Performer, Vocalist
“The marvelous mezzo-soprano Silvie Jensen,” according to The New York Times, “sings beautifully.” Critics have called her voice “exquisite, floating and expressive, a joy to hear.” A vocalist of great versatility, Ms. Jensen enjoys a wide-ranging career, which includes early and contemporary music, opera and musical theater, and ethnic, improvised, and experimental music. As a soloist, she has appeared with Ornette Coleman at London’s Barbican Centre, with Meredith Monk at Zankel Hall and Teatro Comunale Ferarra, in Handel’s Messiah at Trinity Wall Street, and in classical and contemporary works at Brooklyn Academy of Music with Sir Jonathan Miller and Paul Goodwin, Ash Lawn Opera, Stonington Opera House, Riverside Opera, American Chamber Opera, New Amsterdam Opera, Miller Theater, One World Symphony, Big Apple Baroque, and with The Broadway Bach Ensemble singing Mahler’s 4th symphony. Her performance in Hildegard von Bingen’s chant opera Ordo Virtutum, under the direction of Drew Minter, was critically acclaimed by The New York Times.
Ms. Jensen is a frequent collaborator with composers and artists in other genres; she has commissioned and premiered works created specifically for her, and has presented solo recitals and chamber music at Weill Hall, Steinway Hall, Symphony Space, Americas Society, Liederkranz Club, the Cell Theater and Nicholas Roerich Museum. She has appeared as a vocal soloist with Christopher Caines Dance Company for several seasons.
Silvie Jensen has performed with the Philip Glass Ensemble at Carnegie Hall, San Francisco Symphony Chorus under Herbert Blomstedt at Davies Hall, San Francisco Opera Chorus under Christoph von Dohnanyi, Berkeley and Oakland Symphonies under Kent Nagano, American Symphony Orchestra under Leon Botstein, Vox Vocal Ensemble, Voices of Ascension, Early Music New York, Pomerium, Russian Chamber Chorus of New York, Foundation for Universal Sacred Music, and at Merkin Concert Hall, New York City Ballet, Hammerstein Ballroom, Bang on a Can Marathon, Sound Res, Bard Festival, and Tanglewood.
Silvie Jensen has made recordings on the ECM, London, Koch, Helicon, and Soundbrush Records labels.
Ms. Jensen is a graduate of Columbia University.
Performer, Violist
Born into a family of musicians, Greek violist Krystalia Gaitanou started playing the violin under the tutelage of Dimitri Semsis. At the age of 16 she switched over to viola, studying with Natassa Anana at the Musical Horizons Conservatory in Athens. Upon her graduation she received a viola diploma and a first prize, while at the same time she was honored with a gold medal for excellence (a superior distinction awarded for the first time to a violist). She earned the “Alexandra Trianti” Scholarship from the Athens Megaron Concert Hall and pursued further studies in Paris with Vincent Aucante in CNR of Rueil-Malmaison and Isabelle Lequien in CNR of Boulogne. She also holds a bachelors degree in musicology from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens.
Ms. Gaitanou has been awarded the Special Distinction of the Pan-Hellenic Competition for orchestral instruments as well as the “Musical Prize” of the Athens College. As a recipient of the Alexander Onassis Foundation Scholarship and the Greek State Foundation Scholarship, as well as the Helen F. Whitaker Fund String Initiative Scholarship, Ms. Gatanou earned the master’s degree and the professional studies certificate in the orchestral performance program at Manhattan School of Music in the studio of Karen Dreyfus.
As an orchestra player, she has appeared in some of the world’s leading concert halls and has collaborated with such orchestras as the Tanglewood Music Center orchestra, European Youth Orchestra, World Youth Symphony Orchestra, Mediterranean Youth Orchestra, State Orchestra of Athens, Greek Radio Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra of the Colors, Orpheus Institute Chamber Sinfonia and the Kurt Masur MSM Seminar Orchestra, among others. She has also attended international festivals and master classes given by Yuri Bashmet in Accademia Chigiana in Italy, Hartmut Rohde in Pablo Casals Festival in France, Wilfried Strehle in Salzburg’s International Summer Academy “Mozarteum”, and with Michael Ouzounian and Steven Ansell in New York and Boston. She has performed extensively as a chamber musician and has been a founding member of the “Consonance” string quartet. Ms. Gaitanou was selected to participate as a fellow in the Tanglewood Music Center 2009, the Athens Festival, and has been a regular guest in the Santo Domingo Music Festival.
