Armando Bayolo (b. 1973, Santurce, Puerto Rico): After initiating his studies in composition at age 16 at the Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan, Bayolo went on to receive a Bachelor’s degree in music from the Eastman School of Music, a Master’s from Yale University and a PhD from the University of Michigan. His compositions include works for solo instruments, voices, chamber and orchestral music. Recent commissions include A Kind of Standoff, for the Percussion Plus Project; Colorfields, for the Hamilton College Orchestra, and Kaddish:Passio:Rothko, for the ensembles of the National Gallery of Art. The Washington Post has described Bayolo’s music as “full of lush ideas and a kind of fierce grandeur (which unfold) with subtle, driving power.” Bayolo is the founding artistic director and conductor of Great Noise Ensemble, and has been a guest conductor with the Rose City Chamber Orchestra in Portland, Oregon, and the Lee University Chamber Orchestra in Cleveland, Tennessee. Bayolo has served on the faculties of Reed College, Hamilton College and the Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University. He lives outside of Washington, D.C. Bayolo’s music is available through his web site, www.armandobayolo.com. (CINTAS Foundation Brandon Fradd Fellowship in music composition, 2008-09)

Adrian Castro (b., Miami): A poet, performer and interdisciplinary artist, Castro addresses the migratory experience from Africa to the Caribbean to North America, and the ensuing clash of cultures. He is the author of Cantos to Blood & Honey, (Coffee House Press, 1997) and Wise Fish: Tales in 6/8 Time, (Coffee House Press, 2005), and has been published in many literary anthologies. He is the recipient of fellowships and awards from the State of Florida, NewForms Florida, the Academy of American Poets and NALAC, and has had commissions from Miami Light Project and the Miami Art Museum. He has performed his poetry at the Nuyorican Poets’ Café in New York; the Naropa Institute in Boulder, Colorado; the Hemingway Literary Festival in Chicago, and the Miami Book Fair International. The New York Times Book Review selected Wise Fish as an editor’s choice. Castro is also a Babalawo and herbalist. (Cintas in literature, 2008-09)

Provisional chairs, 2005, Mixed media installation set of 2 Found metal chairs: monobloc plastic chairs and clothes. Set of two Edition of 5, 35" x 23" x 20"

Ernesto Oroza (b. 1968, Havana): Since his graduation from the Higher Institute of Design in Havana with a degree in industrial design, Oroza has worked as an artist in a variety of media, including photography and video, and has produced a wide-ranging series of conceptual art projects. He also lectures widely, and has taught at the Ludwig Foundation and the Polytechnic Institute of Design in Havana, and at the Ecole Nationale Supérieur de Création Industrielle in Paris. Oroza is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, as well as fellowships and awards from the Christoph Merian Foundation in Basel, Switzerland; the Danish Center for Cultural Development, and the Ludwig Foundation. Recent solo shows include Gli oggetti della necessità, at GISH artecodesign in Livorno, Italy, and Statement of Necessity, at Alonso Art in Miami. His work was also recently featured in the Festival Internacional de Arte Contemporáneo in Leon, Mexico, in Cuba! Art and History, from 1868 to today, at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts in Canada, and in Cuban America An Empire State of Mind, at the Lehman College Art Gallery. Samples of his work can be found at http://www.ernestooroza.com (Cintas Foundation-Emilio Sánchez Fellowship in art, 2008-09)