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Joe V. Williams II

Composer

Dr. Joseph V. Williams II is a composer, conductor, and artistic leader dedicated to community-centered music-making. As Artistic Director of Austin Classical Guitar, he curates three concert series and directs multimedia, collaborative projects with artists such as Pepe Romero, Reena Esmail, and Graham Reynolds.

Joe’s compositions explore storytelling and social themes, including i/we (Austin Chronicle’s Best New Composition, 2017), dream (2018), and together (2020). His film collaborations include I/WE (ARCOS Dance) and dream (dir. Alonso Lujan). His acclaimed score for Hitchcock’s The Lodger is featured on the Criterion Channel. His works are performed worldwide by artists like David Russell and the Miró Quartet.

A sought-after speaker and adjudicator, Joe also conducts the Austin Classical Guitar Youth Orchestra. Formerly an award-winning guitarist, he taught at the University of New Mexico and others. A New Mexico native, he holds a D.M.A. from UT Austin and resides in Austin, TX.

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Michal Shein

Cello

Israeli-Mexican-American cellist Michal Shein is a performer and master educator dedicated to cross-cultural performance projects and intensive music education. She is the Artistic Director of Cellisimo, a festival supporting Spanish-speaking cellists with limited resources, described as "one of the most important and unique festivals of its kind in Latin America" (Alvaro Bitran, Cuarteto Latinoamericano).

Michal serves on the faculty of NEC’s Teaching Artistry Concentration, Boston String Academy (as Cello Chair), and the University of Rhode Island. Her students have won competitions and attended top festivals such as Tanglewood, Brevard, and YOLA. She has been a guest speaker at Sphinx, El Sistema USA, and Rockport’s Shalin Liu Series.

An active soloist, chamber, and orchestral musician, Michal performs with ensembles including the Rhode Island Philharmonic and collaborates with guitarist Adam Levin. She lives in Jamaica Plain with her husband and two children.

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Scott Borg

Guitar

With a string of international scholarships and awards under his belt, Augustine Artist Scott Borg has been praised as a daring and innovative artist with "enormous facility on the guitar, a fluent technique, who plays with total confidence and professional expertise, panache and artful spontaneity." As a winner of Artists International, New York Concert Review described his Carnegie Hall debut as "gracefully presented, and expertly played…each note was purposeful and focused, as was each rest." His previous engagements have included performances at the Festival Internacional de Guitarra Mérida (Mexico), ICPNA Guitar Festival (Peru), the Shell Darwin International Festival (Australia), New York's Apollo Theater and Alice Tully Hall in the Lincoln Center, Ateneo de Madrid, the Kennedy Center, and the Westminster Kennel Club "Best in Show".

Scott received his D.M.A from New England Conservatory, an Artist Diploma from Yale University, M.M from the Juilliard School, and a Bachelor of Creative Arts from the University of Wollongong graduating valedictorian with first class honors. In 2001, he was the only recipient of the Australian Music Examinations Board highest honor, the Fellowship of Music.

He has collaborated with notable artists such as Yo-Yo Ma, Brooklyn Rider, FLUX, dancer Sara Mearns, Clarice and Badi Assad, Mandolinist Yaki Reuven, Harpist Bridget Kibbey, Oudist Simon Shaheen, Domrist Ekaterina Skliar, Cellist Mike Block, Tablaist Amit Kavthekar, and The Great Necks (Matthew Rohde and Adam Levin). His collaborative album "Sessions: Rhode Island" featuring his recompositions of folk music from Java, Japan, China, Ukraine, and Ireland peaked at No.1 on the Classical Crossover Billboard Charts.

He is currently on faculty at Montgomery College and is also Artistic Director of the Mid-Maryland Guitar Festival. He plays "Aranda", a guitar by Stephan Connor, and an 8 string guitar by Jeff Sigurdson, and uses Augustine Regal strings.

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Adam Levin

Guitar

Praised for his "visceral and imaginative performances" (Washington Post), prize-winning guitarist Adam Levin has performed worldwide, appearing at venues such as the Kennedy Center, Jordan Hall, and Le Poisson Rouge. His live performances have been featured on NPR's Performance Today and Classical Guitar Alive.

A champion of contemporary Spanish guitar music, Levin's 21st Century Spanish Guitar series (Naxos) features commissions from 30 composers and has topped the Billboard Traditional Classical Chart. He also performs with Duo Sonidos, The Great Necks Guitar Trio, and Duo Mantar.

Levin is the cofounder of Kithara Project, a nonprofit providing free classical guitar education in underserved communities. He is a professor at the University of Rhode Island and the University of Massachusetts, Boston, and directs the URI Guitar Festival and Rhode Island Guitar Guild. Levin performs on a Stephan Connor and Dominique Field guitar and is an Augustine Artist.

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Matthew Rohde

Guitar

Matthew Rohde is a classical guitarist, composer, and educator. An Albuquerque Academy alum (Class of 2002), he has performed worldwide in venues such as El Palacio de Bellas Artes (Mexico City) and La Casa de la Música (Quito), sharing the stage with artists like Clarice Assad and Horacio Franco—even performing for the president of China.

As a composer, Matthew has worked with HBO, most notably scoring It Will Be Chaos, a documentary on Europe's refugee crisis, praised as "beautifully executed" (LA Times).

A passionate educator, Matthew co-directs Kithara Project, a nonprofit providing free classical guitar education in Boston, Albuquerque, and Mexico City. He has taught masterclasses across the Americas, with students earning scholarships at major conservatories.

Matthew studied at Yale, the Paris Conservatoire, and the Accademia Chigiana. Now based in Mexico City, he enjoys ceramics and hiking with his dog Maya.

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Jeremy Mayne

Guitar

Jeremy Mayne has played guitar for much of his life, having started at the age eight with the guidance of his father, also a guitar player. The pursuit of blues, bluegrass, and rock styles eventually evolved into a passion for classical guitar. An active soloist and chamber musician, Jeremy also composes and arranges music for solo guitar and guitar ensemble. He has released four CDs of solo and duo music and holds Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Classical Guitar Performance from the University of New Mexico and Indiana University. Jeremy currently teaches guitar full time in the Performing Arts Department at Albuquerque Academy.