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Praised for his colorful contrasts and fiery playing, Dr. Alessandro Fonseca has been recognized as a “musician that seeks the inner message of every note played and aims to deliver a sound both passionate and intense, but also delicate and refined.”  Dr. Fonseca has won several prizes in piano competitions in South America and also international prizes, such as 1st place in the 2019 Vienna Grand Prize Virtuoso International Music Competition and the 2nd Prize in the Piano Section, from the 2021 Medici International Competition, Professional category. During his career, Fonseca has participated in many international festivals such as the “Liszt and Russia” festival in Los Angeles, where he—alongside other performers—played Lyapunov’s Transcendental Etudes. As a member of the American Liszt Society, he has also performed many concerts, including Liszt’s Transcendental Etudes, opera and song paraphrases, transcriptions, the b minor sonata and many others.  Dr. Fonseca won the University of Oregon 2021 Concerto Competition playing the Khachaturian Piano Concerto. Recent performances include solo recitals playing Liszt’s b minor sonata and Beethoven’s 5th piano concerto with the DSC Symphony Orchestra.  In 2022, Dr. Fonseca was awarded Second Prize at the Red Maple International Music Competition, at the Professional Musician Category. He was also awarded the Audience Prize Winner in the Concerto Competition, for his rendition of the Khachaturian Piano Concerto and M. Balakirev’s Islamey. Dr. Fonseca works as Faculty at the Daytona State College and he is teaching piano and working as an accompanist for the music school.  Originally from Brazil, Dr. Fonseca currently maintains an active career performing solo and chamber music recitals. As a chamber musician, Dr. Fonseca has performed numerous concerts in different formations. One important project is his Duo Alarte, a violin-piano collaboration with Ana Zivkovic, an active duo that performs many concerts in South America. Dr. Fonseca is also the pianist for the Bel Canto Singers of Daytona.  Alessandro initiated his piano studies and musical training in his hometown, Campo Belo, MG, in Brazil when he was 10 years old, with Gil Eliazar. Further finished his Undergraduate course under the guidance of Professor Miriam Bastos, at the Minas Gerais State University. Later he finished his Master’s in Piano Performance under the guidance of professor Alexandre Dossin, at the University of Oregon and also received an award with his degree: the Outstanding Graduate Student Keyboard Player. Alessandro had studied also with Dr David Riley, at the University of Oregon, working on chamber music repertoire. In 2021, Alessandro was awarded the Doctorate in Musical Arts, at the University of Oregon, under the guidance of Alexandre Dossin and David Riley. At the UO, Alessandro worked for 6 years, as a collaborative pianist, doing studio accompaniment for vocalists and instrumentalists. Dr. Fonseca also worked as a piano instructor, teaching applied piano lessons, and class piano.

Kenneth Fuchs’s fifth Naxos recording with the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by JoAnn Falletta won the 2018 GRAMMY® Award in the category Best Classical Compendium. He has composed music for orchestra, band, voice, chorus, and various chamber ensembles. With Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Lanford Wilson, Fuchs created three chamber musicals, The Great Nebula in Orion, A Betrothal, and Brontosaurus, which Circle Repertory Company originally presented in New York City. Fuchs’s operatic monodrama Falling Man (text by Don DeLillo, adapted by J. D. McClatchy) was presented at the National September 11 Memorial & Museum in commemoration of the 15th anniversary of 9/11. His music has achieved significant global recognition through performances, media exposure, and digital streaming and downloading throughout North and South America, Central and Eastern Europe, Asia, and Australia.  The London Symphony Orchestra, under the baton of JoAnn Falletta, has recorded five albums of Fuchs’s music for Naxos American Classics, which have earned four GRAMMY® Award nominations.  Kenneth Fuchs serves as Professor of Composition at the University of Connecticut. He received his bachelor of music degree in composition from the University of Miami (cum laude) and his master of music and doctor of musical arts degrees in composition from The Juilliard School. Fuchs’s composition teachers include Milton Babbitt, David Del Tredici, David Diamond, Vincent Persichetti, and Alfred Reed. His music is published by Bill Holab Music, Hal Leonard Corporation, Edward B. Marks Music Company, Theodore Presser Company, and Yelton Rhodes Music, and it has been recorded by Albany, Cala, and Naxos Records.