Mr. Vadim Mazo has pursued a career as a teacher, soloist, chamber musician, and conductor.  Presently he is Associate Professor of Violin and Viola at Illinois Wesleyan University.  Professor Mazo studied at the Byelorussian State Conservatory in Minsk with Michael Goldstein (disciple of Piotr Stoliasky).  From 1968 to 1980, he was a soloist with the Byelorussian Philharmonic and performed with the Minsk Chamber and the Byelorussian Symphony Orchestras.  Before immigrating to the United States in 1980, he performed on radio, television and concert tours in the former Soviet Union with such international artists as O. Kagan, M.Rostropovich, and M. Shostakovich, amongst others.  Before coming to Illinois Wesleyan University, Mr. Mazo collaborated with the Fine Arts Quartet and held teaching positions at the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music, the University of Wisconsin at Green Bay, and the University of Evansville. 

He is also a founder and music director of the Illinois Wesleyan Camerata, an ensemble which Ovation magazine deemed “excellent by any standard.”  In January 1991, it gave concerts in the former U.S.S.R., Germany, and England.  Additionally, the group performed in Weill Recital Hall in November of 1993 with “Music for Peace” program.  Mr. Mazo founded the Ameropa Musical Arts Festival in 1993, an organization dedicated to the collaboration of American and European chamber musicians and ensembles.  With the strong belief that music is an international language that crosses all borders, Mr. Mazo selected Prague as the venue for the festival.  With its central location in Europe and rich musical heritage, it greatly enhances the harmony and understanding pervading this unique form of art experience.  His “Musical Bridges” travel schedule includes many European countries and Japan, recently including the Boccherini and Moz-artissimo festivals in Madrid.

Professor Mazo is a devoted teacher, and as a pedagogue, his teaching activities brought him to many places around the world.  He has been invited to present master classes everywhere from American Music Schools like Northwestern University, Universities of

Kansas, Illinois, Wisconsin, Lawrence or Long Beach California to Conservatoire Superior in Paris, France, Czech Republic, Greece, Spain, England, Germany, Canada, the former Soviet Union and recently in Japan.  Vadim Mazo has served on the faculty of  the Mozart in Monterey Festival, the Southeastern Music Center; B. Martinu festival, Prague Spring Festival 1998, Grand Tetons (Wyoming) and presently the Interlochen Chamber Music Conference.  Mr. Mazo has also collaborated as a conductor and soloist with the Suk Chamber Orchestra in the Prague Spring Festival and Virtuosi di Praga.  His performing activities as a violinist, violist and chamber musician have been presented in Carnegie Recital Hall (1992 program “Homage to Shostakovich”) and many various concert venues on a regular basis in USA and Europe.