Scott Tennant
SCOTT TENNANT is considered to be one of the world’s premiere guitar virtuosos, and is a favorite guest artist with orchestras, on music series and major guitar festivals around the world. He is a founding member of the Grammy®-winning ensemble L.A. Guitar Quartet, now in their 30th year. He has made numerous recordings as a soloist on the GHA and Delos labels, and with members of the LAGQ he has recorded for GHA, Delos, Sony Classical, Windham Hill, Deutsche Grammophon and Telarc labels. Their Telarc release “LAGQ LATIN” was nominated for a Grammy®, and it was their Telarc title “LAGQ’S GUITAR HEROES” which won a Grammy® as the best classical crossover recording of 2005.
Mr. Tennant is well known as a teacher and author, currently with eight books to his name. His first book, Pumping Nylon, is an advanced book on classical guitar technique and is used by students and teachers alike in most of the world’s major guitar programs. It has attained a kind of “cult status”, being hailed as the only book of its kind. He lives in the Los Angeles area, and is on the faculties of the USC Thornton School of Music, and the Pasadena Conservatory of Music.
Rene Izquierdo
Rene Izquierdo, a native from Cuba, graduated from the Guillermo Tomas, Amadeo Roldan Conservatory and Superior Institute of Art in Havana. In the United States, Mr. Izquierdo earned a Master of Music and an Artist Diploma degrees from the Yale University School of Music, where he studied with Benjamin Verdery. While at Yale he represented the university in an exchange program with the Conservatoire National de Musique et de Danse du Paris and worked with guitarists Olivie Chassain and Roland Dyens. Rene has appeared as a guest soloist and in chamber music concerts throughout the United States, Cuba and Europe. He has shared the stage with prestigious guitarists including Eliot Fisk, Benjamin Verdery and Jorge Morel, as well as renowned flutist Ransom Wilson, soprano Lucy Shelton, David Jolley and Paquito d’Rivera. Renowned composers such as Jorge Morel and Carlos R. Rivera have dedicated works to him.
Mr. Izquierdo is a recipient of numerous awards. He is a winner of JoAnn Falletta International Guitar Competition in 2004, Extremadura International Guitar Competition, Schadt String competition, Stotsenberg International Guitar Competition among others.
He is currently a professor of classical guitar at the Wisconsin State University in Milwaukee and an active solo performer and chamber musician. Rene has studied with Leo Brouwer, David Russell, Shin-Ichi Fukuda, Eli Kassner, Pepe Romero, Angel Romero, Carlos Barbosa-Lima, David Starobin, Eduardo Fernandez, Jorge Morel, Robert Beaser and Anthony Newman among others.
Jorge Caballero
Guitarist and composer Jorge Caballero is the youngest musician and the only guitarist to win the Naumburg International Competition Award, one of the most prestigious and coveted awards given to performers of any instrument, and comparable to the Pulitzer Prize for musicians. He is known for his dazzling virtuosity, his intense musicality and his spellbinding performances. Widely regarded as one of the finest guitarists of his generation, Allan Kozzinn of the New York Times called him a "superb young guitarist" and praised his rare combination of "a deft, powerful technique and a soft-spoken interpretive persona."
Mr. Caballero has performed as a soloist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Orchestra of St. Luke's, the New York Chamber Symphony, the Naples Philharmonic and the Presidential Symphony of Ankara, Turkey, among others. His recital appearances include performances at New York's Alice Tully Hall, the Library of Congress in Washington (in the historic Great Performers Series), the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco, the Da Camera Society in Los Angeles and other venues in the United States and internationally. Recent performances include recitals at the Santo Tirso Guitar Festival in Portugal, as well as concerts in Brazil, Paraguay, Bolivia, Peru and Mexico.
