Chag Urim Sameach!

Please join us for a

Freylikhn Chanukah Simchah

at the

Old Broadway Synagogue

With latkes, sufganiyos and the rocking music of...

Lauren Brody (accordion) & 

Pete Rushefsky (tsimbl/hammered dulcimer)

Saturday, December 9, 7:30pm

at the Old Broadway Synagogue

(15 Old Broadway between 125th & 126th Streets in Manhattan)

Free Admission

Sponsored by the Old Broadway Synagogue, State Senator Cordell Cleare and the Center for Traditional Music and Dance

 and Yiddish New York

Join us for a hopping Hanukkah Party at the Old Broadway Synagogue. There will be food, good cheer, not-so-competitive dreydl-spinning, great music and wonderful people sharing the holiday spirit. Music will be provided by klezmer revival pioneer Lauren Brody (accordion) and tsimbl (cimbalom/ hammered dulcimer) player Pete Rushefsky.

Biographies of performers:

Lauren Brody (accordion) is an accordionist, singer, researcher, professional piano tuner/technician and Fulbright scholar from New York City. She is a pioneer of the klezmer music revival in the United States and a founding member of the groundbreaking band “Kapelye”, formed in 1979. She has toured, recorded and appeared on TV and film with Kapelye, and with the seminal all-female ensemble “Mikveh”. Lauren has played the with The Klezmatics, Andy Statman, Michael Winograd, David Krakauer, Alicia Svigals, Frank London, Merlin and Polina Shepherd and many other klezmer luminaries. She was a trailblazer in the domestic Balkan music scene and was the first female gadulka player in the United States. Lauren was an original member of the first Bulgarian traditional folk orchestra “Pitu Guli”, formed in Los Angeles, California in 1970 and has taught and performed at EEFC’s Balkan Camp, Klezkamp, KlezCalifornia, KlezKanada, Ashkenaz, Yidstock, Yiddish New York. Lauren was the recipient of a Bulgarian Government stipend to study Bulgarian folk music during the Communist period, from 1971-73, at the Bulgarian Conservatory of Music in Sofia. As a Fulbright scholar to Bulgaria in 1990 she conducted research on the commercial recording industry and folk music, and released two acclaimed reissues of 78 rpm recordings. Lauren continues to perform, with a particular accent on composing new music for her own Balkan/Klezmer-inspired solo project “Lauren Brody’s Accordion Bytes”, as “Tsoyber” with Yiddish singer Susan Leviton, and with the Bulgaria-based accordion duo Brody-Stoikov.

Pete Rushefsky (tsimbl) A leading performer, composer and researcher of the Jewish tsimbl (cimbalom or hammered dulcimer), Rushefsky tours and records internationally with violinist Itzhak Perlman as part of the Klezmer Conservatory Band, and collaborates with a number of leading figures in the contemporary klezmer scene including Andy Statman, Adrianne Greenbaum, Steven Greenman, Joel Rubin, Eleonore Biezunski, Michael Alpert, Madeline Solomon, Zhenya Lopatnik, Zoe Aqua, Jake Shulman-Ment, Keryn Kleiman, Eleonore Weill, Alex Parke, and Michael Winograd. Since 2006 he has served as Executive Director of the Center for Traditional Music and Dance, the nation’s leading organization dedicated to the preservation and presentation of diverse immigrant music traditions from around the world. He is a founder of the annual Yiddish New York festival, curated the Yiddish program at the 2013 Smithsonian Folklife Festival and has authored a number of articles on traditional music and culture.

Selichos and High Holidays at the Old Broadway Synagogue, 5784

YAMIM NORAIM 
AT THE OLD BROADWAY SYNAGOGUE

First Night Selichos

Motzoei Shabbos Sept 9/10 12:30am

Please join us in inaugurating the yamim noraim with 

Selichos led by Orrin Tilevitz

Orrin has been leading Selichos for us for 

over the past 30 years.

