CANCELLED: A Guitar Tribute to Mathias Maestro: The Mysterious 18th Century Artist

This concert is cancelled until further notice. Check our page for an update to see this artist.

Rafael Vivanco, guitar, and Gisella Milla Adams, soprano, present a concert featuring traditional music from the Viceroyalty of Peru.

Rafael Vivanco started playing the guitar at the age of 11 in Peru. He performed regularly at venues in Lima while studying classical guitar with Alonso Acosta Ojeda. He went on to complete his Bachelor of Music degree in classical guitar performance at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, and his Masters at Roosevelt University in Chicago. He studied with Denis Azabagic, Michael Strutt, Ray Nurse, and has taken masterclasses with other guitarists such as Eduardo Fernandez, Fabio Zanon, Jason Vieux and Alexander Dunn.

Rafael’s interest in different musical styles and sounds led him to the baroque guitar and the lute. During his university studies he performed at the early music series Collegium Musicum, with the UBC guitar quartet, and later with other ensambles and as a soloist in the USA, Canada, Mexico and Peru. His performances have been featured in Chicago’s WFMT radio.

For the last 10 years he was sponsored to teach and perform in the USA by Sherry Brener, the Spanish guitar importer that collaborated with icons such as Andrés Segovia and Christopher Parkening to promote the classical guitar around the world.

Peruvian soprano Gisella Milla Adams started her voice training in 2008 while finishing her Major in Communications in Peru and since then she has been completely devoted to following her passion for opera performance. She gained on-stage experience performing with the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú and with the Peruvian National Choir in several Peruvian opera seasons. She moved to Chicago and graduated from Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University, receiving different awards and performing as a soloist. She later obtained a Master Degree in Performance and Pedagogy from Northeastern Illinois University in 2018.

Gisella has attended to international programs as AIMS summer program in Granz, Austria in 2016 and to Orvieto Musica summer program in Italy in 2017 where she performed as a soloist in different venues. She has also participated with local opera companies as the Third Eye theater ensemble in Chicago with the main role of Juana Ines de la Cruz in the opera “With Blood and with Ink” by Daniel Crozier and as Sour Angelica in the opera “Sour Angelica” with NEIU. This current year Gisella has been working as the Opera Director’s assistant at NEIU and has stage managed “The Beggar’s Opera” production at De Paul University as well as preparing herself for auditions for the upcoming season.