The Greek guitarist Antigoni Goni, Classical Guitar Professor at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels (Koninklijk Conservatorium Brussel), enjoys a truly international career, both as a performing artist and as a pedagogue, performing extensively in Europe, Russia, North and South America and the far East, both as recitalist and soloist.
She was the founder and chair of the Guitar Department at the Juilliard Pre-College Division (where she also taught for 10 years), an adjunct professor at the Columbia University as well as Artist –in-Residence with San Francisco Performances where for 5 years she gave semi-annual performances, master classes and workshops for a diverse group of students and audiences. For her International achievements, the Royal Academy of Music in London awarded her with the honorary position of Associate Professor (ARAM).
As a performing artist who has lived and worked in both the U.S. and in Europe, the Volterra Project’s Founder and Artistic Director, Antigoni Goni, has a long and in-depth experience with both the cultural differences between these societies, and with the universal climate of competition that exists in traditional guitar training programs.
With the name "SoloDuo", Matteo Mela and Lorenzo Micheli form one of the most active and well-known guitar duos in the world. Together they have played throughout Europe, in the United States and Canada, in Asia, and Latin America, from Carnegie Hall of New York to the Konzerthaus in Vienna, from the Sejong Hall in Seoul to the Sala delle Colonne in Kiev, from the Auditorium in Milan to the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam.
The “Washington Post” described them as “extraordinarily sensitive, with effortless command and an almost unbearable delicacy of touch”.
Matteo is a teacher at the Conservatoire Populaire de Musique in Geneva, Lorenzo teaches at the Conservatory of Italian Switzerland in Lugano. Matteo and Lorenzo are also “Artists in Residence” at the University of Colorado Boulder and Columbus State University.
Italian-born and Brussels-based guitarist, researcher, and pedagogue, Luca Isolani dedicates his focus to exploring the heritage of folk idioms within the classical guitar repertoire. Residing in the capital of Europe, Luca actively engages in various international projects spanning classical, jazz, pop, and folk music, such as Duo Isolani, Del Sablon, Lô Trézou, Tsiribim.
Together with Antigoni Goni and Maarten Vandenbemden, Luca forms the Volterra Project Trio. In 2023 the trio released their debut album, "Medio Siglo" and presented it at the 50° Guitar Foundation of America in New York.
Brussels-based Maarten Vandenbemden (b. 1994) was born in a house full of guitars. As a soloist and as member of various chamber music groups, he has performed from Lithuania to Jordan, and from the USA to China. Since 2018, Maarten is the fourth member of Four Aces Guitar Quartet with whom he recorded two albums, the latter one (“Plan BE”, 2023) was completely dedicated to own arrangements of Belgian music through the ages.
With Antigoni Goni and Luca Isolani, Maarten forms the Volterra Project Trio, that released its first album “Medio Siglo – a tribute to the art and sound of José L. Romanillos” in 2023 and is currently preparing a first full trio recording.
Martha Masters Martha Masters first achieved international recognition in 2000 when she won first prize in the Guitar Foundation of America International Concert Artist Competition. That same year she also won the Andres Segovia International Competition in Linares, Spain, and was named a finalist in the Alexandre Tansman International Competition of Musical Personalities in Lodz, Poland.
Ms. Masters is currently on the guitar faculty of Loyola Marymount University and California State University Fullerton, and is President of the Guitar Foundation of America. She has released seven recordings (Naxos, GSP and independent releases), and has published three books with Mel Bay Publications and Alfred Music.
Michèle Swennen Michèle Swennen received her education in Brussels in Jaques-Dalcroze rythmics, theater, and classical dance with Marina van Hoeck, and contemporary dance with Renate Peter. She also studied contemporary dance in Paris with Peter Goss, Betty Jones and Fritz Luddin, Michel Nourkil, Karin Waehner, and in New York with Jennifer Muller and Luis Falco.
In 1985, after returning to Belgium from the United States, she created the first center for contemporary dance in Brussels: “Flagrant Délit”. In this framework she further developed her work, becoming an affirmed choreographer and pedagogue.
Robbie Bowman Robbie has spent over 40 years working in theatre with such companies as The National (London), Abbey Theatre (Dublin), The Royal Shakespeare Company (Stratford Upon Avon, London and West End), The Royal Court (London), Young Vic (London) and at various regional and Fringe venues in London. He teaches acting for the Royal Welsh School of Music and Drama, University of Wales Trinity St Davids and leads Studio Labs at London Performance Studios for his company Living Pictures Productions. He has taught at Royal Central School of Speech and Acting and has taught and teaches acting internationally and throughout the UK.