HIGH HOLIDAY SERVICES

Rosh Hashanah

September 15-17, 2023 

Friday, September 15, 2023
Minchah and Maariv (First night) 6:47pm

Saturday, September 16, 2023
Shacharis (First day)  8:30am

Minchah  6:45pm

Maariv (Second night)  after 7:44pm

Sunday, September 17, 2023
Shacharis (Second day)  8:30am

Blowing of the Shofar 10:30am

Minchah  and Tashlikh 6:00pm

Maariv 7:43pm

YOM KIPPUR
September 24-25, 2023

Sunday, September 24, 2023 
Kol Nidrei and Maariv  6:20pm

Monday September 25, 2023
Shacharis 8:30am
Yizkor 10:30am
Minchah 4:50pm
Ne’ilah 6:20pm
Fast ends 7:29pm

We are delighted to announce that services

 will be led by the talented baalei tefilah

Rabbi Reuven Hoff and Mr. Yosef Tannenbaum.

Purchase your High Holiday tickets now!

Reservations are $100 per person.

To reserve please click here to pay by PayPal

or send a check for the appropriate 

amount made out to 

“Old Broadway Synagogue,”and send it 

to the shul at 15 Old Broadway, 

New York, NY 10027.

!לשנה טובה תכתבו ותחתמו

Zikhronah li-Vrakhah: Pearl Ziffer Diamond

Dear Friends,

Pearl Ziffer Diamond, who grew up in the Old Broadway Synagogue, passed away earlier this year. Matthew, one of her children, sent the following sketch of Pearl's life. May her memory be for a blessing!

Pearl Ziffer Diamond passed away peacefully on January 30, 2023 just three weeks shy of her 98th birthday. She was a treasured mother, grandmother, aunt, friend and revered matriarch of her family for decades. Pearl lived a Jewish life punctuated by a kosher home, celebrations of every Jewish holiday and presided over a family defined by her haimische warmth, good humor and abundant love.

Born Pearl Ziffer on February 24, 1925 to her loving parents, Louis and Sarah Ziffer, she was their youngest child, basking in the adoration of her older brothers Yossi and Irving and her sister, Beatrice. A member of Old Broadway Synagogue from birth, Pearl had a lively childhood on nearby Vinegar Hill. She jumped rope avidly, played basketball (despite being five foot two inches tall) and made lifelong friends among all the children of her neighborhood.

Pearl and Irwin Diamond, 1940s

During World War II Pearl met a handsome soldier stationed at a school on her block, Irwin Diamond. They dated and, after he returned from Europe and recovered from his war wounds, they married, settling in Queens. She loved her new name, Pearl Diamond.

They became the parents of three extremely lucky children, Dennis, Matthew and Cori-Sue. As the years passed Irwin and Pearl became the acknowledged Matriarch and Patriarch of their extended family. Their home was filled with laughter, delight, warmth and generosity. Every celebration was hosted there, including Seders, Purim, Thanksgiving, and Hanukah. It was a joy to live through.

Pearl with Dennis, Cori-Sue and Matthew 

In 1966 Pearl’s mother, Sarah, suffered a debilitating stroke rendering her paralyzed and unable to speak. Rejecting the mediocre care given by the nursing homes of that time, Pearl and Irwin created a hospital room in their home where her mother was cared for preciously for four years until she passed peacefully. It was, quite honestly, a saintly act.

Eventually, after Irwin’s passing, Pearl moved to Atlanta to be near her son and daughter and grandchildren. In her heart this lifelong New Yorker never left New York City. 

Magically, and deservedly, Pearl never had a real sickness in her life. Literally, she was out at a restaurant having dinner until two nights before her passing. Until the end she was lively, conversational and kept track of every family member, including what each member was getting for Hanukah. She also maintained her membership in Old Broadway synagogue through the end.

Pearl at her 95th birthday party

Pearl Ziffer Diamond was treasured throughout her life and will be deeply missed and lovingly remembered for many decades to come.

Rabbi Avi Heller on Hilkhos Shabbos

 

Please join us for a three part exploration of the Halachos of Shabbos with master educator, Rabbi Avi Heller. 

Each shiur will take place after 8:00am Shacharis at the Old Broadway Synagogue and will include breakfast. 

July 2:  "A Holistic Approach to Hilchot Shabbat." 

July 16: "Building and Destroying (boneh and soter) on Shabbat." 

July 23: "Some practical issues related to cooking (bishul) on Shabbat." 

We are not charging for this series although we would be happy to have a sponsor so that we could present it in memory or in honor of a loved one. 

We hope you will join us!

