Meet the Artists

Ernesto Bravo

Born in Santiago, Chile, Ernesto is an active performer of Andean folk music and a resident in Virginia, United States since 1994. His work has been influenced by great Chilean musicians as Victor Jara, Inti-llimani, Violeta Parra, and Illapu, some of whom represent the "New Chilean Song" (La Nueva Cancion Chilena), a style of music born in response to the government that oppressed the Chilean people since 1973 during the dictatorship power was taking over that country. His performance consists of folkloric music from the Andes, deeply rooted in traditional and romantic songs from Bolivia, Peru, and Chile, as well as North America and Europe. He is versed in guitar, charango, pan flute, bamboo flute, and bombo, a Latin American style bass drum. He sings as well. Ernesto is currently working with great local musicians and hopes to share this type of music to a larger audience as well as open a door for an opportunity to connect with others through musical language in every corner of the world.

Yosief Habte

Yosief Habte’s art was exhibited in New York even before he set foot in the United States 3 years ago. As a new resident from Eritrea, he brings cultural flavor and an outlook from a different dimension. Trained at the Addis Ababa Art School, Habte developed his talent over 20 years with more than a dozen solo and group exhibitions. He shows mastery in water-colors, acrylics and collage. His collage practice started more than a decade ago with a post card he made for a friend. While his collages’ three-dimensional feel made them popular, it was the recycling of paper that prompted him to pursue this medium. He regards it as giving a second chance to paper that is tossed aside and reflects on how changing our perspective can turn doom into bloom. In his current work he strives to show the wealth in the destitute. As he says, “It is a matter of finding it". Email - yoab03@gmail.com

Irina Tsikurishvili

A native of the Republic of Georgia, Ms. Tsikurishvili is a 58-time Helen Hayes Award Nominee and has won the award 14 times for her outstanding choreography and acting. Irina has choreographed all Synetic Theater’s productions including The Crackpots, Dracula, Host and Guest and Frankenstein, Island of Doctor Moreau, Salomé, Bohemians, Jason and the Argonauts, The Dybbuk, Faust, Frankenstein, Macbeth, Animal Farm, The Fall of the House of Usher, A Christmas Carol, Romeo and Juliet, Carmen, Dante, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Antony and Cleopatra, Othello, King Arthur, King Lear, Don Quixote, Othello, Twelfth Night, Much Ado about Nothing, Three Musketeers, Alice in Wonderland, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Jekyll & Hyde, The Taming of the Shrew, The Tempest, As You Like It, and much more. Ms.Tsikurishvili has taught at Georgetown University, where she choreographed Lysistrata. She continues to run intensive movement workshops and train Synetic cast members. With her husband Paata, she is the co-founder of Synetic Theater and co-founder of Stanislavsky Theater Studio. Paata & Irina were named Washingtonians of the Year in 2013. Irina Graduated from Chabukiani National Ballet Academy in Tbilisi Georgia and holds BFA in Performing Arts.

Fabiola Alvarez Yurcisin

Fabiola Alvarez Yurcisin was born in México City. She received a BFA from The Art Institute of Chicago in 2003, and a BA from the Instituto Tecnológico de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey in 1995. She has exhibited in the United States, México, and Germany. Two of her books are part of the permanent collection of The Joan Flash Artists’ Book Collection at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Most recently, she was selected as one of the Five Women Artists, by Cultural DC, an initiative launched by The National Museum of Women in the Arts. Her work repurposes obsolete recording materials, like VHS cassette tape and typewriter ribbon, and weaves them together. The panels, cages and nets that she makes, are reflective surfaces that question the speed in which we produce and discard our technologies.

Ximena Varela

Ximena Varela is a researcher, educator, and consultant with more than 20 years of experience in international cultural policy, management practice, marketing strategy, arts management research, and culturally sustainable development. She has worked with and advised international organizations, national and regional governments, city agencies, as well as private and nonprofit organizations in arts funding and arts policy. She has published, lectured and taught extensively in the United States, Latin America, Europe and China. Currently, she serves on the board of the Arts and Humanities Council of Montgomery County, is Co-Chair of the Research Council of the Association of Arts Administration Educators (AAAE), and has been a board member of the Latin American Institute of Museums since 2000. Formerly, Prof. Varela served on the boards of the Bach Sinfonia and the Association of Arts Administration Educators (AAAE) and the Editorial Board of the American Journal of Arts Management. She holds an MA in Arts Management for Drexel University, has course PhD studies in Comparative Politics from Temple University, two undergraduate degrees in Business and Finance from the Catholic University of Uruguay, and is a certified Teacher of English to Students of Other Languages. Ximena teaches courses in Museum Management, Marketing, International Cultural Management, Art and the City, Research Methods, and is Chair for the Arts Management theses.

Matt Torney

Matt is currently the Associate Artistic Director of Studio Theatre in Washington DC (www.studiotheatre.org)

Originally from Belfast, Matt worked as a freelance director in Ireland before moving to the United States in 2006 to complete an MFA in directing at Columbia University, taught by Anne Bogart and Brian Kulick.

Studio Theatre produces a 10 show season of ‘the best of contemporary theatre in deliberately intimate spaces’ and is recognized as one of the leading mid-sized regional theatre in the US. Studio's programming includes cutting edge new plays from American and international writers, as well as world premieres, commissions, immersive work, and imaginative stagings of contemporary classics. As Associate Artistic Director, Matt directs in the season and also manages the day to day artistic operations of the artistic department, including leading casting and scouting activities, participating in season planning, serving as a lead creative producer, leading institutional development projects and managing key community partnerships. Due to his specialized background as an art director, he also works closely with the marketing department on producing photography and video for both print and digital campaigns (read more about his art directing here).

Prior to joining the team at Studio, Matt was the Director of Programming for Origin Theatre, an Off-Broadway company whose mission is to bring the best of European new writing to the USA. He directed productions and readings for the company, spearheaded new artistic projects, line produced main stage productions and wrap around programming, and cultivated a diverse network of international playwrights and theatres. Additionally, from 2007 to 2015 he was an Associate Director of Rough Magic in Dublin, one of Ireland’s leading independent theatre companies for over 30 years.

He has directed extensively in New York, Ireland, and regionally in the USA, and his work has been nominated for several awards.