About Angela
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Angela Holguin is an award-winning musician, specializing in cello and piano. She has performed professionally for more than 35 years and worked to educate others for more than a quarter century. She studied at Western Illinois University and Columbus State University, receiving a master's degree in performance from the former in 2014 and a bachelor's degree in performance from the latter in 1999. She is currently finishing her doctorate in cello, her master’s degree in piano pedagogy, and a certificate in non-profit management, all at the University of Georgia.
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As a teacher, Angela has a remarkable ability to connect with students, developing a rapport that allows her to communicate both fundamentals and the nuances of advanced technique. In addition to teaching at the Conservatory of Puerto Rico for their summer Suzuki programs, she was a professor at the Dominican Republic's National Conservatory of Music from 2000 to 2012, and during that time she established the country's first Suzuki cello program. Her passion for helping those in need drove her to create the Fundación Gisela Dominicana, which provides music education and performance opportunities for children from low-income families. In 2013, along with her husband, violinist Hermes Mejia, she launched the Almita Vamos Violin Competition, which brought gifted string students to Western Illinois University for study and performance. She also worked to find funding for talented Dominican music students to study abroad. Throughout her life, she has maintained a private studio as well, and her students have been very successful, many going on to become professional musicians themselves. She has Suzuki certifications in both cello and piano.
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Angela with the cellists of the first Suzuki program in Dominican Republic
Students eager to learn in the first Suzuki program in Dominican Republic
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Teaching at the summer Suzuki workshop for the Conservatory in Puerto Rico
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Coaching students through a performance
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Working with cello students of the Foundation Gisela Dominicana and the Hogar de Doña Chucha orphanage
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With piano trio members, Elioenai Medina and Ivanova Casimiro
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As a performer, she made her debut as a pianist at the National Theatre of the Dominican Republic in 1987. After she finished her undergraduate work with world-renowned cello pedagogue, Martha Gerschefski, she returned to give a solo recital in cello. In 1997, she was awarded the UNESCO Mozart Medal and has since been nominated twice to Brugal Cree en su Gente award for her social works through the arts. She has been a cellist in the National Symphony Orchestra of the Dominican Republic since 2004, and her performances have taken her from the beautiful halls of Europe and South America to the iconic stage of Carnegie Hall. Outside the symphony, she enjoys playing cello in a wide variety of styles, both as an ensemble player and as a soloist, and she has made a reputation as one of the most sensitive and emotive chamber musicians in Atlanta for her work in both piano and cello. In addition, she has made time to pursue her love of the organ, and has served as the organist and pianist of several congregations in the United States.
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Performing the Vivaldi Double Concerto at WIU
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UNESCO 1997
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Playing with The National Symphony of Dominican Republic
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Angela lives in Duluth with her husband and four kids, all of whom are musicians themselves. Angela’s empathy draws her to those in need, and because of this she has also made time to volunteer with Angels Among Us, an animal rescue non-profit, and happily shares her home with her four cats and two dogs.
My kids are so little in this picture!
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Jam session at home with two of my boys
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