Tremün Artists’ Biographies

Performers

Verónica Villarroel, Soprano

Chilean-born Soprano Verónica Villarroel has been described as “vocally distinguished and unerringly honest” by the New York Times. Her international acclaim has brought her to major opera houses throughout the world, such as the Metropolitan Opera, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Royal Albert Hall, Teatro Colon of Buenos Aires, Hamburg State Opera, Bavarian State Opera, Scala de Milan, Deutsche Oper Berlin, San Francisco Opera, Liceu de Barcelona, Teatro Real de Madrid, and the National Theater Tokyo. 

She has been particularly praised for her performances in operas such as La Traviata, La Boheme, Fausto, Carmen, Cosi fan Tutte, Madama Butterfly, Manon Lescaut, Don Carlo ,Otello, Jerusalem, Alzira, Battagli di Legnano, Il Trovatore, Luisa Mullier and many others. 

She has worked with the most distinguished singers, conductors and directors throughout her career including Renata Scotto, Mirella Freni, Montserrat Caballe, Jose Carreras, Placido Domingo, Alfredo Kraus, Jose Cura, Dmitri Hvorovstoski, and Giuseppe Giaccomini among others. She has performed with conductors such as James Levine, Plasson, Pappano, Metha, and Julius Rudel. She also has enjoyed working with stage directors Franco Zefirelli, Bob Wilson, Werner Herzog, Herbert Ross, and Fritzel, to name a few. 

She has received many awards throughout her career recognizing her cultural contributions, and continues that tradition with the creation of her Vocal Academy and Cultural Foundation - Verónica Villarroel. She currently continues to teach opera workshops and masterclasses around the world.

Patricio Molina, Piano

Named "gifted artist" by the New York Times, Dr. Patricio Molina has gained a reputation as a composer, pianist, and educator. The Cleveland Institute of Music is one of many institutions that acknowledges his artistic accomplishments by naming him a 2021 Future of Music Faculty Fellow. Patricio regularly appears on stages such as Carnegie Hall and OPERA America.

The New Jersey Youth Symphony and White Snake Projects are among the many institutions that have recognized his talents with commissioned works. Inspirations for his compositions include his Chilean- Syrian heritage as well as his experience as an immigrant. An album of his own compositions for piano performed by the composer will be released in 2021.

Patricio is committed to serving marginalized communities and working toward decolonizing academic research. He is in demand as a lecturer on a wide variety of topics including composition, Arabic music, and teaching composition for performers. His accomplishments in the field of arts education have been recognized by the New Jersey Education Association with their Award for Excellence.

Patricio holds a Master's Degree with distinction from the Manhattan School of Music, a D.M.A in Piano Performance, and a Ph.D. in Music Composition from Rutgers University. He serves as Associate Director of the Conservatory for Newark School of the Arts, and Music Director at St. Thomas the Apostle Church of Bloomfield, New Jersey. He serves as Adjunct Professor of Music at Passaic Valley Community College. He is co-founder and President of Notes for Growth Foundation.

Alejandro Mendoza, Violin

Alejandro has toured North America, South America, and Asia performing both as a recitalist and soloist with orchestras. The New York Press has called him “an outstanding soloist” and The Ann Arbor (MI) News wrote, “Alejandro Mendoza’s playing of the violin … is enough to start the bravos pouring from the gallery.” He has also been heard in Japan, where his sold out concerts in Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya led to return engagements to many Japanese cities.

Alejandro is also internationally recognized as a violin professor. He currently teaches at the Manhattan School of Music in New York City, Columbia University, and gives Master Classes in the USA and abroad. He is frequently asked to adjudicate violin competitions in several countries. His teaching career began while still a student at the Juilliard School, when he was chosen by celebrated violin pedagogue, Dorothy DeLay, to work with her as a teaching fellow at Juilliard and as a faculty member at the Aspen Music Festival. Mr. Mendoza was also trained in the great teaching tradition of the late Ivan Galamian and spent summers at the Meadowmount School of Music. In 1997 Mr. Mendoza founded the Amati Conservatory in New Jersey; a music school for dedicated young music students. Later, in the year 2000 he founded the Amati Music Festival in New York State, a summer music school that draws students from many countries who travel to study with distinguished music pedagogues in the beautiful setting of the Catskill Mountains of upstate New York.

