In-residence Musicians for 2011

Marc Satterwhite, Coordinating Director and Instructor, Advanced Music and Composition Student Program

I n-Residence from July 29th to August 14th

Composer and bassist Marc Satterwhite is a native of Texas, where he began his musical training on the piano, later concentrating on the double bass and on composition. His graduate degrees from Indiana University are in composition. For several years he a professional orchestral bassist, including two years as assistant principal in the Mexico City Philharmonic, with whom he participated in a Grand Prix du Disque-winning series of recordings and toured the principal concert halls of the United States and Canada, as well as Mexico.

His compositions have been performed in diverse venues all over the United States, as well as in England, continental Europe, Japan, China, South Korea, Australia, Latin America and South Africa. Among the groups and individuals who have commissioned, performed and recorded his works are the Boston Symphony, the Utah Symphony, the Louisville Orchestra, the Verdehr Trio, the London Composers Ensemble, eighth blackbird, Earplay, the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, the Arsenal Trio, the Core Ensemble, Tales & Scales, the Chicago Chamber Musicians, the Millar Brass Ensemble, Chicago Symphony tubist Gene Pokorny and Houston Symphony clarinetist Richard Nunemaker. Collegiate new music ensembles performing his works include those at Indiana University, the Cleveland Institute of Music, the University of Illinois, the University of North Texas, and the University of Texas-Austin. He has had residencies at the MacDowell Colony, Yaddo and the Atlantic Center for the Arts.

James Aikman, Director Composition Program

In-Residence July 29th – August 14th

James Aikman with an extensive catalogue of strikingly original music for orchestra, chamber ensembles, voice, and electronics, has been consistently awarded and honored during the past two decades. He has received notable honors and awards from The American Music Center, The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, ASCAP, and The American Symphony Orchestra League. “We are very pleased to offer musical composition students an opportunity to learn from award-winning composer, James Aikman,” said Camie Sands, President of the International San Miguel de Allende Chamber Music Festival, entering its 32nd season.

Aikman’s music has been consistently awarded and honored during the past two decades and has been heard at prestigious festivals and venues. He has been featured at Amsterdam's Gaudeamus International, France’s Festivals International de Musique, London's Wigmore Hall, MTV, the Aspen Music Festival, the OJAI Festival, Tanglewood, The U. S. National Sports Festival (opening ceremonies), The U.S. National Figure Skating Championships (closing ceremonies), and the American Symphony Orchestra League American Repertoire Concerts 22 and Carnegie Hall. His music has been performed by many extraordinary musicians, including Joshua Bell and Dawn Upshaw.

The Parker Quartet

In-Residence from July 29th to August 3rd

2010 Grammy Award Winners, Chamber Music. Hailed by the New York Times as "something extraordinary" and by the Boston Globe for their "fiercely committed performances," the Parker Quartet has rapidly distinguished itself as one of the preeminent ensembles of its generation. The Parker Quartet began its professional touring career in 2002, and in 2005 sparked international acclaim by winning the Concert Artists Guild Competition as well as the Grand Prix and Mozart Prize at the 2005 Bordeaux International String Quartet Competition in France. Most recently, the Quartet was awarded the prestigious 2009-2011 Cleveland Quartet Award.

The Parker Quartet has been profiled in Time Out NY, The Boston Globe, Chamber Music Magazine, and on Musical America.com for their pioneering performances for audiences in non-traditional venues. In addition to concerts in bars and clubs nationwide, the ensemble was the first String Quartet in Residence at Barbes Bar and Performance Space in Brooklyn, NY, in 2007. The residency embraced a series of collaborative concerts with artists of various genres including Jazz, Folk, and World Music.

Currently, The Parker Quartet is in its second season as Quartet-in-Residence with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. In addition, they are the first-ever Artists-in-Residence with Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) and American Public Media (APM). This unprecedented residency includes performance and interview broadcasts on Performance Today and Classical FM, live chamber concerts in St. Paul, and live regional concerts and educational residencies as part of MPR’s Troubadour Concert Series throughout Minnesota and the surrounding states.

