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Arkady Fomin
Violin
Arkady Fomin is the Founder and Artistic Director of the New Conservatory of Dallas. A native of Riga, Latvia, Mr. Fomin studied under noted Latvian violin professor, Voldemar Sturestep, and graduated from the Latvian Conservatory with a Master's Degree in Performance. As a chamber musician, soloist, and conductor, Mr. Fomin has collaborated throughout the world in performance with many notable international artists.
Since 1975, he has been a leader in the Dallas musical community through his active performance schedule as violinist with the DSO and his dedication to cultivating excellence in music education.
He is Artistic Director of Conservatory Music in the Mountains, Durango, Colorado, Artist in Residency at University of Texas at Dallas, Visiting Professor at Colorado State University, and violinist with the CLAVIER TRIO. Mr. Fomin was honored as a recipient of the Cowlishaw Artist-in-Residence Award at the University of Texas at Dallas for artistic achievement and contributions to the City of Dallas.
Jesús Castro-Balbi
Cello
Jesús Castro-Balbi, cellist, performs internationally as a soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician. Dr. Castro-Balbi has collaborated with conductors Giancarlo Andretta, Germán Gutiérrez, Miguel Harth-Bedoya, Miguel Prieto, Arild Remmereit, Joel Sachs, and Lawrence Leighton Smith. His performances have been broadcasted on BBC , Japanese, and French television and in the US on National Public Radio’s Performance Today.
A passionate chamber musician, Dr. Castro-Balbi is the founder of the Faculty & Friends Chamber Music Series at TCU. He is active Festival participant at Norfolk, Connecticut, the Lincoln Center in New York , La Jolla SummerFest in California, the Bartók Festival in Szombathely (Hungary), the Manchester (England), and Beauvais (France) and the Isaac Stern Third International Chamber Music Encounters in Jerusalem (Israel) among others.
Dr. Castro-Balbi is a graduate of the Conservatoire National Supérieur in Lyon (France), Indiana University at Bloomington, Yale, and of The Juilliard School where he studied with Iseut Chuat, Marc Coppey, Jean Deplace, Aldo Parisot and Janos Starker. Jesús Castro-Balbi is currently the cello professor at Texas Christian University.
John Owings
Piano
John Owings consistently wins enthusiastic praise from audiences and critics for his exciting pianism and sensitive artistry. “Real spiritual elation” was how the London Daily Telegraph described hisplaying of the Elliott Carter Piano Sonata. The Cleveland Plain Dealer called his playing a “fine blend oftechnical brilliance with expressivity,” and the Houston Post, reviewing his performance of the Ravel G Major Concerto, said, “the audience was spellbound.”
Since making his orchestral debut with the San Antonio Symphony at the age of 15, Mr.Owings has appeared as soloist with the symphony orchestras of Cleveland, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Fort Worth, Houston, the Boston Pops, the English Chamber Orchestra, and the National Symphony Orchestras of Colombia and Peru. He has performed recitals in major cities in the United States, Latin America, Europe and the Far East and has been a guest artist at numerous music festivals. His CD recordings on the Koch International Classics and Opus Millésime labels have received outstanding reviews. His newest CD, on the Pro Organo label, features the complete keyboard works of Julius Reubke.
Gold Medalist of the first Robert Casadesus International Piano Competition in Cleveland, Mr. Owings was also the top prize winner in the Vianna da Motta International Competition in Lisbon, the London Liszt Society Competition, and the Musical Arts Competition in Chicago. He has served on the juries for major international competitions including the Casadesus, the Cleveland, the Gina Bachauer, and the Beethoven in Vienna.
Following his early musical training in his native Texas, John Owings studied at the Royal College of Music in London as a Fulbright Scholar. Later, his studies took him to Switzerland, Italy and The Juilliard School, where he received his Master’s Degree. His teachers have included Dalies Frantz, Rosina Lhevinne, Martin Canin, Karl Leifheit, Geza Anda and Wilhelm Kempff.
Since 1990 John Owings has been a member of the faculty of Texas Christian University where he holds the Herndon Professorship of Music. In 1993, the University conferred upon him its highest award, the Chancellor’s Award for Distinguished Research and Creative Activity, for his performances of the 32 Beethoven Sonatas. A CD with six of the sonatas from these live performances is available.
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