«Orbis Sonorum»
A baroque music ensemble which was formed by three Melbourne musicians: Faina Vengerovsky (violin), Viatcheslav Iourgaev (viola da gamba) and Nonna Berter (harpsichord / organ). Artists united by the desire to revive the forgotten pages of world music culture and promote rarely performed works of the Baroque era.
Faina Vengerovsky studied the violin at The Central Music School of the Moscow Conservatory and later at the Samuel Rubin Academy of Music at Tel-Aviv University. She was one of few students who got an academy scholarship for professional development for 3 consecutive years. At the end of her student years Faina won the 1st prize of the Academies Annual Graduate Violin Contest. Afterwards, she joined the Youth Israel Philharmonic Orchestra for four seasons. She was performing at many festivals as a member of a String Quartet, whilst concurrently kick starting her violin teaching career. After arriving to Australia in 2002, she joined the Melbourne Opera Orchestra and currently continues to play there. She also teaches violin to a wide range of students.
Nonna Berter was born in Ukraine and started her music education at the Music College in the city of Khmelnitsky. She was graduated at the Russian Academy of Music in Moscow. After completing her education Nonna returned to her hometown where she worked at the local Music Drama Theatre and performed in a variety of chamber ensembles. She came to Australia in 1990 and continued to work here as an accompanist at the Opera Studio and the Ballet School of the Victorian College of the Arts. Nonna also was teaching piano at a variety of Melbourne schools. Currently Nonna works as a private music teacher at her own Bentleigh School of Piano and continues to work as an ensemble performer.
Viatcheslav Iourgaev is a native of Uzbekistan, where he started his music study at Republic Specialised Music School. He received his Master's Degree in Cello from Tashkent State Conservatorium of Music under Professor V. Chakhvadze. In Uzbekistan he worked as a cellist at the State Opera Theatre and the National Symphony Orchestra. Viatcheslav moved to Australia in 1994 and since then he performed as a soloist and in chamber music ensembles, including String Quartet Unique and Mobius Duo, throughout Europe as well as in Australia. He has also served as Conductor of Melbourne Mandolin Orchestra in 2001 - 2013. His interest in Viola da Gamba and the early music inspired him to found Orbis Sonorum in 2013.
