guastavino en el Alma

Jeremías  Sergiani-Velázquez has performed classical, contemporary, and tango  music around the world. As soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral  performer, he has been heard in 16 countries across four continents. In  2021, he was appointed Principal Second Violin of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra by Yannick Nézet-Séguin.

Born  in Córdoba, Argentina, a teenage Jeremías’ big break nearly got him  expelled. While he had finally been accepted to study with violinist  Fernando Hasaj, Jeremías needed to commute to Buenos Aires—a 20-hour  round trip by bus which forced him to miss multiple days of school at a  time. When threatened with losing his musical education, the young  violinist underwent rigorous study to attain his high school diploma at  15, freeing himself to focus on music as his love. 

His  hard work paid off. Eventually plucked out of Argentina to join the New  England Conservatory and later The Juilliard School, Jeremías quickly  developed a deep orchestral resume: he was a member of both the  Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and Chicago’s Grant Park Symphony, toured  extensively with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, and has served as  concertmaster of the New York Classical Players. Throughout his career,  Jeremías has been invited to the world’s most elite summer festivals,  including the Perlman Music Program, Music@Menlo, Taos, Kneisel, Aspen,  and Schleswig-Holstein. He is an Artist Faculty member of the Charles  Ives Music Festival. 

Outside  the orchestra, Jeremías remains an active chamber musician. In 2021, he  made his Weill Hall debut performing works for violin and piano by  Florence Price alongside Yannick Nézet-Séguin as part of The MET  Orchestra Chamber Ensemble concert series. He made his National Sawdust  debut with contemporary violinist Miranda Cuckson and is a former member  of the Frisson Ensemble—with  whom he was featured in NPR’s Performance Today. Holding close to his  Argentinian roots, Jeremías enjoys playing tango. He is a former member  of the Pedro Giraudo Tango Quartet, winners of the 2018 Latin GRAMMY® Award. Currently, Jeremías is a member of the NYC—based Sonora Collective,  a musicians collective that creates vibrant performance experiences in  special venues and art installation spaces. During the summers, Jeremías  teaches at the Charles Ives Music Festival in Connecticut and the Festival de Cuerdas de Buenos Aires. 

In 2016, following the previous year’s devastating earthquake, Jeremías joined the acclaimed violinist Midori in  Nepal for a benefit string quartet tour of refugee camps, hospitals,  and schools, culminating in a performance at the United Nations in  Kathmandu. Later in 2017, the same group would conduct a quartet tour  across Japan, with feature performances in Tokyo’s Oji Hall and Osaka’s  Phoenix Hall.

After  picking up his violin at the age of 3, Jeremías first toured his home  country as a soloist at 10, and returned to win First Prize at the  Argentine Hebrew Foundation Competition. He owes much of his great  fortune to the violinist Miriam Fried who, upon their meeting at a music  festival in Brazil, encouraged a young Jeremías to study with her at  the New England Conservatory, where he received his Bachelor of Music.  Jeremías holds additional degrees from The Juilliard School (M.M.) and  the Manhattan School of Music (P.S.C.) and is also deeply grateful to  his other primary teachers: Ronald Copes, Glenn Dicterow, Lisa Kim,  Sylvia Rosenberg, and Fabricio Valvasori. 

He is based in New York City, where he lives with his wife, the flutist and social media influencer Katie “katieflute” Althen-Velázquez, and their Havanese dog Miguel. 

Photo © John Hong 2020

An award-winning flutist, content creator, and educator,

Katie Althen-Velázquez enjoys a rich career with a multifaceted impact on the arts. Widely  recognized as a unique musician, the Boston Musical Intelligencer has  praised her performances for their “great sinuous magic,” while flute  legend Paula Robison describes Katie as “a true, intelligent artist with a wonderful sense of humor and awareness of life’s surprises.”

A  Juilliard graduate, she has performed alongside Sir James Galway during  his live 75th birthday celebration, shared the stage with Renée  Fleming, and performed during the 2023 Met Gala with pop icon Lizzo. She  appeared on the exclusive 2018 run of Rocktopia on Broadway, a fusion  of classical and classic rock music. She has also performed across the  United States in various orchestras, appearing with the Reading Symphony  Orchestra, Fort Wayne Philharmonic, York Symphony Orchestra, Artosphere  Festival Orchestra, among others, as well as with the chamber music  ensemble Frisson.  A dedicated collaborator, she frequently joins forces with the  accomplished Mexican pianist, Santiago Lomelín. She has presented  recitals and masterclasses across the US East Coast, as well as in  Mexico and Argentina.

