Music
Press
"Both are virtuosos, with extensive training and a profound understanding of the cultural thrusts behind the complex music of Spain, South America, and Caribe" - "Journal Sentinel, Mary-Liz Shaw
Her eyes are close. Her lips are moving as if in prayer. Ana Ruth Bermudez is playing the cello. Nothing else exists for her. " When I close my eyes, I am closer to my soul." - Renira Pachuta
Ana Ruth has proven to be one of those young musicians who show an amazing maturity… When her hands fly above the cello they leave no room for youthful vacillation; rather, they convey an accurate sense of what they are doing, a studied execution that produces the most ravishing delight.
- “Gramma”, Luis A. González (Cuba)
It was something monumental, both from a formal point of view as well as from anything related to the field of expression. The program reached a superior interpretive level in the hands of these young yet experienced professionals.
- Radio Musical Nacional, Jorge Fiallo (Cuba)
The concert by the Orchesta Sinfónica Simón Bolívar conducted by Ana Ruth Bermúdez was simply spectacular…She took flight not only with the baton but also with her entire body, capable of transmitting the feeling of the score and of the composer, who was brought back to life throughout the course of this performance.
...Bermúdez vibrates from all musical angles. As a conductor, as a performer, as a pedagogue; indeed, she knows that she was born to develop her natural potential, and she traces all the musical cardinal points moving with the tenacity of a high-flying bird…
- “La nación” Ligia Parra Pérez (Venezuela)
Izquierdo's big sound and command made his guitar a worthy partner to Bermudez's cello in songs by Manuel de Falla…Bermudez gave them full voice and phrased generously.
- Journal Sentinel (USA), Tom Strini (oct. 2005)
Discography
Recording our first CD
Photos
Bio
After many years out of their homeland, these two gifted musicians found each other in Milwaukee and began a beautiful friendship giving birth to a musical collaboration inspired on their cultural identity.
ANA RUTH BERMUDEZ, A sought-after soloist, recitalist and pedagogue, holds a B.M. in Cello Performance from the “Amadeo Roldan” Conservatory of Music, and “Superior Instituto of Art” in Havana; as well as studies in the Tchaikovsky Conservatory of Moscow. Since October 2000 she resides in the United States of America. Her solo and chamber music appearances have led her to play in Cuba, Russia, Spain, Venezuela, Brazil, Mexico, England, and USA, where she premiered a solo cello piece written specifically for her at the Miami International Composers Festival. She has recorded for television, theater, radio and film in Cuba, Spain, Venezuela, and USA. She has also played with the International Chamber Orchestra of Moscow and the Havana Chamber Orchestra, becoming the artistic director in 1991.
A committed teacher, she taught at Havana’s National School of Music and Higher Institute of Art, as well as the “Simon Bolivar” Conservatory of Music and University Institute of Musical Studies in Caracas, Venezuela. Currently, she teaches at the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music as well as in Latino Art, string program. She is also member of the Skylight Opera Teather.
RENE IZQUIERDO, graduated from the “Amadeo Roldan” Conservatory of Music, and Superior Institute of Art in Havana, where he studied with renowned guitarist Jesus Ortega. After his arrival in the United States, he graduated from Yale University School of Music, where he studied with Benjamin Verdery and obtained a Master of Music and an Artist Diploma degree in 2001 and was awarded the Eliot Fisk Prize to an outstanding guitarist. He has studied with Leo Brouwer, David Russell, Shin-Ichi Fukuda, Eli Kastner, Pepe Romero, Angel Romero, Carlos Barbosa-Lima, David Starobin, Eduardo Fernandez, Jorge Morel, Robert Beaser and Anthony Newman. Mr. Izquierdo is currently recording his debut CD with Luthier Music Corporation.
Izquierdo has been awarded several competition prizes, and most recently was a finalist in the JoAnne Falletta International Guitar Concerto Competition. He has appeared as a guest soloist and in chamber music concerts throughout the United States, Canada, Cuba, Spain, France and Italy. He has shared the stage with many prestigious guitarists including Eliot Fisk, Jorge Morel and Benjamin Verdery as well as renowned flutist Ransom Wilson at the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival. At the Only in America Cameo Concerts Series, Izquierdo performed music by composer Bruce Adolphe, in collaboration with David Jolley and Lucy Shelton. Renowned composers such as Jorge Morel and Carlos R. Rivera have dedicated works to him. In 2004 he performed the Villa-Lobos concerto with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and played the U.S. premiere of "The Divan of Moses Ibn-Ezra" by Castelnuovo-Tedesco, a 19-song cycle, with soprano Arianne Slack in a Merkin Archive concert. Before joining the faculty at UWM, Izquierdo taught at the State University of New York at Purchase and Yale University.
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