Bach to Blues Performers
Maria Amirkhanian |
John Garcia |
Art Juncker
Alberto Marqués |
Candace Fazzio | Nate
Pruitt
Gavilan Performance Ensemble
A native of Yerevan, Armenia,
Maria Amirkhanian began piano lessons at the age of five. While studying under Armine Mokatsian at the Tchaikovsky
School of Music, she won first place at the Khachaturian Competition.
After graduating from the Komitas State Conservatory of Yerevan,
she was accepted, with a full scholarship, to CSU Fresno where she became a student of Andreas Werz.
In addition to performing throughout California and internationally,
Maria has participated in master classes with Peyter Frankl, Barbara
Nissman, Tamas Ungar, Ruth Laredo and Oxana Yablonskaya.
In 1994, Maria won second place
at the Liszt Competition in Pasadena. The following year she won first
place at the 1995 MTA Solo Competition, a statewide event. Maria was also the winner of
the Fresno Organizers Scholarship Award in 1996. She obtained
her DMA from Moscow Conservatory, Russia. She is currently
an instructor at CSU Fresno and plans to join the faculty of the
Gavilan College Music Department in the Fall of 2006.
Professional guitarist and vocalist
who has been entertaining and performing his art for 30 years. His
experience includes recording sessions with famous artists such as
John Lee Hooker and Paul Simon, an appearance in Carnegie Hall while
on a world tour with John Lee Hooker, and The Coast to Coast Blues
Band. He has fronted his own bands and worked and played with many
artists including, B. B. King, Bonnie Raitt, Johnny Winters, and Huey
Lewis and The News.
Art Juncker (1948-) has been a
full-time teacher at Gavilan since 1980 and is now in his 27th year
of teaching music theory, music history, electronic music and leading
various college performance groups. A composer by nature and by training
(BA in Music, Sacramento State, 1975, MA in Music, University of California,
Davis, 1977) several of his works have premiered here at Gavilan College,
including his Piano Concerto No. 1, by the South Valley Symphony,
Daniel Glover soloist. His music has also been performed at venues
as various as the University of California, Davis, University of the
Pacific, the Herbst Theater and the Museum of Modern Art in San Francisco
as well as the Smithsonian. Several of his works are part of the Nicolas
Slonimsky archive at the Smithsonian. and the Boardinghouse. He is
a member of the Society of Composers, the American Society of Composers,
Authors and Publishers (ASCAP). and for some years in the '70s and
'80s, achieved some discrete fame as performing artist Bodhi Chicken.
As a returning Vietnam veteran
in 1969, he attended Sacramento City College, an experience so positive
and life-affirming that he decided to devote his life to music and
teaching at the community college level. He has been married to the
fabulous Marie Juncker (nee Walcott) for 34 years and, apart from
that, is probably best known as the father of the famous Al Juncker,
with whom Mr. Juncker has studied privately for the past 23 years.
In addition to music courses, Mr. Juncker also teaches Art 11,
Creativity. Oh ... and then there's the wood.
Alberto
Marqués
Albert Marqués,
known as El Ajito in the flamenco world, was born into a
family where flamenco was a part of life. Albert’s first teacher was
his father. Later he went on to study with world renowned guitarist,
Mariano Cordoba. Wanting to pursue his dreams, Marqués moved to
Spain in 1989 and studied with one of the top guitarist in Spain, Chicuelo. Upon returning to the U.S. in 1992, Marqués went to CSU,
Fresno to study with yet another world renowned guitarist, Juan
Serrano.
In 1994, Albert entered the prestigious Fresno Guitar Society
Competition for the first time and won first place. Albert has done
television and radio performances as well as extensive touring
throughout California, Spain, and South America.
Some of Albert’s most recent projects include the song, “Piel de
Seda” for the movie soundtrack, It’ll Happen. In January of
this year, Alberto was a featured guitarist for the concert series,
Dynamic Guitars, held at the Historic Hoover Center in San
Jose.
Albert Marqués is married to concert pianist Maria Amirkhanian. They
have twin daughters, three years old, who love playing Mom’s piano
and Dad’s guitars.
Candace Fazzio is a busy performer, who informs as
well as entertains. Beginning with Classic and New Ragtime, and
continuing with Latin American and Canadian music from the proper
parlor, as well as less savory environments, her programs
include the creative output of thoughtful, serious composers whose
work is less widely known. Her repertoire spans the 20th Century,
and speaks with a Pan-American voice; a mix of classical and
popular, joyful and sensual music. She holds B.A. and M.A. degrees
in music, and has over 30 years' experience as an independent music
teacher. Candace is director and principal faculty member at the
Music Academy, now celebrating 11 years in downtown Gilroy.
Joining her on the Academy faculty are John Garcia, guitar
instructor, Sandra Marlowe, who teaches voice, and Andoni Bundros,
assisting with piano instruction. Throughout the year, the Academy
also presents professional, touring pianists in recitals and master
classes which are open to the community.
Acclaimed as "the finest jazz
scatting vocalist on the West Coast," (Good Times, Santa Cruz,
CA), Nate Pruitt has developed his unique style over a long and multifaceted
musical education. He is a Gavilan College music instructor.
Nate Pruitt and Guitarist Rick
Vandivier are Primary Colors, a jazz and blues duo often featuring
other great musicians in the California Bay Area of San Francisco
and San Jose. Their music is more than jazz and blues. It also includes
elements of swing, soul, pop, spiritual, and Latin rhythms ... amd
even a trademark deep Southern yodel.
Gavilan Performance Ensemble
The Performing Ensemble is a
combination of the Instrumental Ensemble Class – Music 14A-B-C-D and
Vocal Ensemble Class – Music 12, headed by Art Juncker and Albert
Marqués
Ensemble Members Spring 2006 – listed alphabetically:
Melissa "Isa" Ballard – Margaret Blasingame – Michael Cardenas – Alex
Davis – Isabel de Anda – John Dennery – “Margarita” Garcés – Gregory
Garrett –
Greg Hendrick – Tim Holliday – Amber “Joey” Ortiz – Scott Schulze –
Katrina Sherwood – Marta Sherwood – Kari Thygersen – Elliott Treves
