Biographies
Mara
Milkis
violinist
Violinist Mara Milkis, founder of the Dal Sogno Ensemble, was born in Odesa, Ukraine. Praised for her "rich and mellow, Stradivarius-class tone..." by Morgenavisen (Bergen, Norway), she has performed concerts worldwide, including newly discovered works of the Baroque, Classical Era, Romantic, and Modern periods.
Ms. Milkis has held concertmaster positions with The New York City Symphony, the New American Chamber Orchestra, the Mid-Atlantic Chamber Orchestra, and the Windsor Symphony. She has also been the lead violinist of the Chamber Arts String Quartet and New York Concertino Ensemble.
Upon graduation from the Specialized Music School for Gifted Children, Mara immigrated from Leningrad, USSR, where she won multiple competitions, and moved with her family to Canada. She studied with Aron Knaifel, Lorand Fenyves, Zoltán Székely, and Josef Gingold. She continued her education at the University of Toronto and the Banff Centre of Fine Arts. Her string quartet was in residence for two years at Banff and subsequently went on to a residency at Indiana University.
Ms. Milkis is the recipient of Canada Council Grants, a winner of the Toronto Kiwanis Competition, the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, and the Lutosławski Prize at the Evian Competition.
Ms. Milkis has devoted much of her professional life to string quartets. A dedicated teacher and chamber music coach, she has taught at various music schools and festivals, including the University of Bridgeport (CT). She is a long-time faculty member at the Kaufman Music Center in New York City.
Diane Taublieb
flutist
Diane has performed with orchestras and chamber groups throughout the United States including The Queens Symphony, Solisti New York, New Jersey Symphony, Pandean Players and the Village Light Opera Group. Diane’s repertoire covers music from the baroque era up through contemporary works. She is on the faculty of Lucy Moses School, Special Music School and Kinhaven Music School's junior session, in addition to maintaining an active private flute studio in Manhattan. Diane has been on the faculties of Hunter College and Turtle Bay Music School. She was a winner in the concerto competition at SUNY Albany and was the recipient of a fellowship while a doctoral candidate at The Graduate Center of the City University of New York. Her primary teachers are Samuel Baron, Julius Baker, Thomas Nyfenger, Keith Underwood, and Trudy Kane. Diane is the coordinator of the Adult Chamber Music Program at Lucy Moses and, in addition, she teaches music theory and history in their adult division.
Wanda Glowacka
cellist
Wanda was the winner of 1st prizes in the Concertino Prague International Competition and Danczowski Cello Competition. She has been the recipient of several awards and honors including the Fulbright Scholarship, Juilliard School Grants, Phyllis Curtin & Boston University Faculty Awards, the Hammer-Rostropovich Award, the Halsey Stevens Award and the University of Southern California Award for Musical Achievement. Wanda attended the Chopin Academy in Warsaw (Poland) where she got her MMA. She also has a Professional studies diploma from Juilliard, an Artist Diploma from BU, and a Doctoral Studies in Performance and Education from USC. Wanda has been a teacher since 1987 and was a former faculty member of the Chopin Academy of Music in Poland, as well as, the Szymanowski Special Music School in Warsaw in Poland.
Wanda perfromed under the management of PAGART and appeared as a soloist with orchestras and in recitals throughout Europe and South America. In the United States she's performed at numerous concert series including Weill Recital Hall, Gardner Museum, Helen Osterlin, Harvard Club, Hoffstra Cultural Center, MAYO Performing Center, Ukrainian Institute, Merkin Hall and festivals including the Shandelee, Windham, Music Mountain, Great Music at Scarborough, Waterville Valley, San Marcos. She has recorded for Czech, Polish, and French Radio and Television, as well as KUSC in Los Angeles. Ms. Glowacka also premiered new music including the American premiere of Witold Lutoslawski’s “Grave” for Cello and Orchestra in Los Angeles in 1987, a world premiere of a duo for cello and voice by Virko Baley in New York, 2008. From 1996 − 2007 she performed in the yearly concerts of Twentieth Century Music and On in New York City including many premiers of works by Ronn Yedidia.
MALAIKA SIMS ALVARO
soprano
Malaika began her early musical training on the violin and piano. At age eleven, her performance in Puccini’s La Boheme in the Opera House set the stage for her pursuit of voice. Malaikamade her New York singing debut at the Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall in 1999, winning critical acclaim. She has sung lead roles and premiers in many productions of the major national and international houses in opera and legit musical theater. She appeared with The New York Lyric Opera Theater, Westchester Philharmonic, National Hungarian Orchestra, Mexican National Orchestra, and the National Symphony Orchestra. She was a featured soloist with the Bronx Concert Singers for three seasons. She has performed in Israel, China, Singapore, and the United Kingdom, sang Brazilian classical favorites in a guitar recital under the auspice of Sharon Isbin at Alice Tully Hall, and was a concert soloist in the church Santa Giulia in Torino, Italy. Malaika is a graduate of the Juilliard School and the Manhattan School of Music and has over 20 years of teaching experience.
