Virtuosi

Introducing the key players.

Aundrey Mitchell, violist, has performed throughout the United States and abroad as orchestral player, chamber musician, and soloist with appearances at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and the Kimmel Center.  As soloist, she has performed with the New Brunswick Chamber Orchestra, the Harlem Symphony Orchestra, and the Antara Ensemble.  As recitalist, Ms. Mitchell has been featured in the New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Washington, D.C., and in the US Virgin Islands.  An avid chamber musician, she has participated in numerous festivals including the Taos School of Music and the L’Ecole d’Arts Americaines at Fontainebleau, France. Ms. Mitchell received BM and MM degrees from the Cleveland Institute of Music with Lucien Joel, postgraduate studies at the Manhattan School of Music with Karen Ritscher, and earned her Doctorate of Musical Arts from Rutgers University studying with Michael Tree.  In addition to performing, Ms. Mitchell is a dedicated teacher and active clinician. She teaches at the Kinhaven Music School in Vermont and at the City University of New York  (CUNY) in New York City.

A native of Long Island, New York, Mr. Moran began playing the bass at age fourteen. By age seventeen, he had gone on to perform orchestral and chamber music on five continents. He holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the Peabody Conservatory and a Master of Music Degree from the Juilliard School where he was the teaching assistant to New York Philharmonic Principal Bassist, Eugene Levinson and to the late renowned keyboardist/historian, Albert Fuller, all on full scholarship. As a chamber musician, Mr. Moran has been privileged enough to be a member of New York City’s esteemed Jupiter Chamber Players. He currently is the Solo Bassist with the Manchester Chamber Orchestra and the Philadelphia Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra. He served 22 years as a member of the Florida West Coast Symphony in Sarasota and is now a frequent guest of the New York City Ballet Orchestra, the New Jersey Symphony, Florida’s Jacksonville Symphony and the Harrisburg Symphony in Pennsylvania. Among his other titled positions, Mr. Moran’s past appointments have included Principal Bassist of Maryland’s Annapolis Symphony and Florida’s Key West Symphony, as well as Assistant Principal Bassist of the Sarasota Opera in Florida. In addition, for the past twenty years he has appeared as a musical artist at Vermont’s Manchester Music Festival, playing in both chamber and orchestral music and for ten years he served as the Solo Bassist for the Bar Harbor Music Festival in Maine. A champion of twentieth century music, he was the solo bassist in the world premier of David Amram’s Starry Night and before that, in the world premier of Edgard Varèse’s recently discovered work, Dances for Burgess at New York City’s Symphony Space. Another of his noted ventures into the promotion of serious contemporary music was in the New York premiere and then reprise of the gargantuan John Cage/Merce Cunningham collaboration, Ocean, at Lincoln Center.  Mr. Moran’s playing can be heard on major motion picture soundtracks and he has also recorded with the rock band, They Might Be Giants. He plays on a 1922 double bass by the early 20th century Cremonese master, Romedio Muncher.

Violist Renee Warnick is an active musician in the greater Philadelphia region, performing frequently with such groups as the Opera Philadelphia, Ocean City Pops, Delaware Symphony, Black Pearl Chamber Orchestra, Pennsylvania Ballet Orchestra, Reading Symphony, and the Endless Mountain Music Festival.  She is Assistant Principal Viola of the Lancaster Symphony and the Bay-Atlantic Symphony and has toured nationally and internationally as a member of the Philadelphia Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra.  She has played in the pit orchestra for Broadway at the Kimmel Center and Arden Theater productions and was featured as an on-stage musician for the 2012 American premier of Love Story, the Musical at the Walnut Street Theater. Ms. Warnick has been on the faculties of Temple Music Prep and Settlement Music School and currently maintains a private teaching studio in West Philadelphia and Chestnut Hill.  Ms. Warnick resides in Philadelphia with her husband and two children.

Monique Brooks-Roberts hails from Louisville, KY and earned her degree in Violin Performance from Eastern Kentucky University in 2005 studying with Dr. Eun Hwan Bai and Jeremy Mulholland. She was the winner of the universities concerto competition in 2005 and runner up in 2004. She has played with the Soulful Symphony in DC, Harlem Symphony Orchestra in NY, Philharmonic of Southern New Jersey, and Gateways Festival Orchestra at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY.

Monique has had the opportunity to perform at many stellar venues and jazz festivals such as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, The Kennedy Center, Meyerson Symphony Center, Iridium Jazz Club, Willingboro Jazz Festival in NJ and The Newport Jazz Festival in RI. She has made TV appearances on VH1 StoryTellers, BET, and The David Letterman Show. Monique has been playing with the Philadelphia String Quartet for the past 4 years as the 2nd violinist.  Aside from performing full time, she is also a string contractor, arranger, and educator.

Violinist Russell Kotcher has appeared as soloist in Munich, the Bodensee Festival, and Carnegie Hall.  In 2013 he recorded with Naxos as concertmaster and soloist with the Chamber Orchestra of New York where he currently serves as principle second violin. He is also violinist and pianist of the improvisational trio Murmuration, who recently received a grant from with Philadelphia Composers Forum to record their first album.

