“Muscular with a glint of violence” is how the New York Times described the playing of 26-year-old Benjamin Beilman, yet he is also known for his deep, rich tone and poetic expression—think of him as a much better-looking Cyrano de Bergerac, wielding a bow rather than a sword.

Anna Polonsky made her solo piano debut at the age of seven at the Special Central Music School in Moscow, Russia. She emigrated to the United States in 1990 and attended high school at the Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan. Her education continued with a Bachelor of Music diploma from The Curtis Institute of Music, under the tutelage of the renowned pianist Peter Serkin, and a Master’s Degree from the Juilliard School, where she studied with Jerome Lowenthal. She currently serves on the piano faculty of Vassar College, and in the summer at the Marlboro and Kneisel Hall chamber music festivals. With her husband Orion Weiss, she is a member of the Polonsky-Weiss Piano Duo.

Widely in demand as a soloist and chamber musician, Ms. Polonsky has appeared with the Moscow Virtuosi, the Buffalo Philharmonic, the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Columbus Symphony Orchestra, the Memphis Symphony, the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, the St. Luke’s Chamber Ensemble, and many others. She has collaborated with the Guarneri, Orion, Daedalus, and Shanghai Quartets, and with such musicians as Mitsuko Uchida, Yo-Yo Ma, David Shifrin, Richard Goode, Emanuel Ax, Arnold Steinhardt, Peter Wiley, and Jaime Laredo. A frequent guest at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, she was a member of the Chamber Music Society Two during 2002–2004. She has also performed chamber music at festivals such as Marlboro, Chamber Music Northwest, Seattle, Music@Menlo, Cartagena, Bard, and Caramoor, as well as at Bargemusic in New York City. In the spring of 2007 she performed a solo recital at Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium to inaugurate the Emerson Quartet’s Perspectives Series. Ms. Polonsky is a recipient of a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship and the Andrew Wolf Chamber Music Award.