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Dr. Misha Galaganov, Assistant Professor of Viola at TCU, has performed as a soloist in Russia, Israel, Czech Republic, Holland, Belgium, Austria, the USA, and Mexico. He has been invited to collaborate in solo and chamber music performances with such musicians as Martha Katz, Paul Katz, Donald Weilerstein, Ko Iwasaki, Eduard Brunner, and many others in Europe and the USA.
Dr. Galaganov has taught and given master classes in numerous festivals, including Orlando festival, Music in the Mountains, Mimir, and others in Holland, Austria, Israel, and the USA. He is referenced in Who's Who in Fine Arts on AcademicKeys.com, an informational source about the faculty, educational resources, and professional activities in the USA. He has also been selected to be profiles in Marquis Who's Who in
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America, 2005 scheduled for publication in October 2004. Misha Galaganov serves as the conductor of the String Orchestra division of the Youth Orchestra of Greater Fort Worth and as the director of the YO chamber music program. In addition, Dr. Galaganov is a co-director of Fort Worth Amateur Chamber Music Roundup festival.
Born and educated in Russia, Dr. Galaganov also holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Jerusalem Rubin Academy, an Artist Diploma Certificate from SMU in Dallas, and a Master of Music and DMA from Rice University in Houston. He has taken master classes with Tabea Zimmermann and Tokio Quartet, and his main teachers included Pavel Galaganov, Michael Kugel, Barbara Hustis, Martha Katz, and Wayne Brooks.
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Igor Gefter, violoncello
As one of the leading cellists of his generation, Russian native Igor Gefter has established himself as a memorable performer with his insightful and masterful interpretations, excelling in all aspects of cello playing.
Igor Gefter recently appeared in the Nicole Kidman movie Birth . Mr. Gefter currently holds a position of an Associate Principal cello with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra. Prior to coming to Texas, Mr. Gefter lived in New York where he has been associated with the New York Philharmonic since 1997, both as an acting member and a substitute cellist. Mr. Gefter has performed in major music centers around the world such as Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, Gewandhaus in Holland, Musikverien in Austria, Mann Auditorium in Israel, Suntory Hall in Japan and at the National Arts Center in Ottawa. Mr. Gefter's |
numerous honors include awards from the Ontario Arts Council and the Sinai Musical Foundation, as well as prestigious Canada Council Grants for study abroad. In 1991, Mr. Gefter won first prize in the Canadian Music Competition, resulting in numerous recitals throughout Canada. In 1998, he won Mannes Concerto Competition and performed as a soloist at Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall.
An active participant in international music festivals, Mr. Gefter has served as principal cellist for the "Festival of the Two Worlds" in Spoleto, Italy; the Rondo Chamber Orchestra at the International Chamber Music Festival in Venezuela and the International Symphony Orchestra in Israel. Mr. Gefter performed as principal cellist of the Juilliard Orchestra and has appeared numerous times with the New York City Ballet Orchestra. In 1994, he collaborated with Mstislav Rostropovich in a production of Prokofiev's Romeo and Julliet at the Schleswig Holstein Music Festival. He has performed throughout the world under the batons of Lorin Maazel, Zubin Mehta, Mstislav Rostropovich, Charles Dutoit, Aldo Ceccato, Neemi Jarvi, Kurt Masur, Leonard Slatkin, Valery Gergiev, Hugh Wolf, David Robertson, among others.
Mr. Gefter has toured North America, Europe and Asia performing as a soloist and chamber musician with such artists as Carter Brey, Principal Cellist of the New York Philharmonic, Ani Kavafian, member of the Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society, Cynthia Phelps, Principal violist of the New York Philharmonic, Albert Lotto, Music Director of the Diamonji International Music Festival in Kyoto, Japan; Thomas Prevost, 'super soliste' of the Philharmonic Radio Orchestra of France; Kazuki Sawa, Head of the String Department of the Tokyo University of Fine Arts; Mark Skazinetsky, Associate Concertmaster of the Toronto Symphony among others.
Igor Gefter began playing the cello at the age of seven, studying with Professor Vsevolod Madan in Ukraine and made his debut at the age of eight as a winner of the National Young Artist Competition, the first of seven consecutive competitions that he won before the age of thirteen. At the age of fourteen he performed at the Recital Hall of the Moscow Conservatory. Shortly thereafter he left Russia to study with the assistant principal cellist of the Rome Opera Theater, Mr. George Pawassar, followed by two years of study with Professor Vladimir Orloff at the Royal Conservatory of Music of Toronto. Mr. Gefter holds undergraduate and graduate degrees from The Juilliard School in New York, where he studied with Aldo Parisot, James Kreger and Harvey Shapiro. He completed his post-graduate studies in the studio of Carter Brey. |
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