Magdaline Kovalchuk is an American-born Russian/Belarusian cellist and pianist from Whittier, California. A passionate performer from a young age, she created and led her own chamber ensembles, playing throughout Southern California in front of local venues, galleries, and cultural landmarks. She has been awarded multiple first-place gold medals in ensemble competitions across Boston and Washington, D.C. and performed with the Whittier Area Youth Orchestra (WAYO) under the direction of Deborah Carnahan at venues including Disneyland, SkyRose Chapel, and invited to perform at Carnegie Hall.

Magdaline earned scholarships for private cello study with Wendy Velasco and was later awarded a chamber music scholarship to attend the SoCal Chamber Music Institute. She also participated in the Cello Weekend Ensemble with renowned cellist Chu Yi-Bing and took 1st Prize Gold in the Charleston International Music Competition. She has appeared as a soloist with the Synesthesia Sinfonietta and performed at venues such as Royce Hall, Warner Bros. Studios, Fred Kavli Theatre, Broadway West, Glass Slipper Palace, LA Theatre,Candlelight Concerts, and more. She has also been invited to perform at Walt Disney Concert Hall.

Magdaline recently traveled to Spain to study with cellist Lluís Claret in an international masterclass. Her other masterclass and lesson mentors include Robert deMaine, Amit Peled, David Garrett, Paul Watkins, Suli Xue, Matt Haimovitz, Ko Iwasaki, Astrid Schween, and many more. She was a principal cellist with the Azusa Pacific University Symphony, a member of the APU chapel team, and studied cello with Dr. Marek Szpakiewicz and piano with Professor Mark Gasbarro. She also served as a strings coach at La Serna High School and maintains a private cello and piano studio.

An active musician in the Los Angeles music scene, she has collaborated with emerging artists such as Mike Sabath and Haley Joelle, and appeared in music videos including Being Human (2023), Dumbstruck (2023), and Memory Lane (2024). This fall, Magdaline will begin her Master’s degree in Cello Performance at the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University to study with Amit Peled.

Windsor "Tito" Pediford holds a bachelor's degree in Fine Arts from an education shared between Julliard and City College. Tito is proficient in acoustic and electric bass, piano, all African and Latin percussions, vibraphone, trap drums, programmable synthesizers, as well as writing and arranging for brass, reeds, strings, chorus, and rhythm sections. Coming from a family heavily involved with music performance locally, nationally, & internationally, Tito was afforded the opportunity to perform with people such as: Miles Davis, Mongo Santamaria, King Curtis, Mandrill, G.Q, Change, Jocelyn Brown, LeRoy Burgess, Amel Larrieux, and others. Tito has toured around the world and across the U.S. He has led 3 bands of his own, 2 of which were published, and he was a side man for a host of disco records in the 80’s. Tito loves to push his students to reach their full potential with music! 

Elizabeth Robbins began studying the viola at age 9 and the flute at age 10, and has experience performing and teaching strings and woodwinds. She earned her Bachelor of Music in Music Education at Ithaca College, where she studied flute with Kelly Covert. She spent one semester at the Ithaca College London Center, taking lessons with Susan Milan at the Royal College of Music. After completing her undergraduate degree, Elizabeth moved to southern Maryland, where she taught pre-k through fifth grade band, strings, chorus, and general music for four years at St. Mary’s County Public Schools. While in Maryland, she earned her Master of Music in Music Education from Boston University. In 2010 she played Griffes’s Poem for Flute and Orchestra with the Chamber Orchestra of Southern Maryland In Concert as the winner of the COSMIC Young Artist Competition.

Elizabeth earned her PhD in music education at Temple University in 2019. While at Temple, she worked as a TA in the music education department, which included serving as a graduate conductor of the Night Owls Community Band and teaching Woodwind Methods to undergraduate and graduate students. She also taught as an adjunct and supervised student teachers at West Chester University. During her doctoral studies, she was a member of the viola faculty for the Music Education Pathways program at Settlement Music School in Philadelphia, PA and was a member of the flute faculty at Ferrwood Music Camp in Drums, PA. Elizabeth is happy to be back in Maryland, teaching 4th-6th grade band and orchestra in Prince George’s County Public Schools.