FACULTY
SA'OAXACA 2025
Jotaro Nakano
Orchestra Director, faculty, coach
Conductor and Music Director Jotaro Nakano creates music to bring people closer together. Jotaro’s performances are frequently praised for his thoughtful and innovative programs that are as artistically beautiful as are enriching for the soul. Currently, Jotaro directs the Longwood Symphony Orchestra, the orchestra of Boston’s medical and healthcare communities; and the SA’Oaxaca Strings International Music Festival Orchestra, the first tuition-free chamber string music festival in Oaxaca, Mexico. Jotaro’s continued partnerships with both of these organizations come as natural continuations of his mission as an impassioned citizen artist who seeks to connect and inspire underprivileged communities with the deeply moving and uplifting powers of art and music. While completing his doctorate at the Peabody Conservatory of Music, Jotaro served as the Peabody Arts in Health Fellow at the Johns Hopkins Hospital, allowing him to explore the many vibrant intersections between arts and healing. Today, with the Longwood Symphony Orchestra, Jotaro leads the Healing Art of MusicTM program - leveraging the far reaching platform of his orchestral performances to help raise funds for, and amplify the impact of, our local nonprofit organizations. In the past, Jotaro has served as the Music Director of the Ann Arbor Camerata; Cover Conductor for the Baltimore Symphony, American Composers Orchestra, and San Diego Symphony; and Conducting Fellow of the Long Beach Symphony. His vibrantly multicultural musical life has allowed him to share the stage with musicians across Mexico, the Czech Republic, Romania, and all across the United States. With every new
project, Jotaro’s commitment is to maximize artistic collaboration to fill this world with wonder and hope.
Lázaro Jascha González Muñoz
Violin Faculty
A native of Oaxaca, he began his violin studies at the age of five, guided by his parents, Óscar González Carrasco and Elizabeth Muñoz González. He subsequently moved to the city of Xalapa, Veracruz, to continue his studies at the Faculty of Music at the Universidad Veracruzana. In 2003, he won First Prize in the "Hermilo Novelo" National Violin Competition and participated in the "Henryk Szeryng" International Violin Competition in Toluca in 2008.
As a soloist, he has distinguished himself by performing major works from the violin repertoire—including concertos by Sibelius, Prokofiev, Glazunov, and Barber, as well as Bernstein’s *Serenade* and Piazzolla’s *The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires* (Las Cuatro Estaciones Porteñas)—to name but a few. On numerous occasions, he has appeared as a soloist with the Xalapa Symphony Orchestra, as well as with the Texas Tech University Symphony Orchestra, the Autonomous University of Tamaulipas Symphony Orchestra, the Veracruz State Youth Symphony Orchestra, the University Popular Music Orchestra, the Oaxaca School of Fine Arts Chamber Orchestra, and the Xalapa Chamber Orchestra. He has given recitals in Salem, Oregon (USA); Rio de Janeiro (Brazil); Sarajevo (Bosnia); and various venues throughout Mexico. He holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree with a concentration in Performance from the Texas Tech University School of Music (USA); a Master’s degree in Violin Performance from the Mexican Center for Graduate Studies in Music in Puebla (2019–2021); and a Bachelor’s degree in Music from the Faculty of Music at the Universidad Veracruzana (1998–2008).
He has currently served as a member of the First Violin section of the Xalapa Symphony Orchestra for over 20 years.
Julián Martínez Vázquez
Workshop Instructor & guest artist - violin
A Purépecha musician, Julian began his musical studies as a child in his family's group Los Purépechas de Charapan and is currently concertmaster of the Michoacán Symphony Orchestra. His work is eclectic, equally committed to traditional music and the avant-garde. He has been a member of the Ensemble Moderne Akademie in Frankfurt and studied contemporary music with Melisse Mellinger of the Ensemble Recherche Akademie. He has premiered the piece ‘Corale’ by Luciano Berio, as well as giving the world premiere of ‘Stain’ by the Iranian composer Arash Yazdani. He is part of the Liminar ensemble with whom he has performed countless concerts and artistic residencies at Stanford University as well as at the most important contemporary music festivals in New York (MATA) and Berlin (Radialsystem). He also carries out important work in the creation of new repertoire for solo violin collaborating with living composers. In January of this year the German label Naxos published his recording “Estudio de contrapunto I” by composer Samuel Cedillo.
In 2017 he founded the Purépecha Conservatory and since 2022 he has been a professor at the Fine Arts School of the Michoacan University.