 

The Old Broadway Synagogue, Center for Traditional Music and Dance and Yiddish New York present:

Grammy-winning musicians Lisa Gutkin (violin) & Matt Darriau (clarinet/kaval) of The Klezmatics with Pete Rushefsky (tsimbl/hammered dulcimer)

KLEZMER NIGHT ON OL' BROADWAY

Sunday, June 4, 7pm at the Old Broadway Synagogue

(15 Old Broadway between 125th & 126th Streets in Manhattan)

Suggested donation: $10

Biographies of performers:

Lisa Gutkin (violin) - Grammy Award-winning violinist/composer, singer, actor, and composer Lisa Gutkin is best known as a member of the acclaimed Klezmatics, and most recently for her musical score, performance, and music direction in the two time Tony award-winner, Indecent.

Lisa has had a storied career that reflects the eclectic nature of her life, passion, and creativity. A cameo performance in Sex and the City, a seat in Sting’s Broadway band for The Last Ship, a CD of original songs produced by John Lissauer, and scores for two of Pearl Gluck’s films have taken her a long way from her beginnings as back up musician to the Fast Folk songwriters’ collective. Praised for her “hauntingly emotional” vocals by the L.A. Times, she has co-authored songs with Anne Sexton, Maggie Dubris, and Woody Guthrie. A MacDowell and Norton Stevens Fellow, Lisa's song “Gonna Get Through This World”, co-written with Woody Guthrie, was described by Pete Seeger as “a piece of genius”.

Matt Darriau (clarinet, kaval) - Grammy-winning composer and reed player for the Klezmatics and the Paradox Trio, Matt has had an enormous influence on both the Balkan and Yiddish music revivals. His current and past projects have included tribute to Yussef lateef ( Yo Lateef); Duke Ellington (Ballin' The Jack); Celtic music (Cetlic Eclectic) and many more.

Matt was named one of the most influential jazz musicians of the past 15 years by Jazziz Magazine for bringing Balkan rhythms and melodies into jazz. He has collaborated and performed with luminaries such as Gunther Schuller, Elliott Sharp, Marc Ribot, George Schuller, Theodosii Spassov, Mark Feldman, David Byrne, Marc Ribot, Roberto Rodriguez, Itzhak Perlman, Ken Butler, Ben Folds Five and many others in the New York and world scene.

Pete Rushefsky (tsimbl) is an award-winning performer, composer and researcher of the Jewish tsimbl (cimbalom or hammered dulcimer), Rushefsky tours and records internationally with violinist Itzhak Perlman as part of the Klezmer Conservatory Band, and collaborates with a number of leading figures in the contemporary klezmer scene including Andy Statman, Adrianne Greenbaum, Steven Greenman, Joel Rubin, Eleonore Biezunski, Michael Alpert, Madeline Solomon, Zhenya Lopatnik, Zoe Aqua, Jake Shulman-Ment, Keryn Kleiman, Eleonore Weill, Alex Parke, Yale Strom and Michael Winograd. Since 2006 he has served as Executive Director of the Center for Traditional Music and Dance, the nation’s leading organization dedicated to the preservation and presentation of diverse immigrant music traditions from around the world. He is a founder of the annual Yiddish New York festival, curated the Yiddish program at the 2013 Smithsonian Folklife Festival and has authored a number of articles on traditional music and culture

Passover Message

Nissan 5783
March 2023

Dear Friend,

I hope this letter finds you and your family well. The haftarah for Shabbos Chol Ha-Moed Pesach is Ezekiel’s famous and enigmatic prophecy of the “dry bones.” God shows Ezekiel a valley full of dry bones. He instructs Ezekiel to “prophesize” to the bones three times. The first two times, God fulfills the prophecies, reconstituting the bones into skeletons, then into bodies and subsequently breathing life into them. The third prophecy, which Ezekiel delivers after the people complained that their bones are dry and that their hope is lost, is that God will open up their graves and bring them to the Land of Israel.

The rabbis in the Gemara, Sanhedrin 92b, discuss whether this passage was a parable or if it described something that actually happened. Rabbi Eliezer, the son of Rabbi Yosi Ha-Galili, said that the dead that Ezekiel revived made aliyah to the Land of Israel, married, and had sons and daughters. Rabbi Yehudah ben Beteira said that he was a descendant of one who was resurrected. The Gemara also discusses who these people were. One opinion is that they were members of the tribe of Ephraim, who left Egypt prematurely, before Moses, and were slaughtered. Another opinion is that they were the people who denied the idea of resurrection. “Rabbi Yirmeyah bar Abba says that these were people in whom there was not even the moist residue of a mitzvah…” In other words, they were not the most righteous or worthy people, and yet God brought them back from the dead.

