Apostolos Paraskevas is a classical guitarist and composer as well as an award-winning film director and producer. He has received multiple international awards for his compositions and was nominated for a Grammy Award. He is the only guitarist ever to have a major orchestral piece performed at Carnegie Hall under the direction of Lukas Foss––and the only musician who has performed there in a Grim Reaper outfit. He has made over a dozen recordings of his music and his orchestral music has been performed around the world by numerous symphony orchestras including Albany, Boston Landmarks, Boston University, Newton, National Festival, Atlantic, Odessa, National Greek, Cyprus, Florida International University, Thessaloniki Municipal Symphony orchestras and tonight with the Boston Civic Orchestra. He was the founder and served for 16 years as the artistic director of the International Guitar Congress-Festival of Corfu, Greece. He is a voting member of the Recording Academy (Grammys).

After his undergraduate music studies in Volos he pursued advanced studies in classical guitar with Costas Cotsiolis (diploma, 1990) and Leo Brouwer (Havana 1984, 1988), as well as postgraduate studies in composition with Lukas Foss and Theodore Antoniou (DMA in composition, Boston University, 1998). Paraskevas embarked on a successful career as a guitar soloist and contemporary composer, achieving distinctions in both disciplines: Grammy nomination for Chase Dance (Bridge Records, 1999); first prize for Night Wanderings (Lukas Foss Composition Competition, 2000); first prize for Phygein Adynaton (National Composers Conference, 1997); and numerous prestigious commissions, performances, and publications. Following teaching posts at Northeastern and Boston Universities, Paraskevas has taught since 2001 at the Berklee College of Music in Boston (professor of composition and classical guitar). Although he was struck by focal hand dystonia in 2009, he recovered in 2013 after reconstructing his playing technique.

His eclectic compositional style arises as an idiosyncratic integration of seemingly conflicting influences – from avant-garde approaches to harmonic structure, form, and timbre, to pop-folk modal and rhythmical concepts – amalgamated into a personal evocative musical language, characterized by rhythmic verve, melodic grace, dramatic (and sometimes unexpectedly humorous) gestures, and ritualistic or theatrical elements. The latter feature has also led Paraskevas to the creation of films, notably the acclaimed I Finally Did It (Gold award, California Film Awards 2010), dealing wittily with Death, a recurring extra-musical theme in his music.

Publishers: Hal Leonard (USA), Bèrben (Ancona, Italy), Schott (Germany), Papagrigoriou- Nakas (Athens, Greece), Silver Sickle Productions (USA), Centaur Records, Bridge Records (USA). The Groves Dictionary of Music Costas Tsougras

Mr. Wilson, Jr. holds a BA in Political Science from the University of Notre Dame, and an MFA in Acting from the University of Minnesota/Guthrie Theatre training program. He is a Professor of the Practice in Theatre and Dance at Wheaton College, Norton, MA. He has worked On Broadway (2000 Tony Award-nominated production of Jesus Christ Superstar, and 2018 Tony Award-nominated Iceman Cometh starring Denzel Washington), Off Broadway, as well as performing in regional theaters around the country. He has taught acting, art activism, and lectured at the high schools, colleges, universities and at conferences locally and around the country. Wilson is in his 18th season as a member of the Resident Acting Company and Artistic Staff at Trinity Repertory Company, serves as Trinity’s Coordinator of Activism through Performance, and the Founder of Trinity Rep’s Center for Activism and Performance. Joe has recently directed The Inheritance: Parts One and Two in the Fall of 2022, the 2021 production of A Christmas Carol both at Trinity Rep, An Octoroon by Brandon Jacobs Jenkins at the Gamm Theatre in Warwick, RI, and co-directed Black Odyssey by Marcus Gardley in 2018, also at Trinity. He has been honored by the Rhode Island Black Heritage Foundation, and is a Fox Foundation Fellow for Distinguished Achievement in the Arts administered by the Theatre Communications Group, New York City. This year Joe was honored by the Rhode Island Council for the Humanities with its’ Public Scholar’ Award. The awards states that, ”Joe Wilson Jr. is a force who uses his skills, his talent, and his passion to enact, concretely, what the humanities can do to change the world. He models on stage, in his writing, in his teaching, and in his support of many organizations what he would like to see in our world today. He is the epitome of the better world we can imagine together and he will continue to use the humanities, the common experiences that link all of us, to pull us forward, with him, toward this better world, the one he has dedicated himself to create.” He received the 2019 Providence NAACP’s Medgar Evers Award for Public Service. Most recently, Joe was inducted into the City of Providence 2020 MLK Hall of Fame for Outstanding Service. Joe had the most fun a few years ago serving as a Grand Marshal for PVD Festival held in Providence every June. Last year, Joe was proud to be featured in the Rhode Island PBS Documentary: Black Joy. Finally, Joe is most proud to be the father of his 10 month old fur baby named Sally.

