Our Team – Golden Key Festival

George Borisov, DMA, Ph.D.

George Borisov received his professional training in piano performance from the Rachmaninoff State Conservatory (B.A., M.A.) and the Glinka State Conservatory (D.M.A.) in the former Soviet Union/Russia, and has performed in solo and ensemble concerts throughout the former Soviet Union and the United States, as well as in Austria, France, Poland, Romania, Norway, and Indonesia. George has served regularly as an adjudicator for auditions at the NJMTA, MEA, SMEA, National Guild of Piano Teachers (USA), the Chopin International Piano Competition (Hartford, CT, USA), the Rosario Marciano Piano Competition (Vienna, Austria), Rome International Piano Competition (Rome, Italy), the Alberti International Piano Competition (Jakarta, Indonesia, Shanghai, China), the West Australian Pianist Competition (Perth, Australia), and others. He is the founder of the Golden Key International Music Festival in New York, Vienna, Barcelona, and Paris. George Borisov also received a Doctorate in Musicology (Ph.D.) from the All-Russian Institute of Musicology (Moscow, Russia) with a dissertation on the history of musical societies in southern Russia. He has published a variety of articles on musicological subjects in professional journals both in the United States and Russia. Dr. Borisov is author of the books From the Past of Kuban’s Culture (Krasnodar, Russia, 1989); Domenico Alberti and His Sonatas (New York, NY, USA 2007); From the Cradle of Classical Music (Freehold, NJ, USA 2013) For more than eight years he was the host and producer of the Russian television program “Lost Pages of our Culture,” which was devoted to the reanimation of the both the spiritual events and the names of the abandoned artists of pre-revolutionary Russia. Recently, his scientific interests are focused on researching the legacy of prominent Russian-American composers. He published a few articles on this topic and music album Vladimir Drozdoff, Selected Piano Miniatures (Sydney, Australia, 2018). He has been presenting the lecture-concerts at American Universities including Yale University, City University of New York, University of New Haven, and abroad at Ovidius University, Constanza, Romania; Tongji University, Shanghai, CHINA and others. Dr. Borisov holds an honorary professorial chair at Krasnodar State Institute of Culture, Krasnodar, Russia.

Jim Manganaro, Ph.D.

Jim Manganaro is a chemical engineer having worked for 30 years at FMC Corp.’s R&D Center in Princeton. He received undergraduate degrees from MIT and a PhD from Rensselaer. He taught at Manhattan College for several years. He has retained a lifelong interest in music and in particular piano music, having received piano lessons as an adult for 5 years. He is greatly indebted to his music teachers for a truly priceless experience.He is currently consulting on biofuels at Stevens Institute of Technology and gaining background by auditing courses at Princeton University mainly on biology topics.

Aida Kalcher, M.A.

Aida Kalcher (Akhmetova) is a pianist, organist and piano teacher. Laureate of international piano competitions. B.A. of Arts in Music Education for Voice and Instruments(Piano) and B. A. & M.A. in Piano Performance — Vienna Music University and Performing Arts (mdw).
Aida has been frequently appearing on prestigious international stages including Wiener Konzerthaus (Austria), Carnegie Hall (USA), Concert Hall of Moscow Conservatory (Russia). Significant contribution in professional image of Ms. Kalcher was made by Professors Konstantin Semilakovs, Stephan Möller (Austria), Michail Woskresensky (Russia), Gabriele Kupfernagel (Germany), Aquiles Delle Vigne (Argentina), Amir Tebinikhin (Germany), and Elena Lapizkaja (Germany).
Aida was born in Kazakhstan on December 21, 1994. Decisive contribution to her earlier professional development was made by teachers Nataliya Dmitrieva, Erlan Mansurov and Vyacheslav Uzbekov in Kazakhstan. At the age of seven Aida already performed Haydn’s piano concerto Hob. XVIII:11 with the chamber orchestra of the Kazakh National University of the Arts. In 2015 she moved to Austria to study at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna (mdw) with Prof. Stephan Möller (piano), Prof. Ines Schüttengruber (organ).