Alexis Kende, violin, is the Founder and Director of the Manhattan String Orchestra. She studied violin performance and pedagogy at Juilliard and Peabody, where her principal teacher was Shirley Givens. While pursuing her undergraduate degree at Princeton University, Alexis received 1st prize in the university’s 2001 Concerto Competition, performed as a concerto soloist with the Princeton University Orchestra, and studied chamber music with the Brentano String Quartet.  After completing a graduate degree in performing arts administration at New York University, Alexis worked in development at New York City Opera, and founded the World Youth Alliance Chamber Orchestra, an ensemble of young musicians from Juilliard and Manhattan School of Music.  Her youth orchestras have performed at prominent venues including the United Nations, Fairfield University, and the 2011 World Youth Day festival in Madrid, Spain. 

Athena Adamopoulos, piano/composition, is a doctoral candidate at the New England Conservatory of Music.  She earned her Bachelors of Arts in music at Harvard University and her Master of Music in composition at The Juilliard School. She has been commended in the NY Times, NY Post, New York Magazine, Latina Magazine, The New Yorker, WQXR, NPR, Antenna Trito Programma, the Greek News and the National Herald as well as by Rep. Carolyn Maloney, Sen. Chuck Schumer, and Hillary Clinton in Washington D.C. In 2002, Cellist Yo-Yo Ma and pianist Chris Riley performed Soliloquy, the second movement of her sonata for cello and piano. She is the recipient of four Morton Gould Awards presented by ASCAP, the National Foundation of the Arts Award, and is a Presidential Scholar. This summer she will be presenting her compositions at Freie Universität Berlin.

Marta Bagratuni, cello, gave her first public concert at age 5, performing at the Newport Music Festival.  She made her international debut at age 9 at the St. Gallen International Festival in Switzerland, and her solo orchestral debut at age 12 performing Haydn’s C Major Concerto with the Leopolis Chamber Orchestra of L’viv, Ukraine.  Marta has firmly established a multi-faceted career path as a soloist, chamber and orchestral musician.  In 2012, she debuted at Carnegie Hall, presenting a recital sponsored by Musical Armenia with a “deeply moving interpretation” of her arrangement of Komitas’ Groong (Armenian Weekly).  In 2013, Marta released her debut concert recording, “Pieces of the World”, funded by the popular crowd-funding website, Kickstarter.com.  Marta is currently performing as a cellist and vocalist throughout the United States.  Her most recent performances in Charleston, South Carolina earned her praise as she “played beautifully, providing lyricism” (Charleston Post and Courier).  

Lynelle James, piano, began performing at age 5 as a student of her grandparents, Rolande and Robert Schrade. An early performance led Bernard Holland of the N.Y. Times to praise her “real tenderness” and “extroversion of a committed performer.” She has performed at Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall, and Lincoln Center, NY and recently received her doctorate from the University of Michigan, where she studied with noted pianist Arthur Greene and completed a dissertation exploring the piano music of Nikolai Roslavets. She has appeared at festivals in California, New York, Banff (Canada), and the Schlern Music Festival in northern Italy where, as a prizewinner, she performed at Prösels Castle. Lauded as a “truly fine musician,” she “knows how to let the music’s beauty stand out and speak for itself and she executes it superbly” (Boston Musical Intelligencer).

Jeffrey Wang, violin, received his AB from Dartmouth College where he served as concertmaster of the orchestra and was the 2007 Culley Concerto Competition Grand Prize Winner.  His primary teachers have been Margaret Pardee, Lu Si-Qing, and Anthony Princiotti. Jeff conducts the Mount Carmel-Holy Rosary School String Ensemble in East Harlem, which has enjoyed past performances with The Roots, Joshua Bell, Ben E. King, CC Peniston, O.A.R., Bernie Williams, Janelle Monae, and Lou Reed. He is the Artistic Director of the Highline Chamber Ensemble, a professional conductorless orchestra that performs in Manhattan.