Richard Paley has been the principal bassoonist of the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, IBA since 1982. Born in Boston, Massachusetts and educated at the New England Conservatory and the Eastman School of Music, he immigrated to Israel in 1978 at the invitation of the renowned conductor Rudolf Barshai and the Israel Chamber Orchestra.
Mr. Paley frequently premiers and records new works by Israeli and foreign composers. He performs with the Ensemble of the 21st Century, of which he is a founding member, A solo bassoon piece was written for him by Georgian-Israeli composer Joseph Bardanashvili to celebrate 20 years with the ensemble. He was also a member of the Van Leer Chamber Players for over seventeen years. He has participated in the prestigious Chautauqua and Bard Music Festivals in the United States as well as a regular participant of the Jerusalem International Chamber Music Festival.
A bassoon soloist with the Russian National Orchestra (RNO) with maestro Mikhail Pletnev, the Musica Viva Chamber Orchestra directed by Alexander Rudin, and a guest bassoon soloist with the Armenian National Philharmonic Orchestra directed by Eduard Topchan.
Andrey Shamidanov was born in Moscow in 1985. He studied the bassoon at the Gnessin Moscow Special School of Music under teacher's Gennady Shamin and Yaroslav Kostrykin, the Academic Music College at the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory, the class of People's Artist of Russia, Professor Valery Popov (2002- 2004), and at the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory with Professor Valery Popov (2004-2009).