Mr. Caballero was featured as the center artist for the production of "Austin Pictures," one of the largest events ever produced featuring a solo classical guitar. The production took place at the Austin City Limits Live Theater and it involved visual arts, film, and Mr. Caballero's performance of Modest Mussorgsky's iconic work "Pictures at an Exhibition." The show was broadcasted live on National Public Radio (KUT 90.5 FM Austin), and on KLRU (PBS) National Television later.
In 2009, Mr. Caballero was called at the last minute to replace John Williams at the 18th edition of the Iserlohn Guitar Symposium, one of the most important guitar festivals in Europe. Reviews of the concert state that "From the first note, [Mr. Caballero] revealed a perfect mastery of guitar and music." Another critic said: "If I had not shaken hands with him, I would not have had the certainty of having seen a human being... The guitar proved to be a universal instrument with unlimited possibilities of orchestration and better than any other instrument."
Mr. Caballero recorded Antonin Dvorak's "New World" Symphony transcribed for solo guitar, a work that he is one of only two guitarists in the world to perform. His Musical Heritage CD of Bach Cello Suites, recorded in 2000, was highly praised by critics, drawing comparisons to Casals, Rostropovich and Segovia. He recently recorded "Alba," a one-movement work by American Composer Mark N. Grant, released last year on Albany Records. A recording of Bach keyboard works is in the planning stages, as well as a recording of Alban Berg's Piano Sonata Op. 1, also arranged by Mr. Caballero, and arguably one of the most important works ever arranged for the guitar. Earlier this year, Mr. Caballero was featured playing a 1940 Hauser I guitar (formerly played by Julian Bream) in three videos produced by the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
A native of Lima, Peru, Mr. Caballero comes from a musical family. His mother is a well-known singer in Peru and as a child he spent many evenings sitting backstage at her concerts. He learned to play guitar from his father, but he had already absorbed much knowledge about the instrument from listening to his father give lessons. Growing up at a time when terrorists in Peru bombed electrical stations, he became an expert at practicing in the dark.
He began his professional training at the National Conservatory in Lima, studying with Oscar Zamora. He later studied in the United States, where he attended the Manhattan School of Music. He is the recipient of top prizes at the Tokyo International Guitar Competition, the Luis Sigall Competition, and the First Latin American Guitar Competition, in addition to the Naumburg, which he won in 1996 at age 19.
Mr. Caballero's repertoire is notable for its breadth and scope: When he applied to the conservatory, his teacher suggested that perhaps he should list the pieces that he did not play, since there were so few of them. It ranges from Bach to Ginastera, from Paganini to Ponce, from Scarlatti and Dowland to Giuliani and Legnani, from Renaissance pieces for the vihuela to modern composers like Carter, Berio and Ferneyhough.
João Luiz
Brasil Guitar Duo, winner of the 2006 Concert Artists Guild International Competition, and hailed by Classical Guitar magazine for its "maturity of musicianship and technical virtuosity," is equally at home on a classical or a world-music series. Its innovative programming features a seamless blend of traditional and Brazilian works, resulting in a global touring schedule and a growing catalogue of critically acclaimed recordings.
An eager advocate for both traditional and new concerti for two guitars and orchestra, the Duo premiered a Concerto for Two Guitars and Orchestra by Brazilian composer Paulo Bellinati in 2012 with the São Paulo Symphony Orchestra under Giancarlo Guerrero. Recent engagements include concerts with the Dallas and Houston symphony orchestras, Ohio's Dayton Philharmonic and Lancaster Symphony Orchestra, and the Philharmonic Orchestra of the Americas.
Brasil Guitar Duo strives to expand the repertoire for two guitars, with Lora contributing works of his own and Luiz arranging both classical and Brazilian music. The Duo performs a broad repertoire of classical guitar duos (Bach, Sor, Scarlatti, Debussy, etc.) combined with the traditional music of its native land (choro, samba, maxixe, and baião).
