Cellist Gayane Manasjan-Fullford is a versatile and prolific performer. She has performed as a soloist and chamber music artist throughout the United States, including in such cities as New York, Boston, Los Angeles, Houston, Austin, Birmingham, San Juan, Puerto Rico, and at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. She has also performed throughout Japan and Iceland. Since 1981, she has performed extensively in Vermont, where she co-founded the Killington Music Festival. An active teacher, Ms. Manasjan maintains a private studio and has given masterclasses at Rice University, the Sakuyo College of Music in Japan, and the Reykjavik College of Music in Iceland. Born in Hollywood, California, Ms. Manasjan holds degrees from the Juilliard School and California Institute of the Arts. Her principal cello teachers include Channing Robbins, Ron Leonard, and Leonard Rose. She has also worked with members of the Juilliard, Hungarian, Cleveland, and Vegh String Quartets. A former member of the Ft Worth Symphony, she was also principal cellist of the Dallas Chamber Orchestra from 1982 through 1995. Ms. Manasjan is a frequent performer with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and has joined them for their tours and recordings.
In 2011, in collaboration with leading artists from throughout Texas, she created Art Music, an annual chamber music concert series in Dallas.
Ishan Wang - Piano
Born and raised in Taiwan, Ishan completed her master’s degree in piano performance from the University of Taipei in Taiwan and her master’s degree in Collaborative Piano at the University of North Texas. Ishan is currently pursuing her doctoral degree at the University of North Texas under Steven Harlos and Elvia Puccinelli.
In addition to vocal and instrumental areas, Ishan is also interested in orchestral music. She is now the principal keyboardist in the Richardson Symphony Orchestra in both Classical and Pop series. She serves as a graduate teaching assistant in Collaborative Piano at UNT, and also maintains a private teaching studio in Richardson, Texas.
Ishan believes music is a platform for sharing joy and love. Her enthusiasm for collaborative music comes from the work itself and the connection between other artists. By embracing everyone’s differences and providing positive communication between people, a better musical partnership can be shaped.
Ishan has performed in numerous concerts, competitions, and festivals in Taiwan and the United States. Recently, she performed in Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana with the Dallas Wind Symphony, Mendelssohn’s Double Concerto for violin and piano with the UNT Symphony Orchestra. Ishan also won the 2nd Prize for Ensemble in the Music International Grand Prix Competition and performed at the Winners Concert at Kaufman Music Center in New York.
Maria Schleuning, violinist, has been a member of the Voices of Change Modern Music Ensemble since 1996 and Artistic Director since 2009. An advocate of new music, she has worked with many of the leading composers of our day, including the legendary Witold Lutoslawski, George Crumb, Aaron Kernis, John Corigliano, Augusta Read Thomas, Sebastian Currier, Bright Sheng, Samuel Adler, Donald Erb, David Dzubay, and Pierre Jalbert. She has premiered many new works, including “Dream Catcher”, a solo violin work written especially for her as a gift by Augusta Read Thomas. The world premiere performance was on May 3, 2009, in Dallas, TX.
An active chamber musician, Ms. Schleuning has performed in venues such as New York’s Alice Tully Hall, Weill Hall, Merkin Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, and the Museum of Modern Art, as well as at numerous festivals throughout the United States and Europe. From 1993 to 2012, she was a faculty member and performer at the Bowdoin International Music Festival in Maine and served in the same capacity at Idyllwild Arts in CA from 2007 to 2010, and the Bennington Music Festival, VT in 2012. She has recorded with Continuum modern music ensemble in NYC, as well as in Dallas with GRAMMY®-nominated Voices of Change, and the Walden Piano Quartet. In addition, she serves as Principal Second Violin of the New York Women’s Ensemble and Principal Second Violin of the Classical Tahoe Orchestra, where she was a guest concertmaster in 2014.
A member of the Dallas Symphony since 1994, she has been featured as a soloist with the orchestra on many occasions. Other solo highlights include appearances with the Oregon Symphony, Seattle Symphony, West Virginia Symphony, Abilene Symphony, Laredo Symphony, Bozeman Symphony, and with the Greater Dallas Youth Orchestra on a tour of Eastern Europe, including concerts at the Gewandhaus in Leipzig and the Rudolfinum in Prague, in addition to a tour of China in 2015. She studied with Josef Gingold at Indiana University, where she was awarded a performer’s certificate; with Yfrah Neaman at the Guildhall School in London, with a grant from the Myra Hess Foundation; and with Joel Smirnoff at the Juilliard School, where she received her master’s degree.