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Gene Wisoff was born, raised, and educated in New York City. He
received a bachelor of music degree from Brooklyn College and sang for
years in the college chorus under Robert Hickok, who Gene feels had the
most profound effect on his conducting style. Gene has also
studied conducting at Mannes with Rudolph Palmer.
Soon after college Gene began to sing in churches and synagogues while
studying voice and opera privately,
intending to pursue a singing
career. However, he kept getting pulled into conducting while singing as
a church soloist. The turning point came in 1986 when he was offered both the choirmaster's position at
his church and a soloist position at a prestigious church in Manhattan.
He chose the conducting position.
Gene came to the Mendelssohn Glee Club as conductor in the fall of 1993 when John Royer Bogue was ill. After the concert, Gene joined the
Club, and a year later, when Bogue retired, he became the Club’s
permanent conductor.
Previous Conductors
Henry Shrimpf, 1866
Joseph Mosenthal, 1867-1896
Arthur D. Woodruff, 1896
Edward MacDowell, 1896-1898
Arthur Mees, 1898-1904
Frank Damrosch, 1904-1909
Clarence Dickinson, 1909-1913
Louis Koemmenich, 1913-1919
Nelson P. Coffin, 1919-1923
Ralph L. Baldwin, 1923-1934
Cesare Sodero, 1934-1947
Ladislas Hefelbein, 1947-1954
Emerson Buckley, 1954-1963
John Royer Bogue, 1963-1995
Alexandra Akulich was born
in Belarus in 1985 and began playing the piano at the age of six. She is
currently a student at the Manhattan School of Music, where she studies
with Solomon Mikowsky. She
has performed in Belarus, Poland, Lithuania, Ukraine, and the United
States, including appearances as a soloist with the Belarusian State
Symphony Orchestra and the Belarusian State Chamber Orchestra.
Alexandra has won prizes in
numerous competitions, including the International Piano Competition
Klaviermusik (Vilnius, Lithuania), Open Republican Piano Festival
Witebsk, 2004 (Belarus), International Piano Competition Chopin for
young pianists (Antonin, Poland), and the International B. Dvarionas
Piano Competition (Vilnius).
She has also participated in
the International Keyboard Institute and Festival (New York) and Bowdoin
International Music Festival (Brunswick, Maine).
Alexandra has taken lessons with DimitryBashkirov, Howard Abel, and
Martin Canin among others. |
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