with Allison Eldredge, cello

Heralded as "a musician of remarkable gifts" by the Chicago Tribune, Ms. Eldredge has performed as soloist with many of the world's great orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, Chicago Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Saint Louis Symphony, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Montreal Symphony, Boston Pops, New World Symphony, Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony, Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra, Osaka Philharmonic, Royal Philharmonic, China National Symphony, Berlin Symphony, Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Hague Philharmonic, Zurich Chamber Orchestra and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra.

Concert is part of Festival Miami.

with Anna Litvinenko, cello

Cuban-Ukranian cellist Anna Maria Litvinenko is one of Miami's best kept secrets. Born in Kherson, Ukraine, Anna first began studying piano with her mother at the age of 5 and soon after began studying cello with her father. Anna exhibited prodigious development on both instruments, but found her most intimate connection with the cello. By the age of 10, Anna made her concerto debut with the Greater Miami Youth Symphony. Two years later, at age 12, Maestro Eduardo Marturet invited Anna to join The Miami Symphony Orchestra cello section as the first young artist in MISO's Outstanding Young Artists Program. Anna has appeared as a soloist with the Hollywood Philharmonic, Florida Chamber Orchestra, Alhambra Orchestra, Coral Gables Chamber Symphony, New World School of the Arts Orchestra, Walenstein Symphony, Miami Symphony, New World Symphony, and the Sinfónica Juvenil Teresa Carreño. Her repertoire includes concertos by Haydn, J.C. Bach, Boccherini, Saint-Saens, Elgar, Tchaikovsky, and Dvorak. Anna has won first prize in several South Florida concerto competitions sponsored by organizations including the Greater Miami Youth Symphony, Alhambra Orchestra, Walenstein Symphony Orchestra, Michael and Madelyn Savarick Annual Music Competition, New World School of the Arts, and the New World Symphony.

In summer of 2008, Anna was invited to perform Tchaikovsky’s Variations on a Rococo Theme in Caracas, Venezuela with the critically acclaimed Sinfónica Juvenil Teresa Carreño of El Sistema. Anna has performed in master classes for William de Rosa, Yehuda Hanani, Alisa Weilerstein, Pamela Frank, and Andrés Díaz. Anna has served as principal cellist at the Florida Orchestra Association All-State Festival. She has also been a featured soloist on several occasions for The American Ideal concerts produced by Bella Smith and broadcast on Miami's public television station, Channel 17 - WLRN. In 2007, Anna won the Jack Kent Cooke Young Artist Award, and appeared on NPR's From the Top, a weekly showcase of America’s top young classical musicians. Anna is also a Jack Kent Cooke Foundation Young Scholar. In 2009, Anna was a semi-finalist at the Sphinx Competition. Anna is 15 years old, and her primary cello teacher is her father Konstantin Litvinenko.  She also studies with Aaron Merrit at Miami's New World School of the Arts High-School where she is in the 10th grade. Most recently, during the summer of 2009, Anna studied with Hans Jørgen Jensen at the prestigious Meadowmount School for Strings in upstate New York.

Program is sponsored by Bertram Yacht

with Mabel Ledo, mezzo-soprano

Cuban-American mezzo-soprano Mabel Ledo has been described by the New York Times as “a warm, expressive mezzo-soprano,” and Opera News reported: “Mabel Ledo unleashed a voluminous, firmly-placed mezzo that made one long to hear more of her.”

Ms. Ledo has graced the stages of Carnegie's Weil Hall, and Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall, where she made her debut as Hua-Qui in the opera L'Oracolo. She has been a featured soloist with the Miami Beach World Music Festival in El Amor Brujo, under the baton of Maestro Eduardo Marturet, as well as with the Miami Civic Music Association, and most recently with the Concert Association of Florida at the Adrienne Arscht Center. Ms. Ledo’s most recent performances include Giulietta in The Tales of Hoffmann with Festival de Opera de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Ulrica in Un Ballo in Maschera with Opera de Oviedo, and Carmen under the musical direction of Anton Coppola.

with Tian Lu, piano

Chinese Pianist Tian Lu has appeared in recitals, chamber music, and orchestral performances in China, Europe, the United States, Thailand and South America. Ms. Lu started piano when she was 4 years old. After finishing high school and studying at the Shanghai Conservatory, at the age of 17 she was accepted with a full scholarship to the Oberlin Conservatory of Music in 2002 as a student of Monique Duphil. Since then she was the Liberace Prize winner in 2004. In March 2005, at age 19, Ms. Lu was the youngest competitor at the Iowa International Piano Competition, hosted by the Sioux City Symphony Orchestra, where she won 2nd Prize.In May 2007 she was invited to play in Washington D.C. at the Kennedy Center to represent the Oberlin Conservatory. In March of 2008, Ms. Lu won the Thailand International Piano Competition. As a result of that, she was awarded concert engagements with the Thailand Philharmonic Orchestra in 2008-2009, and won a Yamaha Professional C3 grand piano.

Program is sponsored by Deel Volvo

with Daniel Andai, violin

Hailed by the New York Times as an "Exemplary Leader," for conducting the Manhattan School of Music Chamber Sinfonia along with members of the New York Philharmonic from the concertmaster chair in Carnegie Hall, violinist Daniel Andai continues to share his versatile artistry as concert soloist with orchestras, recitalist, recording artist, orchestral and chamber musician on five continents including the Middle East, the Caribbean and 20 United States in some of the worlds leading concert halls and prominent artists. A consistent prize winner of numerous competitions & awards, some of which include the Raphael Bronstein Award from the Manhattan School of Music, Schlern International Competition in Italy, Dr. Luis Sigal International Violin Competition in Chile, International Soloist Festival in Moscow, Bach Society, Music Teachers National Association, FLASTA Young Artist Award, Mizner Centre for the Arts, Lynn University, New World School of the Arts, and many more, have led to many performances with such orchestras as the Florida Philharmonic, Moscow State Symphony, Miami Symphony Orchestra, Sinfonica Juvenil de Caracas, Sinfonica Venezolana Simon Bolivar, Renaissance Chamber Orchestra, Virtuosi Camerata and the Welsch Chamber Orchestra, among others.

with Gilles Vonsattel, piano

Winner of the 2008 Avery Fisher Career Grant, Swiss-born American pianist Gilles Vonsattel is an artist of uncommon breadth. With repertoire that ranges from Bach's Art of the Fugue to Xenakis, as well as equal comfort as a soloist and chamber musician, Vonsattel displays a musical curiosity and sense of adventure that has gained him many admirers. He began touring after capturing the top prize at the prestigious 2002 Naumburg International Piano Competition. He made his Alice Tully Hall debut that same year and has since performed with the Warsaw Philharmonic; at Zürich's Tonhalle, Warsaw's Chopin Festival, and Tokyo's Opera City Hall; and in the U.S. with the Utah, Santa Fe, Nashville, and Grand Rapids symphonies, and the Boston Pops Orchestra. Vonsattel is also a member of Lincoln Center's prestigious Chamber Music Society Two, with whom he performs extensively both at Lincoln Center and on tour.