Margarita Solomensky, violin, is a founding member of the Sinfonietta Arts Chamber Ensemble. She holds a Master's Degree in Music and Arts from the Moscow Conservatory. She has won a number of national musical competitions and worked successfully as a violin and piano instructor for the State Conservatory and Musical College. She worked for 15 years as concertmaster with the Lvov Theater of Opera and Ballet and performed as a soloist with the Lvov Symphony Orchestra. Ms. Solomensky immigrated to the United States in 1978, and has resided in Skokie since 1983. She has performed with a number of orchestras in the States including the Orchestra of Illinois, Chicago Chamber Orchestra, Chicago Opera Theater, American Ballet Theater, Highland Park Strings and the Park Ridge civic Orchestra. She has served as concertmaster with the Lake Shore Symphony Orchestra, Northeastern Illinois Orchestra, the Russian American Chamber Orchestra of Chicago, Glenview Symphony Orchestra, Lincolnwood Chamber Orchestra, North Shore Chamber Orchestra and as assistant concertmaster for the Skokie Valley Symphony. Ms. Solomensky balances her career as an educator and a performer. She teaches violin and piano at her private studio, the Music House and the Park Ridge Park District. She previously taught at Oakton Community College and the Devonshire Cultural Center. She has made numerous radio and television appearances, is currently a member of the Arioso Duet, first violinist of Arioso Chamber Ensemble and performs with the SoliArts Trio.
David Cowen, cello and piano, is a founding member of the Sinfonietta Arts Chamber Ensemble. He has performed as a chamber music and symphonic cellist at numerous venues in the Chicago area, including the Art Institute, Arie Crown Theater, First National Bank, Chicago and Skokie Public Libraries, Unity Temple of Oak Park, St. James Cathedral, the Unitarian Church of Evanston, St. Elizabeth of Glencoe, Moody Bible Church, Skokie Theatre Music Foundation, Tzedek Chicago (Kol Nidre soloist on Yom Kippur for the past 3 years), Temple Menorah (where he was Kol Nidre soloist on Yom Kippur for over 20 years), Temple Judaea Mitzpah, Chicago Botanic Gardens, and the Morton Arboretum. He has also been broadcast on radio and television. David has studied cello with Alan Harris, Karl Fruh, and Jerry Grossman, played in the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, and was a scholarship student of Aldo Parisot at Yale University. David studied piano with Lillian Rubenstein-Boguslawsky and Catherine Sauer Smith.
Led by David and Margarita, Sinfonietta Arts classical music ensembles have played wedding music and live classical music at a variety of churches, synagogues, and other venues in the Chicago area.
