*** Malaika Sims Alvaro (soprano) began her early musical training on the violin and piano at age six. By age fourteen, she was accepted into the National Symphony Orchestra Youth Fellowship Program in Washington, DC for violin where she performed on the Concert Stage at the Kennedy Center. A year later, she took 2nd place in the City-Wide Piano Competition of Washington, D.C. At age eleven, her performance in Puccini’s La Boheme in the Opera House set the stage for her pursuit of voice. Malaika made her New York singing debut at the Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall in 1999 winning critical acclaim. She has since sung lead roles and premiers in many productions of the major national and international houses in opera and legit musical theater. She appeared with The New York Lyric Opera Theater, Westchester Philharmonic, National Hungarian Orchestra, Mexican National Orchestra, and the National Symphony Orchestra. She was a featured soloist with the Bronx Concert Singers for 3 seasons. She has performed in Israel, China, Singapore, United Kingdom, sang Brazilian classical favorites in a guitar recital under the auspice of Sharon Isbin at Alice Tully Hall and was a concert soloist in the church of Santa Giulia in Torino, Italy. Malaika is a graduate of the Juilliard School and the Manhattan School of Music and has over 20 years of teaching experience. She is a founding member of the chamber ensemble Dall'Ombra which recently received several grants to continue its mission of performing works by underrepresented composers.

*** Violinist Mara Milkis has appeared on different stages throughout the world, and has performed newly discovered works of the Baroque and Classical Era, as well as Romantic and Modern repertoire. She has taught and coached at the University of Bridgeport, Conn., University of Calgary, The Upper Canada College, and privately. Ms. Milkis has held concertmaster positions with The New York City Symphony, New American Chamber Orchestra, Mid-Atlantic Chamber Orchestra, The Windsor Symphony, and has been the lead violinist of several chamber groups, including Chamber Arts String Quartet, New York Concertino Ensemble, Les Amis, and The Galliard Ensemble. After graduating from Specialized Music School for Gifted Children and immigrating from St. Petersburg, Russia, where she was a winner of multiple competitions, she moved to Canada with her well-known musical family. A disciple of Joseph Gingold, Zoltan Szekely, Lorand Fenyves and Aron Knayfel, she continued her education at the University of Toronto and the Banff Center of Fine Arts, resulting with a two-year string quartet residency at the Banff Center and an assistantship at Indiana University.

Ms. Milkis is the recipient of numerous Canada Council Grants, a winner of Toronto Kiwanis Competition, a winner of Fischoff National Chamber Music competition, as well as the Lutoslawski Prize at Evian Competition. Throughout her career, Ms. Milkis has dedicated a great part of her professional life to string quartets. Currently, Ms. Milkis teaches at the Kaufman Center in New York City, and is the founder of a newly formed all-women group, Dall’ombra Ensemble; dedicated to showcasing rarely performed music.

*** Leslie Tomkins (viola) Leslie was inspired by the red rocks of Moab to create the Moab Music Festival of which she is the Co-Founder and Artistic Director (moabmusicfest.org). Now in its 32nd year, the critically acclaimed chamber music festival is known for presenting music in concert with the landscape among the striking red rocks of southeastern Utah. Additionally, she is the Artistic Director of Summertrios (summertrios.org) an organization that offers chamber music coaching and performance opportunities to adult non-professional musicians of all levels. Based in the Bronx, Leslie enjoys the richly diverse musical life that New York City offers, playing at venues such as Carnegie Hall, Madison Square Garden, Lincoln Center, and on Broadway, playing chamber music and coaching student and professional chamber ensembles. Leslie is on the Advisory Committee of the Valley of the Moon Music Festival and mentors women in leadership roles of several non-profit arts organizations. She enjoys hiking with her poodle Lulu, gyrotonics, speedskating, bungee fitness, travelling and looking at art.