Teagan Faran
Violin Faculty & workshop instructor
Teagan Faran is a multidisciplinary musician focused on enacting social change through the arts. Her playing has “brought the house down” (Represent Classical) as she explores the boundaries of genre and performance. An active soloist and chamber musician, she has performed with the Buffalo Philharmonic, the Amherst Symphony, Alarm Will Sound, and the Cabrillo Festival Orchestra, among others. Recent recording features include albums with Carlos Simon and Diamanda Galás, and her latest solo album “Middle Child,” released on Navona Records in January 2025. Also active in the world of tango music, she has performed with Victor Lavallén and the Orquesta Escuela de Emilio Balcarce, as well as at festivals across the United States.
Faran holds degrees from the University of Michigan and the Manhattan School of Music. She has held fellowships with the Fulbright Program, Turn the Spotlight, Dee Dee Bridgewater’s Woodshed Network, and OneBeat. She is a Co-Artistic Director of the GRAMMY-nominated ensemble Palaver Strings, and an Assistant Professor of Violin at Ithaca College. Faran plays on a 1977 Silvano Rebessi violin and “The Briar” viola by John Perrin Bean, as well as enjoying experiments with luthiers to push the definitions of what makes a violin a violin.
Christopher Wilshere
Guest artist & violin faculty
Christopher Wilshere has established himself as a prominent figure in Mexico’s classical music scene, influencing both performance and education through his passion and dedication. A distinguished violinist, he has performed throughout Europe, Canada, the United States, and Mexico, serving as concertmaster for orchestras such as the Thunder Bay Symphony, the Ontario Philharmonic, the Jalisco Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Toronto Concert Orchestra, among others. As a soloist and chamber musician, he has collaborated with internationally renowned artists, earning acclaim from both critics and audiences alike. Beyond the stage, Christopher is one of the most sought-after violin teachers in Mexico. His students regularly secure scholarships and excel in competitions and youth orchestras—many of them holding, or having held, principal positions in ensembles such as the OSIM, the OSJZ in Zapopan, and the Higinio Ruvalcaba Orchestra in Guadalajara. Furthermore, his students have won positions in major Mexican symphony orchestras, including the Mexico City Philharmonic Orchestra and the Jalisco Philharmonic Orchestra. Over more than 20 years of teaching, he has built a lasting legacy, mentoring musicians who today lead their own successful studios. As an entrepreneur, Christopher founded the Northern Lights Music Festival in 2002—now a major cultural event that brings together over 30 international artists annually in the Lake Chapala region. He also co-founded PALCCO in Guadalajara, a prominent performing arts complex, and in 2018, he established the Festival del Lago summer academy—currently regarded as one of the most important of its kind in Mexico—which supports young musicians from around the world. A graduate of the University of Toronto, he received the Governor General’s Award for his contributions to strengthening cultural ties between Canada and Mexico.
Jennifer Curtis
Guest artist and violin faculty
Composer/performer Jennifer Curtis has been described as a “multi genre maverick” by the San Diego union tribune. Her second solo concert in Carnegie Hall was described by the New York Times as “one of the gutsiest and most individual recital programs,” and she was celebrated as “an artist of keen intelligence and taste, well worth watching out for.” As a violinist Jennifer has won the milka-astral grand prize for violin, Juilliard concerto competitions and competed in Austria at the international Brahms competition. She has appeared as a soloist with the Simon Bolivar Orchestra in Venezuela, performed her own mini concerto with the Knights Chamber Orchestra, been presented as a soloist at Carnegie’s Weil Hall, Philadelphia‘a Kimmel center and Academy of music, given world premieres at the Mostly Mozart Festival at Lincoln Center; collaborated with composer John Adams at the Library of Congress; appeared at Giverny international festival de musique de chamber, Spoleto Festival, El Festival de las Artes Esénias in Peru, and many other festivals worldwide.
An improviser, composer, and multi-instrumentalist, Jennifer was a member of the acclaimed new music group; International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE) for 14 years. She appears on many recordings such as Invisible Ritual with Tyshawn Sorey, for which pitchfork magazine wrote that “Curtis’s range as a soloist is a revelation.” Other recordings such as Routes of Evanescence with Ariana Kim, include her compositions. Currently, Jennifer is finishing up an album of rarely heard repertoire by violinist/composer George Enescu. She has given American premeires of his solo violin works and performed many times in Romania in his honor.
Jennifer teaches violin at Duke University, performs regularly with the North Carolina Symphony and plays on a 1777 Vincenzo Panormo violin. Her formidable teachers were Robert Mann, Itzhak Perlman and Don Weilerstein.
