WineMusic is honored to be featuring an array of outstanding musician artists!

 Hailed for her “enchanting” performances and her “perfect jaunty flavor” (New York Classical Review), Swiss-French clarinetist Yasmina Spiegelberg is the laureate of several international and national competitions including the Rotary International Competition Madrid Velazquez, the Frances Walton Seattle Competition, and the USC Concerto Competition. Additionally, she was awarded the Special Prize at the 2nd Vienna International Music Competition, and the Golden Medal at the 4th Manhattan International Music Competition. Her clarinet trio, The Tandru Trio, was the winner at the Beverly Hills National Auditions in 2019. She is also a member of the preeminent woodwind quintet, ConnectFive, which has been heard across the Northeast, invited at the Avaloch Farm Music Institute, and is an Ensemble Forward Grantee through Chamber Music America.

Based in NYC, she is currently a fellow at Ensemble Connect, the resident ensemble of Carnegie Hall, which features extraordinary young musicians from around the globe who are committed to community engagement, teaching, entrepreneurship, and leadership. She has appeared in many renowned concert halls including the Oslo Concert Hall, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, and Carnegie Hall.

Yasmina is a guest soloist with the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra, the Nomad Symphony Orchestra (France) and the String Ensemble Rapsodia (Switzerland) and collaborates with conductors such as Stefan Asbury, David Lockington, Franck Ollu, Lior Shambadal, and Paul Watkins. She is guest principal with The Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. Her chamber music collaborations include Peter Frankl, Clive Greensmith, Thomas Guei, Peter Kolkay, Cynthia Phelps, Hila Plitmann, Mark Steinberg, and Roger Tapping, and she also performs with the Grammy-nominated ensemble A Far Cry. A passionate advocate of contemporary classical music, she collaborates with composers Kalevi Aho, Reena Esmail, Inti Figgis-Vizueta, Liza Lim, James MacMillan, and Steve Reich.

She is also very active in the Los Angeles music scene, performing in some of the finest concert series including Dilijan, Classical Sundays at Six, LACMA Sunday’s Live, and Music In The Mansion. Yasmina appears as a recitalist at Core Memory Music and as a chamber musician at Rocket City New Music (AL). In recent years, she has performed at world-famous festivals such as Yellowbarn (USA), where she has also been a Residency Artist, Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival (USA), Caramoor, Festival POTE (France), and the International Ensemble Modern Academy (Austria). Furthermore, she is broadcasted live as a soloist on KUSC (California) and KING-FM (Washington) and she recorded an album in Switzerland featuring concertos and other works for clarinet and orchestra.

As part of a cultural exchange between Norway and Côte d’Ivoire, Yasmina traveled with Barth Niava, director of Oslo’s African Culture Institute (CAK),  to Addah, Côte d’Ivoire, to learn several traditional songs from the village. In celebration of the CAK’s 40th Anniversary, she premiered Pierre Thilloy’s Le Chant des Lagunes, a quadruple concerto for violin, clarinet, bassoon, djembe, and orchestra, which took inspiration from the same traditional songs.

An experienced educator, Yasmina has taught at Juilliard Pre-College, The Santa Monica Conservatory, Musique & Son in Switzerland, and is a faculty member for the Young Artist Program at Yellowbarn where she teaches chamber music and clarinet. She was recently appointed as clarinet faculty at Riverdale Country School. She has an experience encompassing more than fifteen years of teaching clarinet to students of all ages. As part of her Fellowship with Ensemble Connect, she was a teaching artist in residence at Robert F. Wagner Middle School in Manhattan, and now at Fort Hamilton High School in Brooklyn. 

She holds a Bachelor’s from the Haute Ecole de Musique de Lausanne (Switzerland) and the Conservatorium van Amsterdam (The Netherlands), as well as a Master in Performance from the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo with Björn Nyman. She also earned a Graduate Certificate and an Artist Diploma from the University of Southern California with world-famous Professor Yehuda Gilad.

