Ukrainian - born guitarist Aleksandr Tsiboulski began studies of the guitar at age 12, shortly after moving to Australia. He is first prize winner in seven international competitions and is currently the Australian-American Fulbright Scholar in the Visual and Performing Arts, based at the University of Texas at Austin.

His 2002 recording of Leo Brouwer's Sonata was described by the Classical Guitar magazine (UK) as "a towering performance of this monumental work", and in 2007, Mike Greenberg of the San Antonio Express News (US) wrote, "It would be hard to imagine a more moving performance of John Dowland's "Lachrimae Pavan" of 1604. Tsiboulski wove gently billowing phrases into a testament of grief, ... producing a beautiful, transparent, lute-like sound".

Tsiboulski's teachers have included Andras Tuske, Timothy Kain, Ernesto Bitetti and Adam Holzman. Shorter periods of study with Angelo Gilardino (Italy), Carlo Barone (France), David Leisner (USA), Phillip Houghton (Australia) and Carlos Bonell (UK), as well as master-classes with Leo Brouwer, John Williams and David Russell have also been deeply influential, as have repeated residencies at the Banff Centre for the Arts in Canada.

Performances have taken him all around Australia, as well as to Great Britain, United States, the former Soviet Union, Mexico, Ireland and Canada. As a result of his winning first prize in the 49th Tokyo International Guitar Competition, 2007 will see an extensive tour of Japan.

Boris Andrianov was born in 1976 in musicians family. He studied in Moscow's Gnessin Music School. As a boy of 16 he became a laureate at the First Tchaikovsky Competition for young musicians, while at 17 he won the Grand Prix at an International competition in South Africa. One of the most gifted Russian musicians of his generation. He has gained his reputation thanks to his successful performances at: the XIth International Tchaikovsky Competition (Moscow, 1998) - the third prize and a bronze medal; International Cello Antonio Janigro Competition (Zagreb, Croatia) - the first prize and all the special prizes. In 1997 Boris was the first Russian cellist to become a laureate at the VI International Rostropovich competition in Paris.

Elaine is the principal harpist of the Austin Symphony and Austin Lyric Opera Orchestras, and a regular guest with the San Antonio Symphony. She presented the premiere performance of James Sclater's Four Etudes for Solo Harp at the 1998 American Harp Society National Conference. She has performed with Spoleto USA, the Chamber Soloists of Austin, Cactus Pear Music Festival, Conspirare, Round Top Festival, Victoria Bach Festival, and Salon Concerts. She can be heard on recordings by David Byrne and James McMurtry as well as the Spy Kids 2 soundtrack. Ms. Barber has a Master of Music Degree from the Shepherd School of Music, Rice University.

A native of San Antonio, Ron attended the University of North Texas and later graduated from The University of Texas at San Antonio. While attending NTSU, Ron performed in the 2 O'clock Lab Band, the NTSU Jazz Singers, the College All-Star Big Band led by Clark Terry, and with Aretha Franklin at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, TX.

From 1981-1983, Ron was a Band Director in the San Antonio Catholic School system. In 1984, he enlisted in the United States Air Force and performed in the USAF Band of the West as lead/bass trombonist and feature vocalist. From 1984-1993, Ron also worked as a substitute trombonist with the San Antonio Symphony. He currently is featured on two Small World CD's, Seasons of the Heart and Live at the Landing. Ron's first CD as leader, Ron Wilkins: A Tribute to the Masters, was released in March 2000.

Since 1994, he has been an Edwards Trombone Clinician and has performed at numerous jazz festivals across the country, including the Wichita Jazz Festival (where he was named outstanding jazz soloist), the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, and the New Mexico State University Jazz Festivals.

Studied at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory of Moscow. Upon winning the prestigious Tchaikovsky Competition, he became principal soloist for 5 years in the Bolshoi Theater.

Nikita Storojev has performed in the world's major opera houses, concert halls and international festivals in Vienna, Paris, London, Milan, New York, San Francisco, Florence, Munich, Tokyo and Berlin. His vast repertoire consists of over 50 operatic roles and more than 300 classical songs. He has performed and recorded under the direction of conductors such as Mstislav Rostropovitch, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Sir John Pritchard, Claudio Abbado, Neeme Jarvi, John Nelson and Gennady Rozhdestvenski and with singers such as Placido Domingo, Luciano Pavarotti, and Katia Ricciarelli

Future engagements include a full schedule of symphonic and operatic appearances plus several recitals with piano in the United States and in Europe during the coming year. This will include a new production of Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk at Teatro alla Scala in Milan, Italy and Paris Opera. Currently he is a professor of voice at University of Texas in Austin.

Jeff has been the principal horn of the San Antonio Symphony since April 2003. During the summer, he is principal horn of the Britt Festival Orchestra in southern Oregon. Jeff has previously held principal positions with the Houston Grand Opera, Utah Festival Opera and has served as guest principal horn of the Fort Worth Symphony and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. In January 2007, Jeff served as principal horn during the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra's European tour, including performances in Berlin, Vienna and Budapest.