Performer, Violinist
Bulgarian violinist Dilyana Zlatinova-Tsenov started playing violin at the age of six and studied at the National School of Music “Liubomir Pipkov” in Sofia, Bulgaria. In 2002 she came to the US to continue her studies. Since 1997 she has appeared as a soloist and chamber musician in Europe and the United States. Ms. Zlatinova-Tsenov has performed in major international venues including Carnegie Hall, Avery Fishery Hall, Weil Recital Hall and Bulgaria Hall. She has collaborated with distinguished musicians such as Kurt Mazur, Pinchas Zukerman, Glen Dicterow, Rossen Milanov and the American String Quartet. Dilyana was the featured violinist with the National Youth Philharmonic, recording for the Bulgarian National Radio and Television.
Ms. Zlatinova-Tsenov is a winner of the International Competition “Young Music Talents.” She was a special guest of the International Youth Festival &8220;The Youth in the 21st Century” in 1999, 2000 and 2001. Dilyana completed her bachelor’s degree in violin performance at Montclair State University where she studied violin with Maria Radicheva, and chamber music with the Shanghai String Quartet. Ms. Zlatinova-Tsenov is the recipient of numerous scholarships and awards. At Montclair State University she has received The School of the Arts Advisory Board Talent Award; The MSU Foundation scholarship; The Undergraduate Citation award, The Shanghai String Quartet scholarship for strings; The Maria Radicheva scholarship; and the4 Bergen and Cosmopolitan scholarships.
Dilyana Zlatinova-Tsenov is an active chamber musician. She has been a member of the Montclair String Quartet since 2002. The quartet was named “The Honor String Quartet” by Montclair State University in recognition of its numerous successful performances. In Spring 2006 the Montclair String Quartet was chosen to participate in the Hungarian Music Festival at The Kasser Theater at Montclair State University, and performed at the inaugural season of “Bulgarian Concert Evenings in New York” at the Consulate General of the Republic of Bulgaria. The Montclair String Quartet is the first prizewinner of the international competition “Music and the Earth” in 2006, Sofia, Bulgaria.
In 2009 Dilyana Zlatinova-Tsenov earned her master’s degree from the Manhattan School of Music, where she has studied with Professor Maria Radicheva. Ms. Zlatinova-Tsenov was a recipient of the Manhattan School of Music Foundation Scholarship.
Conductor, Performer
Conductor Guerguan Tsenov has led most of the top orchestras in his native country Bulgaria: the Sofia Sate Philharmonic, New Symphony Orchestra, FM Classic Symphony Orchestra, Pazardjik Symphony Orchestra and the Orchestra of the National Academy of Music in Sofia. Since moving to the United States in 1999 Mr. Tsenov has collaborated with orchestras such as AACA Orchestra at the Aspen Music Festival, Detroit Civic Orchestra, Philadelphia Youth Orchestra, and Juilliard Conductors’ Orchestra, among others. During the 2007-2008 season Mr. Tsenov served as a Resident Conductor of the NYU Symphony Orchestra, having performed with the orchestra works such as Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite (1919), Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 9, Copland’s Appalachian Spring, John Adams’ Short Ride in a Fast Machine, Bartok’s Viola Concerto and others. In the summer of 2007 Mr. Tsenov was invited to the Aspen Music Festival as a conducting fellow having the opportunity to perform with the AACA Orchestra in series of concerts.
Mr. Tsenov is a recipient of many awards and distinctions including the Award of the International Academy of Arts “for his contribution to the contemporary Bulgarian art”, as well as the Award of the Open Society Foundation “for his musical achievements.” He has been a finalist at two of the most prestigious international conducting competitions, Dimitris Mitropoulos in Athens and Gennady Rozhdestvensky in Sofia.
Mr. Tsenov holds a master’s degree in orchestral conducting from The Juilliard School where he studied under the direction of James DePreist. Other conductors with whom he has closely collaborated are Kurt Masur, Michael Tilson Thomas, George Manahan and Larry Rachleff. In addition to his degree from The Juilliard School he also holds a second Master’s Degree in Opera and Orchestral Conducting from The State Academy of Music in Sofia, Bulgaria, where he studied with Vassil Kazandjiev.
Guerguan Tsenov is also an accomplished pianist with international career and numerous awards from international piano competitions. In Europe he has performed in Germany, France and Italy. In Bulgaria he has been broadcast on Bulgarian National Television, Bulgarian National Radio and has recorded for UNISON Records. He holds a master’s degree in piano performance from Montclair State University where he studied with Mark Pakman.