Meriette Saglie is an accomplished American-Chilean pianist known for her prize-winning solo and chamber performances across the globe. She has performed in countries such as the United States, Chile, Germany, Austria, Italy, Spain, and Japan, including prestigious venues such as LACMA Bing Theater in Los Angeles and Wiener Konzerthaus in Vienna. Ms. Saglie was invited by the National Austrian Radio: ORF (Österreichischer Rundfunk) in Vienna to participate in a live broadcast performance and symposium with the renowned pianist, Vladimir Ashkenazy.

Apart from her international career, Meriette is an active performer in her hometown of Los Angeles. She contributes to the city's cultural community by performing in benefit concerts for the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Ms. Saglie is a member of the Groupmuse Council, where she works on organizing intimate concert-going scenes in Los Angeles. Additionally, she is the founder of WineMusic, an immersive concert and wine-tasting series held in Los Angeles, California that takes the audience on a journey of the senses through the combined forces of music and culinary arts.

Ms. Saglie obtained her BM, MM, and DMA degrees from the University of Southern California, where she studied under Daniel Pollack. Before USC, Meriette benefited from a unique and globally enriched musical upbringing. She began her musical studies at the age of four in Los Angeles and later gained admission to the prestigious pre-college program of the University of Music in Vienna, Austria, and the Music Conservatory of the University of Chile in Santiago, Chile. Meriette also studied with Vitaly Margulis at the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music, and worked with other renowned mentors such as Oleg Malov, Stefan Vladar, Alfredo Perl, Claudio Martinez Mehner, Kevin Fitz-Gerald, and Svetlana Navassardyan.

In addition to her performance career, Meriette is a dedicated educator. Thanks to her international background, her teaching approach offers a versatile and well-rounded array of artistic perspectives. She is attentive to personalizing and constructing her instruction to fit the individual artistic needs of each student. Meriette runs a private-owned piano teaching studio in the Los Angeles area, serves as a guest adjudicator for competitions, and offers guest lectures for the piano community on Tonebase Live.

Laura Mazon Franqui is one of the leading Cuban and Latin American classical guitarists of her generation. Recently awarded with the Augustine Artist endorsement sponsored by Augustine Strings, she is now part of a historically recognized collective comprised of the world’s finest guitarists which started with the great Andres Segovia.Laura Mazon is also a Cordoba Guitars Artist, and a Guitar Salon International scholarship awardee. The young guitarist aims to break the boundaries and challenge the orthodoxia present in the classical guitar world, offering a unique musical perspective of the guitar, infused by the rich cultural heritage of her Cuban roots, the best of the classical traditions, and the contemporary trends and influences of the 21st Century.

Praised as “An accomplished guitarist of Hispanic Latino descent” (Digital Journal), “A fine player from whom great things can be expected” (Albert Kunze, Soundboard Magazine Music Critic), an “Evocative and passionate classical guitarist who draws the audience into her performances with engaging musical interpretations” (Federico Musgrove, Florida Guitar Foundation Executive Director), and a performer who “Plays the guitar with majesty and sensitivity to color and nuance” (Adam Levin, XXI Century music specialist, guitar virtuoso), Laura is a Cuban born Internationally awarded guitarist determined to explore the guitar possibilities into the contemporary context.

Laura enjoys an active performing career since age 10, and has taken her artistry to hundreds of venues around the world in countries such as Cuba, Spain, Ecuador and the United States; such as: Mid-Manhattan Library, the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela’s Auditorium, the Guild of Boston Artists, Gusman Concert Hall, Victor E. Clarke Recital Hall, Vanderbuilt Theater, Teatro Auditorium Amadeo Roldan, Teatro Nacional de Cuba, Basilica Menor del Convento San Francisco de Asis, ArtistTree Community Arts Center, Perez Art Museum, Koubeck Center, among others.

She has also engaged in multiple recording collaborations for the music industry as well as television andcinema (Autorretrato con Arbol, International Festival of Latin-American Cinema), and participated at numerous festivals and competitions (Rhode Island International Festival and Competition, New Orleans International Guitar Festival, Musica en Compostela, Musicalia Festival, Havana International Guitar Festival, Havana International Chamber Music Festival, Havana Contemporary Music Festival, Rising Stars Competition, Florida Guitar Foundation Competition, and Issac Nicola National Competition).

