The Soul, Enchanted

presents The Soul, Enchanted - a concert of music by international women composers of the past and present. Join pianist Ana Glig, contralto Vira Slywotzky and special guest Miriam Eckelhoefer, cellist, on a joyous and moving musical journey. Revel in the sumptuous sound worlds of Alma Mahler, Meri Davitashvili, Florence Price, Martha Redbone, Sylvia Filus, Lori Laitman, Niloufar Nourbakhsh, Vivian Fung, Mary Ann Howe, Dina Pruzhansky, Olga Zaitseva-Herz and Augusta Holmès. Delight in the settings of humorous, probing, pensive and passionate texts. Performers will speak about the works and biographical information about the remarkable featured creators will be on hand.
This event is presented in partnership with Bear Witness, Brave Selections, CAAL (Chinese American Association of Lexington), Follen Church and LexSeeHer. This program is supported in part by a grant from the Lexington Council for the Arts, a local agency which is supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency.
Questions? Email [email protected]
About the performers:
(aka Gligvashvili) is a an award-winning, Georgian-American pianist, recognized for her “virtuosic command of works” and “ability to capture hearts” (Musical America Worldwide).
As a solo recitalist and chamber musician, Glig has appeared at venues such as New York City’s Steinway Hall, Consulates of Poland and Germany, Ukrainian Institute of America, Bohemian National Hall, Faculty House at Columbia University, Subculture and others in America and Europe. As an orchestral soloist Glig has performed with the Cape Symphony, Cape Cod Chamber Orchestra and WPI Philharmonic Orchestras as well as in her homeland Georgia and in Israel. Glig has been a featured soloist at Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concert Series in Chicago, Illinois.
Glig’s playing is praised to “project the sense of excitement while retaining cleanliness and accuracy” (Fanfare Magazine). In her album ‘Reminiscences’ Glig’s playing was also recognized for it’s “..sensitivity and ability to finely capture some of Georgia’s haunting, elusive film melodies ..as well as anyone on disc.“ (Fanfare Magazine). Other reviews praised her “lovely expressiveness, clarity in legato, balance and perfect logic” (Chatham Music Club, MA).
Ana Glig is a founder of multi-media concerts MusArt Interconnections, with focus on synthesis of classical music and visual art. Glig’s professional engagements include masterclasses in the Republic of Georgia, Cape Cod (Massachusetts) and University of New Hampshire (Durham, MA).
Glig received her Master’s degree in piano performance from Mannes School of Music -The New School (NYC), an Advanced Certificate in Piano Performance and Pedagogy from New York University (NYU Steinhardt), where she also served as a member of Adjunct Piano Faculty. She completed her Bachelor’s degree in piano performance from Tbilisi State Conservatoire (Republic of Georgia) under the mentorship of Revaz Tavadze. Her teachers also include prolific pianist-pedagogues such as Eteri Andjaparidze, Marine Gelashvili and Victor Rosenbaum among others. Glig’s collaborations include performances with contralto Vira Slywotzky and Cape Symphony’s principal cellist Jacques Lee Wood.
Most recently Glig performed All Georgian Classical Music along with the Georgian baritone Gocha Abuladze in Stamford, New York.
Glig is an artist faculty member at Cape Symphony and Music Director at the First United Methodist Church in Chatham.
Contralto has performed principal roles with Seattle Opera, Chautauqua Opera, Chelsea Opera, Center for Contemporary Opera, Sarasota Opera and Boston Midsummer Opera. She has sung concerts, recitals and cabarets in New York City venues from The Duplex to Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall and on tour all over the United States. Internationally Slywotzky has been heard in Canada, France, Hungary, Sweden and Wales.
A champion of new music, she has workshopped and premiered more than 30 works including songs, full scale opera and narration with orchestra.

Since February 2022 Slywotzky has been serving as a cultural ambassador and fundraising for Razom for Ukraine and other organizations providing aid to and supporting Ukraine. Her performances have collected over $275,000.

Participant in numerous competitions and winner of awards, most significantly Slywotzky was the sole representative of the USA at the 2009 BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Competition.

She runs the multiform concert series Vira + Friends and is Member Emeritus on the Board of the Berkshire Opera Festival.
“Vira Slywotzky is an immensely talented, charismatic performer who transforms herself, and captivates her audience with her songs and tales.” - The Village View
Cellist MIRIAM ECKELHOEFER has a multifaceted career as a performer, teacher, and administrator. An active freelance musician, Miriam plays with various orchestras and chamber ensembles in New England and has held positions with orchestras throughout Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New York. She has performed at festivals throughout the United States, Canada, England, France, Italy, and Holland. An avid educator, Miriam is on faculty at the Tufts University Community Music Program, Concord Academy and the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras, and she maintains a private cello studio in Somerville, MA. In 2005 she co-founded Elm City ChamberFest, a summer chamber music festival in New Haven, CT, and served as Director of Preparatory and Continuing Studies at the Longy School of Music in Cambridge, MA, from 2008 until 2013. From 2019-2025 Miriam was director of the chamber music program at Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras. She was the founding director of BYSO’s ChamberFest and currently serves as its co-director. Miriam holds a DMA from SUNY at Stony Brook, an MM from Yale University, and a BS in Mathematics and BA in Music from the University of Notre Dame. Her principal instructors include Colin Carr, Aldo Parisot, Karen Buranskas, Irene Sharp, and members of the Tokyo and Emerson String Quartets.
Vira Slywotzky founded in May 2018 with the intent of bringing people together to enjoy the live performance of music written for voice and piano. Since that time Vira + Friends has become a multiform concert series with the expanded missions of developing audiences for classical music and providing a platform for composers traditionally neglected by the Western canon. Vira + Friends is a nonprofit corporation under the auspices of the Ukrainian American Educational Center of Boston, a 501(c)(3).