Meet Our Teachers
Blake Kitayama – Cello
M.M. University of North Carolina School of the Arts
Blake Kitayama – Cello
Croatian cellist, Ivana Biliškov, is a Master’s graduate of the University of Texas at El Paso where she studied with the Grammy award winning cellist, Zuill Bailey. During her career, Ivana has performed with many regional orchestras, and competed in both domestic and international competitions, winning 10 first prizes in solo, chamber, and orchestral categories. Ivana has participated in masterclasses with acclaimed musicians such as Lynn Harrell, Melissa Kraut, Heidi Litschauer, Hans Jørgen Jensen, Dora Schwarzberg, and is a three-time recipient of the Gloria Miner Fellowship at the Sitka International Cello Festival in Alaska.
Ivana made her international debut at the 2017 Chamber competition “Mozart=Salzburg” held in Tokyo, Japan where she won the “Grand Prix” as part of a piano trio. After winning this competition, Ivana performed in Vienna’s famous hall, the Mozarthaus. In the same year, Ivana also won the University of North Texas Concerto Competition and performed her winning Dvorak Cello Concerto with the UNT Symphony Orchestra in March of 2018. Ivana has performed in Europe and Asia, as well as in various states across the US.
At 18, Ivana came to the United States to pursue her BM in Cello Performance on a full scholarship with prof. Nikola Ružević at the University of North Texas where she received the “Best Undergraduate in Strings” award in 2017. There, she served as the principal of the University of North Texas Symphony orchestra. Ivana then went on to study at the University of Texas at El Paso and obtained her MM in Cello Performance on a teaching assistant fellowship. During her graduate studies, Ivana was actively involved in “El Paso Pro Musica”, a community outreach program where she regularly brought music to hospitals, schools, and events throughout the city. Ivana is currently located in Portland, Oregon where she teaches and works as a freelance musician.
Manuel Papale is a professional musician born in Buenos Aires, Argentina. In 2016, Manuel was awarded a full-tuition scholarship to pursue a Bachelor’s degree in Cello Performance at Texas Christian University under the tutelage of Dr. Jesús Castro-Balbi and Christine Lamprea, and has recently graduated Magna Cum Laude. He is now pursuing a Master’s degree in Cello Performance at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music studying under Emilio Colón.
Manuel has performed in numerous masterclasses for Bion Tsang, Gregory Beaver, Christine Lamprea, Michael Kaufman, Anne-Martindale Williams, Allan Steele, Astrid Schween, Yeesun Kim, and Gwen Krosnick. Recent festival appearances include the Round Top Festival Institute, Miami Music Festival, Josef Gingold Chamber Music Festival, and Vivac-e! Cello Festival where he was given the “New Music Award” for his performance of Krzysztof Penderecki’s Divertimento for Solo Cello.
Solo appearances include the CPE Bach Cello Concerto in A minor with the TCU Collegium Musicum in 2019 and Antonín Dvořák’s Silent Woods with the Greater North Texas Youth Orchestra in 2020. Manuel is a founding member of the Uproar and Cantilena string quartets dedicated to promoting the music of female and Latin American composers. He is now Assistant Principal of the McKinney Philharmonic Orchestra and cellist of the latin fusion group Sounds of Nilo. Manuel is passionate about teaching, composing/arranging, and improvising in a variety of styles.
Blake Kitayama
Cello
Degree: M.M. University of
North Carolina School of the Arts
Winston-Salem, NC
Blake Kitayama is an accomplished chamber and orchestral musician. He was a founding member of de Sterke Quartet who most recently won the MTNA Southern Division Chamber Music competition. Blake is currently a member of the Winston Salem Symphony. Throughout his orchestral career he has recorded for Navano Records, and has previously held positions with the Jackson Symphony and Huntsville Symphony. As a frequent chamber collaborator, Blake has been heard on APM’s Performance Today and WDAV.
An advocate for collaboration and new music, Blake has continuously worked across genres. Providing cello and vocal harmonies, his collaboration with Anna Scholfield won first prize at the eTown Handmade Songs Competition, and he recorded cello for Vidushi Goyal’s debut EP. He also debuted about a dozen new classical works for mixed ensembles.
Blake earned a Bachelor of Music from Vanderbilt University under the instruction of Felix Wang and his Master of Music at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts with Brooks Whitehouse as a member of the Chrysalis Chamber Music Institute.