my bio page

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Short bio:

Violist Luis Enrique Vargas was born in Barquisimeto, Venezuela. He began viola lessons at age 14 at the Venezuelan National Youth Orchestra, and music studies at the Vicente Emilio Sojo Conservatory in his homeland. He was a member of the Simón Bolivar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela. He continued studies at the Simón Bolivar Conservatory of Music in Caracas under the guidance of José Manuel Román. He resides in the United States since 1997. While in the US he obtained a Master’s Degree in Music Performance from Miami University of Ohio and a Performer’s Certificate from Northern Illinois University where he studied with Richard Young, violist of the Vermeer Quartet. He is currently the violist of the Euclid Quartet and Lecturer in Viola at Indiana University South Bend. With the Euclid Quartet performed twice at Carnegie Hall, in 2003 and in 2004 and won international Competitions including the Osaka Chamber Music Competition in Japan.

Complete bio:

Mr. Vargas was born in Barquisimeto, Venezuela. He began viola lessons at age 14 at the National Youth Orchestra at Lara State in Venezuela and music studies at the Vicente Emilio Sojo Conservatory in the city Barquisimeto (Venezuela). He continued studies at the Simón Bolivar Conservatory of Music in Caracas under the guidance of José Manuel Román. He holds a Master in Music Performance degree from Miami University of Ohio and a Performer’s Certificate from Northern Illinois University where he studied with Richard Young. Mr. Vargas was the violist of the Cuarteto de Cuerdas América (string quartet) from 1995 through 1999. With his quartet he pursued a Diploma in Chamber Music at Wilfrid Laurier University in Ontario, Canada, guided by the Penderecki String Quartet.

He has been the violist of the EUCLID QUARTET since September 2001. In the fall of 2007 the Euclid Quartet was appointed String Quartet In-Residence at the Ernestine M. Raclin School of the Arts at Indiana University South Bend. From 2004 to 2007 the members of the quartet were Artists-In-Residence at Morningside College of Sioux City, Iowa. Relevant performances with the Euclid Quartet include one at Izumi Hall In Osaka, Japan, one at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall in May 2003 during the Bela Bartok Workshop with the Emerson Quartet and several at Aspen Music Festival with faculty members in 2002 and 2003. In May 2004 the Euclid Quartet participated in the Carnegie Hall innovative educational project “Musical Explorers” at Zenkel Hall for New York City’s Schools.

The Euclid Quartet was awarded one of the top prices at the Osaka International Chamber Music Competition in Japan in 2005 and the Grand Prize at the Hugo Kauder International String Quartet Competition at Yale University in 2004. The Hugo Kauder Society has nominated Mr. Vargas to be a member of their Board of Directors. Also in 2004, the quartet was selected by audition to be a part of the Emerson Quartet’s Workshop at Stony Brook. The Euclid Quartet is currently taking part in a unique project sponsored by Carnegie Hall. This endeavor will come in a form of a DVD and it compiles very interesting master classes with the Emerson Quartet during their Bela Bartok Workshop and a wealth of information about the composer.

Mr. Vargas has participated on several internationally known chamber music festivals such as Aspen, Norfolk, and Great Lakes and has in performed as a chamber musician throughout the US, and in Venezuela, Colombia, Germany, Luxembourg and Canada.

Some of his most important teachers, mentors and coaches include: Richard Young, Gerard Caussé (Paris National Conservatory), Li-Kuo Chang (Chicago Symphony), William Preucil ( Cleveland Orchestra), Rotislav Dubinski, Mikhail Kopelman, Roland Vamos, Henry Meyer and Janos Starker. Other chamber musicians include Michael Tree (Guarneri Quartet), James Dunham and Paul Katz (Cleveland Quartet), Earl Carlyss, Robert Mann and members of the Amadeus, the Carmina the Tokyo the Takács, the American, the Vermeer and the Mendelssohn Quartets. Mr. Vargas has taught viola since 1992. In his native land, he was an active performer and educator and collaborated with the Venezuelan National Youth Orchestra (UNESCO's Music Prize 1993-94) which has been an example to follow by other nations of the world. He has presented seminars throughout Venezuela, teaching orchestral and solo repertoire for the viola.

He was a member of the Lara Symphony Orchestra from1987 to1994. The orchestra toured to Brazil in 1988, Curaçao in 1991 and Spain in 1992. The following year the orchestra performed at the Festival de la Radio France et Montpellier and at the Festival de la Musique au Autun in France. In July 1995 he joined the Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra in Caracas with which he toured the same year to Europe to perform in Paris at the Sorbonne University and at the event of the UNESCO's fiftieth anniversary. He performed in Madrid at the concert series "Béla Bartók's 50s Celebration." With the Simon Bolivar Orchestra he recorded "Latino-American Lollipops" a compilation of Latino-American masterpieces under Dorian Label.

Mr. Vargas' viola is a copy of a Mateo Goffriller (1701) made in 1995 by William Bartruff in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

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