Ana María Barceló Flamenco - Flamenco Dancer & Instructor

Ana María Barceló is a Puerto Rican flamenco bailaora (dancer) with a strong cultural identity as both a Hispanic and American. From an early age, Ana María felt a passion for dance. At the age of 3, she began to take ballet classes. At the age of 8, she began studying full time with the renowned Cuban dancers Miguel Campanería and Ana María Castañón. At the early age of 11, she was selected to be part of the San Juan Municipal Ballet Group. A few years later, Ana María was introduced to the world of Spanish Dance and started to take classes of Classic Spanish Dance.

For more information, visit her website.

Nayara Pasti Photography

Maestro Richard Rodríguez - Cuatro Soloist

Richard Rodriguez was born in PamPám, Trujillo State, Venezuela. Rodriguez humble musical beginnings started when he was 17 years old as a self-taught young man. Then, in 2001, he pursued his studies at the Escuela de la Orquesta Tipica Nacional, in Trujillo State, under Maestro Alberto Araujo's leadership. Later that year, he started his cuatro soloist studies with Roger Marin. In 2002, he participated in several master classes with the renown Venezuelan soloist cuatro player, Cheo Hurtado. Richard Rodriguez attended harmony and creativity workshops with Gerry Weil and Gilberto Zimoza. In 2004, he became one of Jorge Polanco's regular students, who was one of his most important references for his artistic vision.

Rodriguez experience as a concertist has been intense. In recent years, Rodriguez has been invited to share scenarios with prestigious Venezuelan musicians such as Moisés Torrealba, Gerry Weil, Andrés Briceño, Aquiles Báez, Huáscar Barradas, Roberto Koch, Cesar Orozco, Javier Montilla, Allan, Torres, Hector Suarez, Rodner Padilla, Elvis Martínez, Carlos Romero, Euro Zambrano, Leonard García, c4 trío y el "Ensamble Gurrufío". 

Rodriguez is the one of the founders and directors of the "Matiz Ensamble" group in Trujillo. This ensamble expresses a profound ingrain in the instrumental Venezuelan music as well as an openness to fusion with others genres such as jazz.

Rodriguez has become an ambassador of our  beautiful Latin American Folklore even in the midst of the many challenges that forced him to leave his country, Venezuela. Richard Rodriguez currently resides in Lima, Peru a country that has opened its arms to give him a second chance to start over and look for better professional opportunities. 

Here are a few of Maestro Rodriguez' most important accomplishments as a musician: