MUSIC BY: VILLA-LOBOS, PIAZZOLLA, BROUWER, BARRIOS, REIS, CARLEVARO and TARREGA. "Emiliano Pardo-Tristán played with so much energy and emotion that the room was filled with the echoes of Latin rhythms." Community Focus (Philadelphia, USA) “Classical Guitar Journey” is an exciting expedition through Latin guitar music, featuring some of the most beloved composers from the region. Each piece is a sojourn that intends to recall echoes of places and resound hidden memories. I feel fortunate to know Venezuelan violinist Luigi Mazzocchi, and to have played for many years with him. Luigi is a versatile musician with whom one always learns something new. I doubt that there is in Philadelphia someone that can render Piazzolla’s “Histoire du Tango” with the same intense emotion as in Luigi’s performance. I am also lucky to have recently met in New York, soprano Anna Noggle. Anna is a singer with a powerful rich voice and the magic ability to accommodate it to the more intimate sound of the guitar. I invite you to join us for an expedition of sounds and rhythms, where the boundaries and passports are your own imagination. I hope you listen to this recording with the same enjoyment we had making it. Bon voyage, Emiliano Pardo-Tristán EMILIANO PARDO-TRISTAN Was born in Santiago de Veraguas, a tropical city in the middle of Panama, and has resided in Philadelphia since 1992. He attended the Royal Conservatory Superior of Music in Madrid, Spain (1978-1985) and holds a Masters degree in Classical Guitar and a Doctoral degree in composition from Temple University. He studied composition with Maurice Wright and Leo Brouwer (Cordoba Festival); and guitar with José Luis Rodrigo, José Luis González, Ricardo Cobo, and in master classes with Manuel Barrueco. His music has been played by the Philadelphia Classical Symphony, the Delaware Symphony, Grand Rapids Orchestra, Jackson Symphony, Panama National Orchestra; and by ensembles and soloists from Europe, the United States and Latin America. Pardo-Tristán has been awarded by the American Composer Forum, Presser Foundation, Society of Composers INC., the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, Society of Music Theory, the Prism Quartet, and the Temple University’s Dr. John Henry Heller, Jr. Memorial Award for excellence in composition. As a guitarist, Pardo-Tristán has performed in Panama, Martinique, Austria, USA and Spain. He is the founder, president and artistic director of the Panamanian Guitar Association, which organizes the International Guitar Encounter. In the USA, he has taught at La Salle University, Rowan University, Bryn Mawr Conservatory and Nelly Berman School of Music; and in Panama at the National Institute of Music. He has released two CDs: “Hecho en Salamanca,” and “Contemporary Chamber Music from Panama” that exclusively features his own chamber compositions. WYBE Public TV 35 has broadcast in several occasions the documentary "The Rhythm of Nostalgia: a Portrait of Emiliano Pardo-Tristán" ANNA NOGGLE The soprano Anna Noggle made her operatic début in 2003, appearing as the Queen of the Night in Mozart’s The Magic Flute at the Hot Springs Music Festival under Richard Rosenberg, and has since appeared as Contessa Almaviva in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro at the Rome Festival in Italy, and again as the Queen of the Night at the International Opera Workshop in Bourgas, Bulgaria. Her most recent performances include appearances as soloist with the National Chorale at Avery Fisher Hall under Martin Josman and numerous rôles such as Beautyin Giannini’s Beauty and the Beast and Zozo in Lehár’s The Merry Widow with the Dicapo Opera Theatre in New York City. Ms. Noggle collaborated with Richard Rosenberg once again in 2006 recording Louis Moreau Gottschalk’s twelve-minute opera Escenas Campestres Cubanas, RO 77 for the Naxos classical music label with the Hot Springs Music Festival Symphony Orchestra. She made her concert début in 2002 as soloist in John Rutter’s Magnificat with the Toledo Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Awadagin Pratt. She is a 2004 graduate of Indiana University, where she earned both her Bachelors and Masters degrees. LUIGI MAZZOCCHI Was born in Venezuela, where he studied violin with José F. del Castillo. There, he was a founder of the Lara State Symphony Orchestra, first concertmaster of the Chamber Orchestra of Venezuela, and a member of the “Simón Bolívar” Symphony Orchestra, with which he recorded a number of CDs of Latin American music conducted by Eduardo Mata. Mr. Mazzocchi has performed as soloist with the main Venezuelan symphony orchestras. He has also attended international music festivals in Latin America, the US, Spain, France, and Australia; participated in violin courses dictated by Margaret Pardee, Olivier Charlier, Félix Ayo, Yossi Zivoni, Maurice Hasson, Naoko Tanaka, Zakar Bron; and played in master classes by the Emerson, Guarneri, and Orion string quartets. He is a prizewinner in solo competitions such as: the “Del Castillo” Latin American Competition (Venezuela, 1994), the 1997 South Orange Symphony (NJ), the 1999 FOSJA (PR), and the 2000 Temple University (PA). Since 1996, he has been living in the United States where he studied violin with Liliana Ciulei at Rowan University, completing a BM. In 1998, he started violin studies with Helen Kwalwasser at Temple University, where he finished his MM and is completing his DMA with a university fellowship. Mr. Mazzocchi has substituted for the Philadelphia Orchestra at the Academy of Music and Carnegie Hall, the Pennsylvania Ballet, the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, and the Philly Pops. He was a founding member of the Serafin String Quartet, and is currently a member of the Opera Company of Philadelphia, the Delaware Symphony, the Ocean City Pops, the Gaudeamus and Cachasa Ensembles, and the faculty of the Wilmington Music School. He lives in Philadelphia with his wife Maria, and their two children, Luigi and Andrea.