The Santa Fe Guitar Quartet
	The Santa Fe Guitar Quartet (SFG4), from Santa Fe, Argentina, is an innovative guitar ensemble whose repertoire ranges from Baroque works to modern tangos. The group is strongly committed to the performance of Latin American music, having presented exciting new works to a large audience worldwide. Their full sound is similar to a small string orchestra and was praised by the Washington Post as "big, warm, round and clear." The quartet's addition of the six-string contrabass along with the occasional use of other instruments and percussive effects broaden the range and sound palate of the typical guitar ensemble. Combining the individual talents of two Argentineans and two North Americans, the group has been touring internationally since 1989, both in recital and with orchestra. The Santa Fe Guitar Quartet has performed for sold-out houses throughout North and South America including Lincoln Center and Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall. The Organization of American States, Partners of the Americas, Mid-America Arts Alliance, Community Concerts, Texas Commission for the Arts, and Allied Concerts have all sponsored the quartet in the United States. In 1997, the Argentinean Institute for Excellence (Instituto Argentino de la Excelencia) awarded the Santa Fe Guitar Quartet the prestigious First Prize of Excellence.

Carolina Sarmiento, piano
	Carolina Sarmiento was born in Bogotá, Colombia in 1974.  She began her studies in piano at the age of eight in the Conservatory of Music at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia.  Her teachers where Rosario López and Angela Rodríguez.  At the age of fifteen, Miss Sarmiento received her diploma in Basic Music Studies from the same university.  At the same time, she performed in many music halls around Bogotá, and as a soloist with the university's youth symphony orchestra.            In 1991, she won the Jóvenes Talentos (Young Artist) Scholarship which was sponsored by the Colombian Republic Bank.  The scholarship is awarded every two years and has afforded Carolina the honor of traveling to the United States to study towards a Bachelor's degree in Music with an emphasis in Piano Performance.  She is now in her last year of study at the Peabody Conservatory of Music at the John Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland.  Her piano instructor is the North-American pianist Julian Martin.  In 1992, Miss Sarmiento won a competition which was sponsored by the Colombian Symphony Orchestra.  With this orchestra she gave her debut performance of Beethoven's second piano concerto in the Auditorio León de Greiff and the Teatro Colón de Bogotá, under the direction of the Uruguayan conductor Federico García Vigil.           Miss Sarmiento has participated in master classes with the Colombian maestra Blanca Uribe, the Austrian pianist Alexander Jenner, the North-American pianist Lee Luvisi, and the Canadian maestro Marc Durand.  She has had a number of opportunities to perform in the Luis-Angel Arango Concert Hall in Bogotá and has been the subject of several interviews on Colombian radio, television, and newspapers.  Recently, she performed in a series of concerts organized by the Colombian Republic Bank in different cities and auditoriums in her country.           Carolina Sarmiento also shows great interest in Baroque music.  She currently studies harpsichord and Baroque studies with maestro Webb Wiggins at the Peabody Conservatory.

Anne Marie Shaw, violin
	Anne Marie Shaw is originally from Stewartstown, PA and began playing the violin at age nine.  She began teaching and playing semi-professionally while still in high-school and has earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Washington and Lee University and two Master of Music degrees from Florida State University.  While earning her degrees, Ms Shaw was a member of the Roanoke Symphony, the Tallahassee Symphony and the Camellia String Quartet which competed in the final round of the 1994 Carmel Competition.  She has also performed as soloist with the Shenandoah Symphony Orchestra and in several Senior and Master's recitals.      Currently, Ms Shaw is freelancing and teaching in the Washington, D.C. area.  She has performed with the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra, the Virginia Symphony, and the Arligton Symphony among others.  Last summer Ms Shaw participated in the National Orchestra Institute at the University of Maryland, and this summer will be traveling to Europe to take part in the  American Institute of Musical Studies festival in Graz, Austria.

Peter Trofimenko, balalaika
	Dr. Trofimenko studied performance on balalaika, as well as orchestra and conducting, at the Kiev College of Culture, and under Professor Yuri Alexik of the Kiev Tchaikovsky Conservatory of Music.  In the Soviet Union, Dr. Trofimenko was a featured soloist with several ensembles and toured extensively throughout the Confederation of Independent States.  After settling with his family in the United States, Dr. Trofimenko served as artist-in-residence at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.  He is a member of the Washington Balalaika Society, a full orchestra of folk instruments that performed at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center and numerous other prestigious concert halls throughout the country.  His performances, as well as his teaching under the auspices of the Balalaika and Domra Association of America, have brought him nationwide recognition.  In September 1998, Dr. Trofimenko was a soloist in a world premier performance of the Concerto for Balalaika and Symphony Orchestra by Vladimir Marunych.  Dedicated to carrying on the art of the balalaika outside of Russia, Dr. Trofimenko will perform for the first time tonight several new arrangements written for balalaika and symphony orchestra by Anatoly Mamalyga.