Anna Keiserman, Pianist

Russian born and New York-based pianist Anna Keiserman is known for her creative programming, expressive freedom, and singular vision. With her debut album, Russian Mosaic, recently released on the Sheva Collection label, Anna offers rarely heard gems by Rachmaninoff, Shchedrin, Smirnov, and Medtner. With a focus on actively engaging audiences, Anna created several custom programs for the Salmagundi Art Club. With her “American Music 1917-18,” “Sounding Palettes,” and “New York Lights,” Anna invited audiences to explore surprising repertoire in a variety of cultural contexts.  Other performance credits include Le Poisson Rouge, Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, and performing for the Fête de La Musique at the invitation of the French-American Piano Society.

Anna has served as faculty at the NYU Steinhardt School of the Arts, at the Rutgers University Extension Division, and at William Paterson University. Having earned degrees from the Gnessin Russian Academy of Music in Moscow and the University of Minnesota, Anna recently completed her Doctorate in Piano Performance from Rutgers University with the Elizabeth Wyckoff  Durham Award for academic distinction and excellence in piano performance. In September 2020, she joined the faculty of Raritan Valley Community College as an Assistant Professor of Piano.

Claudia Peñailillo Villegas, Clarinet

Claudia began her clarinet studies at the age of 9 in New York. She then continued formally at the University of Chile, where she graduated with maximum distinction in 2018. In addition to her work as a performer, pedagogy has always been present in her life, and has accompanied and highlighted her throughout her musical career. She worked for 5 years as a music teacher at the Ecole Noel School in Santiago, where she gained the experience of working with children with Down and Asperger Syndrome.

She has performed at multiple festivals in Latin America, United States, and Europe and taken classes with renowned teachers. It is also worth highlighting her work as a project manager. She was the winner of the Dirac 2019 Contest, managed by the Directorate of Cultural Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Her project consisted of performing pieces by Chilean composers with her chamber ensemble “Hoffnung Trio”, in a series of 3 concerts in the states of New York and New Jersey.

Claudia is currently pursuing her master’s degree at New York University with Pascual Martínez-Forteza, clarinetist of the New York Philharmonic.

Daniel Lamas, Viola

An artist with an innovative and versatile spectrum, Chilean- American Violist, Daniel Lamas leads a multifaceted career as a performer and educator.

Daniel studied at the Paris Conservatoire and at the Manhattan School of Music, where he earned his Master of Music. As a soloist and chamber musician, Daniel has presented concerts in the United States, France, Germany, and his native Chile, including an acclaimed international debut with the Orquesta de Camara de Valdivia.

A champion of new music, promoting works by young and emerging composers, Daniel recently premiered the “Tirana” Viola concerto, written for him by Dr. Derek Cooper (2016); a piece based on Chilean folklore. Daniel has held the position of principal violist with the Orquesta de Camara de Valdivia, Musik landschaft westfalen philharmonie, Penderecki Festival, and serves as principal of various opera orchestras and chamber orchestras in NYC.

Darwin Cosme, Flute

Award-winning Puerto Rican flutist Darwin Cosme has been an avid chamber musician, orchestra, and soloist. He has performed with the Philharmonia Symphony Orchestra, Amadeus Orchestra, Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra, Casals Festival of Puerto Rico, and New York Chamber Players. He has been under the baton of Pablo Heras-Casado, Carlos Miguel Prieto, Helmuth Rilling, Carlos Botero, Maximiano Valdés, Victor Yampolsky.

Darwin won 1st prize at the Toronto Latin American Flute Festival Chamber Music Competition with the Zafra Wind Trio and the Young Artists Competition at William Paterson University in New Jersey. He has also been invited two consecutive years to the Toronto Latin American Flute Festival as a guest artist. In 2019, he was invited as an Artist in Residence by the Universidad Autónoma de Cuidad Juárez, Mexico, at the 1st Flute Week. During his residency, he presented recitals, lectures and performed with the Youth Symphony Orchestra of the university conducted by Maestro Lizandro Valentín García Alvarado.