*** Wanda Glowacka (cello) was the winner of 1st prizes in the Concertino Prague International Competition and Danczowski Cello Competition. She has been the recipient of several awards and honors including the Fulbright Scholarship, Juilliard School Grants, Phyllis Curtin & Boston University Faculty Awards, the Hammer-Rostropovich Award, the Halsey Stevens Award and the University of Southern California Award for Musical Achievement. Wanda attended the

Chopin Academy in Warsaw (Poland) where she got her MMA. She also has a Professional studies diploma from Juilliard, an Artist Diploma from BU, and a Doctoral Studies in Performance and Education from USC. Wanda has been a teacher since 1987 and was a former faculty member of the Chopin Academy of Music in Poland, as well as, the Szymanowski Special Music School in Warsaw in Poland.

Wanda perfromed under the management of PAGART and appeared as a soloist with orchestras and in recitals throughout Europe and South America. In the United States she's performed at numerous concert series including Weill Recital Hall, Gardner Museum, Helen Osterlin, Harvard Club, Hoffstra Cultural Center, MAYO Performing Center, Ukrainian Institute, Merkin Hall and festivals including the Shandelee, Windham, Music Mountain, Great Music at Scarborough, Waterville Valley, San Marcos. She has recorded for Czech, Polish, and French Radio and Television, as well as KUSC in Los Angeles. Ms. Glowacka also premiered new music including the American premiere of Witold Lutoslawski’s “Grave” for Cello and Orchestra in Los Angeles in 1987, a world premiere of a duo for cello and voice by Virko Baley in New York, 2008. From 1996 − 2007 she performed in the yearly concerts of Twentieth Century Music and On in New York City including many premiers of works by Ronn Yedidia.

*** Clarinetist Morrie Sherry has dynamically combined a performing and teaching career in the New York metropolitan area. Praised as "an artist of superb ability and flawless musicianship" by The Arlington Journal, Morrie has performed with various chamber ensembles, including the St Cecilia Chamber Ensemble and the Metropolitan Soloists in New York City, the Manchester Music Festival in Manchester, Vermont, and with the Lakeview Chamber Players in New Hampshire and Maine. She performed at the Manchester Music Festival for twenty-four years, where she premiered David Amram's "Starry Night" for solo clarinet and string orchestra. Ms. Sherry has also performed as a soloist with the Baltimore Symphony and the International Jewish Arts Festival Orchestra.

Since 1990, she has taught clarinet and chamber music at the Kaufman Music Center and maintains a private studio.

She holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the Philadelphia College of Performing Arts and a Master of Music from Juilliard School. Her principal teachers were Ben Armato, Leon Russianoff, and Ignatius Gennusa. She won competitions from the Baltimore Symphony, ClariNetwork International, the Virginia Symphony, and Artists International. Morrie Sherry is a D’Addario Artist. For more about Morrie, please visit her website www.Morriesherry.com

*** Diane Taublieb (flute) is on the faculty of Lucy Moses School, Special Music School, Turtle Bay Music School, and Hunter College and Kinhaven Music School—summer, junior session—in addition to maintaining an active private flute studio. She has played with The Queens Symphony, Solisti New York, New Jersey Symphony and the Village Light Opera Group. Diane was a winner in the concerto competition at SUNY Albany and was the recipient of a fellowship while a doctoral candidate at The Graduate Center of the City University of New York. She is the coordinator of the Adult Chamber Music Program at Lucy Moses and, in addition, she teaches music theory and history in their adult division.

As a flutist, she has performed with orchestras and in chamber groups throughout the United States. Diane’s repertoire covers music from the baroque up through contemporary works. Her primary teachers are Samuel Baron, Julius Baker, Thomas Nyfenger, Keith Underwood, and Trudy Kane. Her repertoire covers music from the baroque era up through contemporary works. She is on the faculty of Kaufman Music Center’s Lucy Moses and Special Music Schools and Kinhaven Music School in addition to maintaining an active private flute studio. Diane has played with the Queens Symphony, Solisti New York, and the New Jersey Symphony.