Miro String Quartet

In-Residence from August 4th to August 10th

The Miro String Quartet was founded in 1995 at the Oberlin Conservatory They are winners of the Fischoff, Banff, Coleman competitions as well as the prestigious Naumburg Chamber Music Award and the Cleveland Quartet Award. They were the first chamber ensemble ever to be awarded the Avery Fisher Career Grant. The Miro String Quartet performs regularly in many of the world’s greatest concert halls including Carnegie Hall, the Berlin Philharmonic’s Kammermusiksaal, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, and the Konzerthaus in Vienna. The group has collaborated with such artists as Leif Ove Andsnes, Joshua Bell, Eliot Fisk, Lynn Harrell, Midori, Jon Kimura Parker, and Pinchas Zukerman. They are a favorite of numerous summer festivals. The group regularly appears at the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, Chamber Music Northwest, La Jolla Summerfest (in-residence), Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival, and the White Pine Festival On short notice, Miro String Quartet has filled in for Isaac Stern and Henry Meyer leading master classes in Lucerne, Switzerland and Jeunesses Musicales Deutschland. They are currently Quartet-in-Residence at the Sarah and Ernest Butler School of Music at the University of Texas at Austin, where the ensemble members teach private students as well as coach chamber music groups.

“We attended the San Miguel Chamber Music Festival last year and loved it – from teaching the talented and energetic advanced music students, to the venues for concerts, to the cozy, yet sophisticated town itself. We’re glad to return and look forward to being in-residence instructors as well as performers. Please apply to join us.”

Henschel Quartet

In-Residence from August 11th to August 14th

The Henschel Quartet were quartet in residence at both the Aldeburgh Festival (1994) and at the Tanglewood Music Festival (1995/1996). At the latter, they were coached by the legendary musicians Louis Krasner and Eugene Lehner, who had themselves worked with composers such as Béla Bartók and Arnold Schönberg, and, who gave the quartet unique insights into the works of the Second Viennese School. In 1995 the Henschel Quartet were prize-winners of no less than five prizes at International String Quartet competitions in Evian, Banff and Salzburg for the best interpretation of works ranging from Mozart up to contemporary composers. In 1996 they won the first prize and gold medal at the coveted Osaka International String Competition. Highly acclaimed debut concerts in many of Europe's prestigious concert halls helped to firmly establish the Henschel Quartet as one of today's leading string quartets. Constant critical acclaim has led to an impressive international career. This season’s engagements include amongst others tours of USA, China, Japan, Germany, Italy, Spain, Scandinavia, Netherlands and England.
The Quartet's teaching activities takes them to major conservatories at home and abroad, to American universities as e.g. the MIT Boston, Boston Conservatory, the University of California, in Australia to the Victorian College of the Arts Melbourne and other Melbourne faculties, in England to the Dartington Summer School. In 2010 the Henschel Quartet has found an incorporated society supporting projects for the promotion of the arts. Along with the ministry of education of Bavaria the Henschel Quartet`s society in February 2010 introduces culture sponsorships by Rotary Clubs for students.

Adolfo Gabriel Ramos Reynoso

July 28th - August 14th

With a remarkable and steady career ascent, Adolfo Ramos has earned recognition by the music industry and critics after his debut as soloist in the International Cervantino Festival 2001 accompanied by the National Symphony Orchestra, and still more for his outstanding performance as a soloist during the orchestra's tour in the United States, the fall of 2002, as well as his frequent performances along different directors such as Jorge Mester, Enrique Diemecke, Dominique Routis, Thomas Sanderling, Guillermo Salvador , and Armando Ramos Román Revueltas, among others. He has also performed as a soloist with: The Chamber of Fine Arts, Symphony Carlos Chávez, Mexican Youth Symphony, Symphony San Miguel de Tucuman in Argentina, Aguascalientes Symphony and the Mexcio City Philarmonic Orchestra and as a recitalist and Chamber Musician in Mexico, United States, Europe and South America, highlighting his performance in the 4th. Spring Festival of Oaxaca city, The Fall Festival "Eduardo Mata, International Puebla Festival 2000, The México’s City Hystorical Festival. The International Forum of New Music " Manuel Enriquez ", The Morelia International Festival, The 2002 International Bach Festival in Trujillo, Peru, The Chamber Music Festival of Lima, The XII Caribbean Composers Forum held in Medellin, Colombia and the Festival “Aujourd'hui Musiques” 1997 in Perpignan, France where his performances were broadcasted live on the radio station “Radio France” within their radio program “France Musique”.

Pupil of his Father Manuel Ramos Zamora and later during his undergraduate and graduate degree he studied with the following teachers: Savely Schuster, Leslie Parnas, Michael Tree, Helga Winold, Jason Starker, Rostislav Dubinsky, and in 1998 he obtained the Prix d'Excellence from the Conservatoire National de Musique et Danse Art Dramatique of Perpignan, France, where he worked under the guidance and direction of the Master Philippe Muller.

