Veniamin Blokh, one of the youngest participants in this festival, was born in 1993 in St. Petersburg and has been playing piano since the age of four.  At the age of eight he became an award winner of the city’s festival "Russian music of the last century."  He has studied with Dana Daskovskoy, Lubov  Rudova and with Peter Laul at the Special Music School-Lyceum under the auspices of the St. Petersburg State Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatory. In 2007 Veniamin formed the duo Subrakova-Blokh which in 2009 won the first prize of the International Festival-Contest of Children and Youth Creativity "Window to Europe." Along with classical music, he also enjoys jazz improvisation and attends classes of maestro Andrew Kondakov. In 2010 and 2011 Veniamin participated in the Educational Bridge Project’s festivals and "Musical Olympus" festival.

David Chakvetadze born in 1993, pupil of well-known Russian violin pedagogue Saveliy Shalman with whom he studied at the Special Music School-Lyceum under the auspices of the St. Petersburg State Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatory. Now he studies in his first year with Professor Shustin at the St. Petersburg Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatory. David has participated in master classes with Grach, Sushansky, Danchenko, Lubotsky and has won many national and international competitions.

Ksenya Gavrilovа, born in 1985 in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg), began her studies with Irina Lobikova at the Okhtinskiy Aesthetic Education Center. A pupil of Professor Ekaterina Murina, she graduated in 2007 from the St. Petersburg Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatory and in 2010 completed post-graduate studies under Professor Sergei Uryvaev. Ms. Gavrilova has won national and international competitions and become a regular participant in many international music festivals such as “Misical Olympus”, “ The Music Time: fin de siècle”, “St. Petersburg Musical Spring”, "Sound Ways», "Bromsgrove Festival" (UK) «Prima Septembris» (Poland), and "Palaces of St. Petersburg." She regularly concertizes with violinist Alexandra Korobkina and other ensembles in Russia and abroad.

Musicologist Zinaida Kartasheva graduated from the Donetsk Musical College (Ukraine) in 1970, and received her Master's of Music degree from the Moscow State Conservatory in 1975.  In 1988 she defended her doctoral dissertation, on the History of the Composer’s Music in Brazil and Art of Villa Lobos. Dr. Kartasheva has taught at the Saratov Conservatory (1975-1979) and at the Moscow State University of Art and Culture (MSCU), Department of the history and theory of music.  Dr. Kartasheva's lectures on the history of jazz at prestigious Moscow educational institutions such as Gnessin Academy and the Pedagogical University, as well as at American universities - Boston University, the Rochester Institute of Technology.  Dr. Kartasheva was a Fulbright Fellow in 2000-2001 and has more than 100 published articles on the subject. Currently, she is the head of the Jazz orchestras and ensembles department of MSCU.

Alexandra Korobkina, born in 1987, pupil of well-known Russian violin pedagogue Saveliy Shalman with whom she studied at the Special Music School-Lyceum under the auspices of the St. Petersburg State Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatory, graduated from the Conservatory where she studied under Associate Professor Ilya Ioff, 2010. She is now a graduate student of Professor Mikhail Gantvarg. Alexandra, who participated in master classes of Oistrakh, Grach, Bron, Totenberg, Hillyer and others, has won many national and international competitions, and has participated in many international festivals held in Russia and abroad. Ms. Korobkina has premiered many Russian and foreign compositions. In Boston Alexandra is playing on the violin generously loaned by the Marco Coppiardi Violin Studio. 

Karina Sposobina was born in St.Petersburg. She started playing piano at the age of 5. In 1999 she graduated from the St.Petersburg Conservatory, where she studied in the classes of professors P.Egorov and G.Sandovskaya and then joined the postgraduate chamber music program in the class of professor T.Voronina. Since 2004 she has been professor of chamber music at the St.Petersburg Conservatory. Karina Sposobina is a Laureate of international competition in Austria (2006) and Italy (2009). As an accompanist she has also won many awards at international competitions in Austria, UK, Czech Republic, Russia.  In 2003 she and Alexandra Shirshova formed the piano duo “Duo Consenso” which won the Valentino Bucci International Competition for piano duos (Rome, 2003). A CD of their recording of Rachmaninov and Stravinsky piano duos will soon to be released.

Alexey Stadler was born in 1991 in St. Petersburg and started playing violoncello in a class of Professor Alexey Lazko at the age of four.  Stadler continued his education at the St. Petersburg Rimsky-Korsakov Musical College under Professor Konstantin Kucherov, and currently he is a student of Professor Wolfgang Emanuel Schmidt at the Hochschule fur Musik Franz Liszt Weimar. He has participated in international music festivals all over Europe and in the US and has attended master classes of numerous famous cellists. In 2008 he recorded Rachmaninov’s sonata on A. Jacout cello which had belonged to the Russian Emperor Nicholas II. In 2009 a CD of cello miniatures was released under the “Northern Flowers” label. Laureate of international competitions and national awards, Stadler plays solo recitals and performs with orchestras in Russia and abroad.

Anastasia Subrakova is a gifted young performer. She has extensive interests in music and art, does well in school and has been a winner of international violin, chamber ensemble, and composition competitions. She received her elementary education in Abakan (Khakassia, Russia) from Vyacheslav Inkizhekov and later attended the Vasileostrovskaya musical school № 11 in the class of Irina Chichina. Since May 2008 Anastasia has studied at the Special Music School-Lyceum under the auspices of the St. Petersburg State Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatory in the class of Savely Shalman. Anastasia has a large repertoire of concert pieces which includes works by Shostakovich, Beethoven, Mozart, Bach, Mendelssohn and Paganini. She has been actively performing with many orchestras of St. Petersburg, appearing in all the major halls in the city and has toured in France, Germany, Italy and Spain.

Anton Tanonov graduated with honors from the St. Petersburg Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatory (2000 Master’s degree, 2003 Doctorate) under Professor Sergey Slonimsky.  On the faculty of the composition department of his alma mater since 2004, Dr. Tanonov became an Associate Dean of the department of composition and conducting in 2009. Tanonov’s compositions, written in different genres including symphonic, theater, chamber, and electronic music, are performed worldwide, most notably, in Austria, Germany, Italy, USA, and in his native Russia. Anton Tanonov is a Laureate of numerous competitions and participant of many prestigious festivals including the 15^th International Composers’ Festival “Second of August” in Bologna, Italy (2009), Mariinsky Theater Young Composers’ Competition in St. Petersburg, Russia (2005), Moscow Bolshoi Symphony Orchestra (2005); he has received grants, fellowships and prizes from such prestigious venues as the Bayreuth Festival.

Tatiana Yurieva, a notable creative figure in science and art life of Russia, combines her teaching position as a Professor of Methodology and Theory of Art and Humanitarian Science and Associate Professor of Philology at the St Petersburg State University with teaching at the Repin Academic Institute of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture Arts, and the directorship of the Diagilev Art Center. She has authored a monograph, “Andrew White, A Portrait of American Culture of the 18th Century,” and 200 articles on American and Russian Art of the 18^th, 19^th and 20^th centuries. Dr. Yurieva participated in international conferences on a wide range of topics from Russian avant-garde art, to language and art, to art of the USA.  She is a member of the International Art Critics Association.