Darwin currently serves as founder, executive and artistic director of the Diaz-Del Moral Foundation, the Latin American Chamber Player in New York, Puerto Rico Flute Symposium and Puerto Rico Summer Festival. Cosme maintains a full concert schedule and is an artist from Celestine Flute Rexonator and Hernández Flutes.

Enriqueta Somarriba, Piano

Spanish pianist Enriqueta Somarriba has been praised by the New York Concert Review for her “aplomb” and her “natural, individual interpretation”. Her repertoire focuses on Spanish and Latin American music, which she has performed at Carnegie Hall, Cervantes Institute of New York, State Theatre of New Jersey and Auditorio Nacional de Música (Madrid, Spain) among other venues. She has played as a soloist with the Andres Segovia Orchestra in the presence of Queen Sofia of Spain and with the Rutgers Symphony, Brunensi Virtuosi and Forum Musikae Orchestras. Her performances have been recorded for RNE (Spanish National Radio), 98.7 WFMT Chicago, 89.1 WWFM radio and MSR Classics label.

Enriqueta also divulges the Ibero-American repertoire as an educator, currently serving as Lecturer at Rutgers University and as Teaching Artist at Manhattan School of Music's Distance Learning Program. She has delivered lecture-recitals at Cornell University, University of Michigan and Alfonso X el Sabio University (Spain).

Flor Lizbeth Cruz, Flute

Flor Lizbeth Cruz Longoria holds a BM from Texas A&M University-Kingsville, an MA from the UMKC Conservatory, and is currently pursuing a GC from the UMKC School of Business. She was selected as an Emerging Artist for the 2013 Imani Winds Chamber Music Festival, won the TAMUK Concerto Competition in 2015, was selected as first flute for the 2016 NFA Collegiate Flute Choir, and was an intern for the NFA 2017 and 2018 conventions. Most recently, she served as Adjunct Professor of Flute at TAMUK and has a private studio in the Kansas City area.

Flor serves as a member of New Music USA’s Program Council, Director for the Díaz-Del Moral Foundation, and is the Founder of Colectiva Huēhuecoyōtl. Ms. Cruz's principal teachers were Dr. Elizabeth Janzen and Dr. Mary Posses. 

Mallory Molina, Soprano

Mallory Molina is a Lyric Soprano, Music Educator, and Grant Writer based in New Jersey. A Connecticut native, she graduated Magna Cum Laude as a double major in Music Education and Voice from the University of Connecticut in 2010. Operatic roles have included “Mother” in Jack and the Beanstalk and Die Fledermaus. Mallory has enjoyed several years of teaching Chorus and General Music in both Connecticut and New Jersey public schools in many different classroom environments and age groups. In 2018, her middle-school choir won a statewide competition and appeared for a live performance on a national television network. Her students also enjoyed selection for elite state ensembles and performances. Her driving philosophy as a teacher and musician is that singing is for everyone. She currently serves as Assistant Director of the Children’s Choir at St. Thomas the Apostle Church in Bloomfield, NJ, and as Grant Writer for Notes for Growth USA. In addition, Mallory is an active member of her local chapter of the Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society. She is dedicated to causes that promote access to music education, and artistic programming that helps to redefine classical music in the modern age.

Ramón Catalán, Piano

Ramón Catalán is a versatile Chilean-American pianist, conductor and composer praised by audiences in Chile, Argentina, Panama, Costa Rica, Mexico, Germany, and across the US. Mr. Catalán received his early musical education in Chile, earned a Bachelor’s degree with honors from Universidad Nacional de San Juan, Argentina, and a Master of Music degree in Piano Performance and Orchestral Conducting from Florida International University, Miami. Further conducting studies were with Vincent La Selva at The Juilliard School.

A member of ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers), Ramón’s compositions, transcriptions and arrangements have been performed in prestigious venues in the city of New York such as  the New York Times building, The National Arts Club and the Archdiocese of New York among others.

He has been commissioned to compose and arrange for H.A.N.D.S. Community Center, Gabriela Mistral Foundation, Notes for Growth Foundation and for Listen to the City Breathe YouTube series. Some of his recent compositions are Misa Catalana for Symphony Orchestra, Soloists and Choir, The Composer (a new musical comedy), various Mass Settings, transcriptions for solo piano, and multiple arrangements, among them, The Chilean National Anthem and Gracias a la Vida for piano and strings. His CD Aires Sureños, featuring his own compositions, has sold copies all over the world.