Committed to take the instrument to a higher level of reception and discovering new audiences, Laura is a Spotify Artist whose music can be found on the platform as well as in iTunes and other streaming platforms all over the world. As a recording artist, her musical interests move towards raising awareness about the Cuban and Latin-American repertoire, the music of Women Composers, the Contemporary Music for Guitar (which includes recording collaborations with Grammy-winning composers such as Claudia Montero and Yalil Guerra), and innovative collaborations with electronic music creators and musicians from diverse tendencies and styles as well.

Laura is also a Hispanic Scholar (Hispanic Scholarship Foundation), a Florida Guitar Foundation and Guitar Foundation of America member, as well as a member of the American Musicological Society. She has served as Jury for several national and international guitar competitions( Festival Guitarra para Todos in Guatemala City, Guatemala, and the National Federation of Music Teachers guitar Competition in Miami) . Laura also taught for several years at the University of Miami Frost Preparatory Program, and is currently a Teaching Assistant at the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music and part of the Guitar Faculty of the renowned Pasadena Conservatory of Music, and gives lectures, workshops, and masterclasses at diverse music and arts institutions, non-profits, and guitar programs in the United States and Latin America.

As a performer, recording artist, and teaching artist, Laura Mazon is in constant demand, as Innovation and Art integration are the words that drive her mission.

Vieness Piano Duo has enthralled audiences in their electric and captivating performances of a wide range of repertoire. Husband and wife, Vijay Venkatesh and Eva Schaumkell’s intuition for conversation coupled with a commanding stage presence has made them regularly in demand throughout the world.      

In the 2021 fall season, they completed a 2-week tour of the Midwestern US through Allied Concert Services, and pre-pandemic, debuted at the InConcert Series, Trinity Concert Series, Music Guild, L'ermitage Foundation, Le Salon de Musiques at Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Summer Stars Series, Masters in the Chapel Series, North SLO Concerts, Tassel Performing Arts Center, Waring Gala, and the Kultur unter'm Dach series in Germany. They have also been featured with the South Coast Symphony and Vicente Chamber Orchestra.     

Vieness Piano Duo will begin the 2022 season at the Carnegie Concert Series (CA), Camerata Musica (WA), Crystal Theatre (MI), DaCamera Society (CA), Irvine Performing Arts Center (CA), Lancaster Performing Arts Center (CA), L'ermitage Foundation (CA), Opera Steamboat Piano Series (CO), Muzewest Concerts (Canada), Ridgecrest Chamber Society (CA), Sarasota Artists Series (FL), Second City Chamber Series (WA), and more.        

Vieness is a featured artist on Tonebase.      

Mark Bassett is a Los Angeles-based cellist, having performed with renowned orchestras and chamber groups, including the Philadelphia String Quartet, Calder Quartet, South Florida Symphony, and Fresno Philharmonic. Mark Bassett's passion for video game music has led him to become a principal cellist for two video game concert tours: the Legend of Zelda: Symphony of the Goddess and Final Fantasy: Distant Worlds tours. These tours feature symphonic arrangements of music from popular video games, and Mark's cello playing is a prominent part of the performances. Additionally, as a studio musician, Mark has contributed to the soundtracks of various video games, including AAA games such as Final Fantasy 12 and 15, as well as indie games like Deluvion. His experience in both performing and recording video game music highlights his dedication to this genre and his ability to bring out its unique musical qualities.

In addition to being an active performer and studio musician, Mark Bassett is deeply committed to music education. He maintains a private studio of cello, violin, and bass students, and is also a faculty member at the West Coast Music Academy. Mark's dedication to music education extends to his work as the Director of the Strings Department at YOLA (Youth Orchestra Los Angeles) Beckman. YOLA is a music education program that provides free instruments, intensive music training, and academic support to underserved communities. As Director of the Strings Department, Mark oversees the instruction of young musicians, helping them develop their skills and passion for music.