He holds a wide and vast repertoire that includes music from the Baroque period and goes all the way to the twenty-first century, including 20 pieces for cello and orchestra and many more for cello and piano always paying special attention, to the implementation and execution of chamber music, as well as experimental and newly established music.

Adolfo Gabriel Ramos Reynoso served as a faculty Member in the State of Mexico Music Conservatory, in addition to the Rocky Mouintains Summer Conservatory 2002 in the state of Colorado, US. In which he also featured prominently as a recitalist and chamber musician. He was also a member of the Mexican National Symphonic Orchestra for over 11 years.

He is presently performing for the Philharmonic Orchestra of Mexico City as the leading Cellist, and he is also a member of Concert Artists of Bellas Artes (Fine Arts) after winning a competitive evaluation to achieve the Bellas Artes (Fine Arts) Quartet cellist position. He is also Cello professor and Chamber Music Orchestras, besides being the director of the National Music Conservatory.

Oleg Gouk Cerwinski

July 28th - August 14th

Born in Lvov, Ukraine. He entered the Special Music School in his hometown when he was seven years old, taking lessons from renowned violinists O. Derkach and D. Lekkher.

He won first place in the "Young Violinists in the city of Kiev, Ukraine’s capital city in the year 1963, and in 1968 he won a National Competition in the same country.

In 1969, he entered Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow, where he had renowned professors such as Semion Snitkowski and David Oistrakh. In 1982 -with the Moscow Conservatory Quartet- he won the second prize in the International Belgium Competition in Liege.

From that date until 1990, he served as first violin in the Camerata Orchestra of Moscow, Chamber Orchestra Rudolf Barshay, as a solo violinist in cultural association with “Concert of Russia " and participated as guest musician in several bands of the stature of the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra, the Moscow Symphonic Orchestra of Radio and Television and the State Orchestra of the Soviet Union under the direction of masters Dimitri Kitaenko, Eugeniy Svetlanov, Juriy Simonov, as well as participating in international festivals in Germany, Hungary, Austria, Bulgaria, Italy, Japan among others.

Master Gouk arrived in Mexico in the year 1990 after an invitation made by the INBA (Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes) to fill the position as second concertmaster of the Bellas Artes Theater Orchestra.

He was first violinist and founder of the Russian-American Quartet, and frequently performs as a solo violinist with Chamber Orchestra and Baroque Music "Sociedad Camarística," Capilla Cervantina"," Capillla Virreynal de la Nueva España","Solistas Ensamble” and "Madrigalistas de Bellas Artes “.

He has also played alongside the Masters Maria Teresa Rodríguez, Jorge Federico Osorio, Oscar Tarrago, Ana Maria Tradatti, Josef Olechowski, Alberto Cruzprieto, Horacio Franco, José Suárez, Luis Humberto Ramos, Lourdes Ambriz, Jesus Suaste and the pianist Tonatiuh de la Sierra.

He teaches violin and chamber music currently at the Music Center of Puebla Graduate of the National Music Conservatory of Mexico, School of Music, and National Music Promotion and served as second concertmaster of the Orquesta del Teatro de Bellas Arts.

He has also played alongside the Masters Maria Teresa Rodríguez, Jorge Federico Osorio, Oscar Tarrago, Ana Maria Tradatti, Josef Olechowski, Alberto Cruzprieto, Horacio Franco, José Suárez, Luis Humberto Ramos, Lourdes Ambriz, Jesus and the pianist Suaste Tonatiuh de la Sierra.

He currently teaches violin and chamber music at the Pueblan Musical Center for a Graduate level, the National Music Conservatory of Mexico, Escuela Superior de Música, the Mexican National System for Musical Promotion and serves as second concertmaster of the Bellas Artes Theater Orchestra.

ARMEN AGHABEKYAN

July 28th - August 14th

Born in the city of Yerevan, Republic of Armenia in 1963. He joins the Music School "P. I. Tchaikovskyi "As a Viola specialty student, concluding his studies with the highest honors, being awarded the prize" Young Musicians of the Republic of Armenia. "In 1988, he graduated from the conservatory with excellent marks.

From 1982 -1988 was violist for the National Chamber Orchestra of Armenia. For their high marks and qualities as a viola student, the National Chamber Orchestra of Armenia allowed his admission to their ranks as one of the most talented young prospects of his generation.

From 1988 -1992, he was co-principal violist for the Opera and Ballet State Theatre Symphonic Orchestra.

