ACTU’s next Fridays at Noon performance to feature the Lopez Tabor Duo
Post Published On:Arts for the Community at Thomas University’s (ACTU) popular Fridays at Noon series will feature the Lopez Tabor Duo performing on Sept. 23 at Thomasville First United Methodist Church.
The duo – which consists of Alfonso Lopez, violinist, and Michelle Tabor, pianist – has performed together in the U.S. and Venezuela since 2004. Lopez, who lives in Caracas, Venezuela, is the concertmaster of the Venezuela Symphony Orchestra, and a teacher, composer, and conductor. Tabor, the daughter of a Venezuelan mother and an American father, grew up in Caracas and now lives in Tallahassee, Florida.
Lopez is a violinist, conductor, composer and teacher. He is the concertmaster of the Venezuela Symphony Orchestra, which was nominated in 2013 and 2017 to receive a Latin Grammy award. Lopez is also the conductor and music director of a youth orchestra that specializes in Venezuelan folk music and is often a guest conductor of other orchestras. He is a professor of violin at the Emil Friedman School, one of the most outstanding private musical and general educational institutions Venezuela.
Lopez received his high school diploma from the Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan. He graduated Summa Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Arts Degree followed by a Master of Arts Degree, both in music, from the University of Michigan. As a concertmaster, he has performed with various orchestras in international festivals, the chamber orchestra Virtuosi de Caracas, and the Camerata Criolla in Caracas.
Lopez is a founding member and first violinist of the Friedman String Quartet, an ensemble that has performed many times in the most important concert halls in Caracas. The Venezuela Symphony Orchestra premiered his orchestral work, “Caribe Pirana,” premiered in 2000 in Caracas. Lopez followed that with several other orchestral compositions performed by groups in Russia, Belarus, Cuba, the United States, Spain, the Dominican Republic, Italy, and Trinidad and Tobago.
Tabor earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in Piano from Tulane University, a Master of Arts Degree in Music Theory from the University of Denver and a Ph.D. in Music Theory from Florida State University. She also published articles based on her research on Argentinian composers Alberto Ginastera and Juan Carlos Paz in the journal, Latin American Music Review of the University of Texas Press. Tabor has presented lectures, recitals and research papers at national and regional meetings of the College Music Society, regional meetings of the American Musicological Society, and at a special international conference on Latin American music held in Chicago, where she presented an invited paper.
Tabor has presented a number of recitals in Caracas with flutist Dr. Karen Garrison, then a member of the music faculty at Auburn University. With Venezuelan violinists, she has performed recitals in the Southeastern U.S. during numerous tours since 2000 as well as presented lectures at national and regional meetings of the College Music Society.
This ACTU performance will begin at 12 p.m. Friday, Sept. 23. The performance will also be available online at www.facebookcom/actu31792/live. No Facebook account is required to view.
ACTU is supported in part by Georgia Council for the Arts through the appropriations of the Georgia General Assembly. Georgia Council for the Arts also receives support from its partner agency, the National Endowment for the Arts. This project is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts.
For more information about this and other ACTU events, visit www.facebookcom/actu31792 or www.thomasu.edu/actu, call 229-227- 6964, or email actu@thomasu.edu.