The Duo's first CD, in 2007, was Bom Partido, a CAG Records release featuring all Brazilian repertoire. Two critically acclaimed Naxos CDs, released in 2008 and 2009, contain the complete works for two guitars by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco. Its latest CD, on the Avie label, is a collaboration with flutist Marina Piccinini that features all of J.S. Bach's sonatas for flute and harpsichord, as arranged by the Duo for flute and two guitars.
Duo members João Luiz and Douglas Lora met in São Paulo as teenage guitar students and have been performing together for more than fifteen years. The Duo's primary studies were with Henrique Pinto along with Fabio Zanon, Paulo Martelli, Sergio Abreu, and Alice Artz. Douglas Lora earned his Master's degree at the University of Miami, and João Luiz at New York’s Mannes College the New School for Music. Luiz is head of the guitar department at the State University of New York-Purchase, and also teaches guitar at New Jersey City University.
Newman & Oltman Guitar Duo
Hailed as a “revelation to hear” by The Washington Post, the Newman & Oltman Guitar Duo’s phenomenal musicianship places them solidly at the top of their field. Their innovative programming, matchless technique and ensemble precision, combined with their commitment to expanding the repertoire for guitar duo make them a stand-out chamber ensemble in every way.
Newman and Oltman’s concert tours have taken them to world cultural capitals and premiere venues across five continents. Recent highlights include performances in the United States and Asia, major capitals of Europe, South America, South Africa, Canada, the Caribbean and the South Pacific, with performances at Carnegie Hall, aboard the Queen Elizabeth II, at Caramoor and at the Grand Canyon, among other locales. The Duo has demonstrated extraordinary stylistic breadth in their collaborations with such diverse artists as author Frank McCourt (“Angela’s Ashes”), composer/conductor Marvin Hamlisch and the Pittsburgh Symphony Pops, mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade, violinist Arnold Steinhardt, fiddler Eileen Ivers, and numerous string quartets including ETHEL, Calder, Daedalus and Turtle Island.
Upcoming performances for 2010 will include collaborations with violinist Timothy Fain at the Raritan River Music Festival, flutist Clare Hoffman and bandoneon virtuoso Daniel Binelli at the Grand Canyon Music Festival, and the New York premiere of Repentance by Sofia Gubaidulina (for three guitars, cello and bass) at the New York Guitar Seminar at Mannes. The Duo will also perform concerts and master classes at the Iserlohn International Festival in Germany and at the International Music Festival F. Sor in Bogota, Colombia.
Through their groundbreaking New Music Commissioning Program, Newman & Oltman have built a unique repertoire of works for two guitars by leading and emerging composers such as Paul Moravec, Augusta Reed Thomas, Lowell Liebermann, Dušan Bogdanović and Roberto Sierra. The duo’s latest CD, Music from Raritan River (MSR Classics 1298), which was hailed by Fanfare Magazine as “top notch” and “a winner all around”, features a collection of world premieres commissioned by the duo over the past decade.
Their artistry has also been captured on nearly a dozen other acclaimed recordings, including Songs of Spain (BMG), Laments and Dances: Music from the Folk Traditions (Music Masters) with the Turtle Island Quartet, Sally Rogers and Jay Unger, Tango Suite! Romance for Two Guitars (Music Masters) and Christmas Pastorale: 600 Years of Carols, Chorales, Preludes and Pastorales on Two Guitars (Musical Heritage Society). Their recordings uniformly garner critical praise: “A reference standard” (Billboard), “Their duet recordings reveal a finely blended sound and true unity of timbre and style” (The New York Times), “…beautifully realized performances” (Guitar Player Magazine).
Newman & Oltman’s contributions to the world of music have been recognized by grants and awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, Chamber Music America, and other national and international organizations, including the ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming.
The Duo has served as ensemble-in-residence at New York’s Mannes College of Music since 1987, and has recently been featured artists-in-residence at Cornell University, University of Puerto Rico, and Lafayette College in Pennsylvania. Michael and Laura are founders and artistic directors of the New York Guitar Seminar at Mannes, which takes place every summer in New York City (www.mannes.edu/guitar). They also are founders and music directors of New Jersey’s Raritan River Concerts and the Raritan River Music Festival (www.RaritanRiverMusic.org).
