Chairs of The Judge Team

Professor at Berklee College of Music

Voice, Broadway, Soul, Blues, Jazz

Welcome Statement Video

"The most vulnerable and sustaining part of expression is when we put the depth of understanding into our voice, seeking communion with the music and the moment we’re living." 

Labek has been performing since the age of nine. After winning a full scholarship to Cornell University, where she received an MFA, she moved to NYC. There, she pursued a performance career, starring in a number of repertory plays, working on parts in TV and on Broadway. Labek (AKA Rebecca Malka Perricone) moved to Boston where she has been a professor at Berklee College of Music for the past 14 years. "In my classes I emphasize that performing is an offering of the heart. Most importantly, how do we remind the community of our humanity through the expression and interpretation of the interplay of music, lyrics, and ideas? And, since it is such a physical effort, how do we keep our health and well-being as part of our practice?  She is presently working on her fifth CD release.  © labekmusic.com.

One review from her last CD: Some artists are great in one single genre, others can master every kind of music thanks to their flexibility and artistry, but very few can turn into gold everything they sing. La Bek is one of the few, and today we had the big pleasure to listen to her latest release, “With You/For You”, an authentic piece of art, full of surprises, passion, and class.  

Associate Professor at Berklee College of Music

Professor at Longy School of Music of Bard College

Opera/Voice, Musical Theater, Broadway

Dr. Ana Guigui has a 35-year career as an interdisciplinary, professional artist, including Broadway national tours and Off-Broadway credits as a performer, a world touring keyboardist and vocalist for Christopher Cross and various other Grammy award winning artists. Her videos can be viewed online for singing performances and professional acting credits in film, television, and theater. 

Academic accomplishments include a DMA in Opera/Vocal Arts from USC’s Thornton School of Music in Los Angeles. She is in the process of completing her MFA degree in Creative Writing from Lesley University with a focus on television, screenwriting, and playwriting. Ana’s professional performance work has deeply informed her teaching and directing abilities. As an ongoing Professor of Voice at the Berklee College of Music in Boston since 2011, Dr. Guigui teaches voice lessons in various styles/genres, acting classes, directs musical theater productions and directs and produces student senior recitals. She has devised courses including “Writing, Developing, and Performing a One-Person Show." She began an additional voice professor appointment at Longy School of Music of Bard College in August of 2019 where she also teaches similar curriculum.

Opera Soprano, Director and Music Teacher

Welcome Statement Video

Native of Kyiv, Ukraine, Olga Lisovska holds degrees from Middlebury College, École Normale de Musique d'A. Cortot in Paris, France and L'Institut des Sciences Politiques in Paris, France.  A critically acclaimed classical soprano, Olga's career involves both singing on prestigious concert stages, including Carnegie Hall, and producing events and performances. Olga produced award-winning opera productions at Commonwealth Lyric Theater, a Boston-based opera company, and Talents of the World's Annual Music Festival at Carnegie Hall. As a performer, Ms. Lisovskaya’s concerts have been featured on Ukrainian, Italian and American TV, including on the Today Show.  

Ms. Lisovska is a sought-after voice teacher and diction coach. As diction coach she works with Tanglewood Festival Chorus at Boston Symphony, Odyssey Opera, and New England Conservatory. Ms. Lisovska has been giving performance lectures about Ukrainian music and song literature to audiences ranging from children to students in universities, to adults and seniors.  

Olga is a founder of a nonprofit organization, Music, Arts and Fashion Productions.  Being a passionate connector, Olga serves as Managing Partner at Sky International Center, the largest international social, cultural, and business network of 25,000 members in New England. Olga’s life purpose is to inspire positive change through connections for life, coaching and art performances.  

Faculty, Assistant Chair of Chamber Music at New England Conservatory

Pianist, String & Piano Chamber Music, 

Pianist Aimee Tsuchiya teaches piano and "Piano for Singers" in NEC's Preparatory School, and is a piano faculty member in NEC's School of Continuing Education.

Tsuchiya has appeared as soloist and chamber musician throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, and Asia, including several concerto engagements at Mechanics Hall, and live broadcasts on WGBH, Chicago Public Radio, and CBC radio. Her broad repertoire has showcased works as various as John Cage's The Perilous Night for prepared piano; the world premiere of Abby Richardson's Downstream for piano and orchestra with the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra; and a recital of early 20th-century violin repertoire with Karl Stobbe, concertmaster of the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra and Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra. 

Ms. Tsuchiya has worked with members of the Boston Symphony, the Guarneri Quartet, the Peabody Trio, and the Cleveland Quartet, as well as pianists Emanuel Ax, Awadagin Pratt, Lydia Artymiw, Irma Vallecilla, Margot Garret, and Andre Watts. Awards include competition wins in the Chopin Society Young Artists Competition, the Schubert Club Competition, Thursday Musical Competition, the top piano prize in the Minnesota Orchestra's Young People's Symphony Concert Association, finalist in the New World Symphony auditions, and fellowships to Interlochen, Tanglewood, Yellow Barn, and Banff Chamber Music Festivals. 