Ramón is Music Director at Mary, Mother of the Church in Brooklyn. A resident of New York City since 2008, he lives in Astoria, Queens with his wife Angela and their two little daughters.

Sonya Headlam, Soprano

Soprano Sonya Headlam is an active soloist and ensemble singer of a diverse range of repertoire from the Baroque period to the 21st century.

She is a CME Artist and a member of the Grammy-nominated Choir of Trinity Wall Street. She performs regularly with the Vocalis Consort, a group of musicians devoted to sharing their passion for art song, and with the Raritan Players, a group that explores lost performance practices and repertoire of the 17th and 18th centuries.

Sonya received her Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Rutgers University, Mason Gross School of the Arts, where she has also worked as a Part-Time Lecturer in the Department of Music.

COMPOSERS

Patricio Molina, Piano

See under Performers.

Aina Sandoval

Composer and photographer. Aina Sandoval was born in Santiago, Chile in 1990. In 2010 she was admitted to the musical composition program at the University of Chile, where she studied with Andres Maupoint, finishing the program with honors. Her works have been performed throughout Chile and she was finalist in the national composition contest “Luis Advis” in 2017. She found her inspiration in the coldest places in southern Chile, in its birds, and she tries to travel there as much as she can. Currently, Aina works as a teacher of piano, accordion, and music in a school.

Carlos Zamora

Carlos Zamora is a Chilean composer and a conductor. He studied Music Education and the Universidad de Concepción, Composition and a Master in Arts at the Universidad de Chile and a PhD in Music at the University of York, UK. His music is performed frequently in Chile and abroad. So far, his works have been programmed in recognized concert halls in the five continents and recorded in nearly 30 compact discs by Naxos and several university and independent labels.

Sebastián Vergara

Chilean composer, his catalog covers a wide spectrum of instrumental media and styles, ranging from orchestral and chamber works, to numerous soundtracks for feature films and also electronic music production and mixed media works integrating poetry, photography and video. 

Ramón Catalán

See under Performers.

POETS

María Isabel Lara Millapan

María Isabel Lara Millapan is a Mapuche poet. She was born in the Lof de Chihuimpilli in the community of Freire. She received her Doctorate in Linguistics and Literature from the Autonomous University of Barcelona and currently serves as Associate Professor at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Villarrica Campus and associate researcher at the CIIR Center for Cultural and Indigenous Studies.

She is the author of the books “Puliwen ñi pewma”, “ALE, Luz de la luna” “Trekan Antü”, “Kimün” and didactic resources for the teaching of Mapudungun. He has taken his creations to various places nationally and internationally. Thus, it has also received important awards for preserving and promoting the revitalization of its language.

In 2020, she was part of the selection committee for the National Prize for Literature. In 2021, she received the PRED award, an award for academic excellence awarded by the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile.

María Isabel is currently part of the Intangible Cultural Heritage Advisory Committee of the Ministry of Cultures, Arts and Heritage and a member of the advisory commission for the incorporation, promotion and qualification of the Academics of the Villarrica Campus of the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile.

Roxana Carolina Miranda Rupailaf

Roxana Carolina Miranda Rupailaf is a Mapuche-Huiliche poet and professor of Spanish Language and Communication at the Universidad de Los Lagos, Chile. She earned her master’s in Contemporary Hispano-American Literature at the Universidad Austral. In 2006 and 2008 she was awarded the Writers’ Grant from the Consejo Nacional del Libro y la Lectura for her then-unpublished books Seducción de los venenos and Invocación al Shumpall, respectively. In 2012 she received Santiago’s Premio Municipal de Literatura for Shumpall (Del Aire Editores, 2011). Her publications include Las tentaciones de Eva (Chile, 2003), Seducción de los venenos (LOM Ediciones, Chile, 2008), Shumpall (Del Aire Editores, Chile, 2011, re-published in 2018 by Pehuen Editores, Chile), Kopuke Filu (Pakarina, Peru, 2017), and Trewa Ko (Del Aire Editores, Chile, 2017)