Michael Newman serves on the faculty of Mannes College. Laura Oltman serves on the faculties of Princeton University and Lafayette College.
Mariano Aguirre
Mariano Aguirre has performed in the United States and Mexico. Past engagements include performances at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, The Cathedral of St. John the Divine, The Noon Concert Series at Trinity Church, Music from Good Shepherd, and Music in Chelsea. He has appeared at many festivals, including the Young Artist Series at the Aspen Music Festival, Bach and the Baroque Festival, and the Warwick Music Festival in the United States. He has toured in Mexico performing at the National University, Centro Nacional de las Artes, and the Conservatorio de las Rosas. Mr. Aguirre performs with Duo Cantabile for voice and guitar and is a co-founder of the Six Hands Guitar Trio. Recordings of his work appear on the Vienna Modern Masters label. Mr. Aguirre is on faculty at Mannes College and the Brooklyn Music School.
Duo Cantabile
LAURI AGUIRRE, SOPRANO AND MARIANO AGUIRRE, CLASSICAL GUITAR
The voice and guitar ensemble Duo Cantabile has been charming audiences since its inception in 2002. They have received great accolades for their spirited and heart-felt performances spanning repertoire from Renaissance to Folk. Lauri and Mariano Aguirre have performed in the United States and Mexico in such venues as Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, Trinity Church, Templo del Carmen, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, CAMI Hall and Queen’s Town Hall, to name a few. Duo Cantabile has participated twice in the Discover concert series at The Cathedral of St. John the Divine and the Music in Chelsea series at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, as well as other recital venues in the New York metropolitan area.
In addition to forming this artistic venture, both musicians have active solo careers both here and abroad. Lauri has performed in opera, oratorio and musical theater venues ranging from the Finnish National Opera Company in Helsinki to the Village Light Opera Group in New York City. She has enjoyed numerous oratorio engagements as soprano soloist for Handel’s Messiah, Mozart’s Requiem, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Dubois’ Seven Last Words of Christ. She will be performing Purcell’s Come Ye Sons of Art and Mozart’s Vesperae Solennes de Confessore in June with the Brooklyn Contemporary Chorus. Her operatic performances have included Le Nozze di Figaro, La Traviata, Lucia di Lammermoore, Don Carlo, Falstaff and Lohengrin. Mariano has performed recitals in the United States and Mexico and has appeared at many festivals, including the Young Artist Series at the Aspen Music Festival, the Warwick Music Festival, Mexico’s National University and the Centro Nacional de las Artes. His awards include the Gregory Award for Excellence in Performance given by The New School University and the Artists International Competition. He is a member and a cofounder of the Six Hands Guitar Trio with whom he has recorded on the Vienna Modern Masters label.
Aside from their performing endeavors, Lauri and Mariano have busy private music studios and are faculty of the Brooklyn Music School. Mariano also teaches at the Mannes College of Music Preparatory Division. They both are graduates of the Mannes College of Music in New York City and hold bachelor and master degrees with honors from this institution. The artists have also found joy beyond their music making; Lauri and Mariano were married in 2005.
Elina Chekan
Elina (Ella) Chekan is currently teaching classical guitar at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee where she also directs the Suzuki and Pre-College Guitar Program.
A native of Minsk, Belarus, Ella began studying guitar at the age of 13 with Valeriy Gromov. She graduated from Minsk Music College in 1994, and the Belarus Academy of Music in 1999 under Eugene Gridiushko with a degree in Classical Guitar Performance, Orchestral Conducting, and Guitar Pedagogy.
In the year 2000 Ella entered Yale University where she received the Louis and Anne Rosoff award and graduated with a degree in Classical Guitar Performance with professor Ben Verdery.