Mark's extensive experience as a music educator and performer has allowed him to cultivate a unique teaching approach that emphasizes the importance of both technical mastery and artistic expression. His passion for music and dedication to teaching have helped to inspire and develop the musical abilities of many young musicians.

Martin Chalifour has been principal concertmaster of the Los Angeles Philharmonic since 1995. A native of Québec, Canada, Chalifour received many grants and awards in his native land from an early age, but came to wide prominence upon receiving a Certificate of Honor at Moscow’s International Tchaikovsky Competition in 1986, with a laureate at the Montréal International Musical Competition the following year. He has maintained the career of a much sought after orchestral violinist, soloist and chamber musician ever since.

Chalifour began his orchestral career in 1984 as associate concertmaster of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, serving under the late Robert Shaw. He followed that term by occupying the same position with the Cleveland Orchestra, advancing to acting concertmaster, during Christoph von Dohnányi’s tenure as music director, before moving to Los Angeles. Throughout these years, he has simultaneously performed a vast repertory, more than 50 concertos, spanning the world as a soloist, sharing concert stages with such notable conductors as Pierre Boulez, Andrew Davis, Charles Dutoit, Christoph Eschenbach and Esa-Pekka Salonen.

His travels have found Chalifour soloing with the Montréal Symphony Orchestra, the Queensland Symphony Orchestra (Brisbane, Australia), the Auckland Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, among many others. Summertime performances have included concerts with the Sarasota Music Festival and the Mainly Mozart Festival in San Diego.

During his Cleveland tenure, Chalifour was a founding member of two chamber ensembles, Myriad and the Cleveland Orchestra Piano Trio. His experiences as a chamber musician have included a notable series of concerts alongside the cellist Lynn Harrell at the Amelia Island Festival in Florida, and at the Madison Chamber Music Festival in Georgia. Chalifour has joined forces with two of his colleagues, Joanne Pearce Martin and Peter Stumpf, and formed the Los Angeles Philharmonic Piano Trio. Besides exploring the rich trio repertoire, the three performed Beethoven’s Triple Concerto in September 2005 at the Hollywood Bowl.

Pola Benke is a Polish-born cellist and conductor. She began playing the cello when she was eight. She went to the M. Karlowicz Conservatory of Music for her high school studies in Krakow, Poland from 2003- 2006. In 2006 she attended Oklahoma City University where she earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Cello Performance. In 2007 Pola made her debut as a soloist with the University orchestra performing Grave by Lutoslawski. Pola Benke holds a Master’s Degree from The Boston Conservatory where she received outstanding orchestral training. In 2014 she finished her postgraduate studies with Marek Szpakiewicz in Los Angeles; CA. Pola has been awarded full scholarships throughout her education. 

She has studied with several significant cellists including Dominik Polonski, Marek Szpakiewicz, Rhonda Rider, Sato Knudsen, Stanislaw Popov, Lynn Harrell, Aldo Parisot, Ko Iwasaki, and Astrid Schween. She has participated in, and been invited to, many major music festivals in Europe (InterHarmony Music Festival, Germany and International Music Courses in Lancut, Poland) and United States (Aspen Music Festival).

Pola has been in countless performances as a soloist, chamber musician, and orchestra member. She performed with many significant musicians throughout Europe and United States of America. Pola Benke specializes in modern classical music. She premiered and recorded many modern pieces. For the past four years she was a member of Sinfonietta Cracovia, an outstanding chamber orchestra from Poland that is under the patronage of world famous composer, Krzysztof Penderecki.

In the summer of 2021, she was appointed Assisting Conductor of the Westside Youth Orchestra in Los Angeles, and became the Associate Conductor of the Glendale Youth Symphony in Los Angeles. Pola was recently invited to the Dartington Music Festival in England where she worked under the guidance of Sian Edwards. 

Pola Benke is a director of the International Cello Festival “Hello- Cello”,  advocates for contemporary music and enjoys working with living composers.

