with Arturo Sandoval, trumpet

Arturo Sandoval is fluent in at least four musical languages.  He can burn through an Afro-Cuban groove, tear up a bebop tune, soar over a Mozart concerto and sooth you with a luscious ballad; with equal power and grace.

Granted political asylum in July 1990 and US citizenship in 1999, Sandoval and his family now call Miami, Florida home.  A protégé of the legendary jazz master Dizzy Gillespie, Sandoval was born in Artemisa, a small town in the outskirts of Havana, Cuba, on November 6, 1949, just two years after Gillespie became the first musician to bring Latin influences into American Jazz.  Sandoval began studying classical trumpet at the age of twelve, but it didn’t take him long to catch the excitement of the jazz world.  He has since evolved into one of the World’s most acknowledged guardians of jazz trumpet and flugel horn, as well as a renowned classical artist, pianist and composer.

with Joshua Habermann, Guest Conductor

Joshua Habermann has led honor choirs, directed choral festivals, and given presentations in North and Latin America, Europe and Asia. Recent guest conducting appearances include concerts with The Washington Chorus (Washington, D.C.), Festival Nacional de Musica (Goiânia, Brazil) and the Desert Chorale (Santa Fe, New Mexico). As a tenor he performs with the Oregon Bach Festival Chorus (Eugene, Oregon), where he can be heard on the Grammy Award-winning recording of Krzysztof Penderecki's Credo. Other projects include three recordings with Conspirare: ; Requiem, a Grammy Award nominee for best choral recording in 2006; and Threshold of Night, a Grammy Award nominee for best choral recording and best classical album in 2009.

Mr. Habermann also maintains an interest in the Hawaiian choral tradition and sings with Kawaiolaon apukanileo, a Honolulu-based ensemble dedicated to performing and preserving this unique repertoire. Other research interests include Latin American and Nordic music. His dissertation on the a cappella music of Finnish composer Einojuhani Rautavaara was a Julius Herford Prize finalist for music research in 1997.

with Kristóf Baráti, violin

Kristof Barati was born in Budapest in 1979, into a family of musicians. He spent a large part of his childhood in Venezuela and at the age of 8 performed with the Maracaibo Symphony Orchestra.

In 1996, Professor Eduard Wulfson, director of the Stradivarius Society, discovered Barati at the Jacques Thibaud Competition. Since then he became his music advisor and coach.

Barati has participated as guest professor, alongside Ida Haendel, Vadim Repin and Natalia Gutman, at the master-classes organized by Eduard Wulfson, initially at the "Chateau de Champs-sur-Marne" and at the Sorbonne University in Paris.

In addition to performing with major orchestras worldwide, Barati is a regular with the Budapest Festival Orchestra conducted by Ivan Fischer and with the Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Zoltan Kocsis.

with Pablo Sáinz Villegas, guitar

After capturing the Gold Medal at the inaugural Christopher Parkening International Guitar Competition, Pablo Sáinz Villegas has quickly established himself as one of the world's leading classical guitarists. He has performed in over twenty countries around the globe on such prestigious stages as New York’s Carnegie Hall, Milan’s Sala Verdi and Moscow’s Tchaikovsky Theater. Recipient of more than twenty-five international awards including the “Andrés Segovia” award, Mr. Sáinz Villegas has appeared as soloist with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, the Canberra Symphony Orchestra, the New York Virtuosi Chamber Symphony, Orchestra I Pomerigi Musicali and Orquesta de Radio Televisión Española, among others. He has participated in renowned international festivals in Brasilia, Granada and Strassburg, and has worked with prominent composers including George Crumb, Cristóbal Halffter and Helmut Lachenmann. Mr. Sáinz Villegas has appeared with ABC, The BBC, Radio 2 Clásica RNE, TVE, Radio France and Euroradio.

with Eglise Gutiérrez, soprano

Proclaimed “Artist of the Year 2009” at Finland’s Savonlinna Opera Festival, Ms Gutiérrez begins the year 2010 re-creating her signature performance in the title role in Lucia di Lammermoor at the Florida Grand Opera and makes her debut in this role at the Deutsche Oper Berlin. From the Teatro Colón of Buenos Aires to the stages of Bogotá Colombia, Hartford, Ct., Mexico City and Savonlinna, Finland Ms Gutiérrez has won acclaim for her deep interpretation of this bel canto masterpiece. Ms Gutiérrez will also grace the stage as Miss Lucia this year at the Vancouver Opera and the Savonlinna Opera Festival, Finland.

A fast rising star on the international opera scene, Cuban-American soprano Eglise Gutiérrez, is blazing her way across the operatic stages of Europe and America with her committed embodiments of the bel canto coloratura heroines.