Pesach celebrates the redemption from Egypt; it is also traditionally seen as the time of the future redemption. Yitzchak Abravanel, the late 15th, early 16th century exile from the Spanish court and commentator, notes that the resurrection and return to the land of Israel will be for all Jews, both the righteous and the wicked, although the latter will be judged. God will not abandon us. Ezekiel's prophecy encouraged our ancestors during the Babylonian exile and should encourage us as well. God can bring and will bring redemption, but we need to do our part. We should not be so devoid of mitzvos as to be dry bones. Moreover, as bad as things may appear, we should never give up hope, since ultimately, God will be there for us and will restore us. As we prepare ourselves for Passover we should use these words to energize ourselves to meet and overcome whatever challenges lie ahead.

We had a good fall at Old Broadway. The holidays, beginning with Selichos led by Orrin Tilevitz through Rosh Hashanah with Rabbi Reuven Hoff and Yosef Tannenbaum were lovely. Sukkos and Hoshanah Rabba also went well. Attendance has been improving at all services. Moshe Jennings discusses the parashah every Friday night and Rafi gives an in-depth derashah every Shabbos morning. Our Women’s Rosh Chodesh Group has been meeting monthly under the leadership of Rhonda Taylor Ramsuer and Laura Radensky. Rabbi Avi Heller has been giving excellent shiurim each month with topics such as “Insights into Parashas Vayera,” “Vigilante Justice: When Can You Take the Law Into Your Own Hands?“ “Encountering God in the Prayers of the Avos,” and “Character Development in the Megillah.” We had a very lively Chanukah celebration with arts and crafts and the accordionist Aron Gershman, and we had a very successful Purim with live music at night and a very thoughtful shiur in the morning. This fall we also partnered with the Center for Traditional Music and Dance and hosted five well-attended klezmer concerts.

As spring approaches we are looking forward to celebrating Passover and our annual planting of our courtyard garden, organized by Dale Brown, on May 21st. Dale is also organizing our annual congregational visit to the Riverside Cemetery, on June 25th. We are currently taking a break from our klezmer series as we approach Passover and the Omer period. We look forward to continuing the series after Shavuos in late May.

Our building is approaching its hundredth anniversary – the cornerstone for our synagogue was placed in fall, 1923. We are making plans so that our shul can be as well used in its next century as it has been in its first century. Our long term goals are to upgrade the electrical system, restore the walls (some of which had elaborate decorative schemes) and restore our tin ceiling. Shorter term projects include reinforcing the Kiddush Room floor, strengthening the two staircases and restoring the lobby’s tile floor. We hope to report more on these initiatives in subsequent letters.

Your support has enabled us to do all that we have done. With your help, we will continue, God willing, to be a warm spiritual home and a makom Torah in the spirit of Rabbi and Mrs. Kret, זכרונם לברכה. We are grateful for your support and hope that we will continue to be worthy of your assistance going forward.

Warm wishes for a sweet and kosher Pesach

Paul Radensky
President

Purim Maariv, Megilah and Music

Please join us for our annual Purim Simchah at the Old Broadway Synagogue, Monday, March 6th at 6:25pm. We will daven Maariv followed by the Megillah and a Purim party! $10 suggested contribution.

Here is more about the performers:

Pete Rushefsky (tsimbl) A leading performer, composer and researcher of the Jewish tsimbl (cimbalom or hammered dulcimer), Rushefsky tours and records internationally with violinist Itzhak Perlman as part of the Klezmer Conservatory Band, and collaborates with a number of leading figures in the contemporary klezmer scene including Andy Statman, Adrianne Greenbaum, Steven Greenman, Joel Rubin, Eleonore Biezunski, Michael Alpert, Madeline Solomon, Zhenya Lopatnik, Zoe Aqua, Jake Shulman-Ment, Keryn Kleiman, Eleonore Weill, Alex Parke, and Michael Winograd. Since 2006 he has served as Executive Director of the Center for Traditional Music and Dance, the nation’s leading organization dedicated to the preservation and presentation of diverse immigrant music traditions from around the world. He is a founder of the annual Yiddish New York festival, curated the Yiddish program at the 2013 Smithsonian Folklife Festival and has authored a number of articles on traditional music and culture.