Combining active performance and teaching careers, Ella has appeared as a soloist, and chamber musician throughout the United States and abroad.
Some of this year's appearances include Chamber Music Milwaukee Series, Brussels Royal Museum of Musical Instrument in Belgium, Tucson Classical Guitar Society, Mannes College Guitar Festival in New York.
In her teaching Ella believes in the individualized approach to every student with tailored instruction based on student needs. Mrs. Chekan has extensive knowledge of guitar pedagogy and repertoire, and has experienced first hand different guitar schools of thought. Ella is also a certified Suzuki instructor registered with the Suzuki Association of Americas. All this experience allows her to find unique approaches and repertoire for each of her students, giving them a solid foundation in technique and musicianship at an early stage.
Along with conducting Ella has arranged a wide variety of music for solo and chamber music. Since 2005, Ella is on the faculty at "Usdan Center for the Performing Arts" in Long Island, NY. In addition to teaching and performing at USDAN, she conducts the guitar orchestra with up to sixty performers.
In her quest for present-day student repertoire, Ella comissioned composer Jorge Morel to write a series of student repertoire solo and ensemble pieces that is published by Mel Bay. In her believe that young players are our future, Ella is working with musicians and composers encouraging them to write appealing and musically interesting pieces for the young generation of guitarists.
Renowned Argentinean Composer Jorge Morel dedicated to Ms. Chekan his composition "Campañas" published by Mell Bay in "The Magnificent Guitar of Jorge Morel".
Ella Chekan performs on a John Price guitar and uses Savarez strings.
James Day
James M. Day is Assistant Dean of the School of the Arts and Communication at The College of New Jersey. He is active as performer, scholar and teacher in Europe and the United States. His performances have included appearances at Juilliard's Paul Recital Hall, Bruno Walter Auditorium at Lincoln Center, SolarFest Performing Arts Festival in Vermont, The International Guitar and Lute Exposition in Vicenza, Italy, and St. James Piccadilly in London. His performances have been broadcast on public television and radio and he has received numerous awards, including a top prize in the Rantucci International Guitar Competition in Buffalo. Recent seasons include engagements in the U.S. with Harrisburg Symphony, Eastern Wind Symphony, Boheme Opera Theater of New Jersey, Car Music Project, Princeton Girl Choir, and Guitar Foundation of America International Convention in Los Angeles, and numerous collaborations with soprano Judith Bettina.
As a promoter of new music, Dr. Day has collaborated closely with composers in the creation and performance of new solo and chamber works. His recent activities include the commission and world-premiere of Eric Sessler's song cycle Good Words to You(2008), James Lentini's No Boundaries (2008) for solo guitar, Michael Karmon's Rain (2009) and the world-premiere of Paul Lansky's Preludes (2008). Additionally, he is featured in the world-premiere recording of Laurie Altman's Octet on the album On Course (Albany Records, 2008). His collaborations in new music have received grant support from the Howard Hanson Institute for American Music, Meet the Composer, Musical Fund Society of Philadelphia, and the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts.
In the field of art song, Day's performances have been hailed as "very sensitive, technically and musically" by Soundboard(Journal of the Guitar Foundation of America). His recording, Night and Dreams: Franz Schubert Lieder with Guitar, with tenor Robert Swensen, was released by Clear Note Publications in 2008. Additionally, Dr. Day has given scholarly lecture-performances on both historical and contemporary art song with guitar at Eastman School of Music, the Philadelphia Guitar Festival, College Music Society International Conference in Madrid and Northeast Conference in Princeton, the Staatliche Hochschule for Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Stuttgart, Germany. His research on the subject has also been published in Soundboard.
