_edited.png)
MEET THE PEOPLE INVOLVED
Executive Board
RENEE PEREZ
President
Reneé Pérez is a classical guitarist, graduating from the University of Alberta in guitar performance. He is an active solo and chamber musician and teacher. His musical interests include early music, as a performer on theorbo, archlute and baroque guitar. Reneé has toured Houston and northern Portugal as a soloist and chamber musician, and has played the Fasch D minor concerto with several string quartets and Venezuelan orchestras belonging to “El Sistema”. In 2014, he was featured as an emerging solo artist by the Calgary Classical Guitar Society.
VALENTINA BENVENUTI
Vice-President
Valentina began playing classical guitar at the age of 8. She pursued her studies under the direction of Maestro Ferrante Faedi and Maestro Pietro Antinori at the renowned Rossini Conservatory in Pesaro, Italy. In 2016, she earned her Master Degree in Classical Guitar Performance with full marks.
ERNST BIRSS
Past President
Ernst Birss is a classical guitarist and guitar teacher active in Edmonton. He is a first prize winner of the Northwest Guitar Competition, an annual event open to classical guitarists from Western Canada and the American Pacific Northwest. He has performed as a solo guitarist, and in ensembles with singer Merrill Tanner and guitarist David Grainger Brown
