Galo Arboleda is a native of Ecuador. He began his violin studies at the National Conservatory of Music in Quito with Juan Carlos Ruales. At the age of 13, he joined the Youth Orchestra of Ecuador under the direction of Patricio Aizaga. The following year, he toured as a member of the first violin section, performing at the UNESCO Theatre in Paris, headquarters of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

He also performed with the Ecuador Youth Orchestra at the Berlin Philharmonic Hall, the theater in Potsdam, and the Bremen City Hall. The next year, Galo was accepted into the studio of violinist Leonid Greco, former concertmaster of the Moscow Symphony Orchestra and a pupil of the renowned violinist Leonid Kogan, one of the most distinguished violinists in Russia. During his studies with Professor Greco, he won several national violin competitions, including awards from the Franz Liszt Conservatory in Quito and the German Cultural Center. These prizes included a summer program in Germany and masterclasses in Münster, Westphalia.

During his teenage years, Galo was invited to perform the third movement of Bach’s Double Concerto with world-renowned violinist Shlomo Mintz. He also performed in the first violin section of the Simón Bolívar Orchestra under the baton of Gustavo Dudamel, giving concerts at the Teresa Carreño Theater in Caracas, Venezuela.

Before coming to the United States, Galo performed the Saint-Saëns Violin Concerto No. 3 and the Brahms Violin Concerto as a soloist with the Philharmonic Orchestra of Ecuador in some of the country’s most prestigious theaters. He also won an audition to perform with the National Orchestra of Ecuador.

After being awarded a full scholarship to study in the United States, Galo earned both his Bachelor and Master of Music degrees in Performance from Kent State University in Ohio. There, he studied with Cathy Meng Robinson, member and founder of the Miami String Quartet, and Amy Lee, Associate Concertmaster of The Cleveland Orchestra. He served as substitute concertmaster of the Lakeland Civic Orchestra and performed the Tchaikovsky and Sibelius Violin Concertos with the Stow Symphony as a soloist under the direction of Darrell Music, among other solo repertoire.

In 2015, Galo won second place in the Kent State Concerto Competition with the Sibelius Violin Concerto. A passionate composer, he also studied composition with Frank Wiley and Adam Roberts at Kent State University.

In 2023, Galo completed his Doctor of Musical Arts in Violin Performance at the University of Missouri–Kansas City, where he studied with Benny Kim, first violinist of the Miami String Quartet, one of the most respected string quartets in the United States. He was a member of the UMKC Fellowship String Quartet for three years and was a finalist in the UMKC Concerto-Aria Competition, where he performed his own piano reduction of Astor Piazzolla’s Four Seasons for Solo Violin and Strings.

Galo is deeply committed to teaching and mentoring young musicians. He has given masterclasses and concerts throughout Ecuador, collaborating with young talented musicians and colleagues to bring music to communities in cities such as Quito, Riobamba, and Cuenca, alongside members of Ecuador’s principal symphony orchestras. His repertoire spans solo violin works, chamber music, and orchestral literature.

John Livingston is a Scottish-Mexican-American collaborative pianist. Getting his start at the age of 13, his work has been extensive since then, and he has had a continuous stream of collaborative experiences ranging from choirs to musical theatre, to college instrumental lessons and recitals, and more.

In 2009 at the age of 18, Mr. Livingston partnered with a local community theatre company, Pentacle Theater, in their production of “My Fair Lady.” Hooked by this initial foray into musical theater, Mr. Livingston continued to work with Pentacle Theater on 6 of their following musical productions. During this partnership, his talents were developed as both a rehearsal and performance pianist for musical theater. Beyond this work, John continued to strengthen his reputation as an accompanist, working with local middle and high school choirs. Notably, he accompanied West Salem High School’s choir in their 1st place performance in Oregon State High School Choir competition in the year 2013.

Being accepted to the University of Missouri-Kansas City in 2013, John studied Piano Performance under the highly sought after tutelage of Dr. Robert Weirich, earning his Bachelor of Music degree (cum laude) in 2017. During his undergrad John worked closely with singers from all the voice studios which culminated in being asked to play Stravinsky’s famously difficult aria “No Word from Tom” from The Rake’s Progress at commencement ceremony in the Kauffman Center. John was subsequently accepted into the Master’s program at UMKC and was awarded one of the Opera Accompanying graduate assistantship. During his time at UMKC, along with all the work with singers, John also incorporated extensive instrumental accompanying, playing for lessons and recitals for cellists, violinists, oboists, trombonists, and more.