Dr. Day received his Bachelor of Music degree at the North Carolina School of the Arts under Aaron Shearer and Gerald Klickstein, and his Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees in Performance and Literature from the Eastman School of Music under Nicholas Goluses. In addition, he has pursued advanced studies with Oscar Ghiglia at both the Accademia Chigiana in Siena, Italy, and at Incontri chitarrstici in Gargnano, Italy. As a student he performed in master classes of some of the world's greatest virtuosi including Pepe Romero, David Russell, Paul O'Dette, and William Kanengiser. In 2005, Dr. Day held a three-month residency as guest artist teacher at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst and Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität in Frankfurt, Germany. In 2011, as recipient of a prestigious Australia Endeavor Award, he held a six-week residency at the Centre for Cultural Partnerships at the University of Melbourne to pursue his growing interest in community-based arts.
Dr. Day has led guitar studies at The College of New Jersey since 1997. In May 2012, he was appointed Assistant Dean for the School of the Arts and Communication at The College of New Jersey after serving as the Interim Assistant Dean the previous year.
Ana Maria Rosado
Guitarist Ana María Rosado is a dynamic interpreter of classical and contemporary music who has concertized throughout the United States, Europe, Latin America and the Far East. Prominent composers have written works for the Puerto Rican artist, including Jorge Morel, Tania León, Laura Kaminsky, David Fetherolf, Roque Cordero, Rafael Aponte-Ledée, Francis Schwartz and Edmundo Vásquez.
Her interpretations of Twentieth-Century music have been widely praised, noting “carefully shaded readings of Falla’s Homenaje and Ponce’s Theme, Varie et Finale,” and that “she rose to the challenges of Francis Schwartz’s We’ve Got (Poly)Rhythm” [The New York Times]. Her debut solo compact disc on the Albany Records label, We’ve got (poly)rhythm, was critically acclaimed, and her interpretations praised for “each cunningly placed note, chord and expression mark” — Classical Guitar, U.K.
Her second solo CD, independently released on CDBaby.com: Salsa and other beats (2010) has been hailed as exquisite by discerning listeners. Another CD release in 2010, The Beauty In America by flutist Carla Auld on the MSR Label, features AMR with Ms. Auld in a selection of Robert Beaser’s Mountain Songs.
Ana María’s playing has been heralded as having “great style and zeal” [The San Juan Star, Puerto Rico], with “total command both technically and musically of the guitar” [La Nación, Costa Rica]. Appearances in chamber music has also garnered acclaim: “Arrangements for guitar rather than piano gave a more vernacular grounding to the accompaniment, sensitively played by Ana María Rosado.” — The Washington Post
New York appearances have included featured performances in solo and ensemble works at Merkin Hall, Town Hall, Weill Recital Hall, Symphony Space and at the New School, among other venues. Recital presentations have included New Jersey City University, Rutgers University at Newark, Farleigh Dickinson University, Touro College and at the Brooklyn College/Conservatory of Music.
She has participated as performer and master class instructor in several festivals; the Mannes Guitar Seminar in NYC, the Inter-American Music Festival, the Ibero-American Arts Festival, and the Guitar Festival, in Puerto Rico, the Tenth International Guitar Week in Denver, Colorado, and the International Youth Music Festival in Bulgaria.
As an Artistic Ambassador for the USIA, she toured México, Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, Honduras, Perú, Bolivia and Argentina. Of these performances, critics commented that “(Rosado) is especially gifted in transmitting traditional and folk essences through her guitar. She possesses technique and expository elegance in her musical articulations…” — La Nación, Buenos Aires.
Legendary Spanish guitarist Andrés Segovia personally selected Rosado to perform in a concert given in his honor at the Manhattan School of Music, from among the participants in his last master classes.
Ana María Rosado currently serves as Associate Professor of Music and Coordinator of Guitar and Graduate Studies at the New Jersey City University. She taught guitar and chamber music at the Manhattan School of Music Precollege Division for many years. She has also been a Guest Lecturer at Rutgers University for the Latino and Hispanic Caribbean Studies Department in the Livingston campus.