Ira Khonen Temple (piano, accordion) is a multi-instrumentalist, bandleader, and embedded cultural organizer. Recent credits include accordionist for Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish, and music director of Indecent at the Weston Playhouse, Great Small Works’ Muntergang and Other Cheerful Downfalls, and the Aftselakhis Spectacle Committee Purimshpil. Ira was a founder of the radical-traditional Yiddish music group Tsibele.

KLEZMER NIGHT on OL' BROADWAY

 

The Old Broadway Synagogue, Center for Traditional Music and Dance and Yiddish New York present:

TURN UP THE HEAT with KLEZMER!

Jake Shulman-Ment (violin), Pete Rushefsky (tsimbl/hammered dulcimer) & Raffi Boden (cello)
Saturday, February 11, 8pm
at the Old Broadway Synagogue
(15 Old Broadway between 125th & 126th Streets in Manhattan)
Suggested donation: $10

Join us for the new klezmer music series at the Old Broadway Synagogue (15 Old Broadway between 125th & 126th Streets in Manhattan) at 8pm on Saturday night, February 11, 2022. We'll be featuring three of the contemporary klezmer scene's leading performers - Pete Rushefsky (tsimbl/hammered dulcimer), Jake Shulman-Ment (violin) & Raffi Boden (cello). Join the trio for a night of rediscovered melodies, newly-composed Jewish melodies, Hasidic spirituals and rollicking dance tunes. This program is presented by the Old Broadway Synagogue in partnership with the Center for Traditional Music and Dance and Yiddish New York.

Please stay after the concert for nosh and an opportunity to meet others!

Biographies of performers:

Pete Rushefsky (tsimbl) A leading performer, composer and researcher of the Jewish tsimbl (cimbalom or hammered dulcimer), Rushefsky tours and records internationally with violinist Itzhak Perlman as part of the Klezmer Conservatory Band, and collaborates with a number of leading figures in the contemporary klezmer scene including Andy Statman, Adrianne Greenbaum, Steven Greenman, Joel Rubin, Eleonore Biezunski, Michael Alpert, Madeline Solomon, Zhenya Lopatnik, Zoe Aqua, Jake Shulman-Ment, Keryn Kleiman, Eleonore Weill, Alex Parke, and Michael Winograd. Since 2006 he has served as Executive Director of the Center for Traditional Music and Dance, the nation’s leading organization dedicated to the preservation and presentation of diverse immigrant music traditions from around the world. He is a founder of the annual Yiddish New York festival, curated the Yiddish program at the 2013 Smithsonian Folklife Festival and has authored a number of articles on traditional music and culture.

Jake Shulman-Ment (violin) is at the helm of a new generation of Klezmer and Yiddish music performers. He tours and records internationally in addition to being a widely sought-out teacher of the klezmer fiddle tradition at festivals around the globe. He collected, studied, performed, and documented traditional music in Romania as a Fulbright scholar, and has lived and traveled in Hungary and Greece, learning traditional violin styles. In 2018 he received the prestigious NYSCA/NYFA Fellowship in Folk/Traditional Arts. He was a featured subject of Csaba Bereczki’s full-length documentary film Soul Exodus, and appears on HBO’s Succession, Martin Scorcese’s The Irishman, and a host of other film and theater productions. Jake’s debut solo album, A Redele (A Wheel) (Oriente Musik, 2012) was nominated for the German Record Critics’ Award. His new group, Midwood, released its first album, Out of the Narrows, (Chant Records) in May 2018.

Raffi Boden (cello) is an innovative cellist and educator and a current graduate student at The Juilliard School. A member of the award-winning contemporary klezmer ensemble Mamaliga, Raffi was the winner of the 2018 Oberlin Concerto Competition and performed as a soloist with both the Orchestra and the Contemporary Music Ensemble. In 2016, he spent a month teaching and studying the El Sistema method in Venezuela, and he has performed internationally in France, Venezuela, and around the U.S. Raffi holds a B.M. in Cello Performance and a B.A. in French Language from the Oberlin College & Conservatory.

Jewish Music New and Old with the Trio Fadolin

Please join us for a special Melave Malka concert of Jewish music, new and old with the Trio Fadolin. The concert will take place at 8:00pm on Saturday, January 28, 2023 at the Old Broadway Synagogue. $10 contribution requested.