She is currently living and performing in Los Angeles, California.

  Flutist Antonina Styczen comes from the small town of Bielsko-Biala in Southern Poland, and at the age of five set her mind on having a career as flutist. By age six, she had enrolled in a local flute class, and since then has experimental performance art rarely to be seen in glamorous concert halls.

A performer in classical, jazz, rock, and improvisatory idioms, Ms. Styczen has appeared in unlikely spaces as a concerto soloist, and has created large-scale, crowd-sourced projects. A dynamic musician and entrepreneur, she hopes to create projects for the flute that will change the perception of the classical soloist. “Clearly a musician to watch” (Arcana FM), Ms. Styczen is a winner of Astral’s 2018 National Auditions.

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In 2019 alone, Ms. Styczen captured First Prize at the National Flute Association Young Artist Competition as well as its special prize for the Best Performance of a New Work, both Second Prize and the William H. Grass Memorial Prize at The James Pappoutsakis Memorial Flute Competition, and Third Prize in the Mid-South Flute Society Young Artist Competition.

An advocate for social change and for the programming of music by female composers, her program in the final round of the NFA Competition, featuring all female compositions, was overwhelmingly positively received.

In 2016, Ms. Styczen recorded her debut album, Mieczyslaw Wajnberg: Works for Flute, with the Polish Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra and conductor Wojciech Rajski, for the German recording label TACET. The album was nominated for the 2017 International Classical Music Award and the Prize of German Critics. Along with pianist Eliza Puchianu and cellist William Laney, she formed the Alara Ensemble trio, which won First Prize at the Boston Conservatory’s Berklee Honors Ensemble Competition. In the ensemble’s short life, it has performed at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and Harvard University. A video of their arrangement of Piazzolla’s Four Seasons was released by the Berklee College of Music. Upcoming is a concert tour and recording with Eliza Puchianu of music by Eastern-European female composers.

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Very active in electronic and improvised music, Ms. Styczen created Witkacy 622, Vol. 1, a program for singer, electronics, harp, and flute, with soprano Aleksandra Klimczak and pianist-composer Andrzej Karalow. She is also currently working as a producer on recital projects that include deejay, a recital that includes electronic works she composed, an electronic reimagining of Telemann’s 12 Fantasias for Solo Flute, and a CD of new solo flute works with electronics inspired by nature.

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Ms. Styczen is a four-time recipient of the prize for extraordinary artistic achievements from the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage. She won First Prize at the Virtuoso Competition in London’s Royal Albert Hall, First Prize at the Miami Music Festival Concerto Competition, Second Prize at the XV Jeunesse International Music Competition in Bucharest, and Third Prize at the Myrna Brown Young Artist Competition.

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A graduate with distinction from the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw, she was also awarded a full scholarship from the Fundacion Albeniz for studies at Madrid’s Reina Sofía College of Music under Jacques Zoon, where she also graduated with distinction. She holds an Artist Diploma and a Professional Studies Certificate from the Boston Conservatory at Berklee, under Sarah Brady.

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Also a passionate and award-winning horse rider and show jumper, Ms. Styczen has a long-term dream to connect both of her passions in a novel mix of music and equitation.

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Antonina Styczen plays a Powell custom made silver flute, found and delivered by Flutistry Boston.

 Born and raised in St. Petersburg, Russia, MARK KASHPER started taking violin lessons at the age of five. In addition to being a graduate of the Moscow Conservatory, where he was one of the last and favorite pupils of the legendary David Oistrakh, Kashper also graduated from the Leningrad Conservatory. As a student, he was a recipient of numerous awards and scholarships. As the assistant concertmaster and soloist with the Moscow Conservatory Chamber Orchestra, he concertized extensively throughout the Soviet Union, Europe, and Latin America.