She received her Doctorate in Musical Arts Performance from the Stony Brook University. Other studies include Professional Studies at the Manhattan School of Music and Diplôme d’Execution at the Ecole Normale de Musique in Paris, and degrees from the University of Paris VIII and the University of Puerto Rico. She has studied guitar with Juan Sorroche, Alberto Ponce, Sharon Isbin and Jerry Willard, and in master classes with Andrés Segovia and Manuel Barrueco.
Francisco Roldán
Colombian-born guitarist Francisco Roldán played last year, among other concerts, at the Dominican Republic Guitar Festival and at the Mannes College Guitar Festival, NYC. This year, 2014, he will perform in concerts for Lincoln Center Local Live in NYC, for ArtsQuest in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and for Latin American Cultural Week in NYC. He has performed in Russia, Spain, Colombia, Lithuania, Argentina, and Paraguay. He has also played throughout the United States at Merkin Concert Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Weill Recital Hall and CAMI Hall in New York, the Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC, Harmony Hall in Maryland, St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Milwaukee, for the Philadelphia Guitar Society, the New Jersey Chamber Music Society, the Puffin Gallery, the Colombian Consulates in New York and in Boston, the Smithsonian Library in Washington, D.C., the Museum of the City of New York, Round Top Music Festival, the Spanish Institute, Gracie Mansion, the Americas Society, and various universities and libraries. In the summer of 2007 he participated in a recital as an Invited Artist at the Interpretation of Spanish Song Festival in Granada, Spain. He was invited back to the 2008 Festival in Granada as a Guest Artist to teach and play a concert and he was invited to play a solo recital in southern Spain in the city of Berja. In 2008 he also played a concert at the Mannes 2008 Guitar Festival in New York City with his quartet, Zigzag. During the summer of 2006 Mr. Roldán played a recital in Bogotá at the Fernando Sor School of Music and was immediately invited back to teach in their annual Guitar Festival in November, 2006, and to perform another recital. He has played various concerti and has participated in numerous chamber music recitals with choruses, singers and instrumentalists. He accompanied acclaimed flamenco dancer Pilar Rioja at the Repertorio Español theatre in NYC for 8 seasons. In 1999 he was invited to perform Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez in two performances with the Celebrate! orchestra under the direction of Laurine Fox and was received with much public and critical acclaim. In the 2000 season he played a solo recital at Weill Hall, Carnegie Hall under the auspices of the Aranjuez Guitar Strings Series. In 1996 Mr. Roldán was invited to play a recital at the United Nations for the Colombian Consulate Independence Day Celebration. In 2010 he released 2 recordings: Interweaving, with soprano Gretchen Farrar, and ZigZag Quartet, with his ensemble. In 2005 he released his second CD titled Almost All Bach in which he interprets the music of Bach and Scarlatti. His first CD of solo music, titled Latin Guitar (in which he interprets the music of Barrios, Lauro, and which contains the World Premiere recording of the Dominican composer Rafael Landestoy's complete works for guitar), was released in 2003. They can all be heard and purchased at cdbaby.com.
Colombian-born guitarist Francisco Roldán has been entertaining audiences since his early years at the Mannes College of Music. He received annual scholarships and attained the Master's Degree in Performance from the Mannes College of Music. Mr. Roldán subsequently supplemented his studies by playing in master classes for Manuel Barrueco, Sharon Isbin, David Russell, and Paul Odette. In the spring of 1993 he gave a solo New York debut recital at the Weill Recital Hall, Carnegie Hall that launched his career as a soloist.
Francisco Roldán is currently on the faculty of the Mannes College of Music Extension and Preparatory Divisions, New Jersey City University and at Lehman College, City University of New York.
Carlo Valte
Carlo Valte is an active performer and teaching artist in New York and abroad. Some notable past performances include Alice Tully Hall, Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, L’Auditori de Barcelona, The Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC, Lincoln Center’s Out of Doors series, University of Chicago's Howard Mayer Brown international early music series, and The United Nations.