Aisha Dossumova is the prize-winner of numerous competitions including 1st prize in the International Violin Competition “Shabyt” in Astana (Kazakhstan), 2nd prize in the Michelangelo Abbado International Competition in Milan (Italy), 1st prize in the International Violin Competition in San Bartolomeo (Italy), diploma in the W.A. Mozart International competition (Austria). Born in Almaty, Kazakhstan, she began studying violin at the State’s Special Music School. Aisha has participated in various international music festivals as a soloist, and chamber musician, including Ost-West Musikfest, Mozarteum Summer Academy, Musica in Laguna, the Cliburn Institute, and The International Laureates Festival in Los Angeles. As a member of iPalpiti Chamber Orchestra since 2004, she performed in Disney Hall in Los Angeles, Kimmel Center in Philadelphia, Carnegie Zankel and Weil Hall in New York, Eilat International Festival in Israel.  From 2008 to present Aisha is a member of the Philadelphia Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra. Aisha continued her study at the Meadows School of the Arts in Dallas in the class of Professor Eduard Schmieder, and received Master’s Degree in 2008 from Temple University in Philadelphia. 

Rajli Bicolli was born in Albania and began studying cello at age 6. Six years later he moved to the United States with his family, and at age 14 he appeared as the concerto competition winner with the Settlement Music School Orchestra in Cleveland, OH. That same year he was invited to join the American Music Abroad in a tour of Europe performing in six countries. In 2007, he received his Bachelor of Music from the University of Alabama where he studied with Carlton McCreery. He then went on to study with Jeffrey Solow at Temple University where he completed his Master of Music.Rajli currently plays with Symphony in C in Camden, NJ, Allentown Symphony, and the Philadelphia Virtuosi. In 2009 he was also invited to play as principal cellist with the Ohio Light Opera in Wooster, OH.  Besides orchestral work, Rajli performs frequently with the Philadelphia String Quartet and is a Teaching Artist for Play On, Philly.When not playing music Rajli enjoys soccer and chess, and spends a lot of time telling people that his first name is pronounced Riley.

Nelya Fedorova was born in Russia in a family of professional classical musicians. She graduated from Saratov’s conservatoire, which is one of the oldest in Russia. She started  her professional career in the Moscow State Symphony Orchestra, conducted by V. Dudarova. Later She joined the Russian State Chamber Academy “Vivaldi-Orchestra”,conducted by S. Bezrodnaya and played there for 13 years. With this famous and popular orchestra we toured in many countries throughout the world. Now She is playing with several orchestras in the USA and live in New Jersey. She loves to travel and is very happy to have been a member of the Philadelphia Virtuosi for the past 7 years and to having performed in many wonderful locations around the USA.

Gozde Tiknaz was born in Turkey.  She began her cello studies with Prof. Sevil Gokdag, and graduated from Istanbul University State Conservatory as the most successful graduate student.  In 2008, she was selected to receive the Fulbright Scholarship which enabled her master’s degree at Temple University Boyer College of Music with Prof. Jeffrey Solow.  She completed her master’s degree with Albert Tashjian reward in 2010, and in 2011, she completed her Professional Studies degree.  Throughout her studies, she participated with numerous masterclasses and  International Festivals as a soloist and chamber musician. Some of them are, Kronberg Cello Festival(Germany), International Music Festival(Turkey), International Beethoven Festival, (Germany), Bitola Music Festival(Macedonia), Bebersee Music Festival (Germany), Berlin Youth Orchestras Festival(Germany) and  Young Soloists Recital Series (Leciester England).  She has performed with Philadelphia Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra, Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra, Temple University Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra of Northern New York, Black Pearl Chamber Orchestra and Haverford College Orchestra.  Gozde actively teaches at New Jersey School of Music and Maestro Studios  and performs with Philadelphia String Quartet on regular basis.

A seasoned orchestral and chamber player, Dr. Dennis Krasnokutsky has performed with many orchestras around the nation including Reno Philharmonic, Baton Rouge Symphony, and the Bay-Atlantic Symphony. As a member of the award winning Rowan String Quartet, Mr. Krasnokutsky toured the East Coast. For the past 10 years, he has been performing with the internationally acclaimed Philadelphia Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra with whom he has toured North and South America and Europe. Dennis is also Managing Director of the Philadelphia Virtuosi. His playing has been lauded for its “passion and intensity,” by the New York Times.

Sasha Jancic was born and trained in Belgrade Serbia, winning a number of awards in European competitions. He was a concertmaster at several German Opera Houses before immigrating to the United States. Sasha has performed numerous times as concertmaster with the Philadelphia Virtuosi and has been a loyal member of the violin section for 15 years. He is also our “official” photographer and many of the photos in this website are the result of his artistic vision.

Born in Chisinau, Republic of Moldova, in 1988, into a family of musicians, and she started the study of violin at the age of seven. She has been a prize winner in numerous international violin competitions: First Prize, Temple University Concerto Competition, First Prize, LISMA International Competition in New York, First Prize, The National Olympiad of Music, Cluj, Romania, Finalist, The National Performing Contest “ Looking for Enescu “, Bucharest, Romania, First Prize and the Special Prize “Stefan Ruha”, First Prize and the Special Prize, The National Performing Contest “ Paul Constantinescu “, Ploiesti, Romania, 2006 – First Prize and The Special Prize awarded by the Union of Musical Critics; The National Performing Contest “ Miniatura Romantica “, Galati, Romania, 2006 – The Grand Prix and First Prize, to name only a few. Nina has performed in many recitals, festivals, and as soloist with a number of symphony orchestras, including the George Enescu Festival in Bucharest, the Galati Philharmonic Orchestra, Brasov Philharmonic Orchestra, and on stage at Ateneul Roman, Sala Radio, and Sala Palatului. Since 2008, Nina is playing on the famous violin maker Nicolo  Gagliano,  from ” The Colburn Collection”.