The Board of Directors and its staff are committed to bringing the best of chamber music and music education to San Miguel de Allende.
Our vision is to make San Miguel de Allende an international destination for music lovers everywhere.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Helenmarie Corcoran
President
Helenmarie Anderson Corcoran moved to San Miguel de Allende in August 2014. When she noticed that there was a chamber music festival that presented artists that she had heard in the great concert halls of the world, she joined the music festival as a volunteer, then a board member, and for the past three years as its president.
Helenmarie is particularly interested in the formation of the next generation of Mexican classical musicians through the Festival’s popular Master Classes and exposure to the world-renowned artists that perform at the Festival. She relishes those unique moments of beauty that occur between the artists and the audience during Festival performances. Helenmarie believes art and music can transform lives. She brings years of experience as president of a financial planning firm, on boards of arts non-profits, and as a producer of arts events, all of which contribute to the continued success of the Festival.
Kathleen Ellsworth
Kathleen Ellsworth has been associated with the festival since 2006, when she moved permanently to San Miguel de Allende. Kathleen began as an usher but now serves as the festival’s treasurer. She also coordinates the festival’s numerous ushers who help during performances.
Kathleen deeply loves music and can play both recorder and handbell. She is especially fond of the festival’s education program in which young Mexican musicians have an opportunity to learn from and listen to world-class musicians. She says, “I have seen first-hand the impact and appreciation these young musicians experience when they come in contact with internationally famous musicians during weekend Master Classes.” For her, it is very inspiring to continue these programs and present such wonderful music programs to the San Miguel de Allende community each year.
Paulina Derbez
Paulina, Mexican-born, studied violin in Lugano, Switzerland, at the Conservatory of Italian Switzerland with Carlo Chiarappa and the D'Archi Vivaldi Academy with Susane Holm. She has been a four-time FONCA (Fondo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes) grantee. In 2016 and 2018 she was the recipient of an Ontario Arts Council grant for her interdisciplinary performance "Mirrors" with dancer Lucy Rupert. In 2018 she was the recipient of Ibermusicas grant for an artistic residency in the University of Costa Rica with her ensemble Duo Luna Derbez Salazar. With this ensemble she made her debut in Vienna in Haus der Musik. She has performed concerts and interdisciplinary events in Mexico, Colombia, Canada, Japan, Switzerland, Italy, Germany, Costa Rica, Austria and France among others. He teaches internationally in various countries such as Switzerland, Canada, Mexico, Costa Rica and Austria. In 2017 and 2018 she was part of the faculty of the International Festival Music in the Alps in Bad Gastein, Austria. Derbez is the author of the book The Conscious Musician.
In 2013 she was awarded by Quién magazine as one of the 50 personalities that transform Mexico. She was also selected as one of the "Top 10 Most Successful Mexicans in Canada" by The Globe and Mail and in 2018 she was awarded by the Mexican Government with “Distinguish Mexican” in recognition to her international career.
She holds a master’s in music pedagogy by ESMUC (Escola Superior di Musica di Catalunya) and a HeartMath Mentor Certification by HeartMath Institute. Currently she is part of the ensemble Duo Luna Derbez Salazar and chair of Red Mexicana de Conservatorios Saludables in partnership with Healthy Conservatoires UK.
Margo Beck
Margo studied film and television at Boston University’s School of Public Communications. She has worked as a producer, based in New York City, in film, television and theater. Her projects range from “Peter Pan” on Broadway, to MasterPiece Theater (PBS), HBO, and Showtime on television, documentaries, films for the US Airforce and the US Army, and “The Horse Whisperer”with Robert Redford. She has also worked in Film Development for Stonebridge (Michael Douglas), Polaris films and Lambert Productions (Thierry de Ganay).
Margo is a founding board member of The Saratoga Springs Shakespeare Company, and a board member of the Saratoga Springs Film Forum.
Margo has extensive experience in fund raising for such organizations as The New York City Ballet, The New York Philharmonic, The American Cancer Society, The Whitney Museum, and The Saratoga Springs Preservation Foundation. In addition to her work in films, Margo also has a Master’s of Architecture, specializing in the Preservation and Conservation of Historic Structures.
Eric Cházaro Cavero
Originally from Mexico City, he has lived in Spain, Germany, Italy, and the UK. Local real estate expert in a global world / local expert in Aldea Global. Real estate in San Miguel de Allende, Leon and south of Mexico City.
