DIRECCIÓN Y ADMINISTRACIÓN
Gwendolyn Matias-Ryan
Artistic Director
Gwendolyn is a Mexican-American violist who obtained her Undergraduate and Graduate degrees in viola performance from Baylor University, a Specialist Degree in viola performance from the University of Michigan, and a Doctorate in Musical Arts Degree from Texas Tech University in May, 2024. She is also the creator and artistic director of SA’OAXACA, Oaxaca Strings International Music Festival. She acted as principal violist of the Lubbock Symphony from 2023-2025 and as principal violist in the Oaxacan Symphony from 2015 to 2016. She was invited to take part in the Brancaleoni International Music Festival in Piobbico, Italy, summer of 2018 and won both the Mid-Texas Symphony Concerto Competition in 2013 and the Texas Tech School of Music Concerto Competition in November 2021. As a chamber musician, Gwendolyn was a guest artist on the Rutenberg Chamber Music Series (Tampa, Florida), was an Iris Collective recurring member (Germantown, Tennessee), and was recently invited to act as principal viola for two of the Chamber Music Amarillo performances in the Spring of 2025. Gwendolyn was awarded the CH Foundation Graduate Fellowship to study her Doctoral in Musical Arts degree at the University of Texas Tech under the tutelage of Philippe Chao which led her to deepen both her artistic and academic development and mastery. Her thesis titled SA’OAXACA: The creation of a music festival as an act of resistance within a revolutionary state in the post-colonial reality of Mexico explores the topics of resistance and decolonization through the arts in Oaxaca and how the SA’OAXACA music festival has become a part of that collective work. Gwendolyn recently accepted the position as Education Director of the Palaver Music Center in May of 2025.
Martha Melisa Moreyra García
Executive Director
Born in Mexico City, she is a graduate of the National Conservatory of Music, where she earned a Bachelor's degree in Violin Performance. She also holds a Bachelor's degree in Psychology and a Master's degree in Musical Cognition from the UNAM. Throughout her musical training, her mentors included Rosendo Monterrey, Pastor Solís, Arón Bitrán, Mario Lavista, and Armando Luna, among others. Since 2009, working both as a soloist and in various ensembles, she has ventured into the theater world, providing live musical accompaniment for over 12 stage productions across their respective performance seasons. From 2015 to 2016, she served as First Violin in the Oaxaca Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Maestro Juan Trigos. From 2017 to 2021, she was a member of the Boca del Río Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Maestro Jorge Mester. In 2019, together with Maestro Gwendolyn Matías Ryan, she co-founded the SA'OAXACA International Strings Festival—a project that has received funding through programs administered by the Secretariat of Culture, specifically the SACPC (in 2019 and 2023) and PROFEST (in 2024 and 2026). Since 2024, she has served as Deputy Director of the "Vida y Movimiento" School of Music at the Ollin Yoliztli Cultural Center, and she is currently a violin instructor in the Artistic Initiation and Continuing Education Program (CIAyEC) at the UNAM. A certified Suzuki Method instructor since 2006—certified by the Suzuki Association of the Americas (SAA)—she has taught at various Suzuki studios across Mexico City and Veracruz since 2012.
SA'OAXACA TEAM
Lucy French
Administrative Assistant - SA'OAXACA Oaxaca Strings International Music Festival
After graduating with an MA from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London in 2017, Lucy has worked with the Hofesh Shechter Company, Camerata Oaxaca, the Oaxaca Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Shakespeare Company, Longborough Festival Opera, the Ixion Ensemble, Orchestra for the Earth, Chineke! Orchestra, and as a soloist with the SOAS Gamelan Composer’s Forum and the Carice Singers. As a cross-genre artist, she primarily collaborates on the co-production of immersive art and sound installations, one of the most notable projects in Góis, Portugal for the Raizvanguarda residency. In Oaxaca, she has worked with artists such as Steven Brown in the ensemble Kafka and Cinema Domingo, Javier Celis in his Sonido Sureste project, and with cellist Bini’saa Amatl. She has also collaborated with trombonist Kunt Vargas in the duo Majtsk Palatäk. Lucy currently teaches cello at the Santa Cecilia School of Music Initiation and teaches online classes in Ghana, Africa, and Chennai, India, through the Keys of Change organization.
María Margarita Barrientos Rivera
Administrative Assistant - SA'OAXACA Oaxaca Strings International Music Festival
Margarita studied viola in Mexico city and Culiacán Sinaloa. She was a member of the Puebla Symphony, the Mazatlán Symphony, the Chamber Orchestra of the Mexican Navy Secretariat, the Boca del Río Philharmonic in Veracruz and the Oaxaca Symphony. She actively participated in four editions of the San Miguel de Allende Guanajuato, Oaxaca Instrumenta Verano festivals and in the Aguascalientes chamber music festival in 2007. Her work focuses on violin and viola string education. She has taught in the Municipal School of Music of Navolato, in the Orquesta Esperanza Azteca of Sinaloa and in the Orquestando Atmonía program of Boca del Río Veracruz, in addition to starting her Suzuki training with teachers like José Marcio Galvao from Brazil. She currently teache violin, viola and chamber music classes at the Santa Cecilia Musical Initiation School where she also directs the Chamber Orchestra, having the opportunity to perform in venues such as the Zócalo de Oaxaca, Parroquia de San Bartolo, Teatro Macedonio Alcalá and at the PMS festival in Normandy, France. She is currently training in orchestral conducting taking private lessons with various teachers including Michael Cousteau from France.
