CANCELED!

Born in Poland, Maria Strojniak began her music education at the age of 12, and was the finalist of the International String Competition in Bled, Slovenia (2011). Maria currently works at the NY Philharmonic in the Education Department and is also a substitute violin and viola instructor at the Harmony Program. In the fall of 2013, Maria was appointed as as an adjunct instructor in viola at NYU Steinhardt, where she studied with Karen Ritscher. She graduated from NYU with her master of music in viola performance degree in 2015.  In 2008, her musical future was threatened by an arm injury. During that period, she became interested in meditation, 5 Rhythms Dance, and yoga as sources of inspiration and finding ways to return to her passion, music. Maria loves playing chamber music and giving recitals. Lately, Maria has become an advocate of new music and is collaborating with various young composers. Maria has performed at prestigious venues such as Carnegie Hall, Merkin Concert Hall, Skirball Cultural Center and Symphony Space. Despite the fact that Maria’s health threatened her career, she never gave up. She has been working constantly to become a better violist. She feels that being a musician is a journey… on which one travels, when it is open, to learn till the end…

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Myla Kato-DuVally was born in Tokyo, Japan and moved to the United States at the age of 2. She began playing the piano when she was 6 years old and also studied violin up until the end of high school. She has performed throughout the United States as well as Spain, France and Japan. In 2006, she was invited to participate in the Puigcerda International Music Festival in Puigcerda, Spain. Although Myla enjoys performing solo repertoire, she focuses more on chamber music and accompanying. During her time at the Manhattan School of Music, her chamber group was a finalist in the Lillian Fuchs Chamber Music Competition with a performance of the Dvorak Piano Quintet. She regularly plays house concerts around the city with programs of standard classical repertoire. Recently, Myla has taken an interest in promoting the works of young composers and is now a member of Red Summer, a chamber orchestra focusing solely on new music. She has been an accompanist at the American Fine Arts Festival, and is a frequent accompanist for students at NYU and the Manhattan School of Music. Myla has garnered several top prizes in competitions including the Hudson Valley Music Club Competition, the Lionti-Lewis Concerto Competition, and the Yonkers Philharmonic Concerto Competition. Myla holds a B.M. in piano performance from the Manhattan School of Music where she studied with Nina Svetlanova. She has also taken lessons and master classes with Yuri Kim, Raymond Beegle, Oxana Yablonskaya, Frank Levy and David Dubal. She recently returned to school for a Master’s in musicology with a focus in early music but made the decision to leave in order to devote her time completely to performing. In addition to playing, Myla loves to teach and maintains a large private studio in Manhattan.