Bay-Atlantic Symphony Guest Artists
List of guest artists for the current season for...
Jorge Avila
A recipient of numerous awards and honors, Jorge was the first Honduran to receive his resident status in the United States under the "extraordinary talent" category. Most recently, he was awarded first prize at the 2001 Mu Phi Epsilon International Music Competition.
Currently an active freelance performer and teacher in the New York area, Jorge is a founding member of the Chalfonte Quartet. He performs as a chamber musician with the Abaca String Band, Positive Music, Prism Ensemble and Musicians’ Accord. Jorge has also appeared as Concertmaster with numerous groups, including St. Patrick’s Cathedral Orchestra, José Limón Dance Company, Bachanalia, Philharmonia Virtuosi, Greenwich Symphony, Grace Church Orchestra, The New Amsterdam Symphony, Tanglewood Music Center, and the Mannes College of Music Orchestra. Jorge also frequently appeared as the onstage violinist in The Music Man on Broadway; he has also played in the orchestras of other Broadway shows, such as The Scarlet Pimpernel, Aida, Annie Get Your Gun and The Producers.
Considered as one of today’s leading young Latin American violinists, Jorge has performed as a soloist with orchestras in Europe, Asia and both Central and South America. In the New York City area, he has appeared as a soloist with the Riverside Orchestra, Hofstra Symphony, New Amsterdam Symphony, City Island Chamber Orchestra and The Bronx Arts Ensemble. He recently appeared as Concertmaster and soloist with the New York Chamber Orchestra at Carnegie Hall.
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Cong Fan, piano
Dr. Cong Fan has earned both a Doctor of Music Arts degree and Master of Music degree in Piano Performance from Temple University. Dr. Fan has won many prizes, awards and fellowships. She made her Carnegie Hall debut after winning the first prize at the Frinna Awerbuch International Piano Competition in New York. Other awards include the Pacific International Piano Competition in Canada, the Pennsylvania Piano Competition, the Pi Kappa Lambda Piano Competition, the Kennedy Music Scholarship in Germany, and the Martha Ellen Fisher Tye Fellowship in Austria. In addition, she has also received the Dean Emeritus Helen Laird Tribute Award two years consecutively, the David Leibig Memorial Grant, and the William A. Singer Memorial Award. In 2004, she has been listed in Who’s Who in America and Who’s Who Among Students in American Universities & Colleges in recognition of her outstanding accomplishment in music. Her orchestra soloist experience began at the age of sixteen with the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra. Since then, she has performed with leading orchestras in China and several orchestras in America. After graduating from the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing in 1997, Dr. Fan was given full scholarships to study at Temple University under the guidance of Professor Harvey Wedeen. Active in both solo and chamber musical scenes, Dr. Fan has performed in central Europe, Asia, and throughout the United States. As a chamber music recitalist, she has collaborated with different artists giving concerts at various concert halls. Dr. Fan is currently an Adjunct Professor at Temple University Boyer College of Music and Dance. The Music Teachers National Association has designated her as a Nationally Certified Teacher of Music. In 2008, Dr. Fan’s new CD albums “Yellow River Piano Concerto” and “Piano Solo” were released by TianXuan Recording Company in China, and her performance was awarded “the best solo performance of the year.”
Monica Reinagel
Monica Reinagel has performed with opera companies, orchestras, chamber and choral groups throughout the United States and Germany, in works ranging from the 16th to 20th century. Consistently singled out by critics for her musicality and dramatic intensity, she has created the leading roles for world premieres of three new American operas. Recent performances with period music ensembles include Handel’s Messiah, Bach’s Magnificat and b-minor mass, Monteverdi’s Incoronazione di Poppea and Il Ritorno D’Ulisse. Ms Reinagel studied voice and opera at Boston University, the Musikhochschule in Munich, Germany, and the Peabody Institute in Baltimore, Maryland.
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John Weber
John Weber, tenor, is a native of Baltimore. He received his early musical education at Towson State University, where he studied with Phyllis Frankel, the first protégé of the legendary Rosa Ponselle. Mr. Weber made his debut with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra while he was still a student, singing a program of opera and oratorio arias. Mr. Weber debuted with Baltimore Opera in 1988 with Verdi's La Traviata, and has sung over 12 roles with the company in a wide range of repertoires.
Mr. Weber has appeared locally with most of the major performing arts organizations, including: The Baltimore Symphony, The Baltimore Choral Arts Society, Concert Artists of Baltimore, and The Handel Choir.
Nationally, Mr. Weber has sung with the Erie Philharmonic and the Lancaster Symphony. He has also appeared with the Central City Opera, Lyric Opera of Cleveland, Sarasota Opera, Delaware Opera, Miami Opera, Washington Summer Opera, and the Annapolis Opera companies. Mr. Weber is also a frequent guest on WBJC's popular "Face the Music," and lectures for the Road Scholar at Peabody program. < Facebook >
Enrico Elisi
Enrico Elisi enchanted area audiences with his appearance with the Bay-Atlantic Symphony at the 2008 Cape May Music Festival. He performs regularly in Europe, America, and Asia and has had recent recital engagements in Germany, his native Italy, Taiwan, and China. As an active chamber musician, he has performed with principal players of several major American symphony orchestras, as well as with the Cerberus Trio at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He has also performed at the Taos and Ravinia Music Festivals and is the founder of the Green Valley Chamber Music Festival, which he served as music director for three years. He also directed the Piano Institute of the Las Vegas Music Festival. Elisi graduated from the Conservatory of Florence (Italy) and also the International Piano Academy of Imola, where he studied with Lazar Berman. He also worked extensively with Leon Fleisher at the Peabody Conservatory. He has garnered top awards at such diverse venues as the Venice Competition and the Oporto International Competition. A former faculty member of the University of Nevada at Las Vegas, he is currently on the piano faculty at the Pennsylvania State University.
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Opera Vivente
Opera Vivente is Baltimore's chamber opera company specializing in works suited to an intimate performance venue drawn from all four centuries of opera's history.
We are committed to developing new audiences for opera through innovative programming, intimate performing space, and provocative production style. The immediacy of communication engendered by opera in the vernacular is unique in the Baltimore/Washington area.
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