In February 1978, Kashper arrived in the United States as a refugee, and three months later won an audition to become a member of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. In September 1979 he was promoted to the first violin section and, after progressing steadily through its ranks, won another audition to become the orchestra’s Associate Principal Second Violin in May 1986. In March of 1987, Kashper won high praise for his performance of Luciano Berio’s Corale in its West-Coast premiere with the Los Angeles Philharmonic under the direction of Pierre Boulez. He has also appeared as soloist with the Orchestra at the Hollywood Bowl and at the Ojai Festival, as well as in many New Music Group and Chamber Music Society programs, collaborating with such distinguished musicians as – to name just a few – Heinz Holliger, André Previn, Emanuel Ax, and Yefim Bronfman. Between 2007 and 2011, Kashper led the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s second violin section as its Acting Principal.

An active recitalist and avid chamber music player, Kashper performs extensively in the Los Angeles area and throughout the United States. Since the creation of the Los Angeles Jewish Symphony in the Spring of 1994, he has also been busy as that orchestra's founding principal concertmaster and frequent featured soloist, performing throughout Southern California and touring in New York and Israel. In February 2000, Kashper was the soloist in performances of Korngold's Violin Concerto with the Santa Barbara Symphony Orchestra conducted by its then-Music Director, Gisèle Ben-Dor.

In September 2001, in Japan, Kashper participated in the concerts of the Super World Orchestra – an ensemble made up of principal players from most of the world’s greatest orchestras – under the direction of Lorin Maazel. In June 2006, in France, he proudly represented the United States in the concerts of the World Philharmonic Orchestra – a unique ensemble that included principal players of the leading symphony orchestras from 80 countries.

 Born in Ljubljana, Slovenia, in 1987, Mak studied guitar in Zagreb with the revered Ante Cagalj at the Elly Basic Music Academy. By the age of 14, he was balancing his world champion status in karate with his love for the guitar. Throughout his high school years, he concertized in Ljubljana and Zagreb, splitting his weeks between the two cities, as well as competing in professional martial arts contests across Europe and Asia. Following an injury to his left thumb, he made the decision to focus solely on a career in music, going on to complete a bachelor’s degree with Alvaro Pierri at the University for Music and Performing Arts in Vienna. Pursuing advanced studies in the U.S., Mak was one of the first students to apply for USC Thornton’s new Arts Leadership graduate program, which he incorporated into his doctoral studies in guitar. He has been a student of William Kanengiser and Scott Tennant of the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet, in addition to Brian Head, artistic director of Guitar Foundation of America. In the fall of 2017, he began the Artist Diploma program at USC, the first guitarist in the university’s history to be admitted to this elite program.  

 Touted as a “gifted young guitarist” by the New York Times, and “a guitarist to keep an eye on” by the Washington Post, Grammy®- nominated artist Mak Grgić [GER-gich] is a star on the worldwide stage. An expansive and adventurous repertoire attests to his versatility and wide-ranging interests. From the ethnic music of his native Balkans to extreme avant-garde and microtonal music, his roles as soloist, collaborator, and Grammy-nominated recording artist are fueled by curiosity, imagination, and boundless energy. As a testament to his versatility and wide-ranging appeal, in 2018 Mak was invited by legendary singer-songwriter k.d. lang to perform as the opening act for the North American leg of her Ingénue Redux Tour.  

 An enthusiastic recording artist, Mak’s albums capture a probing and continuous exploration of the world of guitar and all its possibilities. His latest recordings, “Balkanisms" for Naxos Music plus “MAKrotonal” and Grammy®- nominated “Mak|Bach” for MicroFest Records, explore a vast repertoire spanning ethnic music, microtonal, new music and early music on re-fretted instruments, such as a “zig-zag fretted Bach prototype guitar” that allows him to create a “well- tempered guitar” for “Mak|Bach.” Mak is also featured on another Naxos release, “La Buena Vida” with flamenco guitarist Adam del Monte. Other albums in progress include an homage to Ligeti, spotlighting gamelan-inspired guitar arrangements; “Peaceful Guitar” on Symphonic, Mak’s first recording of his own compositions; and on the Avie label, an all-concerto recording including Rodrigo's "Concierto de Aranjuez" and "Balkan Suite of Dances," a new concerto based on music from "Balkanisms."  