Gustavo Them, guitar
	Gustavo Them is making his mark as an impassioned and charismatic soloist and chamber musician. His “ fluid phrasing and balanced, natural tone” were praised by the Washington Post.  He has recentlly been chosen by Marvin Hamlisch to perform in his Pops Concert Series at the Meyerhoff Symphony Hall in Baltimore with his violin duo partner Christian Colberg. An Artist’s Diploma recipient of the Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University, he has been recognized with the Susan W. Rose Fund for Music Career Grant.  He is the winner of the 1996 Baltimore Chamber Music Competition and holds the Honors Award from the Barcelona Conservatory in Spain.   He has been featured as soloist with the Pan American, the Gettysburg and the Trujillo (Perú) Symphony Orchestras. Recently he has released the CD “The Lyric Guitar”, with music by Villa-Lobos, Barrios, Antonio José and Piazzolla for solo guitar.  “Spanish and Latin American Music for Guitar and Violin/Viola,” a CD recorded with Christian Colberg and sponsored by Música de Cámara Inc. in N.Y., will  be released soon. He has performed with musicians such as soprano Catherine Verrilli, bandoneonist Raul Jaurena,, violinist José Cueto, and the Grupo Ama.  Radio appearances include Radio Barcelona -FM and Catalunya Radio, Barcelona, Spain, WBJC in Baltimore, MD and Stereo Lima, Perú.   Born in Barcelona, Spain, Gustavo holds a Teacher’s Degree from the Barcelona Conservatory and a Higher Teacher’s Degree from the Oscar Esplá Conservatory in Alicante. He also earned a Graduate Performance Diploma and an Artist Diploma from the Peabody Conservatory where he studied with Manuel Barrueco. Currently he is a faculty member at St. Mary’s College of Maryland and the Baltimore School for the Arts. He has taught master-classes and has given lectures about  classical guitar technique, practicing and memorization methods.   He regularly performs in music festivals in the U.S., Spain, Portugal, Puerto Rico and Perú. Highlighted appearances include the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.; ARTSCAPE ’96 in Baltimore; the Sala Eduard Toldrá of the Barcelona Conservatory in Spain; the Second International Guitar Festival in Aveiro, Portugal and the “Museo de la Nación”, Lima, Perú.

Catherine Verrilli, soprano
	Catherine Verrilli,  is a versatile and dynamic artist-teacher on the Music Department faculty. The Washington Post praises her voice as "gently agile," and "well-rounded in tone, expressive in diction." Dr. Verrilli was a finalist in the Washington International Competition for Singers and was also awarded the Judges' Discretionary Prize. Other awards include Regional Winner in the National Association of Teachers of Singing Artist Award Auditions, and Winner of the Mid-Atlantic Governor's Outreach Award. She has regularly appeared as soloist with the Pan American Symphony Orchestra, the Chesapeake Chorale, the Chesapeake Chamber Orchestra, the Sunrise String Quartet, and the Washington Opera Outreach program. She has also performed with members of the National Symphony Orchestra. Her solo appearances have been in such prestigious venues as the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the French Embassy, and the Lisner Auditorium, in Washington, D.C. Among many recital engagements, she has frequently appeared at the Arts Club of Washington D.C., and the Renwick National Gallery of American Art. Her operatic roles include Adele in Die Fledermaus, Marie in La Fille du Regiment, and Carolina in Luisa Fernanda. She was a featured soloist in the 1997 Maryland Handel Festival, and released the recording "Amore e gelosia: Italian Duets of G. F. Handel ," and can also be heard on a recording for the 1999 Handel Festival in Halle, Germany. Together with guitarist Gustavo Them, Catherine Verrilli presents programs of Latin American and Spanish music to critical acclaim. Dr. Verrilli performs annual solo faculty recitals and is a member of the department's Faculty Baroque Ensemble.

Jeffery Watson, piano
	Pianist Jeffery  Watson has appeared as soloist with the Honduran National Symphony, the Pan American Symphony , the Rosario (Argentina) Chamber Orchestra, and the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra with the Kirov Ballet. Dr. Watson was Associate Professor of piano at DePauw University,  a teaching fellow at the University of Maryland and on the faculty of the Levine School of Music in Washington, DC.   He was pianist with the internationally acclaimed tango quintet, QuinTango, including performances with the Wichita Symphony,  Orquesta Sinfonica Sinaloa de las Artes  (Mexico), as well as at Lincoln Center, the Piccolo Spoleto Festival, the U.S. Ambassador’s Residence in Buenos Aires and at the International Tango Festival in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.    Dr. Watson was associate conductor for the Kennedy Center’s award-winning production of Sunday in the Park with George as part of the Center's 2002 Sondheim Festival. Currently a faculty member of the Washington Conservatory of Music,  he also is a music director and coach for the Maryland Opera Studio at the University of Maryland where he has directed productions of Fatal Song, Tale of Two Cities and Noel & Cole.  He holds degrees in piano performance from DePauw University, the Eastman School of Music and the University of Maryland.

Luis Wanderlinder, tenor
	Luis Wanderlinder, spinto tenor, is a native of Venezuela. He won first prize at the International Song Festival in Buenos Aires, Argentina and has performed internationally as a soloist. Mr. Wanderlinder was under an exclusive artist contract for seven years with Venevision and Radio Caracas Television. Since coming to the United States, he has appeared regularly in recitals in the midwest. In the Washington, DC area, Mr. Wanderlinder has performed with the Gala Hisplanic Theater in "Neruda 2000" and "El Burlador de Sevilla" and with the In Series in their productions of the zrzuelas "La Verbena d La Paloma" and "Los Gavilanes." He performed the role of Sir Maynard in a new musical "Forever Is" at the Ernst Cultural Center in Annandale, VA and most recently with the Northern Virginia Community Orchestra in their concert of French music. He is a student of Rosemarie Houghton.