Philippe Chao
Guest artist & viola faculty
Philippe Chao is a distinguished violist whose career spans the orchestral pit of the Kennedy Center, the academic studios of Texas Tech University, and the stages of major American orchestras. A tenured member of the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra and the Washington National Opera Orchestra, Philippe served as Assistant Professor of Viola at Texas Tech until 2025, where his dedication to pedagogy earned him the 2025 TexASTA Fredell Lack Outstanding Studio Award.
A frequent guest with premier orchestras such as The Philadelphia Orchestra and the Baltimore and Pittsburgh Symphonies, he is also an acclaimed chamber musician who has collaborated with world-renowned artists including Julian Rachlin, Robert Koenig, Simone Porter, and James Buswell. His festival presence is equally robust; he serves on the faculty of the Sewanee Summer Music Festival and maintains a long-standing position with the Grand Teton Music Festival. Beyond the stage, he is a highly regarded adjudicator, having served on juries for the American Virtuoso International Music Competition, the American Viola Society, and the Primrose International Viola Competition’s ranking round.
As a champion of new and neglected repertoire, Philippe has significantly expanded the violist’s library through premiere editions of Marco Anzoletti’s compositions and transcriptions of second viola parts for the Bach Cello Suites and several Kreutzer Études. In 2022, he commissioned and premiered Adolphus Hailstork’s Rosa Parks Said “NO” And The People Went to Work, and his recording of Sergey Akhunov’s Centaurs—a work dedicated to him—was featured in the 2023 American Viola Society Recording Project. Philippe has appeared on NPR’s Performance Today, performed on Steve Martin and Edie Brickell’s musical, Bright Star on Broadway, and is a featured artist on the Naxos label. He is a D’Addario Artist.
Gwendolyn Matias-Ryan
Viola Faculty & 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.
Diego Gutiérrez
Cello Faculty
Diego has experience in a wide variety of musical languages within the classical, contemporary, chamber music, experimental, and improvisational repertoires. He studied cello with Rolando Fernández at the Celaya Music Conservatory and with Keith Robinson (Miami String Quartet) during his Master's degree in Performance at Kent State University, Ohio. He has participated in masterclasses with cellists Gavriel Lipkind, Ulrika Edström, Richard Markson, Dennis Parker, Asier Polo, Eduardo Palao, and Adolfo Gutiérrez Arenas. He was a founding cellist of the Sequenza String Quartet, with which he performed at various venues and national festivals, and undertook an artistic exchange with the Instituto Cervantes in Stockholm and the Lilla Akademien in Sweden. He has been a member of the UNAM Eduardo Mata University Youth Orchestra and performed as a soloist with the Silvestre Revueltas Youth Symphony Orchestra. Since 2018, he has served as a resident cellist for the Center for Experimentation and Production of Contemporary Music (CEPROMUSIC), with which he has performed over one hundred works, participated in countless educational activities throughout Mexico, and undertaken international tours to Brazil, the United States, and Colombia. In June 2023, he performed as a soloist with the CEPROMUSIC ensemble, playing György Ligeti’s Cello Concerto. He is also a founding cellist of the string trio LaMN—dedicated to 20th and 21st-century repertoire for this instrumentation—with which he has performed concerts as part of the Manuel Enríquez International Forum of New Music and at the Sala Carlos Chávez at UNAM. Through the 2023 Program for the Promotion of Cultural Projects and Co-investments, the trio recorded the complete works for strings by Mexican composer José Luis Hurtado, released on the album *Star Trail*.
Mario Alejandro Torres Valdivieso
Bass Faculty
Mario Torres Valdivieso, born in Oaxaca Mexico in 1990, is an internationally renowned double bassist. At the age of 12, he began his musical training in the Libertad Children's and Youth Orchestra with Maestro Mauro Ramírez Pérez. He has studied in Mexico with Maestros Javier Cruz, Álvaro Porras, Alexei Diorditsa; and later abroad with Maestros Matthew Midgley, Rinat Ibragimov and Luis Cabrera. Mario has collaborated with orchestras such as the London Symphony, London Philharmonic, BBC Philharmonic, Antwerp Symphony, Monnaie Symphony, Champs Elysees Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic and Radio Philharmonic. Since 2022, he has been Co-Principal Double Bassist with the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra. He has received scholarships from institutions in Mexico and abroad and has participated in educational programs in Mexico, the Netherlands and England. In 2021, together with baroque violinist Alba Conejo Mangas, he founded the Oaxaca International Double Bass Academy. Recently, he offers private lessons and has given master classes at the Ollin Yoliztli Cultural Center. His dedication to education and music distinguishes him as an exceptional artist.
