The Board of Advisors is voted in by the general membership, and makes recommendations to the board regarding many aspects of GFA future. Three members are up for re-election each year.
Mary Akerman
Clare Callahan is Director of Classical Guitar Studies at the College-Conservatory of Music, University of Cincinnati, a program she founded in 1972. A student of Bibobi, Papas, and Segovia (scholarship winner to Santiago de Compostela) she has performed in both England and the US on lute and guitar and done broadcasts for NPR and PBS. She has served on the GFA Advisory Board, the American String Teachers Association, the Solo Recitalists Panel of the National Endowment for the Arts and been a clinician for MENC, MTNA, and the Suzuki Association. An area artist with the Cincinnati Symphony Symphony Orchestra Chamber Music Series, she is also founder of the CCM Classical Guitar Workshop, which is in its 23rd year. A frequent competition juror, and guest lecturer/teacher, she received the 2005 Ernest Glover Outstanding Teacher Award at CCM.
Greek guitarist Antigoni Goni enjoys an international career performing in famous halls throughout the United States, Europe, Russia and the Far East. She is Professor of Guitar at the Royal Conservatory in Brussels, Artist-in-Residence for San Francisco Performances, and founder and formerly Chair of the Guitar Department at Juilliard Pre-College Division. She was first prizewinner of the 1995 GFA International Competition, and is now a Naxos recording artist as well as an avid supporter of contemporary music, with many commissions to her credit. She studied with Sharon Isbin at the Juilliard School, John Mills at the Royal Academy in London, as well as E. Assimakopoulos and Oscar Ghiglia in Academia Chigiana. Ms. Goni has been a member of the Advisory Board of the GFA since 2001.
Bruce Holzman
Pamela Kimmel is Associate Professor of Guitar at Chicago College of Performing Arts of Roosevelt University. Throughout her long teaching career, Ms. Kimmel has been an active soloist and chamber musician. Her duo with Kaye Clements (flute) has performed extensively for universities, guitar societies, and concert series, including WFMT ‘s "Live from Studio One" radio program.
Ms. Kimmel's scholarly interests include the study of various schools of guitar technique and pedagogy; and physiological problems of musicians with special emphasis on repetitive stress injuries. She is a contributor to classical guitar publications, including the Guitar Foundation of America's Soundboard journal. She currently serves as President of the Chicago Classical Guitar Society. Ms. Kimmel joined the GFA Board of Advisors in 2007.
Tom Johnson
Stanley Yates British-born guitarist Stanley Yates has established an international career as performer, arranger and scholar. A past prize winner in the Myra Hess (London), Volos (Greece) and GFA (Pasadena) competitions, he has performed throughout Europe and the United States and has recorded for Aeolian Records, Heartdance Music, Reference Recordings and Zillion Records. His arrangements, transcriptions, editions, and didactic works are published by Mel Bay Publications in the Stanley Yates Series, and his scholarly articles have been published in six languages worldwide. He is professor of music at Austin Peay State University in Tennessee, and has served as a member of the GFA Advisory Board since 2000.
[Digital photographs of Stanley Yates available here ]
Jason Vieaux began guitar studies at age eight with Jeremy Sparks in Buffalo, New York, and continued at The Cleveland Institute of Music with John Holmquist. He is a First Prize winner of the GFA International Guitar Competition. He is the youngest department head at The Cleveland Institute of Music, and a recipient of the conservatory's Alumni Achievement Award. Jason has recorded 8 CDs for Naxos and Azica Records, is an internationally recognized solo recitalist and chamber musician, and has performed as soloist with many of the top orchestras in the United States. Jason was elected to the GFA Advisory Board in 2004.
Guitarist/composer Andrew Zohn has earned prizes in five international competitions including the Guitar Foundation of America and the Stotsenberg International. Zohn also performs as part if Duo Spiritoso with acclaimed Canadian guitarist and Naxos recording artist Jeffrey McFadden. Andrew Zohn holds a doctorate of music degree from Florida State University, a master of music from the University of Texas, and a bachelor's degree from the North Carolina School of the Arts. Since 1999, Zohn has served on the faculty of Columbus State University. Zohn served as Convention Director for the 2006 Convention in Columbus, Georgia, and has served as a member of the Advisory Board since 2005.