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Katie  is a founding member of the New York City-based Sonora Collective, a  collective of musicians that brings chamber music to art galleries and  other unique spaces. As a Co-Director, Katie has played a role in  curating over eighteen distinct concert programs, spanning classical to  contemporary compositions. The dedication to performing works by living  composers is a hallmark of the collective's mission. Katie has  spearheaded commissions for flute and strings, collaborating with  esteemed composers Paul Frucht and Jared Miller.

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Eager  to diversify her impact, Katie is known to a wide audience for her  contributions to the flute community on Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok,  where she has amassed over 230k followers and subscribers, as well as  over 30 million views. Having grown her Instagram account since the  summer of 2014, she is recognized as one of the first classical music  content creators and was named one of Influencer Intelligence's 10 Classical Musicians You Should Follow. On YouTube,  she produces content demonstrating flutes from the Flute Center of New  York, as well as full-length performances, vlogs, and practice tips. 

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A  firm believer in sharing her talent and love of music, Katie maintains a  private flute studio where she teaches students from 6 to adult. She  has been an Artist-Faculty member of The Charles Ives Music Festival at the Western Connecticut  Youth Orchestra since 2019. Previously she was faculty at Musart Music  and the Great Neck Music Conservatory.

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Katie  is from outside of Reading, Pennsylvania, and holds a Master of Music  degree from The Juilliard School and a Bachelor of Music degree from the  New England Conservatory, with additional studies at the Peabody  Conservatory. Her principal teachers include Robert Langevin, Paula  Robison, and Marina Piccinini. She is the winner of the Yamaha Prize at  the 2011 Julius Baker Masterclasses, won third prize at the 2016 New  York Flute Club Competition, and was a 2018 Astral Artists Finalist. She  plays on a 9-karat rose gold Muramatsu flute and a copper-alloy Trevor  James alto flute.

When  she's not making music, Katie enjoys taking ballet class and studying  Spanish. Katie lives in NYC with her husband, Argentine violinist Jeremías Sergiani-Velázquez, and their Havanese dog, Miguel. 

Jorge Parodi is the Music Director at the Moores Opera Center, and Professor of Conducting at the Moores School of Music at the University of Houston. He is also the General and Artistic Director of Opera Hispánica; and Music Director of Gulfshore Opera; and of Opera in Williamsburg (VA). He is the founder and Artistic Director of the Tokyo International Vocal Arts Academy Summer Workshop, and he is faculty at The Juilliard School.  

He conducted productions at The Atlanta Opera, New York City Opera, Opera San José, Merola Opera Program, New Orleans Opera, Knoxville Opera, Savannah OPERA, Chautauqua Opera, Opera Orlando, Opera Tampa, Gulfshore Opera, Amarillo Opera, El Paso Opera, Buenos Aires Lírica (Argentina), Castleton Festival, The Banff Centre (Canada) and The Juilliard School.

World Premières: Tom Cipullo’s Hobson’s Choice (Moores Opera Center), John Musto’s Rhoda and the Fossil Hunt (On Site Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago Lyric’s Unlimited and Pittsburgh Opera); and Anton Coppola’s Lady Swanwhite (Opera Tampa); and Michael Ching’s The Birthday Clown (Savannah OPERA). 

Other conducting credits: Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra, NHK Symphony, Naples Philharmonic, Castleton Festival Orchestra, Metamorphosis Chamber Orchestra, Ensemble Zipoli for the American Baroque, Juilliard Pre College Orchestra, Volgograd Opera (Russia), Ensamble XXI, Orquesta del Conservatorio Nacional (Argentina).

He has collaborated with such artists as Isabel Leonard, Eglise Gutiérrez, Verónica Villarroel, Nancy Fabiola Herrera, Tito Capobianco, Sherrill Milnes, Aprile Millo and Rufus Wainwright and has assisted conductors Lorin Maazel and Julius Rudel, among others.