ELEANOR VALKENBURG, mezzo soprano, has achieved worldwide recognition as a chamber musician, soloist and as the Director of Poetica Musica. Ms Valkenburg has performed in some of the most prestigious festivals and chamber music series including the Bergen Festival, the Istanbul International Music Festival, the Sarajevo Festival and L’ Octobre Festival du Carthage, the Martinu Festival in Czech Republic, at the Library of Congress in Washington, DC, the Victoria and Albert Museum and the St-Martin-in-the Fields in London .As a chamber music musician, she has performed in more than 50 countries including Tunisia, Bosnia, India, Serbia, Tajikistan, Azerbaijan, Syria, etc., conducting master classes as well as performing concerts. She has taught seminars and master classes at the Higher Institute of Music in Damascus, The Music Academies of Sofia, Istanbul, Bucharest, Bratislava, and Belgrade. She is currently on the faculty of the Summer Rhodope Festival in Bulgaria and has taught at the College of New Rochelle, Adelphi University, and University of Alabama. MS. Valkenburg has appeared in radio and television broadcasts for the CNN World Report, CNN Turk, Polish and Czech Television and has received praise for her work and artistry from the New York Times, Newsday, and The Washington Post.