Projects and collaborations include Oudist for the groups Alba Consort, Adufera and Sendebar and performances with Hesperus on classical guitar, oud and percussion for the live music with silent film project The Golem.
He has given workshops, master classes and educational programs at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Queens College (CUNY), the CUNY Grad Center, The Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago, Northern Illinois University, and many public and independent schools in NYC and abroad in Barcelona, Tarragona, Girona, Lleida and Reus in Spain. In 2008 he received Harlem's Youth at Union Partnership award for creating opportunities in east Harlem with 2 years of weekly hand drumming workshops for 6-12 year olds.
His recordings are with One Soul Records, Vienna Modern Masters, and N. Y. Collegium.
Carlo is currently a faculty member of Mannes Prep teaching guitar, Bass guitar, ensembles and techniques of music classes. His own education started on the Guitar and Bandurria with C.O.S. conductor Michael Dadap. He went on to receive his Bachelor of Science and Master of Music degrees at the Mannes College of Music as a student of Frederic Hand. Jazz guitar and arranging studies were with Howard Morgen. His interest in Medieval and Near Eastern Music led him to study the Oud with Simon and Najib Shaheen in New York and Nasser Houari in Rabat, Morocco.
Leighann Narum
Described as "a fiery performer" by Oscar Ghiglia, American guitarist Leighann Narum has returned to the New York area after four years of living in and performing throughout Spain, where she was one of just two American soloists in the prestigious Foro Madrileño de la Guitarra Clásica II, held in Madrid's Centro Cultural de la Villa, and where she performed as a soloist in the Madrid concert series sponsored by the Fundación Juan March. "Having lived and studied in Spain, she displayed understanding of the music and the history that produced it," according to McClatchy Newspapers. Ms. Narum -- who frequently performs throughout Europe and the United States -- returned recently from touring Peru, where she performed and gave master classes at Instituto Cultural Peruano Norteamericano (ICPNA) for the XVII Festival International de Guitarra del ICPNA.
Other engagements have included Merkin Concert Hall in New York City, as well as appearances in Kaufmann Concert Hallwith the New York Chamber Symphony of the 92nd Street Y, playing Rodrigo's famous Concierto de Aranjuez. She performed as a guest of the Philharmonia Orchestra of Yalein the world premiere of the opera Burning Bright. In addition, she has performed as soloist and ensemble player on numerous live radio and television broadcasts, including National Public Radio and Radio Sweden.
In prior seasons, Ms. Narum has been a selected member of the South Carolina Arts Commission's Community Tour, receiving Touring Fee Support Grants from the commission to perform and teach in South Carolina. She has also received numerous other honors, including nine consecutive Superior Solo awards and two concerto awards by the National Federation of Music Clubs competition. Additionally, Ms. Narum has performed in masterclasses with noted classical guitarists Manuel Barrueco, David Russell, Carlos Barbosa-Lima, Leo Brouwer, Eduardo Fernandez and Robert Guthrie, among others.
A devoted teacher as well as performer, Ms. Narum has taught students at the International Institute in Spain and the International College of Spain. She has also been a member of the guitar faculty of Brooklyn Music School and the Classical Guitar Summer Workshop at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. She is currently teaching classical guitar at Rutgers University in Newark, N.J. She also teaches classical guitar at Rutgers University's New Brunswick campus for the Mason Gross School of the Arts Extension Division, where she serves as a College faculty member.
Ms. Narum was born in Madison, Wisconsin, where she gave her first public performance at the age of eight. She studied with Jeffrey Van at the University of Minnesota and Clare Callahan at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM). She received her Bachelor of Music degree, cum laude, in 1985 and a Master of Music in 1987 from CCM, where she also served as a Graduate assistant in classical guitar. Ms. Narum, whose post-graduate study included a year with José Tomás in Alicante, Spain, continued in Italy at Siena's famed Accademia Musicale Chigiana with Oscar Ghiglia, who awarded her the coveted Diploma di Merito for her "brilliant participation" in his master classes.