From 1992-1993, he was violist of the Symphonic Orchestra for the Festival "Antología de la Zarzuela". He was invited and engaged that year to be part of the Orchestra Festival "Antología de la Zarzuela, that took place through one great season in Madrid and several other cities of Spain.

From 1993-1994, he is Principal Assistant Violist of the Symphonic Orchestra of Television and Radio of Russia. During this period, he was invited to work in the City of Moscow, under the guidance of Master Mikhailov.

From 1994-1996, he was a Moscow Symphonic Orchestra violist at this stage work under the direction of Master. R. Freisitz.

From 1996.1997 he was the Principal Violist for the “Orquesta Sinfónica de Tenerife”, Spain.

From 1997-1999 he was the Principal Violist for the National Philharmonic Orchestra of Armenia. At this stage of his life, he worked under the charge of the eminent composer and conductor L. Tchknavorian.

From 1999 -2001, he was the “Acapulco Guerrero Philharmonic Orchestra” violist.

From 2002 -2005, he was Principal Violist of the OSUAEH in the city of Pachuca, Hidalgo.

He has been a professor since 2003, for the Viola and Chamber Music class at the State of Mexico Music Conservatory

He has also been teaching the viola at the National Music Conservatory in Mexico City, since 2009

In addition, he currently assists as violist in the State of Mexico Symphonic Orchestra, under the direction of Master C. Enrique Batiz

MANUEL GONZÁLEZ

July 28th - August 14th

Born in Mexico City where he began his musical studies at age five, under the guidance of teachers José Alfonso Ordonez and Elijah, learning piano with the first teacher and music harmony and counterpoint with the second one.

He subsequently earned a scholarship to pursue his postgraduate studies in Russia, with the Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatory in St. Petersburg, tutored by Professor Tatiana Kravchenko, who was a pupil student of the eminent pianist and pedagogue Lev Oborin, and in Moscow with pianist Boris Bejterev. He has also undertaken further training with Georgy Sandor, Paul Badura Skoda and Fritz Steinegger.

In 1980 he presented to the Chamber Music section at the Domaine Pierre Monteux School in Maine, USA. On his return from Russia, he appeared in some of Mexico's most important festivals, such as the Festival Internacional Cevantino, and the Grand Festival of Mexico City, where he earned numerous compliments from critics and the press. He has also performed in international festivals such as the "Black and White" of pianists, “Camarísima” and the Valle de Bravo Festival.

This determined exponent of the great classical-romantic repertoire, which includes over three hundred and fifty works, both solo piano recitals, chamber music and concerts for piano and orchestra, he has performed in Mexico, United States, France, Germany, Spain, Cuba and Russia. In addition He has played in the following orchestras: National Symphony Orchestra of Mexico, Orquesta de Cámara de Bellas Artes, Jalapa Symphony, Carlos Chavez Symphony, Monterrey Symphony Orchestra, Symphony Orchestra of San Luis Potosi, Bajio Philharmonic, Symphony of the University Guanajuato, Guanajuato Youth Camerata Orchestra, Leon House, Chamber Orchestra of Morelia, Aguascalientes Symphony Orchestra, Symphony Orchestra of Coyoacán, Polytechnic Symphony Orchestra, Youth Symphony Orchestra Mexico State Symphony Conservatory of St. Petersburg Sinfónica de Matanzas (Cuba), among others, under the direction of Eduardo Diazmuñoz, Sergio Cardenas, Francisco Savin, Enrique Barrios, Carlos Miguel Prieto, Jose Guadalupe Flores, Armando Zayas, Alfredo Ibarra, Mario Rodríguez Taboada, Jose Miramontes, Hector Quintanar Alessandro Siciliani, Steffano Trasimeni, Enrique Pérez Mesa, Fernando Avila, and Gregory Novak to name a few.

From 1995 to 2007, Manuel had a strong working partnership with the extraordinary Russian musician violinist Mikhail Tolpygo. Currently recording for Urtext Digital Classics. Also a piano duet with pianist Marta García Renart, appearing in various forums in the country.

In the pedagogical scene, Manuel Gonzalez was working as a professor in the Introductory School of Music and Dance, as well as the Music School "Life and Movement" of the Ollin Yoliztli Cultural Center. He also worked as a full-time teacher, instructing in the Piano field in Middle school graduate education from 1989 to 2002.

In 2002 he was Director of the School of Music "Life and Movement" where he was responsible for leading the process of developing the school Curriculum from middle to graduate education, that had be approved by the authorities of the “ Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes” (Fine Arts National Institute) to then get the official certification.

He currently teaches piano and chamber music with piano at the National Conservatory of Music in Mexico.