2023 JUDGES
Violinist SCOTT FLAVIN enjoys an incredibly versatile musical career. He is a professor of violin, conducting, and chamber music at the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music. His students have gone on to significant teaching and performing careers around the country as well as internationally. In addition to his extensive teaching, he is a highly sought-after concertmaster, having served from 2002 to 2019 as concertmaster of Florida Grand Opera, and having appeared in that role with major conductors and performers, including such diverse artists as Luciano Pavarotti, Lena Horne, and Itzhak Perlman. He was appointed concertmaster of the Symphony of the Americas in 2022. Equally active in chamber music, Flavin is the first violinist of the internationally-acclaimed Bergonzi String Quartet, violinist of the Bergonzi Trio, and violinist of PULSE Trio, performing extensively and receiving glowing reviews by publications such as the New York Times and Washington Post. He regularly performs as a soloist and recitalist in major performance venues internationally.
Flavin holds several important positions as a conductor, including Resident Conductor of The Henry Mancini Institute Orchestra and Associate Conductor for Eastern Music Festival, where, alongside renowned conductor Gerard Schwarz, he teaches some of the most accomplished young conductors in the country. He has conducted for various festivals, and the nationally- broadcast “Jazz and the Philharmonic” for PBS television, as well as recordings and performances for a wide variety of notable artists.
Flavin is also an active arranger, composer, and writer. He has written four plays which have been presented in productions nationally, and writes articles regularly for various publications, including Strings Magazine. His arrangements for string quartet are popular, having been heard often on radio (Performance Today) and around the country in concert, and recordings.
As a recording artist, he is constantly in demand. His recordings include chamber music on the Naxos, M&W, and Centaur labels, and commercial recordings on Sony, EMI, and Warner Brothers, including appearances on over a dozen Grammy Award-winning albums. He has also performed on television numerous times for MTV Unplugged and the Video Music Awards. His solo recordings include Brahms: The Complete Violin Sonatas, and Great Violin Solos of the Opera and Ballet.
Currently the principal violist of The Florida Orchestra, DEREK MOSLOFF is also an avid solo and chamber musician and was an active performer in the Boston area, serving as the principal viola of the Orchestra of Indian Hill, as well as a violist in the Discovery Ensemble, among others. He was invited to solo in Mozart’s “Sinfonia Concertante” with Boston’s Symphony by the Sea on 24 hours notice. He is currently performs widely in the Tampa Bay Area, and has been a guest on the Palladium Chamber Music series, and serves as adjunct professor of viola at the University of Tampa.
In 2008, he was awarded a fellowship to Tanglewood Music Center, and he was invited to return for the 2009 and 2010 seasons and as a New Fromm player for the 2011 and 2012 seasons. He has also been a recurring guest for the Chelsey Music Festival in New York City.
Mosloff completed his master’s degree at the New England Conservatory under Roger Tapping, and his undergraduate studies at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln under Jonah Sirota.
Violinist AVI NAGIN is a member of the critically acclaimed Amernet String Quartet, as well as Assistant Teaching Professor of Violin and Chamber Music at Florida International University where the quartet serves as Artist-In-Residence Ensemble. A native New Yorker, Nagin’s performances have brought him to halls across the United States, Europe, and Israel. Nagin is an active chamber musician and has performed with members of the Borromeo, Ebène and Orion Quartets, and with renowned artists including Paul Neubauer, Ronald Thomas, Paul Coletti, Benny and Eric Kim, Ronald Leonard, Awadagin Pratt, and Julian Schwarz. Nagin is also in demand as an orchestral leader, serving as Concertmaster of Opera Naples and Sarasota Opera, Assistant Concertmaster of the Palm Beach Symphony, Principal 2nd Violin of the Princeton Symphony Orchestra, and guest Assistant Concertmaster of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra.
Prior to joining the Amernet, Nagin was faculty assistant to Dr. Ann Setzer at The Juilliard School’s Pre-College Division, violin faculty and Director of Chamber Music at the JCC Thurnauer School of Music (NJ), and chamber music faculty with the New York Youth Symphony. During the summer Nagin serves as 2nd Assistant Concertmaster and faculty at the Eastern Music Festival (NC). Nagin has also attended the festivals of Prussia Cove, Tanglewood, Aspen, Kneisel Hall, Heifetz, and Meadowmount. Earlier in his career, Nagin appeared in prestigious masterclasses around the world for artists including Yo-Yo Ma, Leon Fleisher, and Ivry Gitlis. Nagin holds degrees from Yale University and The Colburn School, and his principal teachers include Ani Kavafian, Robert Lipsett, Ann Setzer, and Daniel Phillips, as well as violin and chamber music studies with Arnold Steinhardt. Recent and upcoming season highlights include performances at Bargemusic (NY), Maverick Concerts (NY), Highlands-Cashiers Chamber Music Festival (NC), and the Fort Worth Chamber Music Society (TX).