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Please contact Dr. Alexander Russakovsky at Alexander.Russakovsky@usm.edu or call 601.266.6851

This event is made possible by the generous support from the Partners for the Arts, University of Southern Mississippi Symphony Orchestra and the School of Music.

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Faculty Bios

Uri Vardi has performed as a recitalist, soloist, and chamber player across the United States, Europe, South America, Asia, and his native Israel. Born in Szeged, Hungary, Vardi grew up on kibbutz Kfar Hahoresh, Israel. He studied at the Rubin Academy in Tel Aviv, was an Artist Diploma student at Indiana University, and earned his Master’s degree from Yale University. His teachers have included Janos Starker, Aldo Parisot, Eva Janzer, and Uzi Wiesel. Vardi has recorded and toured widely with the Israel Chamber Orchestra and was a founding member of the Sol-La-Re String Quartet. He has served as Assistant Principal Cellist of the Israel Chamber Orchestra and Principal Cellist of the Israel Sinfonietta. In 1990, following an extensive teaching and performing career in Israel, Vardi was appointed professor of cello at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In addition to his work at Wisconsin, Vardi has taught and conducted master classes at numerous music schools, including: Juilliard, Eastman School, New England Conservatory, Indiana University, Yale University, Oberlin College, Cleveland Institute of Music, University of Iowa, Ohio State University, Geneva Conservatory (Switzerland), Paris Conservatory (France), Tunghai University (Taiwan), Bartok Conservatory (Budapest, Hungary) , and the Jerusalem Music Center (Israel).

In recent years, Vardi has initiated Four major projects: “The St. Petersburg School – Music for Cello”, “Fusions”, a Double Concerto for Cello, Oud and Symphony Orchestra, and the "National Summer Cello Institute", in conjunction with the "Feldenkrais for Musicians Workshop". In the St. Petersburg project, Vardi researched, performed and recorded (with pianist Uriel Tsachor), compositions written by Russian -Jewish composers, many of which had never been previously recorded. In 1977 Beth Hatfutzot (the Diaspora Museum in Tel Aviv) released the recording on a CD, which was favorably reviewed by the Jerusalem Post. “Fusions”, sponsored by the University of Wisconsin- Madison and the Consulate General of Israel in NYC, was a chamber music project of Jewish music and Arabic art music, culminating in a commissioned Trio for Oud, Cello and Piano. In this project, Vardi collaborated with Oud artist Taiseer Elias and pianist/composer Menachem Wiesenberg. The project toured Israel and the U.S and was positively reviewed by major newspapers such as the Washington Post and the Boston Globe. This successful chamber music project was the inspiration for the commission of a full orchestral composition. In 2007 Joel Hoffman composed the “Forty Steps”- a Double Concerto for Taiseer Elias and Uri Vardi. It was premiered on the Madison Symphony Orchestra’s 2007-2008 Concert Series in March 2008. The National Summer Cello Institute is a unique program exploring the relationship between body awareness, creativity in performing and teaching, and prevention of music related injuries. This Institute is geared towards professional and Graduate Cellists and other performing musicians. It has been co-sponsored by The College Music Society and the UW-Madison School of Music, since 2010. Internationally renowned Cello Teachers (such as Timothy Eddy, Laurence Lesser, Steven Doane, Ralph Kirshbaum, and Richard Aaron) have been involved in instruction and in conducting Masterclasses.

Vardi’s Students have been successful as soloists, chamber players, faculty members of major music schools (such as Oberlin College, and Peabody), and members of major orchestras such as The New York Metropolitan Opera (Associate principal), the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (Principal), the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Simon Bolivar Orchestra in Caracas, Venezuela ( Principal), and the Seattle Symphony Orchestra. In his teaching, Vardi puts great emphasis on the relationship between movement and sound. In order to further his understanding of this approach, Vardi has specialized in the Feldenkrais Method, for which he received the 1999 UW-Madison Arts Institute Faculty Development Award. He completed a Feldenkrais Practitioners Training and was certified by the Feldenkrais Guild of North America and by the International Feldenkrais Federation as a Feldenkrais practitioner in 2003. For the last five years, Vardi has created a new course at UW - Madison: " Feldenkrais for Performing Artists". In 2012, Vardi was awarded the UW Art Institute Emily Mead Baldwin Award to Create a Program for Somatic Education in the Performing Arts at UW-Madison.

First Prize winner of the 2008 Naumburg International Violoncello Competition, David Requiro has emerged as one of today’s most promising young cellists. After winning first prize in both the Washington International and the Irving M. Klein String Competitions, he also captured a top prize at the Gaspar Cassadó International Violoncello Competition in Hachioji, Japan, coupled with the prize for the best performances of works by Cassadó.

Mr. Requiro has soloed with the Tokyo Philharmonic, National Symphony Orchestra, Seattle Symphony, and and other orchestras across the U.S. His Carnegie Hall debut recital at Weill Hall was followed by a critically acclaimed San Francisco Performances recital at the Herbst Theatre. Soon after making his Kennedy Center debut, Mr. Requiro also completed the cycle of Beethoven’s Sonatas for Piano and Cello at the Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C. Actively involved in contemporary music, he has collaborated with composers Krzysztof Penderecki and Bright Sheng and most recently gave the Dutch premier of Pierre Jalbert’s Sonata for cello and piano at the 2010 Amsterdam Cello Biennale.

Mr. Requiro is currently Artist in Residence at the University of Puget Sound where he is professor of cello and director of the chamber music program. He has served as artist faculty at the Giverny Chamber Music Festival, Bowdoin International Music Festival, Innsbrook Music Festival and Institute, Maui Classical Music Festival, Olympic Music Festival, and Center Stage Strings. He is also a member of the Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players in New York City.

Alexander Russakovsky has studied the cello at the Leningrad Conservatory, under renowned Russian professors, Emmanuel Fishman and Anatoli Nikitin. He received his bachelor of music from the Jerusalem Rubin Academy and his master’s degree from the Yale School of Music under Aldo Parisot. He holds a doctorate in cello performance from the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Russakovsky has appeared in numerous solo and chamber music performances in Russia, Israel, Europe and the United States. A founding member of the Jerusalem Academy String Quartet, he has performed with the group throughout Israel, as well as in Germany, Switzerland, Holland, and France. He also appeared in the Chamber Music Series of the Spoleto Festival in Italy, the Barge Music in New York City and with the Western Slope Music Festival in Colorado. In the fall of 2001 Dr. Russakovsky joined the music faculty of the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg. He has also served on the faculties of the Adriatic Chamber Music Festival in Bonefro, the IV Violoncello Biennal in Peru and the CICA Chamber Music Festival. His orchestral engagements include Savannah Symphony, Santa Barbara Symphony and Chamber Orchestras, New Haven Symphony and Leningrad Philharmonic.

Most recently, Dr. Russakovsky has given master classes and recitals in Taiwan, Israel, and Latin America. A recipient of many awards, he won the Angela and Maurice M. Clairmont Competition in Tel Aviv, the Performing Arts Foundation Competition in Santa Barbara and the 1999 Career Grant of the Esperia Foundation.

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