blafontaine@pasadenaconservatory.org

626-683-3355

Violinists Movses Pogossian and Marty Manouelian and cellist Andrew Cook have joined the roster of master teachers at the Pasadena Conservatory of Music that also includes Rick Mooney, founder of the National Cello Institute, Scott Tennant, founding member of the GRAMMY-winning Los Angeles Guitar Quartet and Susan Svrcek, founding member of Los Angeles’ highly acclaimed Piano Spheres music series. Each enjoys a national and international reputation as a teacher and performer sought by gifted students.

Movses Pogossian is Chair of Strings at UCLA, a prizewinner of the 1986 Tchaikovsky International Competition, and the youngest-ever First Prize winner of the 1985 USSR National Violin Competition. Mr. Pogossian has performed with members of the Tokyo, Kronos, and Brentano string quartets, and frequently collaborates with the Apple Hill Chamber Players, touring worldwide and teaching annually at their summer music festival in New Hampshire. A committed proponent of new music, he has premiered over 40 works.

Varty Manouelian joined the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 2004. She also frequently perfoms at the Philharmonic’s Chamber Music and Green Umbrella series. She made her American debut in 1993 with the North Carolina Symphony as First Prize winner of the Bryan International Competition. She has also been a prizewinner at a numerous other competitions, including the Kotzian International Competition in Czechoslovakia, Performers of Connecticut, and the Wieniawski International Violin Competition in Poland.

Andrew Cook, co-founder and director of the Gold Coast Chamber Music Festival, represented the U. S. at the Ninth Ingternational Tchaikovsky Cello Competition in Moscow. He is very active in the Los Angeles music scene and has been a regular guest with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, joining them on two recent European tours. He was a founding member of the Vista Trio, which has performed worldwide and has released two recordings on the Vision Records label. Currently he is working on a DVD of J.S. Bach suites for solo cello with AIX and BMG. In great demand as a performer, teacher, lecturer and educator, he is also very active in the recording, television and motion picture studios working on music scores for countless films.

Scott Tennant is considered to be one of the world’s premiere guitar virtuosos and is a favotire guest artist with orchestras, on music series and major guitar festivals around the world. He has made numerous recordings as a soloist on the GHA and Delos labels, and with members of the GRAMMY-winning Los Angeles Guitar Quartet he has recorded for GHA, Delos, Sony Classical, Windham Hill, Deutsche Grammophone and Telarc labels. He is well known as a teacher and author, currently with eight books to his name. His first book, Pumping Nylon, is an advanced book on classical guitar technique and is used by students and teahcers alive in most of the world’s major guitar programs.

Rick Mooney, founder and director of the National Cello Institute, is a specialist in the Suzuki method of teaching. Highly sought after as a teacher trainer, he has been a guest teacher at many institutes and workshops throughout the United States, Canada, Asia, England, Australia and New Zealand. He has been active with the Suzuki Association of the Americas, serving on the Board of Directors, on the Cello Committee and writing for the American Suzuki Journal. He is also the founder and director of the National Cello Institute which sponsors a Summer Institute, a Winter Workshop and publishes music for cello. He has authored several pedagogical books including Double Stops for Cello, and Position Pieces for Cello.

Susan Svrcek has established a versatile career that encompasses critically acclaimed solo, chamber, and orchestral appearances. As a founding member of Piano Spheres, she has premiered works by Joan Huang, Benjamin Lees, Frederick Lesemann, and Hyo-shin Na. She is noted for her wide range of repertoire, from Mozart and Beethoven to Xenakis and Boulez. She has achieved mastery in her performances, as noted in the Los Angeles Times, “because she has probed so carefully into, and brought so many facets out of the massive repertory for the solo piano, one comes to her recitals with high expectations, new thrills, rediscovered gems, unknown masterpieces.”

The Pasadena Conservatory of Music is a nationally accredited nonprofit music school that provides a comprehensive curriculum of music study that prepares emerging artists to pursue music study at the college level. Many of its students have graduated into prestigious schools of music, including USC Thornton School of Music, Eastman and the University of Indiana, among others. For information about music instruction at the Pasadena Conservatory, contact Jeannie Robbins at 626-683-3355 or email music@pasadenaconservatory.org