Announcing our 2025 Solo and Concerto Winners’ Concerts!
We are excited to announce our upcoming Solo and Concerto Competition Winners’ concerts on Sunday, February 9th, at the Church of the Redeemer in Bryn Mawr. Our winners are students ages 6 – 18 and will be playing very beautiful music extremely well!
The solo concert at 1:30 PM includes works by Haydn, Rachmaninov, Bach, Kapustin, MacDowell, and many more; Our 4:30 PM concert presents movements of piano, violin, and cello concertos by Ravel, Mozart, Chopin, and Saint- Saens, and will be accompanied by our school’s phenomenal String Faculty Quartet! It will be out of this world! tickets are $20 for adults and $10 for children.
To purchase tickets in advance or make an additional donation please Zelle to [email protected] or write a check to “NBSCMI”. All proceeds from this concert benefit the NBSCMI, a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit scholarship program.
Concerto Category Winners:
- Apollo Murray
- Ayan Chatterjee
- Chaseton & Preston
- Daniel Adibi
- Ellie Gartenberg
- Emily Lu
- Emma D’Erasmo
- Ethan Ha
- George Zhang
- Michelle Dou
- Sophia Cui
Solo Category Winners
- Annabel Riva
- Aria Messner
- Caleb Uy
- Charlotte Li
- David Gartenberg
- Elaina Wang
- Helen Liang
- Jesse Paik
- Joanna Paik
- Max Zabolotski
- Saindhana Sakthikumaran
- Sofia Howells
- Steve Xie
- Sviat Voznyi
- Timothy Gu
- Tobi MacMullen
Competition Details
The Nelly Berman School of Music is excited to present this competition to provide our hard-working piano, string and wind students with an opportunity to practice towards a special goal: to learn and compete with a serious form of classical music — the concerto. Participating in this event will give our students an unforgettable experience for their future!
The concerto aspect of this year’s competition will be concertos from the Baroque, Classical, & Beyond periods. 10 winners of this competition will get the chance to perform with our NBS Faculty String Quartet, thus the movement of the concerto needs to have predominantly string instruments as accompaniment.
The Solo category of this year’s competition will be solo works from the Baroque, Classical, & Beyond periods. Platinum and Gold medalist in each age category will be chosen to perform at the beautiful Church of the Redeemer on February 9th. Our Silver and Bronze medalists in each age category will perform at the Winners Recital at the NBS Recital Room, date TBA.
- Deadline to apply and submit music is December 20, 2024
- Rehearsals must be completed between December 16th and January 11th
- Auditions for all competitors will be held on Sunday, January 12th at NBS
- The Winners’ Concerts will be on Sunday, February 9th at the Church of the Redeemer
Prizes Include:
- One FULL (100%) scholarship to a week of NBS Summer Camp
- Half (50%) scholarship for a week of NBS Summer Camp
- Quarter (25%) scholarship for a week of NBS Summer Camp
- Featured performance on Main Line TV
- Featured performance on NBS YouTube Channel
- Gift Cards
- Free Lessons at NBS
- All students will receive medals and certificates for platinum, gold, silver and bronze scores
Competition Requirements
Deadline to Apply & Submit Piano Accompaniment: December 1, 2024
- $86 audition fee written out to NBSCMI (all audition fees and concert tickets will benefit the NBSCMI 501(c)3 Scholarship Program)
- All participants must rehearse & audition with piano accompaniment (orchestra-piano transcription) – rehearsal fees will vary by length and frequency
- Please inquire in the Office about the piano accompanist fee for audition
- All participants must have had at least one (1) rehearsal by December/January (DATE TBA) – make sure to include your full rehearsal availability on the Google Form
- Send a scan of your piano accompaniment to [email protected] (accompanists and judges will still need a hard copy of your music)
- Concerto Competition Platinum Winners only: $450 concert fee to perform with the NBS Faculty String Quartet, which includes a rehearsal and a concert performance
- Gold Winners: will perform at the separate Concerto Competition Winners’ Concert with piano accompaniment. Please inquire in the Office about the piano accompanist fee for the Winners’ Concert (DATE TBA)
*For Zelle: make sure you do NOT send to the account you use for tuition
We hope you will join us in making this another memorable event!
Our 2025 Solo and Concerto Competition Judges!
Dmitry Borisovsky
NBS Faculty
Dmitry Borisovsky began his piano studies at the age of eight. In 1977, he completed his study in the Music School under Tatiana Vinogradova and received a Diploma with Distinction. In 1980, Dmitry graduated with distinction from the Yakutsk Music College where he studied under Maya Ivanova. He then continued his studies at the Novosibirsk State Academy under the tutelage of Professor Mark Shaviner and graduated in 1985 with distinction.
