Faculty & Guest Artists
Cecylia Barczyk (Artistic Director, Cello, Chamber Music)
Prof. Cecylia Barczyk has achieved international recognition as a
complete artist, successful teacher, and great humanitarian. She has given
concerts, recitals, and master classes throughout Europe, Asia and the Americas,
including appearances with prominent orchestras in Baltimore, Beijing, Berlin,
Boston, Bucharest, Budapest, Cracow, Ho Chi Minh City, London, Moscow, New
York, Prague, Salvador, Seoul, Shanghai, Sofia, St. Petersburg, Taiwan, Tel
Aviv, Tianjin, Tokyo, and Warsaw. Ms. Barczyk has frequently performed on radio
and television in the USA and abroad. Her recordings have been highly valued by
experts and greatly appreciated by music lovers in many lands. She won top
prizes in prestigious music competitions including the Danczowski Cello
Competition (Poznan), the Pablo Casals International Cello Competition
(Budapest), the Tchaikovsky International Cello Competition (Moscow), the Aldo
Parisot International Competition (Brazil), the J.S. Bach International Competition
(Leipzig), the Cassado International Cello Competition (Florence), and the W.C.
Byrd Young Artists Competition (Michigan). For her musical and pedagogical
achievements, she has received awards and honors from professional, cultural,
and government institutions in China, Germany, Indonesia, Korea, Mexico,
Poland, and the USA. The Maryland Chapter of the American String Teachers
Association named her “Teacher of the Year” (1995, 2005). The Tianjin
Conservatory of Music (China) granted her the title Distinguished Honorary
Professor. The International Friends of the Cello Association granted her the
Award for Great Achievements in Cello Music, and the Minister of Culture of the
Republic of Poland gave her the Medal for Outstanding Contributions to Society
and Culture. She has studied at the Chopin Conservatory in Warsaw, Tchaikowsky
Conservatory in Moscow, and Yale School of Music with Kazimierz Wilkomirski,
Natalya Gutman and Aldo Parisot. Since 1983, she has taught at Towson
University, continuing her solo career while educating young cellists from
virtually every part of the globe.
Brian Ganz (Piano)
Brian Ganz is widely regarded as one of the leading
pianists of his generation. Washington Post critic Joan Reinthaler has written:
“One comes away from a recital by pianist Brian Ganz not only exhilarated by
the power of the performance but also moved by his search for artistic truth.”
Brian Ganz was winner of one of two First Grand Prizes awarded in the 1989
Marguerite Long Jacques Thibaud International Piano Competition in Paris, where
he was also awarded special prizes for the best recital round of the
competition and the best performance of the required work. That same year he
won a Beethoven Fellowship awarded by the American Pianists Association, and in
1991 he was a silver medalist with third prize in the Queen Elisabeth of
Belgium International Piano Competition. After his performance in the finals of
the Brussels competition, the critic for La Libre Belgique wrote: “We don’t
have the words to speak of this fabulous musician who lives music with a
generous urgency and brings his public into a state of intense joy.” Some of
Mr. Ganz’ recent concert highlights include performances of Mozart Piano
Concerti K. 466, with the Memphis Symphony, and K. 467, with the National
Philharmonic Orchestra at the new Strathmore Hall in Rockville, Maryland. In
the summer of 2006 he returned to the Kennedy Center concert hall in a critically
acclaimed performance with the Taipei Philharmonic Orchestra, under the baton
of Yoel Levi. He has also performed with such conductors as Leonard Slatkin,
Marin Alsop, Mstislav Rostropovich, Philippe Entremont, Pinchas Zukerman, Leon
Fleisher, Jerzy Semkow, and Gustav Meier.
Jonathan Carney (Violin)
Jonathan Carney has been hailed as one of the great
Concertmasters of his generation. He comes from a unique musical background;
all six members of his family graduated from The Juilliard School in New York.
