The Lively Spirit

Celebrating Faith and the Creative Arts

Sunday, October 19, 2025 | 11:30 AM | Metropolitan Memorial Sanctuary

Duo Ancil - Voutsas | Works by: Liszt, Feinberg, Dvorak, and Hadjidakis

Mary-Victoria Voutsas has performed solo at many notable venues, including the Kennedy Center's Millennium Stage & Terrace Theatre. Ms. Voutsas is also one of the visiting Teaching Artists in Residency for Wolf Trap Center for the Performing Arts and has done accompaniment/ensemble work for the National Symphony Orchestra, and collaboratively performed on NPR’s Tiny Desk series. She holds the 2023 Gold Medal for the Nobel-Artist International Competition, 1st Place in the Max Bruch International Piano Competition, 1st Place in the World Music Competition of Charleston (2023), 1st Place in the UK International Music Competition Professional Category (2023), 2nd Place in the 20th Century Competition of Charleston (2023), Bronze Medal for the Carles & Sofia: Alicia de Laroccha International Piano Competition (2023), and is the 2023 Platinum Medal recipient for the Quebec International Music Festival. She was selected as the soloist for the closing event of the 75th NATO Summit in Washington, DC, and as the pianist for Warner Brothers’s 2024 Paris Olympic launch party. She has performed as a harpsichord soloist for “What Makes It Great?” accompanied by the Peabody Chamber Orchestra at the Lisner Auditorium. Her collaborative group, Salon Trio, won 3rd Place at the Lancaster Chamber Music Competition (2024). She holds her masters in Piano Performance from Catholic University and is further attending to receive her DMA. Her records are available under the Greek Chamber Music Project label, featuring solo recordings of Vasili Kalafati (Rachmaninoff’s teacher) and original arrangements of Manos Hadjidakis for prepared piano. She performs and lectures regularly for Hellenic societies and academic institutions, spreading the cultural significance imposed by socioeconomic structures created through the lack of infrastructure in post-WWII Greece.

Pianist Nolan Alexander Ancil is praised for his “clarity" and “singing tone.” He has performed both nationally and internationally (South Korea, Italy), as well as via simulcast (Spain). Notably, Nolan has performed with the University of Louisville Symphony Orchestra (2021) as the winner of the 2021 Concerto Competition. He also performed as a soloist, via global simulcast with the Festival Internacional de Música de Tecla Española (FIMTE) Granados Marathon (2018), and as a soloist and chamber player in the Orfeo Summer Music Festival (2018). Nolan is currently a doctoral candidate in piano performance at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. under Dr. Ivo Kaltchev, and the recipient of a piano scholarship. He has also received his MA in Piano Performance from The University of Louisville (UofL) studying with Dr. Anna Petrova. At UofL, Nolan was the recipient of a full graduate teaching assistantship. He received a BA in Piano Performance from the University of Texas El Paso, where he was the recipient of the William K. Hill Scholarship for Piano Performance and received the 2020 award for most outstanding performer.