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During his
formative years he studied at the
Vicente Emilio Sojo and the Simon Bolivar Conservatories of
Music in Venezuela.
He moved to North America in 1997 where he
pursued a Diploma in Chamber Music at
Wilfrid
Laurier
University in
Ontario,
Canada,
guided by the Penderecki String Quartet. He resides in the United
States since the fall of that year.
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.
Throughout his career, Mr. Vargas has
studied with many internationally known musicians. Among
them are Jose Manuel Roman, Richard Young, Gerard Causee,
Li-Kuo Chang, James Dunham, Michael Tree, Earl Carlyss, and
the Penderecki, Vermeer and Emerson string quartets.
With the Euclid Quartet he was awarded
the Bronze Medal at the Osaka International Chamber Music Competition
in
Japan
in 2005, the Grand Prize at the Hugo Kauder International Music Competition at
Yale University
in 2004 and second place at the Chamber Music Yellow Spring
Competition in Ohio in 2003. Relevant performances with the Euclid
Quartet include venues such as Izumi Hall In Osaka, Japan,
Weill Recital Hall and Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall in New York City
and Harris Hall at the Aspen Music Festival.
He is currently a member of the Recording Academy (the
Grammy Awards organization), as well as an adjudicator for the
Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, and a member of the
board of directors of the Hugo Kauder Society and advisor for their
International Music Competition.
Among his current projects, the recording of a full
cycle of Bela Bartók's
string quartets is in the works. The recording of the first set with
the even-numbered quartets
Nos. 2, 4 and 6 was released in
May, 2010 under Artek Label. In July of 2011 the quartet will record
the second set with quartets Nos. 1, 3 and 5. The first Bartok
recording has won great reviews from
Gramophone,
All Music Guide and
American Record Guide. The quartet
previously released a recording of 4 of 19 string quartets by
Austrian composer
Hugo Kauder under Centaur Record
Label.
He was a member of the Cuarteto America
(1995-1999) with which he performed extensively throughout Venezuela
and in Luxembourg, Germany, Colombia, Mexico, Canada and the United
States. With the Cuarteto he attended international music festivals
such as Norfolk (CT), Great Lakes (MI), Round Top (TX), and attended
the International Music Symposium "Strings of the Future" in Ottawa,
Canada in 1997.
With the orchestras of "El Sistema,"
namely the Lara Symphony and the Simon Bolivar Orchestra, he
performed in multiple tours to
Brazil, Curaçao,
Spain and
France over the span of 9 yeas. With the
Simon Bolivar Orchestra he recorded "Latino-American Lollipops" a
compilation of Latino-American masterpieces under Dorian Label.
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