Francisco Noya is a prominent figure in the Boston and New England music scene, where he has earned a reputation as a versatile interpreter of symphonic and operatic literature. He served as music director of the Longwood Symphony Orchestra in Boston and Symphony by the Sea in Manchester. Mr. Noya currently serves as resident conductor of the Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra, where he represents the Philharmonic artistically and educationally throughout the Rhode Island community. He is also the music director of the New Philharmonia Orchestra in Newton, MA.

Noya is also a respected member of the conducting faculty of the Berklee College of Music in Boston. In the fall of 2008, he began his tenure as music director of the Berklee Contemporary Symphony Orchestra, where he is actively engaged in the exploration of cutting-edge orchestral repertoire.

Noya began his professional career in his native Venezuela, as conductor of the Youth Orchestra of Valencia, one of the original ensembles of “El Sistema.” After earning advanced degrees in composition and conducting from Boston University, Noya was appointed to serve as assistant conductor of the Caracas Philharmonic and assistant to the music director of the Teatro Teresa Carreño, one of the most prestigious theaters in Latin America. Noya continued his conducting career in the United States by serving as music director of the Empire State Youth Orchestra in Albany, New York for ten seasons. During his tenure, he led the group on two European tours as well as in concerts at both Carnegie Hall in New York City and in Ozawa Hall at Tanglewood.

In the U.S., Noya has appeared as guest conductor of the Boston Pops, Baltimore, Nashville, San Antonio, and Omaha Symphony Orchestras, and the Cape Cod Symphony, among others. In addition, he has performed internationally with orchestras in Argentina, Brazil, Peru, Austria, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Spain, Italy and Russia. In Venezuela, Noya has collaborated with “El Sistema,” teaching Master Classes and conducting orchestral performances throughout the country. For the past three seasons, Noya has been a guest conductor with the Orquesta Académica of Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires.

Japanese-American conductor Ken Yanagisawa is the Music Director of the Boston Opera Collaborative and the Boston Annex Players, the Associate Conductor of the Boston Civic Symphony, the Assistant Conductor of the New Philharmonia Orchestra, and an Assistant Professor at Berklee College of Music. He made his Japanese debut conducting Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte with Kansai Nikikai and the Japan Century Symphony Orchestra in February 2023 and will return in Fall 2026 to conduct Mozart’s Clemenza di Tito. A 2024 Aspen Conducting Academy Fellow and James Conlon Conductor Prize recipient, Ken has previously served as a Conducting Apprentice with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and has assisted/covered the National Symphony Orchestra, Rhode Island Philharmonic, Berlin Academy of American Music, and Berlin Opernfest, among others.

Ken recently completed a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Orchestral Conducting at Boston University under the guidance of James Burton and also holds graduate degrees in conducting from the Manhattan School of Music and a B.A. in music from Yale University. Prior to Yale he attended the New England Conservatory as an Undergraduate Diploma candidate for Oboe Performance under the tutelage of John Ferrillo. His other teachers include George Manahan, William Lumpkin, Bernard Labadie, and Tatsuya Shimono. In masterclasses and festivals, he has been taught by renowned artists and pedagogues such as Robert Spano, Leonard Slatkin, Mark Stringer, Dame Jane Glover, Gerard Schwarz, and Jorma Panula. He is deeply grateful for all the excellent guidance and mentorship he has received thus far in his life as a musician.