Born in Marseilles (France) in 1978, Gaëlle Solal began the guitar at age of 6 with René Bartoli. With 14, she won three gold medals at the Conservatoire de Marseilles and as the best student of all instruments, was awarded the Prix de la Ville de Marseille. Afterward she studied with Alberto Ponce at Conservatoire Supérieur de Musique de Paris, Roberto Aussel at Musikhochscule Köln (Germany) and Alvaro Pierri at Université du Québec à Montréal (Canada). She participated in many masterclasses with legendary guitarist such as: Pepe Romero, Antigoni Goni, Roland Dyens, Oscar Ghiglia, Leo Brouwer, Alvaro Pierri and Joaquin Clerch.She played big amount of concerts, and also got many prizes on international competitions. Some of them are: 1st Grand Prix at Alessandria Competition, 1st Prize in Locquémeau, 1st Prize in Savona, 1st Prize in Sernancehle, Finalist at Concert Artists Guild New York, Honor Diplom at Accademia Chigiana and 2nd Prize at Guitar Foundation of America. She has performed in Festival dIle de France, Noches en los Reales Alcázares in Sevilla, Festival dAvignon, Festival Montpellier-Radio France and at Salle Cortot (Paris), Zellerbach Hall (Berkeley), Tsuda Hall, Nikkei Hall, Oji Hall in Tokyo, Merkin Concert Hall (NY). She recorded for NHK, France Musiques, RFI, and RAI.Gaëlle played with the Berkeley Symphony, the Garde Républicaine Orchestra and the Philharmonic Turin Orchestra. She toured in more than 30 countries including Germany, Myanmar, Bulgaria, Canada, Denmark, Israel, Spain, France, Gabon, India, Iceland, Italy, Laos, Malaysia, Morocco, Mexico, Palestine, Philippines, Puerto Rico, Portugal, Serbia, Switzerland, Tunisia, US.
Born in Buenos Aires, Víctor Villadangos graduated from the Juan José Castro Conservatory with the degree Profesor Superior de Guitarra under the tutelage of María Herminia Antola de Gómez Crespo.
Since 1980, Mr. Villadangos has performed extensively, both as a soloist and in chamber music ensembles, having appeared on the stage of all of the major concert halls and theaters of Buenos Aires and more than one hundred different cities throughout Argentina. Internationally, he has concertized in Italy, Spain, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Luxemburg, Switzerland, Sweden, Norway, England, Wales, Ireland, France, Canada, the US, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Uruguay, Paraguay, Israel, South Africa and Japan.
Twelve solo CD recordings, as well as his participation in numerous recordings of classical and popular music, give testimony to his prolific activity in the recording studio, featuring world premiere recordings of numerous works, many of which are dedicated to him. In 2000, Mr. Villadangos joined the roster of artists recording with the Naxos International Record label. His first recording, Guitar Music of Argentina, includes works by Argentine composers: Carlos Guastavino, Juan Falú, Máximo Pujol, Héctor Ayala, Walter Heinze and Narciso Saúl. The second, Tango Argentino, features tangos by Piazzolla, Gardel, Troilo and Mores, among others. His third recording with Naxos will include works by C. Guastavino, M. Pujol, S. Natali, M. Coronel, J. Santillán, and J. Ferrer and of his own authorship.
Victor Villadangos has performed with prominent musical organizations including: Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de Cuba, Orquesta Filarmónica de Buenos Aires, Orquesta Filarmónica de Montevideo (Uruguay), Orquesta Sinfónica de la Universidad Nacional de Cuyo, Orquesta Sinfónica Juan de Dios Filiberto, Israel Chamber Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra of Ramat Gan (Tel Aviv), Orquesta de Cámara Mayo, Orquesta de Cámara de Morón, Orquesta de Cámara de La Plata, Orquesta Académica del Teatro Argentino (La Plata), Orquesta de Cámara Juvenil de Buenos Aires, Orquesta de Cámara Scherzo, the String Quartet of the Universidad Nacional of La Plata, Buenos Aires String Quartet, the Artave string quartet (Portugal) among others.
Since 1990, Mr. Villadangos has given master classes and seminars throughout Argentina, including Tucumán, Salta, Jujuy, Santa Fe, Corrientes, San Luis, Puerto Madryn, Mendoza, San Juan, Mar del Plata, Colón and Victoria (Entre Ríos) and abroad in Rosario and Curitiba (Brazil), Bergen (Norway), Innsbruck (Austria), Frankfurt, Iserlohn and Coesfeld (Germany), Torino and Livorno (Italy) , Oliveira do Bairro and Santo Tirso (Portugal), Stratford (Canada) and Tel Aviv (Israel).
