Fundraiser for Kefalonia Philharmonic

BIOGRAPHY

Areta Zhulla
Recently awarded the 2011 “Young Artist of the Year” by the National Critics Association of Music and Drama in Greece, and recipient of the Triandi Career Grant as well as the Tassos Prassopoulos Foundation Award, Greek violinist Areta Zhulla (Αρετή Ζούλα) is quickly establishing herself as a compelling artist.
Ms. Zhulla has performed extensively as a soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician throughout the United States, Europe, Canada, and Asia, at many renowned venues such as Carnegie Hall, Auditorium du Louvre, Alice Tully Hall, Kennedy Center, Metropolitan Museum of Art, and National Arts Centre of Canada. Ms. Zhulla made her Megaron Hall debut in Athens in 2010, performing under the baton of legendary French conductor Michel Plasson and the Athens State Symphony Orchestra. Other recent engagements include solo performances with the Camerata Orchestra of Greece, Westchester Philharmonic, Kenosha Symphony, and the State Symphony of Thessalonica.
From 2012–2015 Ms. Zhulla performed with The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center as a Chamber Music Society Two Artist. For two seasons, Ms. Zhulla was a member of the LK String Quartet, hailed by The Washington Post for “warm tone, elegant finish, a vivid engagement with the scores’ drama and ensemble that was tight as a drum.” She has performed with violinist Itzhak Perlman at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Rose Theater at Lincoln Center. Other collaborations include performances with Pinchas Zukerman, Orli Shaham, Donald Weilerstein, Paul Katz, and the Cavani String Quartet. Ms. Zhulla has appeared in music festivals such as Music@Menlo, The Perlman Music Program Chamber Music Workshop, Kneisel Hall, and Pinchas Zukerman’s Young Artists Program in Canada, and has studied for seven summers at the Perlman Music Program Summer School.
Ms. Zhulla holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from The Juilliard School in New York City, where she studied with Itzhak Perlman and Catherine Cho, and was a recipient of the Vergotis Scholarship. Other teachers include Pinchas Zukerman and Lefter Zhulla.
Ms. Zhulla performs on a copy of Stradivarius’s “Viotti,” made by her father in 2009, Greek luthier Lefter Zhulla.

Regi Alexandros Papa
Hailed as “an exciting young violinist with brilliant technique and an excellent sense of style” (The Strad Magazine), Regi Álexandros Papa has dazzled audiences on both sides of the Atlantic.
In Greece, Mr. Papa has performed in prestigious venues such as the Athens Concert Hall, the Pallas Hall, the Parnassos Hall, and the Athenaeum Hall. He has been a featured soloist with many orchestras throughout Greece, including the Soloists of Patras Orchestra (under Saulious Sondeckis), the Volos Symphony Orchestra (under Simeon Kogan), the National Orchestra of Contemporary Music (under Andreas Pilarinos), the Kamerata Orchestra (under C. Warren-Green), the Greek National Radio Orchestra (under Nikos Tsouchlos), and the National State Orchestra of Thessaloniki.
He made his Carnegie Hall debut in 2006 performing the Sibelius Violin Concerto with the New York Senior Concert Orchestra under the baton of David Gilbert, and has appeared as featured soloist with the New York Symphonic Arts Ensemble and the Manhattan School of Music Philharmonia. Mr. Papa has given numerous recitals in Greece, the United States, Italy, and Spain, and also appeared as soloist with Feminarte Orchestra in Albania.
An avid chamber musician, he has performed extensively in various chamber ensembles throughout the United States and Europe. In May 2010, Mr. Papa participated in the prestigious Carnegie Hall Chamber Workshop, working intensively with Leon Fleischer, Pamela Frank, and Yo-Yo Ma.
He has won numerous awards and scholarships, including first prize at the 2002 Eurovision Contest (Greece), the Greek Ministry of Education’s Pan-Hellenic Contest, and the Wieniawski Competition (Kosciusko Foundation, New York City). He also received prizes at the Young Soloists Competition (Volos), the International “Jeunesses Musicales” Violin Competition (Romania), the Artur Balsam Competition for Duos (New York City), the Hudson Valley Competition for Strings, the Waldo Mayo Competition, and the Manhattan School of Music Pre-College Concerto Competition. He was awarded scholarships from the Mundo en Armonia Foundation, the Onassis Foundation, and received the Marie and George Vergottis Memorial Scholarship at Juilliard.
He was born into a family of violinists in Athens and began playing violin at age 5. After winning the Greek Eurovision Competition at 15, he received an Onassis Foundation scholarship and moved to New York City to study with Isaac Malkin at Manhattan School of Music while continuing his education at the Professional Children’s School. He earned a Bachelor of Music degree from Manhattan School of Music in 2008, and a Master’s Degree from Juilliard in 2010, studying with Kyung Wha Chung. Mr. Papa is currently in the Doctoral program at Stony Brook University. He has participated in master classes with Lydia Mortkovitch, Zakhar Bron, Boris Belkin, Emmanuel Borok, Griegori Zhislin, Robert Mann, Lambert Orkis, Mikhail Kopelman, and studied with Ana Chumachenko in the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival. Mr. Papa currently resides in New York City.