Conductor, Performer
International conductor Diane Wittry specializes in conducting American music abroad, and is known in the United States for her innovative programming and her engaging audience rapport. During the past few seasons, she has conducted concerts in Japan, Canada, Bosnia, Russia, Slovakia, New York, Washington D.C, New Jersey, Wisconsin, and California, as well as her regularly scheduled concerts with the orchestras in Pennsylvania and Connecticut. She is known as a conductor who “specializes in finding creative ways to make the music fresh, accessible, and exciting.”
In the United States, Diane Wittry has led performances by, among others, The Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Buffalo Philharmonic, Florida Philharmonic Orchestra, the Little Orchestra Society of New York, and the symphony orchestras of Milwaukee, San Diego, Houston, New Jersey, Santa Barbara, Augusta, Stockton, Pottstown, Wichita, and Wichita Falls; while her international engagements include concerts with the Sarajevo Philharmonic in Bosnia, the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine, Russia’s Maikop and Sochi symphony orchestras, Slovakia’s State Orchestra-Kosice, Italy’s Sinfonia Dell’Arte di Firenze, Canada’s Niagara Symphony, and Japan’s Orchestra Osaka Symphony. She has also conducted at the music festivals of Ojai (CA), Penn’s Woods (PA), and I-Park (CT).
Diane Wittry was recently named the Artistic Director (USA) for the International Cultural Exchange Program for Classical Musicians through the Sarajevo Philharmonic (Bosnia) and the Bosnian-Herzegovinian American Academy for Arts and Sciences (Chicago). She is also the Music Director of the Allentown Symphony Orchestra (PA), a professional orchestra that performs about 22 concerts per season. In the past, Diane Wittry has been the Music Director and Conductor of the Norwalk Symphony (CT), Artistic Director of the Ridgewood Symphony (NJ), and Music Director and Conductor of The Symphony of Southeast Texas (TX) where her artistic leadership garnered national attention.
Over the years, Diane Wittry has received many honors and awards, including the American Symphony Orchestra League’s Helen M. Thompson Award for outstanding artistic leadership of a regional orchestra. She has been the subject of profiles in The New York Times and Newsweek. Ms. Wittry received the Women of Excellence Award in Beaumont, Texas, the Arts Ovation Award and the Woman of Distinction Award from Allentown, Pennsylvania. Most recently, she became only the third American to be named – in recognition of her leadership in the arts and humanities – the recipient of the prestigious Fiorino Doro Award from the City of Vinci, Italy.
Her book Beyond the Baton, (Oxford University Press) about artistic leadership for young conductors and music director was recently re-released in paperback. It is the focus of a yearly International Conducting Workshop which helps emerging conductors put to practical use the elements in the book.
More information about Diane Wittry’s work is available at: www.DianeWittry.com
Narrator, Performer
Dr. Ruth Westheimr is a psychosexual therapist who helped to pioneer the field of media psychology with her radio program, Sexually Speaking. It began in September of 1980 as a fifteen minute, taped show that aired Sundays after midnight on WYNY-FM (NBC) in New York. One year later it became a live, one-hour show airing at 10 PM on which Dr. Ruth, as she became known, answered call-in questions from listeners. Soon it became part of a communications network to distribute Dr. Westheimer’s expertise which has included television, books, newspapers, games, home video, computer software and her own AOL website, www.drruth.com.
Born in Germany in 1928, Dr. Westheimer was sent to a school in Switzerland at the age of ten which became an orphanage for most of the German Jewish students who had been sent there to escape the Holocaust.
At 16 she went to Israel where she fought for that country’s independence as a member of the Haganah, the Jewish freedom fighters. She then moved to Paris where she studied at the Sorbonne and taught kindergarten.
She immigrated to the U.S. in 1956 where she obtained her Masters Degree in Sociology from the Graduate Faculty of the New School of Social Research. In 1970, she received a Doctorate of Education (Ed.D.) in the Interdisciplinary Study of the Family from Columbia University Teacher’s College.
She worked for Planned Parenthood for a time and it was that experience that prompted her to further her education in human sexuality by studying under Dr. Helen Singer Kaplan at New York Hospital-Cornell University Medical Center. She later participated in the program for five years as an Adjunct Associate Professor. She has also taught at Lehman College, Brooklyn College, Adelphi University, Columbia University and West Point.
Currently Dr. Westheimer is an Adjunct Professor at N.Y.U. and an Associate Fellow of Calhoun College at Yale University. In the Spring semester of 2003 she taught a course on the Jewish Family at Princeton University. She is a fellow of the New York Academy of Medicine and in addition to having her own private practice, she frequently lectures at universities across the country and has twice been named “College Lecturer of the Year.”
