Musicians Biographies
Yelena Neplok, Artistic director, Piano, Yelena Neplok has achieved success as a soloist, chamber musician, and teacher in America and in her native Russia, where she earned her Bachelor's and Master's degree in piano performance and pedagogy at the St. Petersburg Rimsky-Korsakov College of Music and St. Petersburg Conservatory. She has studied Jewish music at Hebrew College and NEC.
Ms. Neplok's performances include numerous concerts in many of the most prestigious Russian and American concert halls and participation in international music festivals, including three “Diaghilev Seasons” International Festivals of Arts.
Yelena Neplok is the founder, artistic director, and pianist of the internationally acclaimed Nigun Chamber Ensemble with whom she produced several CDs. Her highly successful concerts with the Nigun Chamber Ensemble in some of the most prestigious Russian venues, including Oktyabrsky Grand Concert Hall, St. Petersburg Municipal Cultural Center, Glinka Hall of the St. Petersburg Philharmonic, Yusupov Palace Theater, the Malachite Hall of the Russian Institute of the History of Arts, and many others, were followed by excellent reviews in the press.
Hailed by The Boston Globe and other major newspapers, she was the featured performer in New England Conservatory's music festivals and solo concerts at Jordan, Williams, and Brown Hall, Concert Series and solo concerts at the Boston Conservatory's Seully Hall, Boston University, Brandeis University, Hebrew College, Cultural Center “Makor”, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Newton Cultural Center at Newton City Hall, The Algonquin Club of Boston, and many other venues.
She has been featured in solo programs on national radio and television in Russia and in the U.S., including programs on WMNB Radio, New York, “Classical Performances” WGBH Radio, Boston, WUNR Radio, Boston, Russian Radio, Boston, New York, BNN TV, and many others.
Ms. Neplok participated in the First International Folklore Conference of Jewish Music in Russia. She has presented numerous lectures, workshops, and master classes in Russia and the U.S. and is a multiple award winner for her lecture/concert programs and concert series.
Ms. Neplok is an accomplished piano teacher who has taught at many distinguished musical institutions, including The Boston Conservatory and New England Conservatory.
Valerie Schleppi, Soprano, holds B.A. Summa Cum Laude Degree in Piano Performance and Teaching from Moscow College of Music, Russia, and M.F.A. Cum Laude Degree in Vocal Performance and Teaching from Gnessin Academy of Music, Moscow, Russia. She studied acting with Prof. Lau Lapides in Boston, MA.
Being an active singer Valerie appeared in various opera productions and concerts internationally and locally in Boston Conservatory, Longy School of Music and Jordan Hall of New England Conservatory to name a few.
Mrs. Schleppi worked as piano accompanist for Walnut Hill School for the Performing Arts, Boston Conservatory and Boston Ballet, Boston, MA.
She worked as a Music Director and vocal coach of Theater Extension at Walnut Hill School for the Performing Arts and Weston Drama Workshop, Weston, MA, creating a full length Musical Productions, working with soloists, chorus and orchestra musicians. Conducting Credits include Bye Bye Birdie, Honk!, Wizard of Oz and numerous Musical Revues.
Mrs. Schleppi is a former faculty member of European Piano School and Boston Ballet School, where she has directed Musical Theater “Singing Broadway” Program, and is a co-founder of Divamusic School.
David Kravitz, Baritone, is increasingly in demand on operatic and concert stages. Critics have praised his “large, multi-layered” and “sumptuously flexible” voice, his “power and eloquence,” his “deeply considered acting” and “confident stage presence,” his “impeccable musicality,” and his “deep understanding of the text.” Recently the New York Times described him as “a charismatic baritone,” and praised his “vividly etched and satisfying interpretation.”
In 2017-18 season Mr. Kravitz returns to the Boston Symphony as both Brander in The Damnation of Faust and Kurwenal in Tristan and Isolde, the latter of which will be performed both in Boston and at Carnegie Hall in New York.
Last season he joined the Boston Symphony as the Notary in Der Rosenkavalier. He also joined the Center for Contemporary Opera for the premiere of Love Hurts, singing the role of Marquise de Sade. The 2015-16 season featured his role and company debuts as Scarpia in Tosca with Skylight Opera, and performances of Handel's Messiah with the Virginia Symphony.
The 2014-15 season included a company debut with American Repertory Theater for the world premiere of Matthew Aucoin's Crossing. Also in 2014, Mr. Kravitz appeared in Britten's War Requiem in Boston's Symphony Hall and returned to Boston Lyric Opera as the Baron Duphol in La Traviata. In 2013-14, he debuted at Ash Lawn Opera as Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof.