Sunday February 3, 2025. 7pm
Hamilton Conservatory for the Arts
Rene Izquierdo, a native from Cuba, graduated from the Guillermo Tomas, Amadeo Roldan Conservatory and Superior Institute of Art in Havana. In the United States, Mr. Izquierdo earned a Master of Music and an Artist Diploma degrees from the Yale University School of Music, where he studied with Benjamin Verdery. While at Yale he represented the university in an exchange program with the Conservatoire National de Musique et de Danse du Paris and worked with guitarists Olivie Chassain and Roland Dyens. Rene has appeared as a guest soloist and in chamber music concerts throughout the United States, Cuba and Europe. He has shared the stage with prestigious guitarists including Eliot Fisk, Benjamin Verdery and Jorge Morel, as well as renowned flutist Ransom Wilson, soprano Lucy Shelton, David Jolley and Paquito d’Rivera. Renowned composers such as Jorge Morel and Carlos R. Rivera have dedicated works
to him.
Combining active performance and teaching careers, Ella has appeared as a soloist, and chamber musician throughout the United States and abroad. Some of this year’s appearances
include Chamber Music Milwaukee Series, Brussels Royal Museum of Musical Instrument in Belgium, Tucson Classical Guitar Society, and Mannes College Guitar Festival in New York.
Hailed by Washington Post as “among the most gifted guitarists on the planet” Polish guitarist, Marcin Dylla is a rare phenomenon in recent history of Classical Guitar. Many music critics, connoisseurs and music lovers certify that Marcin Dylla is among the world’s elite of classical guitar players. He has earned this position, among others, to unparalleled number of awards including 19 First Prizes from 1996-2007 at the most prestigious international music competitions around the world. His last triumph was the Gold Medal of the ‘2007 Guitar Foundation of America International Competition’ in Los Angeles known as the most prestigious guitar contest in the world followed by tour of over 50 cities in North America, Mexico and Canada during 2008-09 season, live recital video recording for Mel Bay Publications and CD recording for Naxos that reached the Naxos ‘Top 10 Bestselling Albums’ in September 2008. His live recital DVD “Wawel Royal Castle at Dusk” was nominated for 2010 Fryderyk Award (equal to American Grammy) in the category of Solo Classical Music Album of the Year.
Mr. Dylla’s 2012/2013 season will include his Carnegie Hall debut during his two month long tour of North America with recitals covering both coasts. He will return to Konzerthaus in Vienna and continue his extensive recital tour in Europe ending in Germany at the Koblenz International Guitar Festival and Competition where he’s a beloved regular and will later return to the US again to perform at the 2013 Guitar Foundation of America Festival followed by return engagements in Mexico.
2011/12 season saw Mr. Dylla’s debut with the Warsaw Philharmonic conducted by Christian Arming in a program that featured two concerti (Ponce’s Concierto del Sur and Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez) on two consecutive nights, in addition to recitals throughout Poland and Germany as well as Austria, Russia, United Kingdom, Greece, Portugal, Norway, Turkey, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, Scotland, Slovenia, Switzerland, and several cities in Mexico.
Spring of 2011 highlights in North America included recitals in Cincinnati, Lexington, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, New Jersey and Seattle as well as appearing with Riverside Symphonia in Piazzolla’s double concerto for guitar and bandoneon. In 2006, Cecilia Rodrigo, daughter of the legendary Spanish composer, Joaquin Rodrigo, chose Mr. Dylla to perform the world premiere of a lately discovered new guitar work by her father entitled ‘Toccata’ (1933) at Reina Sofia Museum of Modern Art in Madrid. In 2002, at the 7th International Guitar Convent in Alessandria, Marcin Dylla was granted a “gold guitar” musical critics’ award for the best coming young guitar player.
He has appeared in a number of distinguished concert halls such as Konzerthaus, Musikverein and Palais Lobkovitz in Vienna (Austria), Auditorio Nacional and Auditorio Conde Duque in Madrid (Spain), St. Petersburg Philharmonic Hall (Russian Federation), Kleinhans Music Hall in Buffalo (USA), Villa Hügel in Essen (Germany) and the Palazzina Liberty in Milan (Italy).
Marcin Dylla was born in Chorzow in 1976. He received his first guitar lessons at the Ruda Slaska Music Conservatory in his native Poland. From 1995 to 2000 he studied at the Music Academy of Katowice with Adi Wanda Palacz. He then completed his studies with Prof. Oscar Ghiglia, Prof. Sonja Prunnbauer and Prof. Carlo Marchione at the Music Academies of Basel (Switzerland), Freiburg (Germany) and Maastricht (The Netherlands), respectively. He is currently a Professor at the Music Academy in Kraków and Katowice.