In recent years, John has also developed a relationship with the Midwest Chamber Ensemble in Kansas City and has played on many of their concerts since 2020. John is also a founding member and principal accompanist of Choral Spectrum, a LGBTQ and supporting choir which is the first of its kind in Kansas City.

Along with other members from the opera community of Kansas City, John became a founding member of Dramatic Voices Midwest, an opera company based in Kansas City which was formed to provide more opportunities for dramatic singers to have opportunities that are few and far between otherwise. The first two seasons featured Richard Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde and Die Walküre, respectively, with John playing the entire epic scores from the piano.

Besides his undergrad work with Dr. Robert Weirich, John has had masterclasses with esteemed teachers including Gilbert Kalish, Alon Goldstein, and Margot Garret. John completed his Master’s degree at UMKC in 2019, having studied with the 2013 Van Cliburn third prize winner, Sean Chen. John is currently the full-time accompanist at the Pembroke Hill School.

Larry Hernandez is a Salvadoran-Mexican-American cellist based in Kansas City. He started playing cello at the age of 9 through his elementary school's strings program. Larry earned his Bachelors and Masters degrees in Cello Performance from the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory, studying under Michael Mermagen. Other influential teachers of his include Carter Enyeart, Alexander East, Amir Eldan, and Amit Peled. Larry has performed throughout the United States at classical music festivals such as Puerto Piano and Strings, in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Miami Music Festival (MMF) in Miami Beach, Florida, the Hunter International Music Festival in Hunter, New York, the Innsbrook Music Festival in St. Louis, Missouri, the Heartland Chamber Music Festival in Overland Park, Kansas, the Academie Musique in Central Texas, and as a Fellow/Coach at the Frostburg Summer Music Academy in Maryland.

Hernandez is a member of the Wichita Symphony Orchestra. As an orchestra member, he has played with the Wichita Symphony, NAVO chamber orchestra, Saint Joseph Symphony, UMKC Conservatory Orchestra (as principal cello), Topeka Symphony Orchestra, Springfield (MO) Symphony, Kinnor Philharmonic (acting principal), and the MMF Symphony and Opera orchestras. His performances have taken him to esteemed venues, such as Helzberg Hall at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, the Adrienne Arsht Center in Miami, Temple Emanu-El in Miami Beach, the Soto Room at Conservatorio de Música de Puerto Rico (San Juan), the Midwest Trust Center, the T-Mobile Center, and Folly Theater. From 2020-2021, Larry was the cellist of the UMKC Graduate Fellowship String Quartet. As a student he performed in master classes for esteemed artists and pedagogues such as Hans Jørgen Jensen, David Finkel & Wu Han, Michael Stern, Zlatomir Fung, Michael Mermagen, Amit Peled, Eckart Runge, Keith Robinson, Nathan Cole, and Emilio Colón. He also performed in the string orchestra alongside the Eagles as part of their 2022 Hotel California tour. A veteran church musician, Larry serves as the principal cellist for the Resurrection String Quartet and Orchestra at Resurrection Leawood, the largest United Methodist congregation in the United States.

Larry is passionate about teaching and outreach in his local community and abroad. He is proud to be a Cello Teaching Artist at Harmony Project-Kansas City, a non-profit music program for underserved children in Kansas City, Missouri. He is also a Teaching Artist with the Base Academy of Music in KCMO Public Schools. Larry has taught in Texas for the Academie Musique of Central Texas's Summer Strings Camp. Locally, Larry has performed several outreach concerts for nursing homes, such as University Health Hospital, Village Shalom, SilverCrest at Deer Creek, and for rehabilitation centers, such as the Healing House-KC. He has also played and provided free coaching and lessons for local schools in the Kansas City and Independence Public School Districts. Internationally, Larry has played outreach concerts in Sonsonate, El Salvador for the elderly at Hogar de Ancianos Paz y Bien, and local schools. He was also a mentor for Akojopo, a Chicago-based non-profit that provides musical resources and instruction to musicians living in Nigeria. With Akojopo, he has mentored musicians in Nigeria via Zoom with cello instruction and composition formatting and engraving.