Nelson Freire, Piano – Guest Soloist One of the best kept secrets in the world of the piano, Nelon Freire has recently given performances at New York’s Carnegie Hall, with the St. Petersburg Symphony Orchestra in St. Petersburg, at the Prague Spring, with the Orchestre National de France and leading orchestras in Baltimore, Boston, Montreal, New York and Utah. In 2002/2003 he made two concert tours under the direction of Riccardo Chailly, with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam and the Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi. He also appeared with the Tonhalle Orchester Zurich and the NHK Symphony Orchestra of Tokyo, and regularly fulfils engagements in his native Brazil. Nelson Freire has recorded for Sony/CBS, Teldec, Philips and Deutsche Grammophon.     Paquito D’Rivera, Clarinet & Saxaphone – Guest Soloist Paquito D'Rivera's first recognition as a solo artist by The Recording Academy (GRAMMYs) came in 1996 with the highly acclaimed recording Portraits of Cuba. Since then, Mr. D'Rivera has received much recognition as an artist and composer. D’Rivera is a recipient of the National Medal for the Arts, presented at the White House by President George W. Bush in 2005 and was named one of the 2005 NEA (National Endowment for the Arts) Jazz Masters. In both 2004 and 2006, the Jazz Journalists Association honored Mr. D’Rivera as the Clarinetist of the Year. In March 2007 he was honored with the Living Jazz Legend Award in a ceremony at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC.      Ildar Abdrazakov, Tenor – Guest Soloist Ildar Abdrazakov made his debut at the Mariinsky Theatre in 1988 in the role of Figaro in Le Nozze di Figaro, conducted by Gianandrea Noseda, and has since appeared there as Conte Rodolfo in La Sonnambula, as Leporello in Don Giovanni (conducted by Valery Gergiev and directed by Johannes Schaaf), as Calatrava in La Forza del Destino with Gergiev, and as Raimondo in a new production of Lucia di Lammermoor. In 2001 Mr. Abdrazakov made his debut at Teatro alla Scala Milan in La Sonnambula, appeared as Oroveso in Norma for the Verdi Festival in Parma, in Il Trovatore at the Opera Theatre in Rome, in Rossini's Stabat Mater at the Opera Festival in Pesaro, in Don Carlo in Tokyo, and in Semiramide in Peru.     Horacio Lavandera, Piano – Guest Soloist Horacio Lavandera has performed as a soloist with prestigious orchestras, including the Mozarteum Orchester Salzburg, Filarmonica della Scala, Orquesta de la Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, London Chamber Pleyers, Orquestra do Norte of Portugal, Orquesta Sinfónica de la Ciudad de Oviedo, Orquesta Filarmónica de Buenos Aires, Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de Argentina, Orquestra Metropolitana de Lisboa, among others. He has also been under the baton of outstanding Maestros, such as Charles Dutoit, Antonio Pappano, Benjamin Zander, Christopher Wilkins, George Pehlivanian, Anton Nanut, Martin Sieghart, Arthur Fagen, Terje Mikkelsen, David Murphy, among others.