Mr. Borisovsky is a prize winner of piano competitions, including First Prize of the Teachers of Belarus. He’s also Laureate of Jerusalem International Festival for Piano Duets in 1999.
Mr. Borisovsky has performed extensively in his native Russia, including the famed halls of St. Petersburg as well as in Israel, Austria, Switzerland and Germany.
In Philadelphia, Mr. Borisovsky performs with his wife Olga as piano Duo in various recitals and concerts. His students successfully participate in various competitions, receiving prizes and honors. As a result some of his young students performed at Weill Recital Hall in Carnegie Hall, New York.
Elina Kalendarova
Philadelphia Orchestra Violinist
Elina Kalendarova, a violinist with the Philadelphia orchestra, is a native of Tashkent (USSR), joined The Philadelphia Orchestra in 2002. She began her violin training with Nathan Mendelson. Later she earned a master’s degree from the Moscow Conservatory where she was a pupil of Igor Bezrodnyi. While doing her post-graduate work, Ms. Kalendarova served as a concertmistress of the Ars Viva Chamber Orchestra. She recorded a CD of chamber music by Taneyev and Glinka for the Le Chant du Monde label.
Since moving to America in 1994, Ms. Kalendarova has performed as a soloist with the Liederkrantz Symphony Orchestra in New York and appeared as a recitalist for the Ascending Artists series. In 1996 she was a recipient of the MetLife Music and Visual Arts Award presented through the New York Association for New Americans.
Before joining The Philadelphia Orchestra, Ms. Kalendarova played with the American Symphony Orchestra, the New Jersey Symphony, and the Pittsburgh Symphony. She is a founding member of the Society Hill String Quintet, comprised of members of The Philadelphia Orchestra.
Dr. Ariane Alexander
NBS Faculty
Dr. Ariane Alexander received her early musical training at the Julliard School of Music studying with Richard Faber and continued her studies at Indiana University, the University of California at Santa Barbara, and the University of Houston Moores School of Music where she received a DMA degree in piano performance working with Abbey Simon, Horacio Gutierez and Ruth Tomfohrde. Dr. Alexander has performed as soloist and has given master-classes at both the preparatory and collegiate levels throughout the United States and Europe. As collaborative artist and chamber musician she has performed with notable artists including Janos Starker, Yair Kless, Tanya Reminikova, and Sally O’Reilly to name a few. While living in Houston, her students regularly won prizes competing state-wide and at the national level and frequently won scholarships to study at prominent music schools in the United States. Dr. Alexander was the assistant director of the BRAVO! Summer aString and Keyboard Institute at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis for 15 years. Now living in Philadelphia, Dr. Alexander continues to concertize and is on faculty at the Nelly Berman School of Music. In the summers, she teaches at the Italy Summer Music Violin Festival in Pienza.
Tessie Katz
Junior Judge, Graduating Senior at New England Conservatory
Theresa (Tessie) Katz is a 22-year old violinist currently studying with Nicholas Kitchen at the New England Conservatory and Tufts University’s Dual Degree Program. Previously, Tessie studied with Hirono Oka of The Philadelphia Orchestra. Tessie made her debut with the Lower Merion Symphony Orchestra in 2016. In 2024, she received Honorable Mention in the Diablo Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition. In 2023 and 2024, she was selected as one of nine finalists in the Eastern Connecticut Symphony Orchestra Competition. In 2021, she was a prizewinner in the Enkor International Music Competition. She has also performed as a student prize winner at the Kimmel Center, Weil Recital Hall, the Academy of Music, and Harris Concert Hall. Tessie has participated in chamber ensembles at the New England Conservatory, as well as at Settlement Music School’s Advanced Study Chamber Music Program as a recipient of their Advanced Study Scholarship. As a member of the Shimmer Quartet, she won 2nd prize in the NOLA Chamberfest Competition in 2023 and in the fall of 2022 was invited to perform for Caroline Shaw in a Boston Symphony Orchestra Prelude Concert. Additionally, Tessie has had the opportunity to play in masterclasses for the Calidore Quartet, the Escher Quartet, and the Aizuri Quartet. She previously served as associate concertmaster of the Youth Chamber Orchestra at Temple Music Prep’s Center for Gifted Young Musicians, where she received Honorable Mention in their Concerto Competition. She has also previously been a member of the Philadelphia Youth Orchestra and the Philadelphia Sinfonia Youth Orchestra. Summer music festivals she has attended include the Aspen Music Festival and School, the Heifetz International Music Institute, Boston University Tanglewood Institute, and CenterStage Strings.