After completing his studies with Ivan Galamian and Christine Dethier, he was
awarded a Leverhulme Fellowship and moved to London to continue his studies at
the Royal College of Music. After making successful tours of the Americas,
Europe and the Far East as both leader and soloist with numerous international
ensembles, he was invited by Vladimar Ashkenazy to become leader of the Royal
Philharmonic Orchestra. He made his debut with the orchestra at the Royal
Festival Hall in 1991 and has since appeared as a soloist in many of the
concert halls in Britain and the continent working with conductors such as
Gatti, Kreizberg and Yuri Temirkonov as well as an extensive tour of South
America with Yehudi Menuhin. In 2002 Jonathan started his post as Concertmaster
of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. In addition to his recordings for CBS
Masterworks, Decca, ASV and Naxos, he is regularly featured on the BBC and has
most recently recorded solo works by John Cage and Bruno Moderna. He was also
Director of the Royal Philharmonic Chamber Ensemble and has recorded over
twenty discs for Tring International including The Four Seasons, The Lark
Ascending and Mozart’s Third and Fifth Concertos, as well as the Sinfonia
Concertante. New releases include a disc of virtuoso works of Sarasate and
Kreisler, an award winning recording of the Nielson concerto with the
Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra for the Naxos label and Michael Nyman’s The Piano
Concerto with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Carney. An avid
exponent of twentieth-century music, his solo repertoire also includes works by
Lutoslawski, Penderecki, Janacek, Hindemith, Glass, Cage, Takemitsu, Maxwell
Davis, Britten, William Bolcom and John Corigliano.
Charles Borowsky (Founding Director, Music Entrepreneurship)
Prof. Charles H. Borowsky, Ph.D. has been internationally acknowledged for his many academic, educational, and leadership achievements. He received several distinctions, awards and honorary degrees from professional, social, and cultural organizations both in the USA and abroad. Borowsky has authored numerous articles and books in the areas of social movements and change, politics and religion, development and quality of life, sociology of culture, and sociology of youth, published in America, Europe, and Asia. He has been on the faculty of prominent universities including Yale University, Massachusetts Institute of Social Studies, and the University of Maryland and has lectured in 66 countries in North America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. In 2002, UNESCO/International Music Council published Dr. Borowsky’s works "Creativity and Innovation in Music" and “The Function of Music In Society.” Currently, Dr. Charles H. Borowsky is the President of Intermuse Performing Artists’ Bureau, and also the elected President of the International Friends of Music Association and Senior Advisor to the public and private organization in the USA and abroad.
Blanka Bednarz (Violin, Chamber Music)
Blanka Bednarz is an alumna of the J. Kaliszewska Talent School in Poznan, Poland. She holds degrees from the University of Kansas (BM, with Ben Sayevich), and the New England Conservatory (MM and DMA, with Eric Ronseblith and James Dunham). As soloist she has performed with the Connecticut Virtuosi, Symphony and Chamber Orchestras of the New England Conservatory, Gettysburg Chamber Orchestra, Sinfonietta Polonia and Delaware County Symphony. She is an avid chamber musician and a member of the Atma Trio. In 2007-08, Ms.Bednarz was first violinist of the Vega String Quartet, in residence at Emory University in Atlanta (“marvelous foursome” –Strad). Dr. Bednarz has collaborated with renowned artists, such as Barry Snyder, Rita Sloan, Brian Ganz, Cecylia Barczyk, Adrian Levine, David Kim, and Richard Stoltzman, and with the American Virtuosi, Boston Modern Orchestra Project, Chameleon Ensemble, Alarm Will Sound and the Baltimore Symphony. She has performed internationally in a variety of venues, including Jordan Hall in Boston, Beijing Concert Hall, Philadelphia Ethical Society, Weil Hall at Carnegie Hall and Carnegie Hall, and Aula UAM in Poznan. She has appeared in the Highlands-Cashers, Chanterelle, and other festivals, and has performed under auspices of the Chopin Foundation of the United States and the Kosciuszko Foundation. Bednarz is concertmaster of Sinfonietta Polonia. She can be heard on Capstone Records, A.W. Promotions, Acte Prealable, and Musica Omnia. Currently Associate Professor of Music at Dickinson College, PA, Bednarz has taught at NEC's Prep Division, Emory University, the Gifted Music School in Salt Lake City, and has given masterclasses in the USA, Poland, Germany and China. "The violinist charms with beautiful sound, impressive palette of color and extraordinary musicality. " – Monika Mankowska, Twoj Tydzien, Poznan, Poland.
Sharon Eng (Viola, Chamber Music)
American violist Sharon Eng is a seasoned international strings educator,
clinician, chamber recitalist and conductor.
Her rich musical career has spanned five continents,
including contracts with the American Ballet Theatre and New York City Opera,
and such leadership positions as the Greenwich Philharmonic, Jakarta Chamber
Orchestra and Polish Sinfonietta. Early
in her career, she represented the United States at the von Karajan
International Youth Orchestra in Berlin; and studied chamber music with some of
the leading string quartets of our time: the Juilliard, Guarneri, Hungarian and
Cleveland quartets. In 1998, Eng co-founded Classical Nuances, a unique
trio of oboe, viola and piano that performed in 12 countries including at the
United Nations in NYC, Seoul Performing Arts Center, Athens Opera House, and as
guests of the Sultan’s family in Kuwait.