Mak plays and endorses an array of outstanding concert guitars made by diverse craftsmen, including German luthier Antonius Müller, the Chinese master Hanson Yao, Bosnian Slavko Mrdalj, Slovenian Samo Sali, Polish Rafal Turkowiak, a 1966 José Ramírez, as well as other re-fretted and remodeled guitars. 

Mak Grgić is also proud to be involved with the Bosana Foundation, an organization that raises money for Bosnian youth. He also regularly awards education-furthering scholarships to select students across South America. 

 American - Chilean pianist Meriette Saglie, is a prize-winning solo and chamber musician and has performed on stages worldwide, including the United States, Chile, Germany, Austria, Italy, Spain and Japan.  Her accomplishments include performances at the LACMA Bing Theater in Los Angeles, California and the Wiener Konzerthaus in Vienna, Austria. The National Austrian Radio: ORF (Österreichischer Rundfunk) in Vienna, Austria also invited her to take part in a live broadcast performance and symposium with famed pianist Vladimir Ashkenazy. 

As an active performer in her home base city of Los Angeles, Ms. Saglie also contributes to LA's cultural community by performing in concerts to benefit the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Ms. Saglie is on the Groupmuse Council, where she commits herself to the organization of the intimate concert-going scene in Los Angeles and is also founder of WineMusic LA, an immersive concert and wine tasting series offering a journey for the senses through the forces of both the musical and culinary arts.

While at USC, Dr. Saglie earned a BM, MM, and DMA under the tutelage of Daniel Pollack. Prior to her studies at USC, Ms. Saglie benefited from a unique and globally-enriched musical upbringing. 

The Los Angeles native began her musical studies at the age of 4. At age 13, she branched out internationally, with admission to the prestigious pre-college program of the University of Music in Vienna, Austria and, subsequently, the Music Conservatory of the University of Chile in Santiago, Chile. She also studied at the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music with Vitaly Margulis. Other mentors she has worked with include Oleg Malov, Stefan Vladar, Alfredo Perl, Claudio Martinez Mehner, Kevin Fitz-Gerald, and Svetlana Navassardyan.

Meriette is also a dedicated educator.  Because of her international background, her approach to teaching offers a versatile and well-rounded array of artistic perspectives. She also attentively aims to personalize and construct her instruction to suit the individual-artistic needs of each student.  Ms. Saglie commits to running a private-owned piano teaching studio in the Los Angeles area, guest adjudicator for competitions and guest lecturing for Tonebase Live's piano community.

  Pianist Zachary Deak has appeared in recital as soloist and chamber musician in the United States, France, Morocco, Portugal, Moldavia and the United Kingdom. He has concertized at venues such as the Dorothy Chandler Pavillion, Cité de la Musique, Salle Cortot, l’Archipel, Salle Landowski in Paris, the Casa de Musica in Porto and the Theatre Micaelense in Ponto Delgada as well as l’Institut Francais in Agadir, Morocco. The recipient of numerous awards, Zachary received the Hopkinson silver medal at the prestigious Chappell Medal Piano Competition in London in 2012.

 In 2013, he had the privilege to work intensively with the eminent pianist Maria Joao Pires in Paris and Brussels. A graduate of the Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris and the Royal College of Music in London, Zachary studied with Marion Rybicki, Christian Ivaldi and Guigla Katsarava and in London with Leon McCawley. During his time at the RCM he was an RCM scholar supported by the Lucy Ann Jones Award. Zachary received his Doctor of Musical Arts Degree from the University of Southern California under the guidance of Dr. Stewart Gordon and was a teaching assistant in the keyboard department. 

Zachary has performed in master classes and workshops with Murray Perahia, Maria Joao Pires, Dang Thai Son, Vladimir Feltsman, Alexander Korsantia and Marc Durand. A dedicated teacher, Zachary enjoys working regularly with students in master classes and other educational outreach events and is currently lecturer in the keyboard department at Cal State University Los Angeles and Cuesta College in San Luis Obispo.