B.M., summa cum laude (University of Minnesota Twin Cities), MM and DMA (New England Conservatory). Faculty, Assistant Chair of Chamber Music, Accompanist Coordinator, NEC Preparatory School.

 Assistant Professor at Berklee College of Music

Classical and Jazz Pianist, Composer

“Here you have a marvelously endowed talent. This is the musicianship and artistic sensitivity at its highest level. Of such ingredients are great musical memories made and lives enriched thereby” 

– Joyce Miller (The Item, Sumter, SC) 

Virtuoso at the piano, Maxim Lubarsky is a remarkable pianist, whose stylistic versatility and musicality makes him one of the most sought-after musicians. Native of Odessa Ukraine, Maxim was originally trained as a classical pianist at famous Stolyarsky school of Music and Odessa State Conservatory. Already in school he has developed a passion for jazz and received a scholarship to come to Berklee College of Music to further his studies.

Maxim has performed and recorded with such musicians as Dee Dee Bridgewater, Terri Lynn Carrington, Gabrielle Goodman, Rhiannon, Patrice Rushen, Greg Osby, Dave Samuels, and participated in St. Petersburg Music Fest (Russia), Spoleto Festival (SC), Beantown Festival (MA), Diacetum Festival (Italy), “Black Sea Weekend” (Ukraine), “Usadba Jazz” Festival (Russia), ArtNaples Festival (FL), Cambridge Jazz Festival (MA), Salem Jazz and Soul Festival (MA).

Maxim is an assistant Professor at Berklee College of Music. He has also been invited numerous times with masterclasses in China, South Africa, Ukraine and Russia. Maxim continues a vivid performing and recording career, leading Maxim Lubarsky Group and working on several other projects with musicians from around the world. 

Professor at Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Dance de Paris

Former Professor at Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing

Cello, Founder of SuperCello Festival

In 1986 Yi-Bing Chu was prize winner at the 42nd Concours International d’Exécution Musicale in Geneva, after graduating with a Premier Prix from Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Dance de Paris in France where he studied under the tutelage of Maurice Gendron. He was the first Chinese cellist ever to win a prize in a major international Cello competition. He served as principal cellist in Basel Symphony Orchestra, Switzerland between 1989-2004, Chu Yi-Bing was also guest principal cellist of Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra in Munich, Germany.

Yi-Bing Chu was appointed as cello professor and head of the cello department at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, where he taught between 2004 and 2018. He founded the Yi-Bing Chu Cello Ensemble with his students, the first Cello Ensemble in China, playing countless concerts in a number of diverse cities and provinces, schools, colleges and universities. Yi-Bing Chu founded the SuperCello festival in Beijing, 2016. SuperCello is the premier cello festival in China and biggest of this kind in Asia. Every year it is attended by hundreds of cellists including a number of world leading performers. 

Yi-Bing Chu was professor at Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Dance de Paris. The first professor of chinese nationality since 227 years in this world famous institution.

Yi-Bing Chu was born in Beijing, China in 1966. His father Yong-Ning Chu, Cellist, and mother Yao-Ling Wang, pianist, were both professors at the Central Conservatory of Music (CCOM) in Beijing, China.

Professor at Boston Conservatory at Berklee

Percussion / Marimba

For over 40 years, Nancy Zeltsman’s contributions as a marimba performer and teacher have been a force in introducing more people to the marimba and elevating its stature in concert music. She has premiered over 130 solo and chamber music works. More than 80 of those were composed for the celebrated duo Marimolin founded in 1985 with violinist Sharan Leventhal. Zeltsman has performed and taught across the United States and Europe and in China, Japan, Mexico and Brazil. Composers with whom Zeltsman has collaborated include Gunther Schuller, Michael Tilson Thomas, Louis Andriessen, Steven Mackey, Robert Aldridge Paul Simon, Lyle Mays and Carla Bley. Zeltsman was inducted into the Percussive Arts Society Hall of Fame in 2022.

Since 1993, Zeltsman has taught at joint institutions Boston Conservatory at Berklee and Berklee College of Music. Since 2013, she has been regular guest professor of marimba at Conservatorium van Amsterdam, and a Guest Artist at University of Michigan since 2021. She founded and served as Artistic Director of Zeltsman Marimba Festival which was attended by over 600 participants between 2001 and 2018. Many of her former students are noted professionals. 

Photo: claudiahansen.com

  Famous Erhu Artist, Composer in China

Mr. Jun Chen is currently the Vice President of the National Bow and String Music Society of the Chinese Musicians Association, and the Vice President of the Erhu Professional Committee of the China Nationalities Orchestra Society.

