AV The Director English

Juan R. Ramírez-Hernández, violinist/composer and
founder of the Atlanta Virtuosi Foundation, Inc. began his
studies in Mexico with Ivo Valenti and Vladimir Vulfman.
His studies with Henryk Szeryng began at the age of
fourteen, and continued as he became his principal mentor
in Mexico, the U.S. and Europe. While in Boston attending
the New England Conservatory of Music, Mr. Ramírez was
privileged to study with Joseph Silverstein. In the
symphony orchestra, he has played under Leonard
Bernstein, Eric Leinsdorf, Colin Davis, William Steinberg,
Leon Barzin, Bruno Maderna, Gunther Schuller and Seiji
Ozawa. Service in the Boston and Pittsburgh Symphonies
preceded his acceptance of a permanent position with the
Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.

Prior to his residence in the United States, Mr. Ramírez
toured Israel, Europe and the Orient with the Ballet
Folklorico of Mexico, and was a member of the Xalapa
Symphony, National University Symphony, the Opera
Orchestra and the National Symphony of Mexico.

While under the tutelage of the eminent pedagogue and
conductor, Leon Barzin, Mr. Ramirez was the recipient of
both the Serge Koussevitsky and Leonard Bernstein
Awards, and a prize-winning violinist at the Berkshire
Music Festival. The distinguished composer-conductor
Gunther Schuller says of Ramírez: "I have unqualified faith
in Mr. Ramírez as a violinist and a musical leader of great
artistic integrity ...Whatever he undertakes is touched by
quality..." Presently, Mr. Ramirez conducts the Atlanta
Community Symphony Orchestra.

Mr. Ramírez plays a number of instruments, including the
guitar, mandolin and marimba, and as a composer is noted
for his compositions and arrangements commissioned by
the Hispanic Festival of the Arts. Influenced by his native
land, "Suite Huasteca" for violin, strings, and guitar,
received critical acclaim both in Atlanta and in Mexico. He
has also written numerous articles in the field of
ethno-musicology. His compositions include "Anahuac" for
tenor, soprano, winds, strings, guitar, harpsichord and
pre-Colombian percussion, commissioned in 1993 by the
ACOG - Cultural Olympiad as part of ĄMEXICO! A Cultural
Tapestry, and "Suite Criolla" for chorus, narrator and
orchestra, with tenor and soprano solo, premiered in 1995
at the Hispanic Festival of the Arts. His composition,
"Navidad Hispana" for solo guitar and orchestra, was
recently premiered by the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.
His first string quartet "Suite Latina" was commissioned by
the Amelia Chamber Music Festival in 2001. "Suite Latina"
was world premiere in June of 2001 by members of the
Amelia Chamber Music Festival in Amelia Island, Florida

Mr. Ramírez has been a member of the faculties of Georgia
State University and Spelman College, and has
participated in music panels for DeKalb Council for the
Arts, the Fulton County Arts Council, Bureau of Cultural
Affairs, City of Atlanta, Georgia Council for the Arts, the
National Endowment for the Arts, Arts International - The
Fund for U.S. Artists at International Festivals and
Exhibitions, and the U.S. Information Agency - Arts
America Program. He was a member of the Cultural
Olympiad Advisory Council, and served on the advisory
boards of both the New World Symphony and the
Chicago Civic Symphony Orchestra National Advisory
Council and the International Village Cultural &
Community Center. He is the founder of the Hispanic
Festival of the Arts, and Casa de la Cultura de Atlanta. Mr.
Ramírez serves on the Advisory Board of Directors of CURE
Childhood Cancer, the Board of Governors of the National
Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, the Sphinx
Organization Advisory Board, the Music Steering
Committee of the William Breman Jewish Heritage
Museum. A frequent panelist and clinician, he served on the
jury of the Sphinx 2000 Competition in Ann Arbor,
Michigan and the 2002 Classical Nominations Review
Committee for the Grammy Awards of the National
Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences in Santa Monica,
California.

Mr. Ramirez founded the Buckhead Youth Orchestra in
2,000, and serves as Artistic Director and Conductor. Since
1999, he also serves as Music Director and Conductor of the
Atlanta Community Symphony Orchestra. He is a
graduate of Leadership Atlanta, Class of 1999. Mr. Ramírez
was awarded the Martin Luther King, Jr., César Chávez,
Rosa Parks Visiting Professorship at the University of
Michigan, Ann Arbor and was invited to participate as
concertmaster at the 2003 Sphinx Orchestra. In 2004, Mr.
Ramirez again served as concertmaster of the Sphinx
Orchestra where his composition Suite Latina was
premiered and he received the Presidential Chair from the
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

As a music advocator and educator this year Mr. Ramírez
founded a new music program for young children. Under
the auspices of the Atlanta Virtuosi Foundation, Inc. Music
for Success! is an educational program in partnership with
metro Atlanta educational institutions to encourage and
support artistic creativity for young elementary and
middle schools children of many backgrounds and to
receive instrumental and orchestral string training by
professional musicians.

In January 2004, Mr. Ramirez was named the Lexus Leader
of the Arts by WABE Public Radio of Atlanta and WPBA
Television for his outstanding contributions, his pursuit of
excellence in music and for his initiating and serving several
community music organizations in the arts community. In
2005, he was appointed Artist Affiliate Instructor of Strings
at Reinhardt College and Director of the Reinhardt
Symphony Orchestra. Most recently, Mr. Ramirez was
nominated and awarded the 2006 Governor's Award in the
Humanities in recognition of exemplary achievements that
fostered an understanding of cultural traditions and values
for strengthened community, character, and citizenship in
the state of Georgia.