Irina Schuck, Violin
Born in Ukraine, Irina Schuck received her formal violin education at the Samara Conservatory, and later at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory. Since graduating from the Kharkov Academy of Performing Arts, with a master concert performer’s degree, Irina played with many different orchestras in the former U.S.S.R.. While Irina was playing with the orchestra in Riga, Latvia, the Soviet Union dissolved, and she accepted the invitations to play in the western Europe.
Irina was a member of Vorpommern Philharmonic Orchestra, and Coburger State Theater Orchestra in Germany and Malmö Symphony Orchestra in Sweden. As a member of Controverse, an ensemble specializing in contemporary music, Irina has traveled widely in Europe and Scandinavia.
In the United States, Irina has played with the Little Rock Symphony Orchestra, Plano Symphony Orchestra, Abilene Symphony Orchestra, Irving Symphony Orchestra, San Angelo Symphony Orchestra, and Waco Symphony Orchestra. She spent the 2008 – 2009 season as a member of Symphony Orchestra of Murcia, in Spain. Irina is currently a member of the Delaware Symphony, Delaware Opera Orchestra as well as the Philadelphia Classical Orchestra, Black Perl Orchestra and Kennett Symphony.
Based in Philadelphia Irina performs frequently chamber music both in US and in Europe .
Jennifer Jie Jin, cello
Ms. Jin is currently a member of Delaware Symphony, Pyxis Piano Quartet (the Delaware Art Museum’s ensemble in residence since 2009) and Copeland String Quartet. She has been invited to participate in prestigious festivals world-wide, including the Aspen Music Festival, Tanglewood, Ravinia Festival, Colorado Music Festival, Pacific Music Festival, Taos Chamber Music Festival, International Summer Academic Prague-Vienna-Budapest Festival, Beijing International Music Festival, Margess International Festival, Daniel Music Festival and the Amadeus Masterclass.
Cellist Jennifer Jie Jin has performed in Europe, Asia and the United States. Ms. Jin has appeared as a soloist with the Bay Atlantic Symphony Orchestra, National Repertoire Orchestra and Shanghai Symphony Orchestra. She has held principal cello positions with Bay AtlanticSymphony, National Repertoire Orchestra, Mansfield Symphony Orchestra, member of Baltimore Chamber Orchestra, Colorado Music Festival Orchestra, Harrisburg Symphony, and has also performed with the Cleveland Orchestra, Boston Symphony, Houston Symphony and New World Symphony.
Before her move to the United States, Ms. Jin received awards in her native China that included First Prize in the National Cello Duo Competition of China, the Bao-gang Elegance Art Award and the Excellent Performance Prize in the National Competition of China. An active chamber musician, she founded the Tang-gu-la String Quartet, which has toured UK, Switzerland, Austria, Holland, Australia and China and received numerous honors, including a performance for President Bill Clinton and an appearance in the Oscar-winning Isaac Stern documentary “From Mao to Mozart.”
A committed teacher, Ms. Jin has coached her students to win top prizes in many competitions. She is Co-Director of Pennsylvania Youth Orchestra and Chamber Strings Music Camp. In 2016 she received the Ovation Award for inspiration and outstanding leadership in music education presented by Philadelphia Youth Orchestra.
She began her cello study at age five and received her Bachelor’s degree from the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, Master of Music from the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University and the Artist Diploma at the Cleveland Institute of Music.
Anna Kislitsyna, Pianist
Pianist and harpsichordist Anna Kislitsyna made her solo debut at age 10 with the Omsk Symphony Orchestra in Russia. She hails from a long and noble tradition of music making in Russia with both of her parents and her brother being professional musicians.
From 2002 to 2012, she served as a soloist in residence of the Omsk Symphony where she performed multiple piano concerti and chamber music recitals. Other accomplishments include prizes in the Lautard-Chevtchenko Competition in France, International Chamber Music Competition in Finland, Los Angeles International Liszt Competition, IV Chopin International Piano Competition in Connecticut, and the All Russia Piano Competition among others.
Anna has appeared in such concert halls as Carnegie Hall in New York, Kimmel Center in Philadelphia, Rachmaninov Hall of Moscow Conservatory, The Cortot Hall of Paris Conservatory, Novosibirsk Philharmonic Hall, and numerous concert stages in the United States, Europe, and Russia.
As a chamber musician, she performs with Trio Casals with which she just recorded her second CD on the Parma Label with a premier set for Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall. She has also performed many recitals with various principal chairs of the Philadelphia Orchestra. Since 2017 Anna is an official collaborative artist of Ictus International Music Competition.
Prior to coming to the United States, Anna served four years as a professor of piano at the Novosibirsk Conservatory in Russia, one of the leading music schools with an acceptance rate of under 5%. Additionally, she taught five years in the Novosibirsk Special Music College which is one of three professionally oriented music schools in Russia for students ages 4 to 18. She is currently on the faculty at the Nelly Berman School of Music and the Philadelphia International Music Festival. Her students’ accomplishments include 1st prize in the XII International Seoul Competition; 1st prize in the V Chopin International Piano Competition in Connecticut; 2nd prize in the Pennsylvania State Music Teacher’s National Association Competition; performing as a soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra as a winner of the Greenfield Competition; 2nd prize in the VII International Rachmaninov Piano Competition in Russia, 3rd Prize in the Bluthner International Piano Competition in Russia, and performing a solo recital at the White House. During Anna’s teaching career she has been invited to give master classes and judge international piano competitions. Her students have performed with various symphony orchestras, including Philadelphia Orchestra, Kiev Symphony Orchestra, Seoul Symphony Orchestra, and Novosibirsk Symphony Orchestra. Her students are winners of international piano competitions in Italy, Austria, China, Korea, Poland, Ukraine, Switzerland, France, UK, USA, and Russia. They annually perform in Carnegie Hall.
In 2018 Anna completed her DMA at Temple University (PA) with the dissertation on Alfred Schnittke’s Concerto for Piano and Strings. She is from the studio of Dr. Charles Abramovic on Piano, Dr. Joyce Lindorff on Harpsichord, and Pr. Lambert Orkis on chamber music. Prior to her studies at Temple, Anna completed her Postgraduate Course-work in Piano Performance at the Novosibirsk State Conservatory in Russia with the dissertation on Olivier Messiaen’s “Vingt regards sur l’Enfant-Jésus,” where she also earned a Master Degree and Bachelor Degree with her primary teachers being Pr. Larisa Smeshko and Pr. Mary Lebenzon. Additionally, she holds a Master Degree from West Chester University where she studied with Dr. Igor Resnianski.
As a researcher, Anna published many articles in relation to Olivier Messiaen’s works, as well as articles about the “War Sonatas” of Prokofiev, “Religious ideas in the XX century music”, “Piano Transcription “Anna Karenina” of Shchedrin”, and others.