American Voices in El Salvador
June 30, 2005

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Presentations:

Teatro Presidente
Variations on America
July Friday 8th
7:00 p.m.
Free entrance

Teatro Nacional de Santa Ana
Variations on America
July Saturday 9th
6:00 p.m.
Donation for the restoration of the Theatre: $1.00

Iglesia Parroquial Santa Lucía de Suchitoto
Soul of America
July, Sunday 10th
2:30 p.m.
Entrada gratis

American Voices is a non-profit organization devoted to the better understanding of American music and culture, especially in countries lacking access to information about and regular contact with the United States and its artists.

American Voices organizes Jazz festivals, gala concerts with conservatories, orchestras and opera houses, Artist-in-Residence programs and music score donations in countries as diverse as Burma, Vietnam, Syria, Oman, Turkmenistan, Estonia, El Salvador and Bolivia in addition to more traditional venues in countries such as Germany, Greece and Japan.

In repertoire ranging from Broadway and Jazz to contemporary composers and opera, American Voices performs over 100 concerts, masterclasses and workshops annually in over 30 countries in Europe, Asia, Latin America, Africa and the Middle East.

You can find more information in http://www.americanvoices.org

Recitals of the Duet American Voices, presenting

Ira Spaulding, baritone
John Ferguson, pianist

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Artist Biographies:

John Ferguson currently resides in Houston, Texas, US and Bangkok, Thailand where he carries out his dual roles as pianist and Executive Director of American Voices Foundation. His performing activities include over one hundred concerts, broadcasts and masterclasses per year throughout Europe, North and South America, Asia and the Middle East.

John Ferguson first studied music at the High School for the Performing Arts in his hometown of Houston, Texas and completed his studies at the University of Texas at Austin where he received his Master's Diploma. Additional studies took him to Paris where he was a student of Nadia Boulanger and to Geneva where he studied with Maroussia le Marc'hadour.His piano teachers have included Danielle Martin, Eugene List and Edith Lateiner-Grosz.

In 1993, John Ferguson founded American Voices to fulfill the need for quality, constructive American cultural programming in the newly independent nations of central and eastern Europe. Since then, the focus of American Voices has expanded to include any country where a scarcity of exposure to American culture exists.

His touring schedule regularly takes him through Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Latin America. In Europe he has appeared in prestigious venues such as Amsterdam's Concertgebouw, Théatre de la Ville and Radio France in Paris, and Bonn's Kunst- und Austellungshalle. Festival appearances include the Yehudi Menuhin Foundation's "Flaneries de Reims", Germany's "Altmark Musikfest" , "A(r)tlantische Tage" and "American Music Week-Bonn". Radio and television broadcasts have reached millions in countries such as Vietnam, Lebanon, Azerbaijan, Germany, France, and India to name only a few.

John Ferguson's recordings include 'Rhapsody in Blue' with the Junge Philharmonie Thüringen, 'Saxofolies' for EPM, 'Jazz Bridges' for American Voices and a solo recording, 'Variations on America' to be released in 2003.

Ira Spaulding, born in New York, studied with Robert Simpson at Westminster Choir College in Princeton, New Jersey (Bachelor of Music) and also holds a Master of Music in Voice and Choral Conducting from Eastern Kentucky University. He gave numerous recitals in America as well as having taught voice, conducting, vocal pedagogy and literature at several colleges and conducted various vocal ensembles (community oratorio choirs, church choirs, boys choirs and a jazz vocal ensemble).

Since moving to Europe in 1981 his reputation as a choral conductor, soloist and teacher has grown. In 1982 he was invited by Jessye Norman to sing the baritone role in the Robert Wilson production and recording in Paris of "Great Day in the Morning". The following year he sang on the Dutch television show "Jonge Mensen op het Concert Podium" (Young People on the Concert Podium) and made his debut as a concert singer in the Concertgebouw singing the soli in 'Messiah' with the Amsterdam Philharmonisch Orkest. During the '91-'92 season he sang his debut recital in the Kleine Zaal Concertgebouw and conducted for the first time in the Grote Zaal (Haydn: Paukenmesse and Brahms: Schicksalslied with the Amsterdam Promenade Orkest) . As a concert singer, he is often heard in such works as the Passions of J. S. Bach, the requiems of Fauré, Brahms, Mozart and Verdi, the Elias and Paulus of Mendelssohn, but also Porgy and Bess (Concertgebouw 1992) and the musicals Showboat and Oklahoma (with the Rotterdam Philharmonic in 1992). His recitals have been heard recently not only in Holland and America but also in a tour of the Donau-cities Passau, Wien, Bratislava and Budapest.

Ira Spaulding’s collaborations with American Voices have included extensive touring in Latin America, the Middle East, Europe and Asia. Recent projects include conducting and solo appearances in Porgy and Bess in Bolivia, Bangkok and Kazakhstan. He has directed performances of West Side Story in Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan as well as conducted American Choral music projects in Lithuania, Estonia, Bosnia, and numerous others.

Ira Spaulding currently teaches on the faculty of the Amsterdam Conservatory of Music.

Sponsors:
Oficina de Asuntos Públicos de la Embajada de Estados Unidos
Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y el Arte (CONCULTURA)
Centro Cultural Salvadoreño
Asociación del Patrimonio Cultural de Santa Ana (APACULSA)
Casa de los Mestizos
Parroquia Santa Lucía de Suchitoto
Hotel Los Almendros de San Lorenzo de Suchitoto