Bios
Alla Aranovskaya
Alla Aranovskaya is the founding first violinist of the Grammy-nominated St. Petersburg String Quartet, and has been intensively touring throughout North America, South America, Europe and Asia. Her many honors include a Grammy nomination, “Best Record” in both Stereo Review and Gramophone magazines, and top prizes at several international chamber music competitions including Melbourne, Australia (1991); Tokyo, Japan (1989); and Florence, Italy (1989).
Highlights of her career include performances at Lincoln Center, Library of Congress, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, London Wigmore Hall, Manchester Bridgewater Hall, Dublin National Concert Hall, St. Petersburg Philharmonic Great Hall and appearance at such festivals as Luzern (Switzerland), Schleswig-Holstein (Germany), MIMO (Brazil), Buxton (England), Fishguard (Wales), Music Mountain, Rockport, Mainly Mozart in San Diego, and many more. She has recently collaborated with such internationally renowned artists as Leon Fleisher, Michael Tree, Peter Donohoe, and Misha Dichter. Alla Aranovskaya is also a member of the St. Petersburg Piano Quartet that debuted in New York in May 2014.
In 2014, Ms. Aranovskaya initiated a revival of one of the first violin competitions in the world; the Leopold Auer International Violin Competition in St. Petersburg, Russia. She’s been serving as a jury member of the competition since then.
Ms. Aranovskaya’s more than 30 years of teaching experience include professorships in St. Petersburg State Conservatory, Russia; Oberlin Conservatory, and Wichita State University, USA. Her students have won numerous prizes at national and international competitions. In addition, she regularly gives master classes and workshops around the world. Before launching a chamber music career, Ms. Aranovskaya was a member of the Mariinsky (Kirov) Theatre under the direction of Yuri Temirkanov and Valery Gergiev.
Ms. Aranovskaya received her education at the St. Petersburg State Conservatory and at the Rimsky-Korsakov Music College in St. Petersburg, Russia, where her primary teachers were Mark Komissarov, Wieniawsky Competition winner, and Vladimir Ovcharek, the first violinist of the Taneyev String Quartet. She was a prize winner of the All-Russian Violin Competition (1985).
Boris Vayner
Originally from Novosibirsk, Russia, Boris Vayner has been enjoying a diverse career in music as a violist, educator and conductor. As a member of the Grammy nominated St. Petersburg String Quartet since 2005, he has been intensively touring throughout North America, South America, Europe and Asia. The highlights of his career include performances at Lincoln Center, Library of Congress, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Manchester Bridgewater Hall, Dublin National Concert Hall, London King’s Place, St. Petersburg Philharmonic Great Hall, and appearances at such festivals as Schleswig-Holstein (Germany), MIMO (Brazil), Buxton (England), Fishguard (Wales), Music Mountain, Newport, Rockport, and Mainly Mozart in San Diego, among others. Boris Vayner has collaborated with such internationally renowned artists as Leon Fleisher, Michael Tree, Peter Donohoe, David Shifrin, Misha Dichter, and Stephanie Chase. He has also been a member of the St. Petersburg Piano Quartet that debuted in New York in May 2014.
Boris Vayner has joined the faculty of the University of Kansas in August 2017. Prior to this, he served as an adjunct faculty and a member of the quartet-in-residence at the Wichita State University. He also served as a sabbatical replacement for the viola professor and the director of the Luther College Philharmonia at the Luther College, Decorah, for the spring semester 2013. Boris Vayner gave master classes at many educational institutions in the US and around the world, including San Francisco Conservatory, University of Toronto (Canada), UNAM (Mexico), Latvian National Academy, Astrakhan Conservatory (Russia), Stephen F. Austin State University, and Missouri State University. He has been on faculty at many international summer festivals, including St. Petersburg International Summer Academy, Newport Music Festival, Montecito Music Festival, Musica Mundi Festival, and Alion Baltic International Music Festival.
