Honoring the Pursuit of Perfection

2022 JUNIOR DIVISION JUDGES:
SEATED:  Teresita Wessels and Darlene Trujillo,
REAR:  Andres Trujillo, Katherine Driscoll and Jorge Arcila

JORGE ARCILA, (bass, stage director, diction and style coach, opera expert) is a powerful singing actor with a special affinity for the basso buffo repertory. In the words of a critic, Mr. Arcila creates “wonderfully deep characterizations of great common sense”. Associations include: Teatro Teresa Carreño, Sinfónica de Puerto Rico, Sinfónica de Venezuela, Orquesta Simón Bolívar. Mr Arcila has been Professor of Diction and Style at the University Institute of Musical Studies, and the José Angel Lamas Conservatory in Caracas. He holds a Master of Music in Performance from CUNY, and a Modern Languages and Translation degree from Universidad Central de Venezuela. A successful vocal pedagogue, Mr. Arcila teaches at Barry University, at the New World School of the Arts and privately in Miami and New York City. He is the Artistic Director of The Opera Atelier.

ANTONIO ARROYO, (Tony) has always been a lover of choral music. Educated in Spain bythe Salesian Brothers, he studied guitar, violin and mandolin. He is an active member of both his school and church choirs and participated in numerous competitions throughout the country.

WALTER BUSSE, Walter Busse, a graduate of the Berklee College of Music, came to Miami in 1987. He received both his Masters and Doctorate of Music from UM, and spent six years there as an adjunct professor. Walter has spent his life in music education. He began his teaching career at St.Thomas the Apostle in 1997. He moved to Our Lady of Lourdes Academy in 2003, and in 2007 moved to the Carrollton School of the Sacred Heart, where he remained until 2019. He has an affinity for designing and implementing new music curriculum and was named Performing Arts Department Chair at True North Academy in 2019, moving on to Summit Academy in Coral Springs in 2021. He has been serving as the Director of Music at Riviera Presbyterian Church since 2019. Walter is currently teaching mathematics at Miami Beach High School which allows him opportunity to devote more attention to Busse Music Enterprises, a consulting company that is involved with all segments of the professional music business which he founded in 1991.

KATHERINE DRISCOLL began her piano studies at age 6. She holds Masters and Doctoral degrees in piano from Indiana University. She has taught at Indiana University, Illinois Wesleyan University, Miami Dade College, and for 30 years, in Miami-Dade Public Schools.

2022  SENIOR DIVISION JUDGES:
SEATED:  Bill Quesenberry and Tony Arroyo
STANDING: Dr. Edward G. Robinson, Kevin Rutledge, and Walter Busse

RAFAEL DE GUZMAN first started singing and acting in public at the age of 9, as a member of the children’s chorus of the Metropolitan Opera’s Touring Company in San Juan, Puerto Rico. He studied voice under Maria Justina Pereira de Aldrey. He has performed on stage, television and nightclubs in San Juan, Boston, and New York. His Broadway Theatre credits include lead roles in Musical Comedies: Fiddler on the Roof, Camelot, Oliver, On A Clear Day, Fiorello, The Roar of the Greasepaint The Smell of the Crowd, 1776, The Rothschilds, Applause, Man of La Mancha and in numerous Zarzuelas and Operettas.

WILLIAM “BILL” QUESENBERRY has been a musician since the age of 6, conducting a rhythm band.  He began playing trumpet in 5th grade and played all through Senior High at Coral Gables.  His choral career began when he joined the chapel choir in college because there was no band.  Since 1997 he’s been singing in various church choirs, as well as the Civic Chorale of Greater Miami.  He’s performed in the Berkshire Choral Festival, in Vancouver and Prague, Czech Republic.  In 2012 he joined the Second Avenue Jewish Chorale, performing in the Jewish Choral Festival in the Catskills for two seasons.  For the past five years, he has been singing with the professional High Holy Day ensemble at Temple Bet Shira.  Bill is a native Miamian, and lives in Coral Gables.

DR. EDWARD G. ROBINSON, a native of Miami, has traveled the world as an educator and musician. He received his bachelor’s degree in Music Education from Florida Memorial University, a Master of Music from the University of Miami, and a Doctoral degree in Educational Leadership from Nova Southeastern. He’s taught music on all levels of education and has provided leadership as a teacher and school administrator for over 35 years.He has performed with the UM School of Music, UM Singers in Eastern Europe and created a world class children’s choir in the Bahamas, that performed for Queen Elizabeth II, as well as the 1988 World Expo in Brisbane Australia. He has authored two books, “From Poverty to Purpose” and “From Purpose to Fulfillment”. He has composed several choral compositions and continues to direct church choirs and ensembles. Also a jazz musician, he is founder of the Instant Attraction band. Presently retired, he remains active, performing, directing, composing, and consulting in the field of music and leadership.

KEVIN RUTLEDGE, a native of Miami, is a graduate of Howard University in Washington DC, with a Bachelor of Music Education, and the University of Miami with a Master of Music in the Business and Entertainment Industry.  He is an accomplished vocalist, pianist and choral technical and director.  In the early 1980’s he interned at the Duke Ellington School of the Arts in Georgetown.  He served as Lead Teacher of the Performing and Visual Arts Center (PAVAC) as well as Fine Arts Department Chairman at Miami Northwestern SHS from 2004 to 2008.  Since 2008 hye has been the Music Teacher at Benjamin Franklin K-8 Center.  He has been honored as Teacher of the Year at three different schools.  Since 2016 he is the Music Director for Universal Truth Center in Miami Gardens.

ANDRES TRUJILLO began his musical studies at age five.  In 1972 he enrolled at the Escuela Provincial de Artes, receiving violin lessons from renowned Russian Professor Emil Chalbach.  In 1979, he resumed his studies in Caracas, at the Emil Friedman Music School and became the orchestra’s concert master.  He received his degree from Universidad Central de Venezuela.  Andres participated in multiple national and international festivals;  the Antonio Vivaldi Violin Festival in Venezuela and Radio France Music Festival in Montpelier.  He lives in Miami with his wife Darlene and is co-founder of the Trujillo Academy of Music.

DARLENE TRUJILLO began her piano studies at the age of five, at the Conservatory of Music “Guillermo Tomas” with Hortensia Upmann.  Exiled to Venezuela, she continued her training with Professor Daniel Bernard at the “Emil Friedman” School of Music and under Mrs. Geomar Narvaez at the Conservatory “Juan Jose Landaeta”.  She took advanced courses with painist Sadao Muraki.  In Miami she studied at FIU with the renowned pianists Miguel Salvador and Kemal Gekic.  Darlene and Andres both perform concerts of classical repertoire as well as Cuban and Latin-American art songs and dances, and previously taught music at Sts. Peter and Paul Catholic School.

TERESITA WESSELS, educated in Havana, Cuba, took lessons in music, guitar and voice at an early age. Life gave her many opportunities to share musical experiences with composers and musicians both in Cuba and Spain. She participated in many musical events and with children’s choruses in South Africa, Mexico, Nigeria, New York and Holland. Now a permanent resident of Coral Gables, she is a member of the choir at St Thomas The Apostle Church.