Splitting her time in several Southeast Asian countries over a 20 year
period, Dr. Eng was professor of violin and viola at the University of Pelita
Harapan Conservatory of Music, and from 1996 to 2010 headed the High School and
Middle School strings program at Jakarta International School, conducting JIS flagship
orchestras in Shanghai, Budapest, Vienna and other principal cities in Europe
and Asia. Her solo viola performances have involved
collaborations with pianists on both coasts of the United States and
internationally, including—among many-- world
premieres of works at Lincoln Center, the Bennington Contemporary Music Forum,
and the 20th Century Consort, solo performances at the Queensland Conservatory of Music in Brisbane,
Australia, solo with orchestra at the National Cathedral in Washington, DC, and
a recital tour of five major cities in Indonesia. Eng has
served on the faculty of the summer International Music Institute and Festival
at Coolfont and at Mount St. Mary’s University in Maryland since IMIF’s inception
in 2003. Eng, earned her Bachelor and Master Degrees in viola
performance at the Juilliard School where she was a five-year scholarship
student of William Lincer and Paul Doktor. Dr. Eng plays on a viola
made in 1978 by Margaret Shipman of Los Angeles.
Elizabeth Borowsky (Executive Director, Piano, Chamber Music)
Heralded by the press as “a brilliant young musician with a great personality,” Elizabeth Borowsky enjoys a diverse musical career as a solo and collaborative pianist, composer, educator, and arts advocate.
“Elizabeth's performance and personality dismiss any preconceptions of classical music as elite, or being a music of the past. She is a vibrant and engaging performer and can draw even the most reluctant audience member into her spell.” Borowsky’s scintillating performances have led to invitations to perform as soloist with orchestras including the Israeli Soloists Orchestra, Lublin Philarmonic Orchestra, Polish Camerata, Young German Symphony Orchestra, Tianjin Symphony Orchestra, and Towson University Symphony Orchestra. Her live performance of the Haydn D-Major Concerto with the Polish Camerata was internationally broadcast by Pol-Sat TV. She has been a featured performed at such distinguished venues as Carnegie Hall and The Kennedy Center, and has performed recitals in over thirty countries in prestigious music festivals including Klavierwoche International, the Maryland Arts Festival, Concerti di Primavera, Heidelberg Klavierwoche, Music at the Paderewski Manor, and the International Festival of Music and Architecture in Torun. Borowsky has recorded CDs and DVDs of standard literature, new and/or unknown music, and her own original compositions for ICRecords. In 2005, she was among the pianists invited to participate in the International Chopin Competition in Warsaw and was awarded the Acte Preable Prize for Outstanding Interpretation of Chopin's Music, resulting in her solo album, “Chopin Recital.” As composer, Borowsky has written and published music for piano, violin, cello, piano trio, and string orchestra. She has earned a reputation as an outstanding teacher for young pianists; her students have garnered awards and honors at festivals and competitions. Borowsky has taught at Indiana University, ARTI-ST Music Education, and the Maryland Conservatory of Music. She has been a member of the piano faculty of the International Music Institute and Festival USA since 2003 and was appointed Executive Director in 2010.
Joni Chan (Piano)
An accomplished performer of solo and chamber music and a sought-after accompanist, Joni Chan is a versatile pianist who has given concerts across the United States and Canada, and in Hong Kong. She has been invited as guest artist to perform and give masterclasses in many concert series and universities. Notable performances include collaboration with Noah Bendix-Balgley, the concertmaster of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, and Laura Wilde, soprano at the Lyric Opera of Chicago. The recipient of numerous awards, honors, and fellowships, Chan was awarded a performer’s certificate in 2006, a rare honor given by the piano faculty at Indiana University, in recognition of her outstanding performance. Other awards include first prize in the Indiana University Mozart Concerto Competition—performing with the IU Chamber Orchestra under the baton of Paul Biss, second prize in Music Teacher National Association competition, first prize in the Bloomington Chapter National Society of Arts and Letters Competition, resulting in a televised performance. Chan was selected to perform for Elisso Virsaladze’s masterclass in Rome in 2007. In 2010, she was awarded a full scholarship to Pianofest in East Hampton, New York. Recently, she participated in the masterclasses of Andre Laplante and Menahem Pressler at the Adamant Music School in Vermont, and she will perform at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall in March 2013. Currently serving on the faculty of Vincennes University, Chan had also been an associate instructor at Indiana University for five years. In 2009, she was appointed opera coach and accompanist by the IU Opera Theatre, and worked on three major productions. Chan recently completed her doctorate in Piano Performance at IU Jacobs School of Music, where she earned both a BM and MM with high honors. She studies with Professor Luba Edlina-Dubinsky, renowned pianist of the legendary Borodin Trio.