Konstantine Valianatos
Pianist Konstantine Valianatos is an exciting young musician noted in both the United States and Europe. He has won eleven first prizes, six at International Competitions, including the International Seiler Piano Competition, International Ibiza Piano Competition, Senigallia International Piano Competition, San Gemini International Piano Competition, and the Aspen Music Festival Competition. He has earned scholarships from Gina Bachauer, Yamaha, Onassis, and I.K.Y. Foundation Competitions. In 2004, his artistry and integrity were recognized by the President of the Hellenic Republic, Kostis Stefanopoulos, with the highest accolade from the Athens Academy.
Born in 1989, Valianatos has performed as soloist with the Greek National Orchestra, National Orchestra of Thessaloniki, Aspen Music Festival Orchestra, and Montevideo National Orchestra. He has appeared in recitals and as chamber musician in prestigious venues including Salle Cortot (Paris), Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall, Kosciuszko Foundation, and Athens Megaron. He has featured on WQXR’s McGraw-Hill Young Artist’s Showcase. In the 2012–2013 season, he appeared as soloist with the Las Colinas Symphony Orchestra under Robert Carter Austin.
He is a founding member of the Olympus Piano Trio, dedicated to chamber music and the Hellenic spirit. He has performed at Aspen International Music Festival, Festival Mozaic in San Luis Obispo, and the Poros Academy in Greece. Valianatos was featured at the Kefalonia Dionisios Lavragas Festival in summer 2012.
Committed to education, he teaches piano to schoolchildren in the Bronx and accompanies the Greek Archdiocesan Metropolitan Youth Choir. In 2012, he taught a piano class at Juilliard as a piano minor fellow.
Born in Athens, he began piano studies at age seven at the National Conservatory of Greece, earning the “Diploma of Soloist” with highest distinction at fourteen. He continued studies at the Ecole Normale in Paris with Germaine Mounier and Agathe Leimoni, earning the “Diplome Superieur d’Execution” and the “Diplome de Concertist.” He is a Juilliard student, recipient of the George and Marie Vergottis scholarship, awarded a Bachelor of Music Degree in May 2012 as a student of Yoheved Kaplinsky and Jerome Lowenthal, and planned to continue as a Master’s student under Yoheved Kaplinsky and Julian Martin.
He has attended master classes with renowned pianists including Paul Badura-Skoda, Choong-Mo Kang, Ivo Pogorelich, Julian Martin, Veda Kaplinsky, Joseph Kalichstein, Alain Lefèvre, Jean-Claude Pannetier, France Clidat, Cyprien Katsaris, Martino Tirimo, duo Ganev, Raquel Boldorini, Aaron Shorr, Oxana Yablonskaya, Bernard Ringeissen, and Luigi Mostacci, and coached chamber music with Julian Martin, Joseph Kalichstein, Jerome Lowenthal, Bonnie Hampton, and Darrett Adkins.