The Castellani Andriaccio Duo

Joanne Castellani and Michael Andriaccio have enjoyed a celebrated career as one of the foremost guitars duos in the world. The Duo has recorded seven acclaimed cds, two named “Best of the Year” by Fanfare Magazine and American Record Guide, including two world premier recordings of works by Roberto Sierra with the Israel Chamber Orchestra. Critics around the globe from the New York Times to Gramophone Magazine have unanimously praised their, “elegance, style, poise and exquisite taste in interpretation”. The Duo has performed at such prestigious venues as the White House, the JFK Center for the Performing Arts, Carnegie Recital, the Casals Festival, the Smithsonian Institution and many others. Currently, Joanne and Michael are the Artistic Directors of the JoAnn Falletta International Guitar Concerto Competition presented by WNED-FM and the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra. Joanne Castellani has served as Executive Director of Competitions for the Guitar Foundation of America and is on the music faculty of SUNY Buffalo while maintaining a full private teaching studio of traditional and Suzuki students. Michael’s newly released world premiere recording with the London Symphony Orchestra of “Goyescana”, Concerto for Guitar and Orchestra by three-time Grammy and Ace award winning composer, Michael Colina, is garnering unanimous international critical acclaim.

For more information, please contact the Fleur de Son Classics at 716.681.8106 or by internet at www.fleurdeson.com.

Joanne Castellani and Michael Andriaccio use Savarez Strings exclusively.

For more information, please contact:
Fleur de Son Classics, Ltd.
www.fleurdeson.com
716.681.8106

David Dusman

(preliminary round judge)

In his nearly 30 years in the professional audio industry, David Dusman has held posts as Recording Studio Manager at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY., Summer Recording Faculty at SUNY Fredonia, and is currently an Adjunct Professor at Niagara County Community College as well as Vice President of Engineering for Fleur De Son Classics.  Mr. Dusman is also active as an independent engineer, providing location recording as well as studio recording, mixing, mastering and post production services to the classical and jazz music fields.  He is a principal in Dusman Audio, Inc.

 

Mr. Dusman has worked with numerous orchestras, including the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, Israel Chamber Orchestra, and has recently completed a project for Fleur De Son Classics with the London Symphony Orchestra at the famed Abbey Road Studios.  Additional artists he has worked with include the Castellani – Andriaccio Duo, The Corigliano Quartet, The New Arts Trio, Nexus Percussion Ensemble, Melia Watras, Rebecca Penneys, along with jazz artists Peter Nero, Jerry Bergonzi, Marian McPartland, Jeff Tyzik, Bill Dobbins, Ray Ricker, Gene Bertoncini, Chris Jentsch,  and Harold Danko.  His work can be heard on such prestigious record labels as BMG, Philips, Naxos, Vox Classics, Fleur De Son Classics, Albany Records, and Advance Music, as well as on films produced by American Movie Classics, Kino International, Turner Broadcasting, and Milestone Films.

Eduardo Fernandez

Recognized as one of the leading guitarists of today, Fernandez was born in 1952 in Uruguay, and studied with Abel Carlevaro, Guido Santorsola and Hector Tosar. After several international prizes in competitions, his New York debut in 1977, which received spectacular reviews, launched him on an international career. He has played and given master classes all over the world. His recordings cover a substantial part of the repertoire, solo as well as concerti. He has done 18 CDs for Decca/London, 4 for Oehms Classics (his current label) and has also recorded for ERATO (with violinist Alex Markov), Labor Records, and for DENON and Meister Music in Japan (with Shin-Ichi Fukuda, with whom he often plays guitar duo). He is also an active composer and a researcher at Uruguay's state university, and has published books on guitar technique and on J.S.Bach's works for lute, as well as many articles in leading guitar magazines. He is also Artistic Director of Colombia's biannual "Encuentros Internacionales de Guitarra".

DANIEL HART

Preliminary Round Judge

Now in his 8th season as Executive Director of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra (2004-present), Daniel Hart has 25 years of experience in orchestra management.  In 1986 he was chosen to participate in the prestigious Orchestra Management Fellowship Program of the League of American Orchestras.  His Fellowship year included work with The Cleveland Orchestra, the Colorado Springs Symphony and the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra with legendary managers such as Kenneth Haas and Bea Vradenburg.

Mr. Hart’s first position after the Fellowship was as Assistant Manager/Development Director of the Kansas City Symphony (1987-88) where his duties spanned fundraising, education and operations. His first Executive Director post was with Baton Rouge Symphony (1988-90), followed by the Colorado Springs Symphony (1990-94), the Virginia Symphony Orchestra (1994-98), and just prior to his arrival in Buffalo, with the Columbus Symphony Orchestra as President and Executive Director (1998-2004).  Over the years Mr. Hart has served on committees of the League of American Orchestras and as a grant review panelist for the Colorado Arts Council, the Louisiana Division of the Arts and the Michigan Council on the Arts.

The Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, operating on a budget of $10 million, lists numerous recent achievements since 2004 including a successful $30 million endowment campaign; a much-heralded 5-city tour to Florida in 2010; the highest subscription sales to date;  a dramatic increase from 15,000 to over 40,000 in students for its education programs; a total of 13 completed recording projects since 2004, including 11 on the Naxos label, one of which was the recipient of two GRAMMYs in 2009; two appearances on NPR’s popular program “From the Top” with Christopher O’Reilly; and as many as 20 nationwide concert broadcasts annually on American Public Radio’s Performance Today.

Trained as a musician on double bass, Mr. Hart performed as a member of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, the American Youth Orchestra, Debut Orchestra of the Young Musicians Foundation in Los Angeles and the Rome Festival Orchestra in Rome, Italy, before embarking on a career in orchestra management. Mr. Hart is married to Barbara Carpenter and resides in Snyder with their two children, Allison and John. Mr. Hart enjoys photography, sailing and playing guitar in his free time and he currently serves as a Board member of Young Audiences of Western New York.

Adam Holzman

Adam Holzman has been at the forefront of the American guitar scene for the past 30 years as a teacher, international performer and recording artist. A winner of numerous international competitions including First Prize at the 1983 Guitar Foundation of America Competition, Mr. Holzman's has performed at some of the world's most prestigious halls including the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and Carnegie Recital Hall in New York City. He is a frequent performer at music festivals and concert series from Miami to San Francisco, Boston to New Orleans. His extensive international performances have taken him throughout Europe, Canada, Mexico, Central and Latin America.   His recordings for Naxos and HRH have received rave reviews from critics around the globe.

Adam Holzman holds the Parker C. Fielder Regents Fellow in Music and is the founder of the Guitar Department at the University of Texas at Austin. His students have won an array of international prizes and many of them hold university positions in the U.S and Mexico.  Mr. Holzman's performance studies were with Bruce Holzman at Florida State University, Albert Valdes Blain, Eliot Fisk and Oscar Ghiglia. He was chosen twice to perform in the historic Master classes of the legendary Andres Segovia.

You can learn more about Adam Holzman at  www.adamholzman.net.

Ricardo Iznaola

Ricardo Iznaola, Chair of the Guitar and Harp Department and Director of the Conservatory Program at DU's Lamont School of Music, is John Evans Distinguished Professor in Music, a distinction bestowed on Professor Iznaola in the Fall of 2004. Born in Havana, Cuba, in 1949, he and his family moved to the United States in 1980, after having lived in Colombia, Venezuela and Spain. He was appointed faculty at the University of Denver in 1983. An international concert performer, he is a noted composer and pedagogue, with compositions and texts published in Europe, the United States and South America. He has 17 recordings in his catalogue, and has won nine international awards as performer and composer. Besides the John Evans Professorship, the University of Denver has recognized Professor Iznaola's achievements as a creative artist, scholar and pedagogue by naming him University Lecturer, in 1999, and Distinguished Lamont Faculty Artist in 1990.

Tony Morris

Tony Morris is heard by radio listeners on over 250 stations world-wide of the Classical Guitar Alive program. He is an active performer as both a solo guitarist and with flutist Renata Green.  He has performed multiple times at the White House, and was chosen by the US State Dept. to serve as a Cultural Envoy for a 2010 concert tour of Paraguay in honor of  the 125th anniversary of the birth of Paraguayan guitarist-composer Agustin Barrios Mangore. He frequently serves as an adjudicator,  lecturer, and served as adjunct guitar professor at Texas Lutheran University from 2006-2011.

Berta Rojas

Renowned for her flawless technique and innate musicality, Berta Rojas ranks among today’s foremost classical guitarists.  On the concert stage, she moves easily between classical and other musical genres.  She continues to captivate audiences and critics from Carnegie Hall to the South bank Centre in London, selling out venues around the world.

Berta maintains a busy schedule of CD recordings.  Her Intimate Barrios is one of the most celebrated recordings of the great Paraguayan, glowing with the insight that only a Paraguayan compatriot could bring to his music.

She is Professor of Guitar at George Washington University, Washington DC.   Berta was acknowledged for her artistic excellence by the Kennedy Center, which named her a Kennedy Center Fellow of the Americas.  She is also committed to furthering the growth of the classical guitar in the Americas with particular focus on supporting young performers.   In 2009 she created the first online classical guitar competition, The Barrios WorldWideWeb  Competition which generated tremendous interest throughout the guitar world.