BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Co-founders:
Ellina Blinder, Lilia Muchnik
Pianist Ellina Blinder received her education at Hartt School of
Music and the New England Conservatory of Music earning Bachelor and
Master Degrees. Ms.Blinder was a top prizewinner of the Connecticut and
Massachusetts Young Artists Competitions. She has performed solo and
chamber music in Europe and the United States. As a collaborative
pianist, Ms.Blinder frequently performs in various ensembles from
sonata duo to piano quartet. Her recent performances included concerts
at the Rostropovich memorial with the young Russian cellist Sergey
Antonov in New York, and concerts at the Chamber Music Foundation of
New England concert series in Boston. Together with the violinist,
Lilia Muchnik, she performs frequently as a Boston Duo. Ms.Blinder
serves as an artistic director of the International Chamber Music
Festival & Institute, Southborough, Massatchussetts.
Violinist Lilia Muchnik has graduated from the Gnessin Institute of
Music. She has been a top prize winner of the Russian National Violin
Competition where she received a Special Prize for the Best Performance
of Contemporary music and toured the country as a soloist and chamber
musician. While in Russia, Lilia has been a member of the Radio and
Television String Quartet, with whom she performed concerts in Berlin,
Budapest and Algiers and made several recordings under Russian Musical
Archive Label. Currently, Ms. Muchnik is on the violin faculties of the
New England Conservatory, Division of Preparatory and Continuing
Education and International Chamber Music Festival and Institute, a
summer program for advanced music students that takes place in St.
Marks School in Southborough Mass
After immigrating to the United States in 1991, Ms. Muchnik began
performing with the pianist Ellina Blinder, as Boston Duo. Together the
ensemble has recorded all J.S.Bach keyboard and violin sonatas as well
as a disc titled Violin and Piano Duets under Classical Recording
Company Label.
Boston Duo has performed in such venues as Jordan Hall in Boston,
St.Paul’s School in London among others. As dedicated teachers as well
as performing musicians, the Boston Duo understood the need for more
venues and opportunities for the young emerging musicians. In 2004 they
co-founded the Chamber Music Foundation of New England.
Suzanne
Polk
Artistic Director, International Chamber Music Ensemble Competition
Suzanne Polk began her study of the cello at the Juilliard School of Music with Harvey Shapiro and continued her studies at New England Conservatory with Laurence Lesser and British cellist Colin Carr. She is the recipient of the Stamford Young Artists' Award and has performed with the Arden String Quartet, the Virag Piano Trio, the Boston Duo and the multi media ensemble Melodic Vision. An active freelance musician Suzanne has appeared with the Boston Ballet Orchestra, the Rhode Island Philharmonic, Springfield Symphony, Vermont Symphony Orchestra, Opera North and the Manadnock Music Festival. A dedicated teacher, Ms. Polk is an Affiliate Cello Artist at the University of Vermont and has taught on the faculty of Middlebury College, the New England Conservatory Preparatory School Division, the Longy School of Music and the International Chamber Music Festival and Institute at the St. Mark's School.