As an erhu artist, Jun Chen participates in more than 60 performances around the world every year. He has held concerts in the Wiener Musikverein in Vienna, the Sydney Opera House, the Albert Hall in the United Kingdom, and the Lincoln Center in the United States. He once performed erhu for French President Sarkozy, American President George Bush, Obama, German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, and Dubai Prime Minister Mohammed. The performance video has been circulated more than 100 million times on the Internet.

In 1989, Jun Chen won the first prize in erhu in China's First TV Competition and became the pioneer of the new generation for Erhu performance. In 2008, he participated in the opening ceremony of the Hong Kong branch of the Summer Olympic Games, and he was the first erhu solo performer at the National Grand Theatre in China. In 2010, his single album "Taichi Warrior" was spread more than 100 million times on social media. In 2014, his erhu tutorial book "How Erhu Is Practiced" was published.

In 2017, he served in China as a judge for the Golden Bell Award competition, and in 2018 as a judge for the China TV competition. From 2018 to 2022, he served as the instructor of the Chinese Music Ceremony.

Performing Artist, Grammy®️ nominee

Assist. Professor at Berklee College of Music

Violin, Singer

Turkish born and raised, Bengisu Gokce is a multi-genre Violinist and Singer, known for combining in her music the Turkish roots with Eastern-European and Middle-Eastern traditions.

As a professionally renowned performer, Gokce's versatile playing has led her to share the stage with several music icons including Mark O’Connor, Tigran Hamasyan, Aynur Dogan, Shreya Ghoshal, Toninho Horta, Shankar Mahadevan, Simon Shaheen, Amal Murkus, and Pablo Ziegler to name a few.

Throughout her career she has performed in various distinguished venues such as Carnegie Hall (NY), Lincoln Center (NY), Boston Symphony Hall, American Repertory Theater, MFA Boston, Roulette Intermedium (NY), Shapeshifter Lab (NY), Ithra Theatre (Saudi Arabia) and Monte Carlo Salle Garnier

(Monaco). She has also been featured in albums and recording projects with Indian tabla virtuoso Zakir Hussain, sitar virtuoso Purbayan Chatterjee, drummer Antonio Sanchez (Pat Metheny Group) and many

more.

A multi-award winning and Grammy®️ nominee, Gokce is a classically trained violinist and a performance alumna of Mersin University State Conservatory in Turkey, ‘Hanns Eisler’ School of Music in Berlin, Germany and Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA. She is currently Assistant Professor at Berklee College of Music.

Associate Professor at Boston Conservatory at Berklee, Instructor at NEC

GuZheng, Composition, Ensembles

Hui Weng, a virtuosic performer steeped in age ­old Chinese traditions, is crossing musical boundaries that few others have dared to cross, receiving international acclaim for her performances of traditional, contemporary, and improvised music on her Guzheng. Ms. Weng enjoys a multifaceted musical career as Guzheng performer, lecture, and music director.

Ms.Weng has been awarded gold medals, “National Rising Star” and “Oriental Artist” among others for her performances in major national and international competitions. As the recipient of the 2014 Emerging Artists Award fellow from the St. Botolph Foundation, Ms. Weng received recognition for expansion of Guzheng performance to include singing, dancing and for her composing and curating new works.

As an active soloist, Ms. Weng works with such prominent orchestra as Youth Chinese orchestra, Boston Pops, ect. Her performance broadcast on WGBH national radio and CCTV music channel. In January 2011, she successfully presented a solo concert in Beijing and released her first album “Men of Letters”. She participated in many premiers of works by a new generation of composer including Tan Dun, Yi Chen, Xiaogang Ye, Anthony Paul De Ritis, and many others. After her arrival in the US, she made her American debut, “Twin Flowers,” in Pickman Concert Hall and “The Rumble of spring” benefit concert in Jordan Hall.

As lecture and performer, Ms.Weng was invited to take part in the Educational Residency Program in Brandeis university, which brings artists of high accomplishment from around the world to teach and perform. Additionally, since 2014, Ms. Weng has been collaborating with Yo Yo Ma’s silk road Ensemble. She has performed, lectured and given masterclasses in various music conferences. Mr. Weng’s principal teachers and mentors include Yo Yo Ma, Dr. Hankus Netsky, Dr. Peter Row, Professor Wang Zhou.

Ms. Weng received her bachelor’s degree at Central Conservatory Of Music (CCOM), where she worked in the studio of Wang Zhou and was teaching at continued educational program at CCOM. She received her Master of Musical Arts degree at New England Conservatory as the first Guzheng player, under the supervision of Dr. Hankus Netsky and Dr. Eden MacAdam-Somer.

In 2015, She has held a teaching post in the Preparatory and Continuing Education Division at NEC. Ms. Weng is the instructor of the Chinese music ensemble at NEC Prep, while maintaining a private Guzheng (Chinese music) studio in NEC college. She has served as academic director of US-China Music Festival and Workshop summer program at NEC since 2015. Ms. Weng is currently a faculty as an Associate Professor at Boston Conservatory at Berklee.