Eric has also served as vice president and national board member of the Mexican Association of Realtors AMPI from 2015 to 2017. He is also a permanent member of the Guanajuato real estate council, an organism in charge of developing the real estate license when state real estate law was approved in 2014.
Eric is not only a certified international property specialist, certified by the national association of realtors in the United States, but is also one of the few CIPS trainers for Mexico. Eric was appointed as a cultural ambassador for Keller Williams Mexico for the years 2018 and 2019.
Victor Hugo Ramos Fonseca
Victor Hugo Ramos Fonseca, originally from Guanajuato, Mexico, is currently conducting the Children's and Youth Symphony Orchestra of San Miguel de Allende and is a professor in the Department of Music and Performing Arts at the University of Guanajuato.
He graduated from the University of Guanajuato with a degree in Piano in 2006. As a pianist he has developed national and international experience, offering concerts as a soloist with orchestras such as OSPIR Pinto Reyes Symphony Orchestra, Orchestras of the universities of Guanajuato, Jalisco, Aguascalientes, and recitals in various emblematic venues in Mexico and South America. In 2022 Guest Conductor of the Symphony Orchestra of the University of Concepción - Chile.
In 2011 he was the founder and conductor of the San Miguel de Allende Symphony Orchestra and developed orchestral meetings in different states and abroad.
PROGRAMMING COMMITTEE
Jonah Kim
Artistic Director
Jonah Kim, un artista excepcionalmente carismático y original, es conocido por su tono distintivo y dulce. Cautiva a los oyentes con la calidez de su forma de tocar, tan acogedora como un buen jersey de cachemira. Con una impecable destreza técnica, ofrece actuaciones deslumbrantes. La pasión de Kim se extiende a la música de cámara, y ha publicado aclamados álbumes en los que muestra su maestría con el violonchelo. Nacido en Seúl (Corea del Sur) y educado en Estados Unidos, Kim encarna una fusión única de tradiciones violonchelísticas.
"Coqueteó con la línea, le dio forma, la envolvió entre sus dedos, la sacó a una nueva dimensión, todo con una facilidad practicada".
- ANNE MIDGETTE, WASHINGTON POST
"...impecable ejecución de sus hercúleas exigencias técnicas... la sensación de regocijo en esta interpretación nos tiene al borde de nuestros asientos".
- JOANNE TALBOT, THE STRAD
Adrián Barrera Ramos
Adrián completed his bachelor's degree in Instrumentalism with a specialty in violin at the Conservatorio de Música y Artes de Celaya, with Guennadi Tschousko and Martín Valdeschack as his teachers. He graduated from Colorado State University, Colorado, United States, with a master's degree in Performance, with maestro Ron Francois.
He has been concertmaster of the National Children's Symphony Orchestra of Mexico, the Silvestre Revueltas Youth Symphony Orchestra, and the CSU Symphony Orchestra. Professionally, he has been a member of the Orquesta Sinfónica de la Universidad de Guanajuato and the Orquesta Filarmónica del Estado de Jalisco.
He has performed as a soloist with the Philharmonic Orchestra of Queretaro, Silvestre Revueltas Youth Symphony Orchestra, Camerata Santiago de Queretaro, Camerata Silvestre Revueltas, and the Colorado State University Orchestra.
Adrián has taken musical courses with international-level teachers in chamber music festivals in the cities of Aguascalientes, San Miguel de Allende, Querétaro, Sweden, the United States, and Austria.
FESTIVAL STAFF
Luis Eduardo Quezada Bárcenas
Executive Director
Luis Eduardo has a degree in marketing from the Universidad Latina de America, director of his own firm APV Another Point of View a Marketing Agency.
Luis is a visionary and charismatic leader with an innate ability for strategic planning, project management, and creativity in the field of marketing. His passion lies in serving the community, and he is also a musician, standing out as an exceptional speaker and skilled negotiator. Communication naturally flows through him, allowing him to connect with people effortlessly. His primary objective is the creation of productive projects with a profound social impact, aimed at a better world.
He collaborates with organizations such as the SMART Rotary Club in San Miguel de Allende. He has served as the Executive Director of the San Miguel de Allende Arts Festival 2023 (FASMA) and the International Organ Festival of Morelia Alfonso Vega Núñez (FIOM), the Mexican Culture Seminar - Uruapan Chapter in Michoacán, and the National Chamber of the Transformation Industry (CANACINTRA) based in Mexico City.
Proud members of FASMA (The San Miguel de Allende Arts Festival)