As a conductor, Boris Vayner has appeared with the Kansas City Civic Orchestra, Hays Symphony Orchestra, University of Missouri Kansas City student orchestra, Luther College Philharmonia, and Uspensky School of Music student orchestra (Uzbekistan). He was a founder and a director of the Suprima Chamber Orchestra comprised of students of the Wichita State University. He successfully led the orchestra to performances in Russia, in 2012, and at the Barge Music in New York, in 2014. For the performance in New York the Suprima Chamber Orchestra collaborated with the conducting and violin prodigy, Jonathan Okseniuk.
Besides performing music, Boris Vayner is an avid arranger; his arrangement of Bach Chaconne for string quartet was performed live on BBC 3 radio station in London, in July 2012. In 2018, he was commissioned an arrangement of Florence Price Piano Concerto for piano and string quartet that was premiered the same year.
Boris Vayner holds Bachelor degrees from Novosibirsk Music College and Novosibirsk State University (majoring in mathematics), and Master degrees in viola performance from the St. Petersburg Conservatory and the New England Conservatory. He received his Doctor of Musical Arts degree in orchestral conducting from the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music and Dance.
Sascha Groschang
Sascha Groschang, cellist, has performed extensively across Europe, Asia, North and South America. She has appeared at Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall numerous times, and gave her solo debut recital at Carnegie Hall in 2009. She has been a soloist and lecturer at the Thailand International Composition Festival, performed for the King of Malaysia with the Kuala Lumpur International Festival Orchestra, and traveled all across China on two tours with the Mantovani Pops Orchestra. She has shared the stage with artists such as Yo-Yo Ma, Itzhak Perlman, The Eagles, Vince Gill, the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Michael Bublé, Peter Gabriel, Josh Groban, Sarah Mclachlan, Idina Menzel, Amy Grant and her recording credits include NBC, Atlantic, and Rhino Records.
Besides her work with St. Petersburg String Quartet, Sascha is the cellist and co-composer of the alternative string duo, "The Wires", which explores a variety of non-traditional string techniques and styles through original compositions. The Wires have released three full length albums and their music is published by Mel Bay International. They have their own online school and in-person retreats in the Americas and Europe, also entitled Drunken Fiddles, which focuses on teaching beginning fiddle styles to adult learners. In addition, for two years, they were co-hosts and curators of the weekly show Sound Currents on 91.9 Classical KC, exploring contemporary music from all over the world.
In addition, Sascha is principal cellist of NewEar Contemporary Chamber Ensemble, KC’s professional new music ensemble, dedicated to playing the works of living composers. In 2023, she also joined the Fountain City String Quartet, which performs across the midwest with the popular pop-crossover Candlelight Concerts.
Ned Kellenberger
Ned joined the Grammy-nominated St. Petersburg Quartet in 2021. He spent 2020 as a school principal and senior teacher at Wolfgang Violin Studio in Singapore, and taught at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Illinois College, University of Kansas, Avila University, the University of Illinois Springfield, and the Conservatory of Central Illinois, and summer festivals Philadelphia International Music Festival, SPSQ’s Estonia Music Festival, SPSQ’s Tel Aviv Music Festival, and IPPA Music Festival.
Performances include Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Mann Center in Philadelphia, the Rudolfinum in the Czech Republic, and performances in Israel, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Malaysia, Austria, Germany, France, Denmark, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Finland, Czech Republic, Russia, Canada, and Mexico. He served as concertmaster of the Philadelphia International Music Festival and Vienna Music Festival. For several years he was associate concertmaster of Suprima Chamber Orchestra, a touring orchestra with professional management, with notable performances in Russia at the St. Petersburg Conservatory in Glazunov Hall for its XII International Conservatory Week, and Bargemusic in Brooklyn, New York.
Ned completed both a Doctor of Musical Arts and Master of Music degree with Megan Freivogel and the Jupiter String Quartet at the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign. He studied for his Bachelor of Music at Wichita State University with Alla Aranovskaya and the St. Petersburg String Quartet. He plays an early 20th century German violin named Fritz in honor of legendary violinist Fritz Kreisler.