Concerts Around Town

Pianist and composer Arseniy Gusev is a graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Music, Yale master’s program alumnus, and current master’s student at the Julliard School. Arseniy has two solo piano albums: Eneurage (Etymology Classics, 2023), and Musical Offering (Steinway & Sons, 2024), which was part of the Virtu(al)oso prize package.  

Violinist Shannon Lee has been praised by Gramophone for her “remarkable fire, impeccable intonation, and big, vibrant tone.” She has appeared as soloist with orchestras such as the Tokyo Symphony, Belgian National Orchestra, Dallas Symphony, and New York String Orchestra at Carnegie Hall. Currently based in Amsterdam, Shannon is active as a soloist and chamber musician across multiple continents. 

Zhu Wang has been praised by the New York Times as “especially impressive” and “a thoughtful, sensitive performer” who “balanced lyrical warmth and crisp clarity.” Wang won First Prize at the 2024 New Orleans International Piano Competition before wowing audiences with his 2024 CIPC performances. His collaborative 2021 album, Roots, is a WCLV favorite. Since winning 2020 Young Concert Artists Susan Wadsworth International Auditions in 2020, Zhu has been represented by Young Concert Artists. Zhu is currently pursuing his Master of Music degree at The Juilliard School, under the tutelage of Cleveland-favorite, Emanuel Ax.

Madalyn Baker is an actor, illustrator, and musician hailing from Northern California. She is a second-year graduate student in the Case Western Reserve University/Cleveland Play House MFA Acting Program. Recent credits include Pride and Prejudice (CWRU/CPH), Seasons Greetings (CWRU/CPH), The Cherry Orchard (CWRU/CPH), Middletown (CPH), and also performed as Sally Bowles in Cabaret (CWRU), and as Cathy in The Last Five Years (Soft Belly Theatre). Madalyn is a composer and also has her own illustrative art brand, Maddle Baddle. madalynbaker.com

Nathan Nelson recently appeared in The Cherry Orchard with the Case Western Reserve University/Cleveland Play House acting program. Other credits include Lt. Buzz Adams in South Pacific; Nick Carraway in The Great Gatsby; Peter and the Starcatcher; Alan in Equus; Jon in tick…tick…BOOM!; as well as The Last Days of Judas Iscariot (NYC Bank Street Theatre). He also wrote musical arrangements and music directed Jackie Theoharis’ Quarter Life Crisis. Nathan is co-founder and co-artistic director of Soft Belly Theatre with his wife, Meredith.

Daniela Liebman  has established herself as an artist of eloquence, poise, and nuance. Liebman was named one of the “40 Most Creative Mexicans in the World” and “100 Most Creative and Powerful Women” by Forbes Mexico. She has additionally been featured in GQ Mexico and Vanity Fair. Her debut album was released to critical and popular acclaim reaching #5 on Spotify’s “Classical New Releases,” #2 on Amazon Music’s “Fresh Classical,” and #2 on Apple Music’s “New Classical.” Since its release, Daniela’s recording of Ponce’s “Balada Mexicana” has been streamed over 1.6M times on Spotify alone. 

Christine Padaca Fuoco has established a prominent career as a recitalist and collaborative artist across Northeast Ohio and the U.S. She has performed alongside renowned musicians, including opera singers Jane Eaglen and Nancy Maultsby, Metropolitan Opera’s Pedro Diaz, and Rick Stout. Her performances have been frequently featured on Cleveland’s WCLV Ovations Program and in notable concert series such as “Meet the Artist” at Severance Hall, Music from the Western Reserve, and the Chautauqua Institution. She is an Associate Professor of Piano at Baldwin Wallace Conservatory of Music and holds a Master of Music in Piano Performance and a Professional Studies Diploma in Chamber Music Studies and Collaborative Piano from the Cleveland Institute of Music, where she studied with Paul Schenly and was awarded the distinguished Arthur Loesser Award for Excellence and Achievement in both performance and academics. 

Anthony Fuoco is a lecturer at Baldwin Wallace University, where he teaches courses in piano, pedagogy and jazz. His musical interests span improvisation, composition and classical piano repertoire. A highly-sought after jazz pianist, Fuoco frequently performs in venues throughout Northeast Ohio. He is the pianist with Pulse, whose album was released in 2025 under New Focus Recordings/Panoramic Recordings. He is also the pianist with Horizon, a trio with Garrett Folger and ECM recording artist Carmen Castaldi. Horizon will release a recent studio recording in April 2025. In 2020, he and vibraphonist William Wedmedyk released Finding Home, a duo recording featuring their compositions and improvisations. 

Winner of 10 international prizes and the 2007 silver medalist of the Cleveland International Piano Competition, Yaron Kohlberg is President of Piano Cleveland, the organizing body of the CIPC. Forging connections through collaboration is a hallmark of Kohlberg’s work. He has appeared as soloist with numerous orchestras, including the Cleveland Orchestra, the Copenhagen Philharmonic Orchestra, the Israel Philharmonic and Jerusalem Symphony Orchestras, the Beijing and Chengdu Symphony Orchestras, the Norwegian Radio Orchestra, and the Palermo Teatro Massimo Orchestra in Italy. Articles about his creative ideas have been featured in several of the best classical music publications, including Pianist Magazine, Musical America, and The World of Piano Competitions magazine.

Acclaimed as “a star” by the New York Times and a “consummate perfectionist on the cello,” Toke Møldrup has performed across Europe and the United States, South America, Australia, the Middle East and Asia for two decades. Møldrup’s concerts, social media presence and his experimental and reflective approach to classical music captivates long-time classical audiences while engaging new listeners. 

Praised by the New York Times as “especially impressive” and “a thoughtful, sensitive performer” who “balanced lyrical warmth and crisp clarity,” Zhu Wang won First Prize at the 2024 New Orleans International Piano Competition before wowing audiences with his 2024 CIPC performances. His collaborative 2021 album, Roots, is a WCLV favorite.  

Since winning 2020 Young Concert Artists Susan Wadsworth International Auditions in 2020, Zhu has been represented by Young Concert Artists. Zhu is currently pursuing his Master of Music degree at The Juilliard School, under the tutelage of Cleveland-favorite, Emanuel Ax.  

Establishing herself as an artist of eloquence, poise, and nuance, Daniela Liebman was named one of the “40 Most Creative Mexicans in the World” and “100 Most Creative and Powerful Women” by Forbes Mexico. She has additionally been featured in GQ Mexico and Vanity Fair. Her debut album was released to critical and popular acclaim reaching #5 on Spotify’s “Classical New Releases,” #2 on Amazon Music’s “Fresh Classical,” and #2 on Apple Music’s “New Classical.” Since its release, Daniela’s recording of Ponce’s “Balada Mexicana” has been streamed over 1.6M times on Spotify alone.