Senior Faculty Biographies

Svetlana Klempner is a native of Kharkov, Ukraine, where she completed her BA in Piano Pedagogy and Accompanist at the Kharkov Music College. In 1984 she earned her Master’s degree in Piano Performance and Piano Pedagogy under Professor L.I. Lazovaya. Between 1990 and 1998 she lived and taught in Israel. In 1998 after moving to Canada Svetlana continued her studies at the University of Quebec in Montreal (UQAM) under Professor Pierre Jasmin, specializing in Piano Performance. Shortly after she founded a private piano studio, which would later become Music Academy Fortissimo. Svetlana is the winner of the Grand Prix at the prestigious Young Performers Competition in Tashkent, 1973 and the winner of the Concerto Competition at UQAM, 2003. At Fortissimo Ms. Klempner teaches piano.

Julia Gavrilova was born in Russia and made her debut at the age of five. She studied in Moscow Gnessin Institute of Music with Theodor Gutmann and Eugene Liberman, where she graduated with a Master in Piano Performance and Piano Pedagogy. After moving to Canada in 1991 she continued her music studies at McGill University under Professor Marina Mdivani and obtained her doctorate in Piano Performance. Julia Gavrilova specializes in chamber music and collaborative piano repertoire and appears in concerts as soloist and accompanist. Her playing represents the Russian piano school tradition, going back to Nicolas Rubinstein and Heinrich Neuhaus.Ms. Gavrilova currently teaches piano and piano ensemble classes at the Schulich School of Music and Conservatory of Music at The McGill University. Since 2009 she also holds a principal piano teaching position at Vanier College. At Fortissimo Ms. Gavrilova teaches piano and Piano Ensemble.

Svetlana Pailler is a choral conductor and mezzo-soprano, a graduate of the Vladivostok Conservatory of Music, Russia. In 1996 Svetlana became Music Director and Conductor of the Billings Symphony Youth Choral in Billings, Montana. In 2000 her reputation as top-class Choral Conductor followed her to New Hampshire where she became the Founder and Music Director of the NH Choral Academy in Manchester, NH. In 2006 Ms. Pailler was offered a position of the Director of Children’s Choir at the Longy School of Music in Cambridge, MA where she continues to teach presently. At Fortissimo Ms. Pailler teaches many pre-school programs, as well as piano and voice.

Oleg Grinfeld /guitar, guitar ensemble/ started his musical career in his home city of Chelyabinsk, Russia. Later he studied Directing, Arranging and Performance at the Chelyabinsk Academy of Arts. After his arrival to Israel Oleg completed his Master in Guitar Performance at the Music Faculty of the Tel Aviv University, under professor Yehuda Schryer. Oleg Grinfeld is a professional guitarist and educator with 20 years of rich pedagogical experience; he is well known for his authorship of many transcriptions and arrangements both for solo guitar and guitar ensembles.

Luciné Chaglassian-Balikian born in Yerevan, Armenia is a graduate of the Komitas State Conservatory with a Masters degree and a specialization in Violin Teaching at All Levels and Soloist in Violin Playing for Chamber Orchestras. Luciné moved to Montreal in 1986 and further pursued her teaching career at the McGill Conservatory of Music. In her teaching methodology Luciné uses a special approach to children with attention deficit and other related problems. At Fortissimo Ms. Balikian teaches violin.

Franco Tenelli, a graduate of McGill University and Tbilisi Conservatory, is an internationally acclaimed opera singer, who performed leading operatic roles in USA, Germany, Italy, Spain, Canada, Georgia, Turkey and Japan. He worked as a voice coach with Canada’s opera star Ben Heppner, Russian tenor from the Bolshoi Theatre Badri Maisuradze and many others. His younger students include: Carmiguel Maldonaldo (known also as The Little Pavarotti of Quebec), Kathleen Reiter (winner of Jewish Idol), Pasquale Alesio (winner of numerous competitions), and Natalia Nardi, who obtained her professional contract with RCM at the age of 18. He is also known as a virtuoso jazz guitarist, singer and composer. At Fortissimo Mr. Tenelli teaches guitar.