Chattanooga native Michael McCallie has distinguished himself as one of the most promising young performers and teachers working within the classical guitar community today. As a performer, Michael has garnered several awards including a prize in the 2004 Stetson University Concerto Competition and top prizes in both the Chattanooga, TN and Cleveland Young Artists’ Competitions.
During recent or upcoming concert seasons, Michael has performed at or will have served on the faculties of: The Florida Guitar Festival and Competition, the Troy University Guitar Festival and Competition, the GuitarSarasota Concert Series, the Columbus State University Guitar Symposium, and the Guitar Foundation of America. Additionally, he has performed accross the United States in venues including the Cohen-Davison Theater at the Peabody Institue of Music at Johns Hopkins University and Sprague Memorial Hall at Yale University and has performed with both the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and Chattanooga Symphony Orchestras.
Michael holds a Master’s of Music in Guitar Performance from Yale University where he was the recipient of a full-tuition scholarship and a Bachelor of Music from Stetson University. Additionally, he has recently completed the Doctor of Music degree at Florida State University, where he was a scholarship student of the world-renowned pedagogue, Bruce Holzman. Michael’s principal teachers include: Dr. Stephen Robinson, Kevin Gallagher, Benjamin Verdery and Bruce Holzman. Michael is Director of Guitar Programs at The McCallie School in Chattanooga and has served on the faculties at Covenant College and Chattanooga State. Michael is the Executive Director of GuitarChattanooga, a guitar-driven non-profit organization based in Chattanooga, TN.
Alejandro Olson is a professional classical guitarist with a Master of Music degree from the Lamont School of Music at the University of Denver. He competes in international guitar competitions in multiple countries as well as national competitions in the United States. Alejandro has won 1st prizes at Le Domaine Forget International Guitar Competition, the Grossmont Community Concert Association Competition, the American Protege International Music Competition at Carnegie Hall, and the Denver Classical Guitar Competition.
As a performer, Alejandro has impressed audiences around the world in countries such as Italy, Norway, the United States, and Canada. When asked about his playing, audiences describe it as “simply amazing” as well as “vibrant and beautiful.” As a transcriber, Alejandro has created a variety of new works for the classical guitar. He debuts most of these transcriptions with his violin-guitar duo: the York Street Duo. The duo actively performs works by Tartini, Sarasate, Rachmaninov, and Piazzolla. Currently, plans to publish these transcriptions are in the works and due in the next year.