“Ron Davis Alvarez is a man accustomed to making miracles” (The New York Times).
The Venezuelan Ron Davis Alvarez, who in 2017 was named one of the world's 50 best teachers by the Varkey Foundation, part of the Global Teacher Prize, specializes in training teachers for children's and youth orchestras. He has lectured at conferences and masterclasses with teachers from Colombia, Mexico, USA, Chile, Great Britain, Denmark, Italy, Germany, France, Greenland, Sweden, Turkey, South Korea, Ecuador, Finland and Greece. In the latter, he taught in a refugee camp.
He is chief conductor of the international music camp Side by Side by Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra. In 2016, he created the Dream Orchestra in Gothenburg for children and young people aged 8 to 19 who are on the run. The orchestra has more than 50 members and has made a series of high-profile performances, including abroad, and is now emulated in several European countries.
Formed by the famous Venezuelan musical and social program El Sistema, Alvarez trained in Miranda State, Venezuela as a violinist, orchestra conductor, teacher and cultural director. His main mentors and inspirations are maestro José Antonio Abreu, Franka Verhagen, Igor Lanz, Gregory Carreño, Ruben Cova, Ann Andreasen, Victor Vivas and Tupac Amaru.
In 2024, Ron Davis Alvarez was recognized by the news channel CNN when he was named a CNN Hero.
Marjolein Vermeeren successfully made her professional conducting debut with the Gothenburg Wind Orchestra in 2022. She has worked as a guest conductor with several professional orchestras since then, such as Östgötamusiken, Gotlands Musikstiftelse, Marinens Musikkår and Norrköpings Symphony Orchestra. In the 2025-2026 season, she will return to the Gothenburg Wind Orchestra, the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, the Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra and the Swedish Chamber Orchestra. Marjolein Vermeeren is also a flutist in the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra.
She grew up in the southern Netherlands, where wind music is of great importance, and has worked with youth orchestras and participated for several years at the Side by Side music camp as a conductor and instructor for the oldest participants. Vermeeren is educated at the Tilburg Academy of Music, the Netherlands, and has studied flute at the Royal Academy of Music in London. She has also continued her conducting education by studying with Glenn Mossop in Stockholm.
