Featuring classical, flamenco and world music. Besides the quartets this CD also includes duets and a solo piece of each member. Viviana Guzman - flute Radim Zenkl - mandolin Guillermo Rios - flamenco guitar Richard Patterson - classical guitar ------------------------------------------------- VIVIANA GUZMAN \"Engaging command of any flutelike instrument.\" —Ft. Worth, Star Telegram Described by the New York Times as \"an imaginative artist,\" Chilean-born flutist, Viviana Guzman performs over 80 concerts a year throughout the world. By the age of 15, she played as a soloist with the Houston Youth Symphony, studied with Jean-Pierre Rampal and was featured on a John Denver nationally televised music special. She has since appeared as soloist with orchestras in Russia, Chile, Wisconsin, Vermont, Palo Alto, Houston, and in New York City\'s Alice Tully Hall and also has performed in Carnegie Hall and Avery Fisher Hall. Currently, Ms. Guzman concertizes as a solo artist, with the guitars and flute quartet, \"Festival of Four\", and \"Performers of the World\", a traditional and original world music ensemble. A winner of the 1991 Young Artists Auditions of Artists International, Ms. Guzman gave her New York recital debut at Carnegie Hall Recital Hall. Other First Prizes in competitions include the New York Flute Club Competition, Five Towns Music and Arts Foundation and the Performer\'s of Connecticut Young Artists Competition. As an orchestral musician, she has been played with the Texas Opera Theater Orchestra, Mikhail Baryshnikov\'s White Oak Dance Project, and the Broadway musical, \"Sunset Boulevard\" with Glenn Close. As a member of the Houston Grand Opera, she accompanied Placido Domingo, and with the New World Symphony in Miami she played under Michael Tilson Thomas. Ms. Guzman has been featured on the New York radio station, WNYC, as well as on KUSC in Los Angeles among others. On television, she has appeared in the United States and Latin America including \"Good Day New York\", and \"Sabado Gigante\"; more recently, the premiere of her music video was aired on television internationally in 31 countries on Univision. She has released her solo CD, \"Flute Fantasies\" of which, Bonnie Grice of KUSC-LA says, \"It is a wonderful album, it has gotten a lot of great response...it\'s magic. She is a bright young flutist, a delightful musician.\" She has recorded with Polygram, Sugo, and Well-Tempered World. She has been the recipient of numerous awards including the Lincoln Center Scholarship, Institute of Hispanic culture Award, Shepherd Society Award, Immanuel Olshan Award, General Maurice Hirsch Award, Phillips Foundation Award. Ms. Guzman attended Rice University on fellowship first with an emphasis on medicine; subsequently, she chose music as her career path and attended the Juilliard School on scholarship. A frequent performer for both Seabourn and Cunard Cruise Lines, she has participated in the Aspen, Banff, Marlboro and Caramoor Music Festivals and has studied with James Galway and Jean-Pierre Rampal. ------------------------------------------------- RADIM ZENKL \"Zenkl doesn\'t just play the mandolin. He revolutionizes it. \" —Los Angeles Times \"Radim Zenkl has reinvented the mandolin in several different ways!\" —David Grisman Radim Zenkl was born in Opava, Czech Republic. While studying classical music, Mr.Zenkl discovered bluegrass by listening to records that were smuggled in to his communist country. The sound of a bluegrass mandolin initiated the spark that subsequently led Mr.Zenkl beyond bluegrass to an eclectic array of styles. Mr.Zenkl escaped from Czechoslovakia in 1989 for political freedom and to be closer to his musical influences. Two years later, he was invited to perform for the newly elected president of Czech Republic, Vaclav Havel. In America, Mr.Zenkl has made a name for himself becoming the U.S. National Mandolin Champion (1992) and one of the world\'s premier mandolin virtuosos. Mr.Zenkl\'s performance features his own innovative playing technique, the \"duo-style\", which sounds remarkably like two instruments simultaneously. Mr.Zenkl has recorded five CDs, the latest one is called Restless Joy. ------------------------------------------------- GUILLERMO RIOS \"Guillermo Rios is an unusually passionate flamenco guitarist; He plays with an exhibitionist\'s flair and an underlying sense of drama.\" —New York Times The brilliant, flamenco virtuoso, Guillermo Rios has returned to the United States after seventeen years of performing and touring throughout the world with Spain\'s leading flamenco artists. His highly acclaimed instructional video has been released world-wide by Mel Bay Publications. Mr. Rios was the first flamenco artist ever to be awarded the Ford Foundation Composition Grant. Now based in Los Angeles, Mr. Rios has appeared as soloist with orchestras, as a recitalist in prestigious halls, including New York\'s Carnegie Recital Hall, and on radio and television stations throughout the United States. His recording, \"Soul of Spain\", epitomizes the new style of flamenco composition which Rios has developed on his own and as a student of the renowned flamenco master, Sabicas. ------------------------------------------------- RICHARD PATTERSON \"One of the best such recitals I\'ve heard, with Richard Patterson demonstrating absolute security, strong tone intelligently varied and solid rhythm.\" —Guitar International RICHARD PATTERSON enjoys an active international career performing with his groups and as a featured soloist in North and South America, Europe, Asia and Africa. As a student, Mr. Patterson lived in Spain, studying the guitar in the land of its creation. Returning to the United States, he was signed by the world\'s largest classical music management, Columbia Artists, for six seasons of critically acclaimed national tours. He then formed the virtuoso quartet, Festival of Four with whom he performs more than 70 concerts a year on University campuses and in major concert halls throughout North America. Richard Patterson is also an award-winning recording artist and has been a featured performer on more than twenty recordings that have cumulatively sold well over 1,000,000 copies. His compositions and arrangements are heard in feature films and on television and radio in over 30 countries and he is currently featured on two new guitar CD’s featured in Sharper Image stores nationwide. Mr. Patterson has received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Studio Performance from the University of California at Santa Cruz and a Masters Degree in Music from San Francisco State University on a Performance Scholarship. He has studied personally and in master classes with virtually all of the world\'s leading guitarists, including Segovia. Richard Patterson projects a deep understanding of and admiration for the music he performs. His attention to color and dynamics is remarkable and he displays a prodigious technique. Patterson plays with style, taste and elegance.