Gala SpringConcert - May 12
The Mendelssohn Glee Club
Who's Who
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Gene Wisoff
A native New Yorker, Maestro Wisoff sang for years under conductor Robert Hickok at his alma mater: Brooklyn College, where he received the bachelor of music degree. It was Hickok who had the most profound influence on his conducting style. Over the years, Gene sang in churches and synagogues while continuing to study voice. But in 1986, when offered the position as choirmaster at his church and a position as soloist at a different church, he chose the conducting job. In the autumn of 1995, following the retirement of the Mendelssohn Glee Club’s conductor John Royer Bogue, he became the club’s permanent musical director. Gene has since studied conducting with Rudolph Palmer at the Mannes School of Music, and at the Westminster Choir College.
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Alexandra Akulich
Alexandra Akulich was born in Belarus in 1985 and began playing the piano at the age of six. She has completed her Phd course work at the Manhattan School of Music, where she studies with Solomon Mikowsky. She has performed in Belarus, Poland, Lithuania, Ukraine, and the United States, including appearances as a soloist with the Belarusian State Symphony Orchestra and the Belarusian State Chamber Orchestra. Alexandra has won prizes in numerous competitions, including the International Piano Competition Klaviermusik (Vilnius, Lithuania), Open Republican Piano Festival Witebsk, 2004 (Belarus), and the International Piano Competition Chopin for young pianists (Antonin, Poland), and the International B. Dvarionas Piano Competition (Vilnius).She has also participated in the International Keyboard Institute and Festival (New York) and Bowdoin International Music Festival (Brunswick, Maine). Alexandra has also studied with Dimitry Bashkirov, Howard Abel, and Martin Canin among others.
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Melody Allegra Berger
Award winning fiddler Melody Allegra Berger has been playing violin since the age of five and is classically trained in both violin and voice. You can hear her on season 2, episode 5 of “House of Cards”. She has performed at Top of The Rock at Rockefeller Center, the Lincoln Center Atrium, and with Gangstagrass, Emmy-nominated for the opening theme song on the hit TV series “Justifiied"
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