His 2012-13 season included company debuts with Washington National Opera and Boston Pops under Keith Lockhart. The season also featured appearance with the Boston Symphony Orchestra under Charles Dutoit for Stravinsky's Le Rossignol. Also in 2013, Mr. Kravitz returned to Carnegie Hall for Handel's Rodamistro with the English Concert under Harry Bicket and to Emmanuel Music for Nick Carraway in the Boston and Tanglewood premieres of Harbison's The Great Gatsby.
Mr. Kravitz received the 2013 “Best Supporting Actor in a Musical” award for Pooh-Bah in The Mikado with the Lyric Stage Company of Boston.
In the last seasons he has sung roles with New York City Opera, Glimmerglass Opera, Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Opera Boston, and Chicago Opera Theater and made company debuts with Florentine Opera, Atlanta Opera, and Opera Memphis.
An experienced and versatile concert artist, Mr. Kravitz garnered rave reviews for his “resolute power and total connection” (Opera News) in Bach's St. Matthew Passion with the Boston Symphony Orchestra under Bernard Haitink; he has also sung with the BSO under James Levine, Rafael Fruhbeck de Burgos, and Sir Colin Davis. Other recent concert engagements included “Messiah” in both Carnegie Hall and Avery Fisher Hall, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Baltimore Symphony, and Boston Baroque. Mr. Kravitz has recorded for the Naxos, Sono Luminus, Bis, Koch International Classics, New World, BMOP/sound, Navona Records, and Albany Records labels.
Sargis Karapetyan, Violin, holds a Master's Degree and Artist Diploma in Violin Performance from the Komitas State Conservatory in Yerevan, Armenia. Mr. Karapetyan has been the Director of Pedagogy Courses and a lecturer at the String Instrument Department of the Conservatory. He also was the Artistic Director of Ancient Music Ensemble and the concertmaster of the Children's Opera Theater. Mr. Karapetyan has worked as an assistant concertmaster of “Gelikon” Opera Theater and the “Competition Winners” chamber Orchestra in Moscow, Russia. Mr. Karapetyan has worked with many New England orchestras, including Rhode Island Philharmonic, Granite State Opera, Granite State Symphony, and Nashua Symphony Orchestra of NH. Mr. Karapetyan is a former faculty member at the Boston Conservatory and Clark University. As a recitalist he has performed throughout New England, Virginia and Pennsylvania.
Chester Brezniak, Clarinet, for more than four decades has performed extensively as an orchestral and chamber music player. Presently principal clarinetist with the Massachusetts Symphony Orchestra, Mr. Brezniak served as principal clarinet with the Orquestra Sinfonica de Sao Paulo, Brazil, was a member of the Atlanta Ballet Orchestral; principal with the Hanover Chamber Orchestra; has appeared with the Czech Radio Symphony, Atlanta Symphony, the Harvard Chamber Orchestra, and the Orchestra of Emmanuel Music, among others.
A founding member of The New York Times and Boston Globe critically acclaimed Cambridge Chamber Players, Atlanta Virtuosi, Blackstone Trio, Soli Espri, Trio Capriccio, and the Ariel Chamber Ensemble, Brezniak has appeared as guest artist on the Fromm Foundation Series for Contemporary Music at Sanders Theater, Harvard University; summer chamber series at St. Gaudens National Historic Site, Cornish, NH; with the Raphael Trio and Guests, Ouray, CO; with the Muir and Vermeer String Quartets; Alea III under Gunther Schuller and Theodore Antoniou; with the Zamir Chorale of Boston and with many other groups. As a guest artist on the “Entree des Artistes” Series in Orliac, France 2008, Brezniak appeared with the Orliac Trio; at Clark University, February 2011; as a recitalist most recently at the Frederick Historical Piano Collection Series 2007, 2009, 2013, and 2016. Mr. Brezniak has been heard on NPR regularly both in live and recorded performances.
Recordings include recent Centaur Records release of “Clarinet Now,” and Zemlinsky's Trio in D Minor, Op.3 on Northeastern Records. 2008 Alea 111 Performance of Gunther Schuller's Duo Sonata incorporated into a short documentary film, The Past is in the Present: At Home with Gunther Schuller, July 2014.
Adjunct Music Faculty, UMass/Boston; Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, MA; Clark University, Worcester, MA. B.A., Bard College; M.M. New England Conservatory.
Cynthia Forbes, Violoncello, graduated from Harvard University and Syracuse University under a Graduate Fellowship in Music. She performs widely in recital, chamber and orchestral ensembles throughout the New England area, and has appeared as soloist with New England String Ensemble, Boston Virtuosi, Syracuse Camerata, and other ensembles. Ms. Forbes is on the faculties of Indian Hill Music, Boston Latin School, Cambridge Center for Adult Education, and Phillips Exeter Academy Summer School.