Musical Saw Festival
New York City

NICHOLAS BARDACH studied timpani and percussion in Toronto/Canada, Brussels/Belgium and Cologne/Germany. Associate principal timpanist and percussionist of the Bochum Symphony Orchestra since 1978 and teacher of percussion at the State Music Academy in Aachen. (Almost) self-taught to play the musical saw (learning by doing) initially through contacts with contemporary music.
He is in high demand in symphonic orchestras as a specialist for musical saw. He has performed in such orchestras as NDR Radio Orchestra Hamburg, Philharmonisches Orchester Essen, Düsseldorfer Symphoniker, WDR-Radio-Symphony Orchestra Cologne, Musikfabrik-NRW, Duisburger Sinfoniker and under such conductors as Leonard Slatkin, Hans Zender, Leif Segerstam, Johannes Kalitzke, Steven Sloane, Roland Kluttig.
Meanwhile he has a complete show of comic arrangements which ridicule "classical music" and "classical musicians". His repertoire also includes original works for musical saw of a more serious nature, not only contemporary music but original compositions from pre-war France. Composers have written specially for him and his instrument. He has performed extensively in western Germany and has appeared on Pro-7 German television.

Non musical saw musicians participating in the festival:

ILYA SPERANZA (soprano) is a graduate of The New England Conservatory and The Juilliard School. She recently appeared in the world premiere of Robert Kapilow's New Moon with the New Jersey State Opera in which she sang the role of the "Royal Mathematician" and "Barbara de la Guerra" in Victor Herbert's only opera, Natoma at the White Barn Theater in Westport, CT.
Ms. Speranza created the title role in Seymour Barab’s opera Ondine for The Center for Contemporary Opera in New York City and sang "Marenka" in Smetana's Bartered Bride with The State Repertory Opera of New Jersey. She has also toured with the New York City Opera National Company singing “Frasquita” in Bizet’s Carmen.
Other regional appearances include "Liu" (Turandot) and "Frasquita", both with the Cincinnati Opera, "Elisetta" (Il Matrimonio Segreto) with Berkshire Opera and "Naiade" (Ariadne auf Naxos) with Long Beach Opera.
She has appeared as a featured soloist with the Lake Charles and Alexandria Symphony Orchestras, the Summit Symphony, the Bronx Arts Ensemble, Bucks County Symphony and Brookhaven Choral Society.
Her most recent performances include a recital of American and German music at the Baroque Concert Hall in Vienna’s Altes Rauthaus and the world premiere of a new American Opera, “A.F.R.A.I.D.” at the New York Fringe Festival.

ARIELLE LEVIOFF (pianist) ia a graduate of the Manhattan School of Music, has appeared as a soloist at Bargemusic in Brooklyn, Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, Merkin Hall, and Alice Tully Hall in Lincoln Center. She also has performed at the Academy of Music in Philadelphia and the French Embassy in Washington D.C. A past participant at the American Conservatory in Fontainebleau, France, Ms. Levioff is especially known for her creative programming and specialization in the French piano repertoire of the 19th and early 20th centuries. She is the artistic director of Goliard Concerts, an organization based in Astoria, Queens which includes a full concert series each season, an annual Southeastern tour, as well as numerous educational programs and community outreach concerts. Ms. Levioff is currently on the faculty of the 92nd Street Y. She is a Yamaha artist.

SETH GILMAN (baritone) is currently freelancing in New York City, and frequently performs within the new and early music communities there. A graduate of the University of Michigan and the Mannes College of Music, he lists among his teachers Stephen Lusmann, Susan Ormont, Arthur Levy, and Tom Goodheart.
Twice an alumnus of the Amherst Early Music Festival, in 2007 Mr. Gilman sang the role of Giove in Cavalli’s La Calisto and performed two roles in Campra’s L’Europe Galante in 2006. Other mainstage roles have included Chato in La Purpura de la Rosa, Liberto in the University of Michigan’s production of L’incoronazione di Poppea, and Starveling in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Past festivals at which Mr. Gilman has performed include The Aspen Music Festival, Opera Lirica di Orvieto, the Seagle Music Colony, and the Caramoor Festival Young Artists’ Program. Also experienced in operetta through engagements and recordings with the Comic Opera Guild of Ann Arbor, he can be heard in recordings supported by the Victor Herbert Society. In 2005, Seth sang the premiere of Osnat Netzer’s Three Animal Songs, and of Lin Mu-Xuan’s Swimming the Hellespont zhi San this April in Boston. He looks forward to debuting with his historical instrument and vocal ensemble, Ex Temporis, in the fall, a concert, which will include new works by Eric Shanfield, among others.

Christian Nagel (pianist) born in Kiel, Germany, started playing the piano at the age of five. At the renowned Folkwang Music College he studied piano with Catherine Vickers and music theory with Wolfgang Grandjean. Since his praised final exam in 1999, he has been working as a freelance pianist, accompanist, choir master, conductor, composer and improvisor in all kinds of musical genres ranging from the classical to contemporary, from jazz to Gospel music.
Christian Nagel has been performing in many countries including Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, the USA, Hawaii, England, France and Austria.

TRINITY HANDBELL CHOIR, directed by Richard Walker

JUDY DIMINO (organist) is a member of Trinity Lutheran Church, serving in the choir, the handbell choir, as an assisting minister, and as a substitute organist. Judy is a graduate of Queens College, now known as the Aaron Copland School of Music, with a B.A. in Music Education.
Judy was a pianist for the Committee Of Police Societies Chorus and Runner-Up in the International Piano Recording Competition 1982 She received the Presiding Bishop’s Certificate of Church Music from the Leadership Program for Musicians at The Mercer School of Theology in Garden City, Long Island in 2004. Judy has taught piano, guitar and accordion in various locations in the Queens area. Judy recently received a Certificate in Church Music from Westminster Conservatory, Princeton, New Jersey.