Leslie Tomkins
violist
Leslie was inspired by the red rocks of Moab to create the Moab Music Festival of which she is the Co-Founder, Artistic Director Emerita and a consultant. (moabmusicfest.org). The critically acclaimed chamber music festival is known for presenting music in concert with the landscape among the striking red rocks of southeastern Utah. Additionally, she is the Artistic Director of Summertrios (summertrios.org) an organization that offers chamber music coaching and performance opportunities to adult non-professional musicians of all levels. She is a member of the Dal Sogno chamber ensemble which is dedicated to sharing the works of under-recognized composers. Leslie is on the Chamber Music Faculty of Hoff-Barthelson Music School (hbms.org). Based in the Bronx, she enjoys the richly diverse musical life that New York City offers, playing at venues such as Carnegie Hall, Madison Square Garden, and Lincoln Center. In addition to playing chamber music, Leslie is and enthusiastic coach for student and professional chamber ensembles at Alaria, Music-etc. Humbolt Chamber Music Workshop and privately. She also has private viola students. She is on the Advisory Committee of the Valley of the Moon Music Festival and mentors women in leadership roles for several non-profit arts organizations. She enjoys hiking with her poodle Lulu, Gyrotonics, Pilates, travelling and looking at art.
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Morrie
Sherry
clarinetist
Morrie has built a career as a performer and educator in the New York metropolitan area and New England. Praised as "an artist of superb ability and flawless musicianship" by the Arlington Journal, Morrie has performed with various chamber ensembles in New York City, including the St. Cecilia Chamber Ensemble and served as principal clarinetist with the Metropolitan Soloists. She performed as a festival artist at the Manchester Music Festival in Vermont for 24 years. Morrie premiered and recorded David Amram's "Starry Night" for solo clarinet and string orchestra. She performs with the Lakeview Chamber Players, now in their 10th summer season in New Hampshire and Maine, and the Dal Sogno Ensemble. In addition to her ensemble work, Morrie has performed as a soloist with the Baltimore Symphony and the International Jewish Arts Festival Orchestra.
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With over 25 years of teaching and coaching experience, Morrie specializes in clarinet instruction at the Kaufman Music Center in New York City and maintains a private studio. She helps students of all ages connect with music and achieve their full potential. She holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the Philadelphia College of Performing Arts and a Master of Music from the Juilliard School. Her principal teachers were Ben Armato, Leon Russianoff, and Ignatius Gennusa. She has won competitions, earning awards from the Baltimore Symphony, ClariNetwork International, the Virginia Symphony, and Artists International. Apart from her love of playing chamber music, Morrie enjoys walking and talking with friends, attending concerts, and paddle boarding in Maine. She is a D'Addario Artist. http://www.woodwinds.daddario.com
For more about Morrie, please visit her website at www.morriesherry.com
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STEFANIA
DE KENESSEY
composer
STEFANIA DE KENESSEY’s music has been performed throughout New York City, from Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center to Joe’s Pub and La Mama; internationally, it has been heard in more than 35 countries, from Australia to Venezuela. Her output ranges from choral, vocal and operatic pieces to chamber and orchestral work, as well as scores for film, theater and dance.
Her Microvids, 19 piano miniatures and accompanying poems written during the pandemic, has been recorded by award-winning pianist Donna Weng Friedman and Broadway star Krystal Joy Brown (Diana Ross in Motown, Eliza in Hamilton, among others). It made its debut on Nov.12, 2023 at Bargemusic, with recitation by Diana Solomon-Glover.
Two other important arrangements of Microvids have also been premiered and recorded: a duo version for piano and violin, with Grammy-nominated virtuoso Curtis Stewart adding his distinctive, tour-de-force improvisation to the underlying piano part; and a version for piano and orchestra, commissioned and performed by the New Jersey Youth Symphony and its director Helen Cha-Pyo.
De Kenessey is the inaugural Composer-In-Residence for the Dal Sogno Ensemble, which commissioned “The Names of Woman”, a cantata dedicated to women who have been unjustly neglected by history; the piece premiered at Bargemusic in 2024 and since then has been presented at several venues in the metropolitan area.
De Kenessey is also the first Composer-In-Residence for the Accord Treble Choir, which commissioned and premiered her “Urgent Earth” (2024), feminist eco-cantata about the climate change crisis, setting a text by the noted Wiccan poet Annie Finch.
De Kenessey has collaborated regularly with the all-female Ariel Rivka Dance Company and its founding choreographer Ariel Grossman, and now also serves as that company’s Composer-In-Residence. Her commissions (and co-commissions) have included In Her Words, Lead Me Alone, Mossy, Rhapsody in K, Rust, She, Uncoupled and Unorthodox, an all-time audience favorite that was inspired by the Netflix series.
Her recent CD In Her Words (2022) features four of these dance pieces and was hailed for offering a “rich stew of pulsations, sounds and stories” (Jazz Weekly); “this is powerful, really powerful music… a fascinating disc defined by a wonderfully human sense of sensitivity and compassion” (Fanfare).
Her Menstrual Rosary (2020), a provocative music video commissioned for the launch of the New School’s Gender and Sexuality Studies Institute, has won thirty-three awards at national and international film festivals ranging from San Francisco, Nashville and Portland to London, Paris, Madrid, Milan, Hong Kong and Tokyo, taking the top prize at the Dallas and Vienna Indie Short Festivals.
Her opera The Bonfire of the Vanities (2015) offered a radical reimagining of Tom Wolfe’s classic novel: de Kenessey created a leading role for a Black female defense attorney and updated the story of greed and corruption all the way to the final collapse of the New York Stock Exchange. An opera to some, a music theater piece to others, it has “an appealing and easy-going pop style” (Opera Magazine) yet is “caustically witty” (Financial Times). The video was released by House of Film, with permission from Warner Bros. Entertainment. and can be viewed on Marquee TV; the work is also included in a list of the top operas to be adapted from American novels (Opera Magazine, March 2025).
De Kenessey is committed to helping women composers and musicians achieve parity in an unequal, biased world. She is the founding president of the International Alliance for Women in Music and serves on the board of New York Women Composers.