The Guarneri Duo with Vasile Beluska
Cellist Alan Smith, Professor of Cello at Bowling Green State University, has been a soloist with the Houston, Shreveport, Lima, Midland-Odessa, Guadalajara symphonies and others in Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, Denver and Kansas City. He has performed solo recitals throughout the U.S. and Mexico, including the Phillips Collection, the National Gallery of Art, the University of Mexico, the Instituto Culturales Cabanas, Sala Carlos Chavez, Sala Chopin. Ensemble performances have included Carnegie Hall and Kennedy Center. As a member of the Guarneri Duo, he has toured Taiwan and China and represented the U.S. at the 1996 International Cello/Piano Duo Musical Cycle as part of the Bellas Artes Concert Series in Mexico City. He recently toured South Korea presenting master classes and recitals and as a concerto soloist. Smith was also a judge for The Leonard Rose International Cello Competition (2001) in Washington, D.C.
Pianist Diana Barker Smith received her degrees in piano from the University of Houston and the University of Texas. She also studied at the Aspen Music School with Rosina Lhevinne and has participated in master classes with Gina Bachauer and Darius Milhaud. A member of the piano faculty at Bowling Green State University, she is a winner of the Phi Beta National Young Artist Award and several other competitions. She has also performed at the Kennedy Center, the Phillips Collection, the National Gallery of Art, Sala Chopin in Mexico City, and as a soloist with the Houston Symphony conducted by Leopold Stokowski. Additionally, she has collaborated with such artists as Jean-Pierre Rampal and Andre Navarra. As a member of the Guarneri Duo, she has presented recitals throughout the U.S., Mexico, Taiwan and China. As a chamber musician, she has appeared at the Lancaster (OH) and Chapel Hill (NC) Chamber Music Festivals, National String Workshop (University of WI/Madison) and the Chautauqua Institute (NY).
Vasile Beluska, Professor of Violin at Bowling Green State University and the Chautauqua Institution of New York, has also been on the faculties of the University of Wisconsin, the University of Northern Iowa and the Liceul de Muzica in Cluj, Romania. Active as a chamber musician, Beluska has performed with the International Trio, the American Arts Trio, the Bowling Green String Quartet, and the Mozart Fortepiano Duo. Performances have taken him to concert halls throughout the U.S. and in Mexico, Romania, Hungary, Great Britain, Belgium, Germany and Austria. After arriving in the United States, he received a Master of Performance degree from Southern Methodist University and shortly thereafter continued his studies with Jascha Heifetz in Los Angeles.
