Cellist MAXINE NEUMAN's solo and chamber music career spans North America,
South America, Europe and Japan. A grant recipient from the Rockefeller and Ford
Foundations and the National Endowment for the Arts and a three-time Grammy
Award winner, her biography appears in "Who's Who in the World." She is a founding
member of the Claremont Duo, the Crescent String Quartet, the Vermont Cello
Quartet, and the Walden Trio, groups with which she has traveled and recorded
extensively.
Her long list of recording credits includes Deutsche Grammophon, Columbia, Angel, EMI, Nonesuch, Biddulph, CRI, Orion, Leonarda, Argo, Opus One, SONY/Virgin, AMC, Artek, Vanguard, Musical Heritage, Albany, Northeastern and CBS World Records.
She has appeared as soloist before a sold-out audience in New York's Town Hall in the American premiere of Giovanni Battista Viotti's only cello concerto, and for Austrophon, she recorded Schumann Cello Concerto in Count Esterhazy's historic palace in Austria. She can also be heard in such diverse settings as the Montreux Jazz Festival, the films of Jim Jarmusch, and with the rock band Metallica. She has expanded the chamber ensemble repertoire — especially for multiple celli and cello and guitar — by arranging and transcribing works from every period. A longtime champion of contemporary music, she has commissioned and premiered works by many of today's leading composers.
Distinguished as a teacher as well as performer, Ms. Neuman has served as a juror for numerous international competitions. On the faculty at the New York's School for Strings and Hoff-Barthelson Music School, she has taught at Bennington College, Williams College and C.W. Post University.
Her cello is a J.B.Guadagnini, dating from 1772.
KOLIO PLACHKOV was born in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, where he first started studying horn at the age of 8 under the direction of Stoyan Karaivanov. At the age of 13 he won the 4th International Competition for French Music, Plovdiv, Bulgaria. In the following year 2001, he won first prize at the competition 'Young Music Talents' in Sofia, Bulgaria and as a part of the prize he was invited to play with Plovdiv Philharmonic Orchestra, first as a soloist, and later as a member of the orchestra on an international tour.
In 2001 Mr. Plachkov won first prize at a prestigious horn competitions in Chisinau, Moldova. In 2002 he was offered a full scholarship by Idyllwild Arts Academy in California. Not long after beginning his studies at Idyllwild he won the concerto competition of the school and performed Strauss' First Horn Concerto with Idyllwild Arts Academy Orchestra. In 2004 he played principle horn with the Idyllwild Festival Orchestra in Los Angeles Philharmonic's Disney Hall under the direction of Larry Livingston and in the same year he was invited to Norfolk (Virginia) to perform on the radio show From the Top. In 2004 he won second prize (no first prize awarded) at The Pasadena Showcase House Instrumental Competition. In 2005 he was the winner of the Redlands Bowl Competition and gave a recital in the city of Redlands. In 2006 he was a winner of the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts scholarship as well as the winner of the 7th Annual Rotary District 5330 Music Competition.
Mr. Plachkov has been principle horn with the New York String Seminar Orchestra in Carnegie Hall and also a principle horn with the New York Youth Symphony. In the summer of 2009 Mr. Plachkov was invited to the Tanglewood Music Festival, where he performed with the Festival Orchestra under James Levine, Bernard Haitink, Kurt Masur and Herbert Blomstedt.
Mr. Plachkov is currently pursuing his Bachelor Degree in horn at The Juilliard School where he studies under the direction of Jennifer Montone, principal horn of Philadelphia Orchestra.
MICHAEL F. TIETZ, Music Director and Principal
Conductor of The Broadway Bach Ensemble, has long been active in
many types of musical endeavors. Starting out musical life as a
'cellist, he has played (and still plays) in numerous orchestras
and chamber ensembles in the New York metropolitan area. After
studying at the High School of Music and Art and Yale University,
he attended law school at the University of Pennsylvania, where he
made his conducting debut and founded the Law School Light Opera
Company. Once in New York, he became a member of the Village Light
Opera Group, serving at various times as assistant music director,
member of the stage company, and pit-orchestra 'cellist. Mr. Tietz
began conducting orchestral works in 1979 and founded The Broadway
Bach Ensemble in 1985.
Conductor GUERGUAN TSENOV has led most of the top orchestras in his native country Bulgaria – Sofia Sate Philharmonic, New Symphony Orchestra, FM Classic Symphony Orchestra, Pazardjik Symphony Orchestra and the Orchestra of the National Academy of Music in Sofia. After moving to the United States in 1999 Mr. Tsenov has collaborated with orchestras such as AACA Orchestra at the Aspen Music Festival, Detroit Civic Orchestra, Philadelphia Youth Orchestra, Juilliard Conductors' Orchestra among others. During the 2007/2008 season Mr. Tsenov served as a Resident Conductor of NYU Symphony Orchestra having performed with the orchestra works such as Stravinsky's Firebird Suite (1919), Shostakovich's Symphony No. 9, Copland's Appalachian Spring, John Adams' Short Ride in a Fast Machine, Bartok's Viola Concerto and others. In the summer of 2007 Mr. Tsenov was invited to the Aspen Music Festival as a conducting fellow having the opportunity to perform with the AACA Orchestra in series of concerts.
Mr. Tsenov is a recipient of many awards and distinctions including the Award of the International Academy of Arts "for his contribution to the contemporary Bulgarian art", as well as the Award of the Open Society Foundation "for his musical achievements". He has been a finalist at two of the most prestigious international conducting competitions – Dimitris Mitropoulos in Athens and Gennady Rozhdestvensky in Sofia.
Mr. Tsenov holds a master's degree in orchestral conducting from The Juilliard School where he studied under the direction of James DePreist. Other conductors with whom he has closely collaborated are Kurt Masur, Michael Tilson Thomas, George Manahan and Larry Rachleff. In addition to his degree from The Juilliard School he also holds a second Master's Degree in Opera and Orchestral Conducting from The State Academy of Music in Sofia, Bulgaria where he studied with Vassil Kazandjiev.
Guerguan Tsenov is also an accomplished pianist with international career and numerous awards from international piano competitions. In Europe he has performed in Germany, France and Italy. In Bulgaria he has been broadcast on Bulgarian National Television, Bulgarian National Radio and has recorded for UNISON Records. He holds a master's degree in piano performance from Montclair State University where he studied with Mark Pakman.