Rodney Mack, trumpet

Mr. Mack was born in New Orleans, Louisiana where he began his musical studies at the age of six. When he was eleven years of age, he began taking classical trumpet lessons with his cousin, Wynton Marsalis. Referred to as a "trumpet prodigy" Rodney Mack’s solo debut was at the age of fifteen with the New Orleans Symphony. After having won various solo competitions, he received national attention at the age of nineteen performing as soloist with the Boston Pops Orchestra. He has also performed as soloist with the San Diego Symphony, the Tenerife Symphony, the Orquestra Sinfonica de Barcelona i Nacional de Catalunya, The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia and many orchestras throughout the United States and Europe.

In the course of his more than twenty years as an orchestral musician, Mr. Mack was the winner of several national and international competitions for titled orchestral chairs including positions with The New Orleans Symphony, The Colorado Symphony Orchestra, The San Diego Symphony Orchestra, The Orquestra Sinfonica de Tenerife, The Barcelona Symphony,and The Richmond Symphony. After completing a one year trial period he was awarded the Principal Trumpet position with the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia. During his tenure as Principal Trumpet with the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra Mr. Mack was appointed head of the trumpet department at the Escuela Superior de Musica de Catalunya (ESMUC) Spain's leading music conservatory. He has recently been invited to give master classes at the Julliard School,The North Carolina School for the Arts, the National Trumpet Competition and the International Trumpet Guild Conference.

Marcelo Nisinman, bandoneeon

Marcelo Nisinman was born in Argentina in 1970. He’s a composer and arranger and plays the bandoneon, a German invention that is a pair of small reed organs connected by a bellows with almost as many places to put your fingers as a piano but possessing none of the straight forward logic of the piano’s keyboard.

Marcelo Nisinman has been plying the bandoneon since he was six years old. The music he plays is rooted in the Tango. Thanks to his friend, Astor Piazzolla, the Tango today is a very wide world indeed because it is home with symphonic settings and avant-garde jazz as it is in the milongas where people dance to it. Marcelo and the ensemble called Tango Okestret are based in Switzerland.

Mr. Nisinman’s talents are not limited to performing and recording the well-known tango repertoire of Argentina, but he is an accomplished composer and arranger as well. He studied harmony, counterpoint, composition with Guillermo Graetzer, Daniel Montes in Buenos Aires, Jose Luis Campana in Paris, and Detlev Muller-Siemens in Basel Switzerland.

Odin Rathnam, violin

Since his critically acclaimed Lincoln Center debut in 1993, the American violinist Odin Rathnam has established himself as one of the most passionate and versatile artists of his generation. He has received unanimous praise from critics and audiences for his “captivating temperament,” “brilliant technique” and “recalling the legendary violinists of the past”. A veteran performer at many major European and American festivals including the Algarve International Music Festival in Portugal, Denmark’s Tivoli and Vendsyssel Festivals, Deia International Festival in Mallorca, Aspen and Caramoor, he has also appeared in recital on the Market Square Concerts series, Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall and Carnegie Recital Hall, where Rathnam first appeared at the age of 15.

As a soloist, he has performed with the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra, the New Amsterdam Symphony, the Columbian National Symphony, the Camden and Hayes Orchestras in England, the York Symphony, the Hershey Symphony, the Lancaster Symphony, the Central Pennsylvania Symphony and the Harrisburg Symphony, enjoying collaborations with conductors including Stuart Malina, Richard Westerfield, Stephen Gunzenhauser, Anne Harrigan and many others.

Born in 1965 to Danish and Indian parents, Odin Rathnam was raised on the Upper-West Side of Manhattan. He was accepted at the Julliard School’s pre-college division at the age of 11, continuing his formal education at Mannes College of Music with Sally Thomas and at the Juilliard School, where he was a scholarship student of Dorothy DeLay. He studied chamber music with Felix Galimir and Josef Gingold. He also studied with the Danish violinist Anker Buch.

Mr. Rathnam has recorded for the Helicon, Kleos and ABM labels. He performs on a rare Italian violin crafted by Bartolomeo Calvarola in 1755.

Adam Mahonske, piano

Adam Mahonske holds his Master's degree (with honors) in piano from Indiana University where he was a student of Menahem Pressler, founding pianist of the Beaux Arts Trio.

He is currently completing his Doctorate in piano at the University of Maryland with pianist Rita Sloan. Since moving to Baltimore, he has taught at University of Maryland (Baltimore County), the Baltimore School for the Arts, and is currently on the full time music faculty at Morgan State University.

He has appeared as pianist and chamber player in recitals in New York, Washington, Baltimore, Toronto, and Montreal, including concerts at the Kennedy Center, the Meyerhoff, the Phillips Collection, the National Gallery, the Roerich Museum, many Washington embassies, Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore Museum of Art, Res Musica, Baltimore Symphony, Baltimore Chamber Orchestra, Concert Artists of Baltimore, Cathedral of Mary Our Queen, Gallery 409, St. John's Concert Series, the Park School, Ethel's Place, Peabody Conservatory, George Washington University, Catholic University, Towson State University, Villa Julie College, University of Maryland and the Endless Mountains Music Festival.

He has collaborated with many of this region’s finest musicians including concerts with the principal string players from the Baltimore Symphony. For 10 years, he collaborated with cellist Bonnie Thron, now principal cellist with the North Carolina Symphony. From 2004 – 2009 , he was the artistic director of the Baltimore based chamber music concert series, Music in the Great Hall. Mr. Mahonske has also played piano and celeste with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.

Santiago Rodriguez, piano

Mr. Rodriguez made his Carnegie Hall debut under the baton of Dennis Russell Davis, and in recent seasons has returned for engagements in Finland, Korea and Taiwan. His international career was launched in 1981 when he won the Silver Medal at the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition; he also received a special prize for the best performance of Leonard Bernstein’s Touches, a work commissioned for the competition. Mr. Rodriguez’ unique life and artistry were profiled on CBS Sunday Morning with Charles Kurault in 1993.

One of today’s foremost interpreters of the music of Sergei Rachmaninov, Santiago Rodriguez has performed all of the composer’s major piano works in concert. He is currently recording The Rachmaninov Edition, which, when completed, will encompass the entire catalog of Rachmaninov’s original solo piano compositions. Mr. Rodriguez has recorded numerous world premieres, including Piano Concerto No. 1 by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco; the Concertino for piano, strings, and cymbals of Carlos Surinach; and the Piano Sonata No. 2 of Alberto Ginastera, which was premiered by Mr. Rodriguez at Alice Tully Hall in New York.

Santiago Rodriguez also enjoys a distinguished reputation as a teacher and master-clinician. Since 1980, he was a member of the Piano Division at the University of Maryland where he held the rank of Professor and Artist-in-residence. Mr. Rodriguez holds a masters degree from the Juilliard School, where he studied on full scholarship as a pupil of Adele Marcus, and he completed his undergraduate studies magna cum laude with William Race at the University of Texas.