María Guadalupe Castañeda Romano
Administrative Assistant - SA'OAXACA Oaxaca Strings International Music Festival
A graduate in Educational Sciences from the Benito Juárez Autonomous University of Oaxaca, she has worked in various fields, including educational management, teaching, curriculum design, and instructional design in public and private educational institutions. Since 2017, she has collaborated with various music festivals and academic events. However, since 2019, she has joined the administrative team of SA'Oaxaca, finding in this project a way to combine education, cultural promotion, and her love of music.
Ana Loida Pérez
Administrative Assistant - SA'OAXACA Oaxaca Strings International Music Festival
A native of Mexico City, she trained as a violinist at the UNAM Faculty of Music under the guidance of Professor Luis Felipe Merino. Her artistic development has been enriched by violin masterclasses with internationally renowned figures—including Danielle Belen, Pavel Illyachov, Tadeusz Gadzina, Minju Kim, and Adrian Justus, among others—as well as chamber music masterclasses with Kim Kashkashian, Nathan Schram, and Caroline Shaw. She has also pursued specialized lessons in Baroque violin with Manfredo Kraemer and Marc Destrubé. Her orchestral experience includes tenures with the Children and Youth Symphony Orchestra of Mexico (OSIM) and the Mexiquense Philharmonic Orchestra, as well as guest artist collaborations with the INBAL Theater of Fine Arts Orchestra, the UNAM Academy of Early Music, and the Pan-American University Symphony Orchestra. Furthermore, she has participated in festivals such as Huilo-Huilo (Chile), Alfonso Ortiz Tirado (Mexico), Chopin-Górecki (Poland), Festival del Lago, SA’ Oaxaca, the Manuel Enríquez International Forum on New Music, and the Decoda Skidmore Chamber Music Institute (USA), among others. Currently, she is pursuing a Master’s degree in Music Pedagogy at the Catalonia College of Music (ESMUC), thereby consolidating a career dedicated not only to performance but also to music education and outreach.
Ellis Brown
Funding - SA'OAXACA International Music Festival
Ellis Brown retired and moved to Oaxaca, Mexico in 2021. During the course of his 33 years in Higher Education, he worked as staff, faculty and administration with the last few years as a Grants Specialist.
Before Higher Education Brown had a career in International Development and has been and expert in the area of community and economic development having served as a Peace Corp volunteer, Associate Peace Corp Director, and Country Representative in Senegal, West Africa for a Washington, D. C. based non-governmental organization Africare.
José Manuel García Viloria
Designer
José has produced a wide variety of audio visual media for institutions and private business throughout his professional career. He holds an undergraduate degree in graphic design from the Universidad Mesoamericada de Oaxaca, and a masters degree in type design from Gestalt - Universidad del Diseño en Veracruz (Mexico City Campus). His interdisciplinary work in web design has led to the development of projects of various natures within the arts and culture sector. José has created graphics and designs for private business and academic institutions such as the Facultad de Bellas Artes of the Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Oaxaca, editorial design for the Instituto Estatal de Bachilleratos de Oaxaca as well as independent architectural design for FACDEARQ. His involvement in the arts is long standing and has consisted of developing, producing, and working on the promotional team for various artistic groups including the Cuarteto de Cuerdas Xquenda, singer Jazz Matías, tenor Luis Adrián and the internationally recognized trombone player Faustino Díaz. As a designer, he has produced and supervised for international music festivals including the Festival Internacional Guitarrístico EBAUABJO and the Encuentro Nacional de Gestión Cultural México, which was held virtually in its third year.
Currently, José works as collaborator on an array of digital projects, in addition to being a proud member of the SA’OAXACA team.
Ryszard (Ricardo) Rodys
Coordinator - Fonoteca Juan León Mariscal
Born in Varsovia, Poland, Ricardo studied Organ Performance and Gregorian Chant in the Escuela de Música Sacra de la Arquidiócesis de Varsovia. He was the organist for the Iglesia Madre de Dios Auxilio de los Fieles in Varsovia. He teaches music courses in the Seminario de Oaxaca, has directed the Ciudad de los Niños Choir, and worked in the Historic Organ Institute in Oaxaca. He has participated in multiple research projects including MUSICAT and Ritual Sonoro Catedralicio. Ricardo currently acts as coordinador of the Fonoteca Juan León Mariscal, director of the Oaxacan Cathedral Choir and music professor in the Facultad de Bellas Artes - UABJO. He has resided in Oaxaca since 2003.
Kélmic Hernández Arreortúa
Rector - Universidad Vasconcelos UNIVAS
Originally from the Oaxacan Central Valleys and proud of her mountain roots, Kelmic University of Guadalajara graduate with a degree in Industrial Design, a Masters in Higher Education and a Masters in Political and Organizational Communication from the Vasconcelos University of Oaxaca. She is currently studying a her Doctorate in Pedagogy and Educational Research. Since her return to Oaxaca she specialized in corporate and editorial identity design as editorial director. In the academic field, she has collaborated as a teacher in several educational institutions within the private sector, but at the José Vasconcelos University of Oaxaca she has resided the longest acting as teacher, head of the design department, career coordinator, area coordinator, postgraduate coordinator, academic vice-rector and currently acts as the rector of this Institution.