LLUC Verdi Requiem Concert Program - Loma Linda University ...

About the Artists
Conductor, pianist, and composer Ariel Quintana, was born in Libertador San Martin, Entre Rios, Argentina.
He began his piano studies at the age of three. He earned a Master degree in music in piano performance from
the National Conservatory of Music in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and a doctorate in choral conducting from the
University of Southern California. The list of his teachers and mentors includes Estrella Steger, Perla Brugola,
Julio Fainguersh, Valdo Sciammarella, Waldemar Wensell, Paul Salamunovich, Morten Lauridsen, and William
Dehning. The Los Angeles Master Chorale under maestros Paul Salamunovich and Grant Gershon have sung
some of his arrangements and premiered his Hodie Christus natus est in December 2000. This piece was also
performed at the National Convention of the ACDA in New York in February of 2003. The list of his compositions
and arrangements includes Ave verum corpus, Mass from Two Worlds, Here I Am, La farolera tropezó, All
Creatures of our God and King, and soon to be published Ave maris stella. Dr. Quintana has appeared as a
conductor at the Hollywood Bowl, Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Ebel Theatre, and Walt Disney Concert Hall. In
2006 he was appointed assistant conductor of the Los Angeles Master Chorale, a position that he kept for four
years. Currently he is minister of music at Loma Linda University Church and associate minister of music at
First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood. Besides his activities as a conductor and composer, he maintains an active schedule as a clinician and
adjudicator. A catalog of Ariel’s choral works can be found at www.arielquintana.com.
Kimo Smith, organist and collaborative pianist, began music studies in his home state of Hawaii at age four.
Following his graduation from Hawaiian Mission Academy, he attended the University of Hawaii, La Sierra
University, the University of Southern California, and the University of California, Los Angeles. A student of Ladd
Thomas at USC, he completed his Bachelor and Master degrees, magna cum laude, in organ performance. He was
selected to receive the Organ Department Outstanding Achievement Award on both occasions. He completed his
doctoral studies at UCLA in organ performance as a student of Thomas Harmon. Dr. Smith is a past winner of
several competitions sponsored by the American Guild of Organists and Music Teachers National Association.
Dr. Smith is currently associate professor of music at La Sierra University and past chair of the Department of
Music. He is an active recitalist, performing locally, nationally, and abroad. As organist, he has appeared as a
guest artist with several Southern California orchestras and choral ensembles, including the Glendale Symphony,
Riverside County Philharmonic Orchestra, Redlands Symphony Orchestra, William Hall Chorale, Los Robles
Master Chorale, Angeles Chorale, and Los Angeles Master Chorale. He is featured organist on a 2010 recording
of the L.A. Master Chorale performing the choral works of emerging young composer Nico Muhly. This was the
first recording of the Master Chorale in Walt Disney Concert Hall, and their first for the world-renowned Decca label. He will appear once again
with the LAMC in the opening concert of their 2012–2013 season. Dr. Smith has also been consistently involved in church music since he was
twelve, and is the organist at the First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood and the University Church of Seventh-day Adventists in Loma Linda.
His professional music activities also include a great deal of collaborative performing which has taken him throughout the United States, Europe,
South America, and Asia with touring groups and solo artists. Dr. Smith and his wife, Cheryl, also a professional musician, reside in Loma
Linda, California. They have three children, two grandsons, and a granddaughter.
Soprano Fabiana Bravo made her professional debut in 1996 as Lucia in Lucia di Lammermoor with Luciano
Pavarotti at the Academy of Music in Philadelphia after winning the fifth Luciano Pavarotti International Voice
Competition. Since then she has achieved recognition throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, and Asia for
her operatic and oratorio performances. Highlights of her stellar operatic career include Mimi in La Bohème with
the New York Metropolitan Opera, Madame Butterfly with the San Francisco, Dallas, and Los Angeles Operas,
and the title role in Tosca with the Shanghai Opera in the first ever performance of that opera in China. Her
versatility has garnered her work with various opera companies performing such leading roles as Donna Anna in
Don Giovanni, Leonora in Il Trovatore and Oberto, and the title role in Norma. She made her Carnegie Hall debut
as Fiora in L’amore dei tre re by Montemezzi with the Opera Orchestra of New York. Ms. Bravo toured as soprano
soloist with L’Orchestre Métropolitain of Montreal in performances of Verdi’s Requiem. She presented a recital
at Castle Gandolfo, Italy, for Pope John Paul II, and also appeared in Verdi galas in Prague, and Oviedo, Spain,
as well as in Germany for Operalia with Placido Domingo. In 1999, the Congress of Argentina honored Fabiana
Bravo by declaring her Argentine Woman of the Year for her outstanding contribution to the arts as a young
artist. Ms. Bravo’s future engagements include Oh My Son by Marcos Galvany to be performed at the Vatican for Easter 2013 and appearances as
Santuzza in Cavalleria Rusticana as part of the Metropolitan Opera season 2013–14. She is currently a Professor of Voice at Catholic University
of America in Washington, D.C. Her recently released album CD Verdi and Verismo for Helicon Records has received high critical acclaim.
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