Here is more about this unique musical group from their website:

Trio Fadolín is a new ensemble with a unique sonority — featuring Sabina Torosjan on violin, Valeriya Sholokhova on cello, and Ljova, performing on the fadolín – a new instrument that encompasses the range of the violin, viola, and most of the cello, finding its footing in an acoustic chamber music setting for the first time. We formed during the COVID-19 pandemic — our first performances were in the summer of 2021, on a makeshift stage at the Javits Convention Center mass vaccination site, operated by the US Army and sponsored by Sing for Hope. Since that time, we have made appearances at Bargemusic, Barbès, Symphony Space, and at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. We continue to perform outreach events for Sing For Hope’s stage at the new Moynihan Train Terminal at Penn Station, where we frequently perform with special guests. As our opportunities to play together grew, our repertoire evolved steadily — it now includes works by Ukrainian composers Vasily Barvinsky, Mykola Kolessa, and Miroslav Skoryk, Spanish-American composer Andrea Casarrubios, folk music from Denmark, Sweden and Romania, in addition to original works by our fadolínist, Ljova. All three of us are graduates of The Juilliard School.

Our focus is multifaceted — on the one hand, we are exploring the unique sonority of the acoustic fadolín (six-string violin, with low C and F strings) within a trio context, using it — for the first time in history — as an integral instrument in an acoustic chamber music setting.

On the other hand, we also share a deep personal connection — all three of us grew up in the former Soviet Union and arrived in New York as teens. Sabina was born in Estonia of Armenian-Jewish heritage; Valeriya was born in Ukraine of Ukrainian, Jewish, and Russian heritage; Ljova was born in Moscow, Russia, of Ukrainian-Jewish, German-Jewish, Polish and Romanian heritage. We share a common bond of immigration, Eastern European literature, humor, animation and music.

We are here to tell the complicated story, to tell the stories of immigrant composers, to collaborate with immigrant artists, to showcase places where cultures intersect.

MUSICIAN BIOS:

SABINA TOROSJAN, originally from Tartu, Estonia has been an active freelance performer since graduating from The Juilliard School having studied with Sally Thomas and Lewis Kaplan. She plays regularly with Ensemble Mise-En and RAM whose focus is in contemporary music from around the world. She has recorded with iconic folk singer Pete Seeger, Jennifer Hudson, composer and guitarist Terry Champlin, as well as appearing on SNL.

Sabina enjoyed being the violinist for the Off Broadway production of “Fiddler On The Roof in Yiddish” for its entire run ending in 2020. She also loves spending time with her two kids.

LJOVA (Lev Zhurbin) was born in Moscow, Russia, and moved to New York with his parents, composer Alexander Zhurbin and writer Irena Ginzburg, in 1990. He divides his time between composing for the concert stage, contemporary dance & film, leading his own ensemble LJOVA AND THE KONTRABAND, performing with and composing for TRIO FADOLÍN, as well as a busy career as a violist, fadolínist & musical arranger. Among recent projects are commissions from the City of London Sinfonia, The Louisville Orchestra, a new work for Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble, a string quartet for Brooklyn Rider, a clarinet quintet for Art of Élan, and works for The Knights, Sybarite5 and A Far Cry, as well arrangements for the New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, tenor Javier Camarena, conductors Gustavo Dudamel and Alondra de la Parra, songwriters Ricky Martin, Natalia Lafourcade and Carlos Vives, composer/guitarist Gustavo Santaolalla and Osvaldo Golijov. Ljova frequently collaborates with choreographers Aszure Barton, Damian Woetzel, Christopher Wheeldon, Katarzyna Skarpetowska (with Parsons Dance)

Born in Kyiv, Ukraine, cellist VALERIYA SHOLOKHOVA is a graduate of The Juilliard School and Manhattan School of Music, where she was a full scholarship student of Bonnie Hampton and David Geber. Valeriya is a laureate of several international competitions and has participated in a number of summer music festivals, such as The Perlman Music Program, Kronberg Academy, Spoleto Festival USA, Orchestra of the Americas, and Thy Music Festival, where she served as principal cellist. An in-demand freelancer, Valeriya is currently the principal cellist with Washington Heights Chamber Orchestra, Mimesis Ensemble, and New York Metamorphoses. In her free time, she enjoys travel, languages, and photography.