Emmanuel Borowsky (Violin, Chamber Music)
Emmanuel Borowsky has
been lauded as an outstanding musician of his generation, performing
concerts internationally from a young age. At age ten, he performed
Vivaldi’s A-minor concerto to an audience of over 9,000 people in
Washington D.C.'s National Shrine. At thirteen, he represented North
America at the UNESCO World Child Prodigies Concert in Amman (Jordan)
and was honored with the distinguished Cultural Achievement Award. At
fifteen, he was selected to perform on the nationally syndicated radio
show From the Top, and at the age of seventeen he received the Erick
Friedman Prize for Outstanding Young Musicians and performed his New
York Debut at Carnegie Hall. Emmanuel has been featured as a soloist
with respected orchestras including the Tianjin Symphony Orchestra,
Eisenach Festival Orchestra, Young German Symphony Orchestra, Poznan
Symphony, National Conservatory Orchestra of Jordan, Israeli Soloists
Orchestra, Szczecin Philharmonic, Susquehanna Symphony Orchestra, Loudon
Symphony, Katowice Philharmonic, and Rzezow Chamber Orchestra. His
performance with the Polish Camerata was broadcast internationally by
Pol-Sat TV. Among the awards Emmanuel has received are the Erick
Friedman Prize for Outstanding Young Musicians, Pro Musica Award, Merit
Award from the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts, Best
Classical CD 1999 (for Pearls of Music), Maryland Young Talent
Competition, and the Montpelier Performing Arts Center Classical Recital
Competition. He has been mentored by Victor Danchenko, Dorothy DeLay,
Erick Friedman, Herbert Greenberg, Konstanty Kulka, Zoltan Szabo, Gudny
Gudmundsdotir, and Roman Totenberg. Since August 2006, Emmanuel has been
studying at Indiana University Bloomington under the guidance of famed
violinists Jaime Laredo and Mark Kaplan.
Frances Borowsky (cello, chamber music)
Cellist Frances Borowsky performed her New York Debut at Carnegie Hall at the age of twelve as a recipient of the Erick Friedman Prize for Outstanding Young Musicians. At the World Cello Congress III (May 28-June 4, 2000), her meeting with Zara Nelsova, a famous American cellist, was featured in a documentary film about the Congress. Frances has performed in over twenty countries, toured as soloist for the Beethoven Triple Concerto with the Young German Symphony Orchestra, and performed as soloist with the Tianjin Symphony Orchestra as part of Pre-Olympic celebrations in Beijing. Frances has repeatedly been a featured performer at the International Cello Festival at Towson University. Every summer, she participates as an assistant faculty member at the International Music Institute and Festival USA. Throughout her career, Frances has been very much involved with performing, composing, and improvising new music. She frequently performs together with her brother (violinist Emmanuel Borowsky) and sister (pianist Elizabeth Borowsky). Frances has also given several premieres of works by composers from Towson University and Peabody Conservatory. Most recently, she premiered "Sonata for Two Cellos and Piano" by Baltimore composer William Milner. Awards include the Levine Chamber Music Competition (First Prize as part of Trio INUENDI, 2012), Baltimore Music Club Competition (First Prize, 2010), Sylvia and Irving H. Cohen Competition (Second Prize, 2010), and Peggy Friedman – Yale Gordon Competition (First Prize, 2008). She also received Honorable Mention in the Mary Diekmann Competition (2011) and Mary Graham Lasley Concerto Competition (2012, 2011). At the age of eighteen, Frances graduated from the Honor's College of Towson University as a recipient of a full-scholarship. Her mother, cellist Cecylia Barczyk, was her primary instructor through her studies at Towson University. Frances is currently a graduate student at Peabody Institute of The Johns Hopkins University, where she is studying under the instruction of Amit Peled. She has also been mentored by cellists Janos Starker, Irene Sharp, Zara Nelsova, Alexander Hülshoff, Rafal Kwiatkowski, Gunnar Kvaran, and Michael Flaksman. Website
Joel Weszka (Chamber Music)