During her days as a college professor, Dr. Westheimer never envisaged that one day she would be making such wide use of the mass media to help spread what she has labeled “sexual literacy.” However, with her unique style, she has been able to communicate effectively through almost every avenue available.
In addition to radio, her television career has spanned both broadcast and cable. Her first TV show aired locally in New York but she soon went national on Lifetime’s The Dr. Ruth Show. Ask Dr. Ruth was syndicated both nationally and internationally by King Features Entertainment so that she became a regular in such places as London and Hong Kong as well as America. The All New Dr. Ruth Show brought her back to Lifetime and with What’s Up, Dr. Ruth she helped broaden Lifetime’s appeal with teens.
“You’re On The Air with Dr. Ruth” brought her back to the format she began with on television with both guests and live phone calls. In the Fall of 1992 she reached out to adult Americans with Never Too Late which was broadcast on Nostalgia Television. Lately she has been reaching the younger set teaching puppets how to read long words on the PBS series, Between The Lions.
Her first video was entitled Terrific Sex and she later did two more for Playboy. In the Fall of 1993 Dr. Ruth had her own weekly series in Hebrew on Israeli television as well as a five minute weekly “strip” on Great Britain’s This Morning program.
Her other foreign ventures have included spots on Radio Television Luxembourg, German Swiss Television and France’s TF-1. In 1991, she donned the title of Executive Producer for a documentary on Ethiopian Jews titled “Surviving Salvation.” Filmed by the Academy Award winning Malcolm Clarke, the documentary aired nationally on PBS. Her second documentary, entitled “No Missing Link”, also received national airing on PBS and was about how grandparents have transmitted values, particularly religious values during the 70 years of communism in Russia. She also has material for another based on a visit to the Trobriand Islands in Papua New Guinea.
In print she circles the globe with her column, Ask Dr. Ruth, syndicated by King Features. She is the author of twenty-seven books, and counting, with two more in preparation. She has her own web page on America Online (http://www.drruth.com.)
There is also Dr. Ruth’s Good Sex Night-to-Night Calendar (1993 & 1994) and a board game, Dr. Ruth’s Game of Good Sex, which Victory Games released in a version for computers.
Unrelated to her vocation was her part in the French film by Daniel Vigne, One Woman or Two, which starred Gerard Depardieu and Sigourney Weaver and in which she played the part of a wealthy philanthropist.
She also starred in a pilot for ABC titled Dr. Ruth’s House and appeared in an episode of Quantum Leap. She’s been featured on TV commercials for Clairol Herbal Essence, Honda, Pepsi, Entenmann’s and many other products. She also narrated two children’s stories, Little Red Riding Hood and Goldilocks and the Three Bears, on a CD entitled Timeless Tales And Music Of Our Time, a project by An die Musik (Oboe, String trio & Piano) for Newport Classics records which received a Grammy nomination (2002).
The National Mother’s Day Committee has honored Dr. Ruth as “Mother Of The Year” and she received a Liberty Medal from the City of New York. She has been nominated for an Ace Award by the cable industry on five occasions and her program,
The All New Dr. Ruth Show won an Ace Award in 1988 for excellence in cable television. What’s Up, Dr. Ruth was awarded the Gold Medal from the International Film and TV Festival for excellence in educational television. People Magazine included her in their list of the Most Intriguing People of the Century.
In May of 2000 she received an Honorary Doctorate from Hebrew Union College – Institute of Religion for her work in Human Sexuality and her commitment to the Jewish People, Israel and Religion. In June, 2001 she received an Honorary Doctorate in Humane Letters from CUNY’s Lehman College. In 2002 she received the Ellis Island Medal of Honor and the International Society for Sexual and Impotence Research 20th Anniversary Award and the Leo Baeck Medal.
She is the President of the YMHA of Washington Heights. Dr. Westheimer has two children, four grandchildren and resides in New York City.
Conductor, Performer
Richard studied conducting with Daniel Lewis and Henry Holt at the University of Southern California.
He was active in southern California opera companies. An interest in the music of Bach led Richard to study with Helmuth Rilling, who invited him to the Frankfurt Musikhochschule. Richard co-conducted the premiere of Robert Moran’s “Hagoromo” at Lehigh University, and was principal conductor of the Turnpike Camerata contemporary ensemble in New York.