An active chamber musician and recitalist, Jeff is a regular guest performer with Camerata San Antonio and is a member of the San Antonio Brass and the Olmos Ensemble, a chamber music collective comprised of San Antonio Symphony principals and pianist Warren Jones. In March 2005, Jeff joined Van Cliburn Competition gold medalist Jon Nakamatsu and violinist Ik-Hwan Bae in performances of the Brahms Horn Trio as part of the Chamber Music International concert series in Dallas. Jeff holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Rice University's Shepherd School of Music. He is also an alumnus of the Interlochen Center for the Arts where he was awarded an Emerson Scholarship and the Young Artist Certificate, Interlochen Arts Academy's highest artistic honor. Jeff is Professor of Horn at St. Mary's University in San Antonio.

A virtuoso classical pianist who is equally known for his jazz improvisational talent. In addition to his busy concert and recording schedule he composes, arranges and performs music in a wide range of styles for theatre and cinema. Born and raised in the former USSR, Valeri Grohovski received his doctorate in music in Moscow before travelling to compete abroad where he won numerous competitions in both Europe and the United States. Although he lived for a decade in the United States, he now divides his time between homes in Russia, France and Costa Rica.

Elena Portnaya, pianist is a graduate of the Chaykovsky Conservatory in Moscow, Russia. A prize winner in the Classical Legacy International Piano Competition, Alexander Tansman International Competition and International Piano Competition in Porto, Portugal she has performed in Moscow, Buenos Aries, New York, New Jersey, London . She is a frequent guest artist with the Musical bridges Around the World series in San Antonio. She is currently a DMA in Opera Coaching student studying with professor David Neely.

Born in the Ukraine Sergey began his musical training as a child on the bayan and balalaika. He earned a Master's Degree in Music from the Ural Conservatory in 1985 in performance and conducting. He now resides in Austin Texas. Mr. Vashchenko released his debut recording, "Concerto for Balalaika with Symphony Orchestra", and his CD, entitled "Somewhere My Love", was nominated for a Grammy Award in 2004 for the "Best Traditional World Music Album" category.

Mark Cheikhet was born in 1973 into a family of musicians. He began studying violin at the age of five in a school for gifted children, where he played concerts and was the concertmaster of the school orchestra. In college, he won first place in several competitions. He then attended Southern Methodist University in Dallas where he studied under Emanuel Borok, concertmaster of the Dallas Symphony. He later studied at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles under Alice Shoenfeld, was founder and first violin of "international string quartet". At that time he was under full scholarship and was winning competitions in Kansas City , Los Angeles and San Antonio . In 1995 Mark entered Moscow Conservatory, where he was concertmaster of the Conservatory orchestra and soloist. Mr. Cheikhet earned his master's degree in violin performance in 2000. His teachers included Maya Glezarova, Eduard Grach and Sergei Girshenko. Now he is under full scholarship at UT Austin, working on his doctorate under supervision of Professor Eugene Gratovich.

He is touring widely as a soloist and in chamber ensembles throughout Russia , Germany , Italy , France , Mexico and the U.S. , His recent performances include BRESCIA-FESTA INTERNAZIONALE DELLA MUSICA, festival of Russian Art in Marseille , France , "The Promenade" festival in Oldenburg , Germany and RAMA in Boston , MA .

Mark is an active solo and chamber music performer at the Musical Bridges Around the World concert series in San Antonio Texas for over ten years. He was performing with such artists as Valeri Grokhovski, Matthew Hinsley, Daniel Alberti, Michael Bourdoncle, Elena Nogaeva etc. Duet Cheikhet - Portnaya was created three years ago and successfully performing in the US and abroad.

At the age of five in his native Latvia, Vladimir Kaliazine began studying the Russian, five-row chromatic button accordion, known as the bayan. He received a high honors degree from the St. Petersburg Conservatory. His own improvisations revealed such a mastery of the accordion that he went on tour as a featured performer with the famous Dance Ensemble of Siberia. Mr. Kaliazine joined Mr. Vashchenko in Latvia. The duo toured Russia, Germany, France and Spain to great acclaim.

At the age of five in his native Latvia, Vladimir Kaliazine began studying the Russian, five-row chromatic button accordion, known as the bayan. He received a high honors degree from the St. Petersburg Conservatory. His own improvisations revealed such a mastery of the accordion that he went on tour as a featured performer with the famous Dance Ensemble of Siberia. Mr. Kaliazine joined Mr. Vashchenko in Latvia. The duo toured Russia, Germany, France and Spain to great acclaim.

Anya received her Bachelor's, Master's, and Doctoral degrees in piano performance and pedagogy from the Russian Academy of Music in Moscow Russia. A noted chamber music artist, she has performed with chamber music groups and festivals in: Amsterdam (Holland), Bergen (Norway), Avignon, Paris, Axan Provence, Marseilles and Alsace (France), Lugarno, Basel, and Aquarossa (Switzerland), Ljubljana, (Slovenia), Moscow and St Petersburg (Russia), Tallinn (Estonia), Lisbon and Coimbra (Portugal), Prague and Mareinbud (Czech Republic), Trieste, Bressia, Disenzano, Alexandria, Brindisi, Venice, and Milan (Italy). Recent performances include the Festival Oldenburg Promenade in Germany, Boston Music Conservatory, TMI and Carnegie Hall in New York.

Her passion for chamber music led to the creation of Musical Bridges around the World, a non-profit concert organization. Since 1998, Musical Bridges around the World has been dedicated to promoting classical music in the greater San Antonio area. In 2003 Dr, Grokhovski became a partner of Crown Ridge Music Academy where she holds a large teaching studio for gifted children.