Clarinetist Joel Weszka is an active and distinguished performing artist, promoting classical music in a variety of venues and musical contexts. Comfortable as solo, chamber, and orchestral musician, he made his Kennedy Center debut in 2012 with Trio INUENDI as winners of the Levine Chamber Competition. In addition to Millennium Stage (at the Kennedy Center), his 2012 schedule featured him repeatedly as recitalist and chamber musician in the Bulgarian Embassy, The Liriodendron Mansion, Ladew Gardens, The German Society of Philadelphia, Three Arts Club of Baltimore, The Walter’s Art Gallery, An Die Musik LIVE, and The Peabody Institute, as well as churches, retirement homes, and local schools. He is recorded with the Peabody Wind Ensemble in the world premiere of Judith Lang Zaimont’s Piano Concerto, as well as numerous concerts with Peabody’s two orchestras where he has frequently served as Principal Clarinet. He was recently selected as clarinetist with the Occasional Symphony, an innovative professional ensemble that programs concerts in non-traditional venues in and around Baltimore City, MD. Mr. Weszka has twice been a prize-winner in the Peggy Friedman-Gordon Competition (3rd: 2007 and 2008); he won the Maryland Distinguished Scholar Talent in the Arts Award (First prize, awarded as scholarship 2007 – 2011), and has held the Jane Emel Donato Endowed Scholarship for the duration of his education at The Peabody Institute. There he placed 3rd in the Conservatory's Yale Gordon Concerto Competition in 2013. He has performed with the Bay View Wind Quintet and has been invited to return as Guest Artist at the International Institute and Festival USA where his first summer appointment culminated in a series of concerts in Maryland and Pennsylvania. Supporting the variety of his performing capacities, Mr. Weszka has performed in masterclasses for the artists James Campbell, David Jones, Ed Walters, and Ralph Skiano. He maintains a private studio in his hometown and has given masterclasses to local schools in Harford County, MD. He holds the B.M., M.M., and G.P.D. from The Peabody Institute where he was a scholarship student of Anthony McGill. In 2013 he will begin Doctoral studies at Temple University in the studio of Ricardo Morales.
Frederick Minger (Piano)
Frederick Minger has been well known to Maryland audiences
as a pianist for more than thirty years. He is most widely known as a
collaborative pianist, in particular as a vocal accompanist and chamber
musician. In the years 1976-86 he performed and recorded with the Baltimore
Symphony both as a member of the orchestra and as a soloist. He earned the B.M.
from Oberlin College Conservatory and the M.M and D.M.A . from the Peabody
Conservatory. He studied piano with Leon Fleisher, Miklos Schwalb, and Arthur
Dann; chamber music with Berl Senofsky and Robert Koff; and vocal accompanying
with Alice Gerstl Duschak and Ellen Mack. Dr. Minger taught piano, music
theory, and music history at Towson University from 1971 to 1983. Active in the
Baltimore Music Club since 1998, he was head of the Baltimore Music Club
Competition from 1999 to 2003.
Elyssa Smith (Performance Psychology)
Elyssa Smith is a musician and triathlete and has a passion for carrying the message of positive mental training through the discipline of music and athletics. As a mental toughness coach, she encourages people of all ages through the mental, emotional and physical obstacles that stand between them and their goals. Currently pursuing her professional counseling degree, she speaks to athletic teams as well as to performers of all kinds on the topics of mental discipline, positive thinking, and confidence, as well as overcoming performance anxiety. Elyssa also travels the country with her husband, Josh, providing encouragement for athletes and entertainment for events through their company, Runnertainment.
Mark Krawczyk (Ensemble and Collaborative Skills)
Mark Krawczyk has
performed as an actor in various national and international theatres including
Constellation Theatre, Theater J, Folger Theatre, Baltimore Shakespeare
Festival, Imagination Stage; Everyman Theatre, The Shakespeare Theatre, and the
Tony Award Winning Utah Shakespearean Festival. Internationally Mark has
performed in Edinburgh, Scotland at The Traverse Theatre with the Edinburgh
Fringe First Award winning company Highway Diner in their show 15 MINUTES,
which he also co-directed and devised with the ensemble. Mark was also a
co-founder of the theatre company Without Gas, which performed at various
theatres and festivals in Poland, Slovakia, and England. He has performed in
various commercials and industrial films for various companies and
organizations. His work is not only limited to performing. He also
directed and co-wrote the one man show, Mulatto Child, along with his colleague
and performance artist Paul Diem. Under Mark’s direction the show was
performed at The Chicago Fringe Festival, and in Baltimore. Mark's background
in academia includes receiving his MFA in Acting from Southern Methodist
University, his BS in General Theatre from Towson University, studying abroad
in both England and Poland, and he has taught classes and workshops at schools,
universities, theatres, festivals, and other organizations and events around
the United States and Europe.