Richard is music director and conductor of the Cornerstone Chorale, performing repertory from renaissance to contemporary. In addition, he was the conductor of the Third Street Music School Settlement Chamber Orchestra. Under Richard’s baton, they performed with acclaimed soloists, including Maxim Vengerov and Claude Frank. In 2000, the Chamber Orchestra performed, as one of four invited groups from all over the U.S. and Canada, at the conference of the Suzuki Association of the Americas in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Richard conducts the Sinfonia Orchestra at the Mannes College of Music Preparatory Division. In that past several years Richard has served as a guest conductor in Ottawa, Canada, at concerts for the Prime Minister, and has conducted at the National Arts Centre, with noted artists Anne Murray and Holly Cole.
Narrator, Performer
While still a teenager in his western Nebraska hometown Jeff Spurgeon’s radio career had what might be called a providential beginning: He was giving announcements in church, and one congregant– who owned a local radio station — heard him and offered an audition.
Since then, Jeff has worked on the radio as an announcer, a news reporter, a newscaster, an interview, and a producer. He got his first New York radio position in 1989. Jeff became a member of the WQXR news department in 1997 and in 1999 was named the station’s Mid-day Host. In 2006 Jeff became WQXR’s Morning Show Host.
One of Jeff’s proudest accomplishments has been his work as a schoolteacher. He recently developed and taught a course in broadcast journalism for Townsend Harris High School one of New York City’s top public schools.
Jeff is also a singer. He has performed with several New York City � based choruses and church choirs, and is a member of a cappella quartet whose repertoire ranges from music of Renaissance masters to original arrangements in modern styles.
Jeff lives Brooklyn with his wife Judy, a high school English teacher.
Performer, Vocalist
A recent NYC transplant from Minnesota, Mr. Silsby appeared as Richard Dauntless in Ruddigore with the Village Light Opera Group. In Minneapolis, MN, he performed with the Gilbert and Sullivan Very Light Opera Company as Strephon in Iolanthe and Marco Palimieri in The Gondoliers.
Christopher holds his B.A. in Theatre from Carleton College, where he received honors with distinction for performing, along with two fellow theatre majors, all three roles in Yasmina Reza’s play Art on sequential nights in six different permutations.
He has also studied in Russia at the Moscow Art Theatre. Christopher has performed numerous musical theatre roles with various theaters in Minnesota, including Migaldi in Evita, Marvin in Falsettos, Zangara in Assassins, and both Pirelli and Sweeney in two different productions of Sweeney Todd.
On the non-musical side of things, he has performed as Sebastian in Twelfth Night; The Chorus in Iphegenia at Aulis; Jim, the Gentleman Caller, in The Glass Menagerie; Brodie in The Real Thing; and Madame Chandebise in the French farce A Flea in Her Ear.
Currently a graduate student in College and Community Educational Theatre at NYU, he is appearing at the Provincetown Playhouse as Oscar Wilde in Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde from February 23 to March 4.
Conductor, Performer
Jonathan Schiffman is an exciting new presence in the musical world. Now in his second season as principal conductor of the New Amsterdam Symphony Orchestra, Mr. Schiffman also maintains an active career in Europe where he serves as assistant conductor to both the Orchestre National de France and the Budapest Festival Orchestra.
Mr. Schiffman made his conducting debut in 2001 at age twenty-four with the Fort Worth Symphony. His success there led to his immediate reengagement for future concerts, as well as appearances with the Eugene Symphony, Auckland Philharmonia (New Zealand), Riva Music Festival (Italy), Florida West Coast Symphony, and National Symphony orchestras.
Mr. Schiffman, an active composer himself, has also been especially involved in new music. In 2001, he was invited to conduct the U.S. premiere of a work by avant-garde Italian composer Fausto Romitelli in Juilliard’s Focus Festival. Mr. Schiffman has since returned to conduct works by Zoltan Jeney and Stravinsky in subsequent Focus Festivals. More recently, Mr. Schiffman recorded young composer Sarana Choi’s flute concerto, which took first prize in the 2002 ASCAP Composers Contest.
A native of New York City, Mr. Schiffman began studying cello at age five. While an undergraduate at Yale, Mr. Schiffman was appointed music director of the Yale Bach Society Orchestra & Chorus. During his two-year tenure, Mr. Schiffman led the orchestra in the world premiere performance of Stravinsky’s last work, Four Preludes & Fugues.
Upon graduating from Yale with honors, Mr. Schiffman was accepted into the 1999 Aspen Music Festival Conducting Seminar. He returned the following year as a fellowship recipient. Mr. Schiffman received a masters degree from Juilliard in 2004, where he studied conducting with Otto-Werner Mueller.
Mr. Schiffman currently resides in Paris, having spent the past year studying composition with Narcis Bonet as a Fulbright scholar.
