Visiting Artists

 

Cristina Pato,Galician Bagpipe-Spain

Internationally acclaimed as a Galician bagpiper and classical pianist,
Cristina Pato enjoys an active professional career devoted to both Galician
popular music and to classical music. Her dual careers have led to performances
throughout major stages in the United States (Carnegie Hall 2006; Lincoln Center
2007, Metropolitan Museum 2008, New York; Chicago Symphony Hall, Chicago 2007;
Seiji Ozawa Hall, Tanglewood, Massachussetts 2006), Portugal (Festa do Avante,
Lisbon 2003), Brazil (Liszt Festival, Rio de Janeiro, 2000), the United Kingdom
(Celtic Connections 2004, Glasgow), France, Italy (Etnofestival, San Marino
2002), Germany (Ibero-Amerikanisches Institut, Berlin 2003), Mexico (Palacio de
Bellas Artes 2004) and, of course, all around her native Spain. She has
collaborated with international artists such as the Chieftains, Yo-Yo Ma, the
Silk Road Ensemble and Chicago Symphony Orchestra (conducted by Miguel
Harth-Bedoya and invited by composer Osvaldo Golijov), Hevia, the Royal Pipe
Band, the Tenerife Symphony Orchestra and the Galicia Symphony Orchestra
(conducted by Victor Pablo Perez).

Pato has released three CDs as a solo bagpiper (Tolemia, 1999;
Xilento, 2001; Misturados, 2007) and two as a collaborative
pianist (From Russia to Brazil, 2006) and has collaborated on more than
twenty recordings as a guest artist. Pato has given more than 400 concerts, many
of them recorded and broadcasted by television stations such as BBC, TVG, CNN
and RTVE, and has been acclaimed by newspapers as The New York Times,
El Pais, and The Scotsman.

A Doctor of Musical Arts in Collaborative Piano from the Mason Gross School
of the Arts, Rutgers University (New Jersey), Cristina was awarded with the Edna
Mason Scholarship and the Irene Alm Memorial Prize for excellence in scholarly
research and performance (May 2008). She holds both a Master of Music Degree in
Piano Performance (with honors) and a Master of Music Degree in Music Theory and
Chamber Music (with honors) from the Conservatorio de Musica del Liceu
(Barcelona). There she studied with Luiz de Moura Castro, Carmen Martínez and
Lourdes Pérez Molina. She also holds also a Master of Fine Arts Degree in
Digital Arts (Computer Music) from the Universitat Pompeu Fabra (Barcelona). Her
final project, a multi-media piece entitled Ansiedad, has been
exhibited at the international exhibition BAC03 (Barcelona Arte Contemporáneo)
and at the Auditorio de Galicia (Premio Jóvenes Artistas 2003).

Wu Tong,Sheng-China

Born to a musical family in Beijing, Wu Tong has become his generation’s most
visible proponent of traditional Chinese music. As a founding vocalist of the
pioneering rock band Lunhui (Again), which merges Western and Asian traditions,
a performer with the Silk Road Ensemble, and a soloist with the New York
Philharmonic, London Sinfonietta and Singapore Symphony Orchestra, Wu has
achieved an unparalleled following for Chinese music on three continents.

Wu began his musical studies at age five with his father, and soon won dozens
of national and international competitions in the Chinese wind instrument
category. Throughout his youth, Wu was showcased as a national star, playing for
Chinese dignitaries and visiting leaders. He entered the Beijing Central
Conservatory of Music’s pre-college program at age 11, and upon graduation from
the Conservatory at age 19 became the youngest soloist of the China Central
Traditional Music and Dance Company, which toured extensively throughout China
and abroad.

In 1991, Wu and four Central Conservatory classmates founded Lunhui and began
merging the energy of rock music with traditional Chinese form and asthetics.
After their 1993 hit On the Way to Wartime Yangzhou, which set the
words of Song Dynasty poet Xin Qiji to music, JVC Japan immediately signed the
band. Subsequent recordings in 1995, 1997 and 2001 made Lunhui China’s premier
rock band in sales as well as live performances. Lunhui became the first rock
band to appear on Chinese national television in 2000, and is featured regularly
on national broadcasts and pan-Asian cable television.

Mark Suter,World Percussion-USA

Percussionist Mark Suter appears as a chamber musician and collaborative
artist in both Western classical and world music arenas.

Currently Associate Principal Percussionist with the Singapore Symphony
Orchestra, Mark has performed with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestra
of St. Luke’s, the Honolulu Symphony Orchestra, the Costa Rica National
Symphony, the Radio City Music Hall Orchestra, Essential Music and various
Broadway shows in New York City.

Suter has appeared at the Spoleto Festival USA, Spoleto Festival, Italy,
Lincoln Center Festival, Caramoor Music Festival, Tanglewood Music Festival, and
the Smithsonian Folk Life Festival.

Suter has been avidly exploring his love of hand percussion, having studied
and performed in Costa Rica, Brazil, Cuba and Kazakhstan. He has
performed/toured with Yo Yo Ma, the Assad Brothers, Paquito D’Rivera, Kathryn
Stott, Marcelo Zarvos, Dance Brazil, Proteus 7 and the New Power Trio.

An active clinician, Mark has presented master classes at the Villecroze
Academie of Music in Villecroze, France, and as a member of the Silk Road
Project, and workshops at the Weill Music Institute in New York City and the TED
convention in Monterey, CA.

Currently Mark heads the Percussion department of the Nanyang Academy of Fine
Arts in Singapore and continues his own studies with Sri D Rajagopal at the
Temple of Fine Arts.

Mark studied at the University of Michigan with Michael Udow and Salvator
Rabbio and at California State University, Northridge with Brian Kilgore and
Luis Conte.

John Hadfield,World percussion-USA

Percussionist John Hadfield’s dedication to bending genres has taken him

from the jungles of Indonesia to concert halls and clubs across the world.

This diversity has allowed him to perform with a broad variety of
ensembles
including Yo Yo Ma’s Silk Road ensemble, The Saturday Night Live
Band on NBC,
Bang on a Can, The Michael Gordon Band, the rock bands
Amandla and Dead Heart
Bloom, Sierra Leone’s  Refugee All Stars, Combo
Nuvo, MAYA, Phil Kline, The
Bassam Saba Ensemble, Ethos Percussion Group
and Gamelan Dharma Swara.  While
performing with jazz groups John has
worked alongside Kenny Werner, Lenny
Pickett, George Garzone, Gil
Goldstein, Andrew D’Angelo, Bobby Watson,
Dominique Eade, Ben Monder,
Satoshi Takeshi, Brad Shepik, Mike Richmond and
Erik Friedlander. Currently, John lives in NYC and is on Jazz faculty of New
York University.