ABOUT THE IOHIO

COLLABORATORS IN THE IOHIO

Cicely Winter grew up in the state of Michigan, has lived in Oaxaca since 1972, and became a nationalized Mexican citizen in 2009. She studied piano and harpsichord at Smith College and the University of Michigan, where she obtained a B.A. in Music and an M.A. in European History. She later studied piano performance at the post-graduate level in the School of Music at Indiana University. Her principal teachers were Fritz Steinegger and Leonard Hokanson (piano) and Lory Wallfisch and Elisabeth Wright (harpsichord).
She has presented numerous piano, harpsichord and organ concerts over the years, many of which have benefitted community service projects in Oaxaca. In the year 2000 with the support of the philanthropist Alfredo Harp Helú, she and organist Edward Pepe co-founded the Instituto de Órganos Históricos de Oaxaca A.C. (IOHIO) and since then she has served as its director. Her professional performances have increasingly focused on the historic organs, presenting a broad repertoire of classical, sacred, and folkloric music.

Deborah Polhemus Ruiz has lived in Oaxaca since 1973. She grew up in the state of California and studied at the University of California, Davis, where she obtained a B.S. in Design. From 1993 – 2008 she worked in the Colegio Vista del Valle, teaching English and computer science. She has collaborated with the IOHIO since 2009 as assistant to the director.

David Antonio Reyes is from Xoxocotlán, Oaxaca. He studied architecture in the Universidad Autónoma Benito Juárez de Oaxaca (UABJO). He has worked for two seasons on the restoration project of the Epistle organ in the Mexico City Cathedral, under the supervision of organbuilder Gerhard Grenzing and will continue his apprenticeship in el Papiol, Barcelon, Spain, in 2009 – 2010. David has collaborated with the IOHIO since 2004 in the area of organ conservation and maintenance, as well as architectural drawings.

Joel Antonio Vásquez González  was born in Oaxaca, Mexico, and studied in the Escuela de Bellas Artes of the Universidad Autónoma  Benito Juárez de Oaxaca. He later studied piano with Christophe Lafontaine and organ with Cesar Guzmán and Ricardo Rodys in the Music Academy of the Instituto de Órganos Histórico de Oaxaca (IOHIO). In 2008 he studied organ with Rodrigo Treviño in the Escuela Nacional de Música (UNAM). He has participated in the master classes offered by Kimberly Marshall, Luigi Ferdinando Tagliavini y Guy Bovet during the Organ and Early Music Festivals of the IOHIO.
Since 2009 he has collaborated with the IOHIO in the conservation and documentation of the historic organs in the state of Oaxaca, as well as giving piano and organ classes to the IOHIO scholarship students. He is a member of the group “Schola Cantorum Antequerensis,” dedicated to the promotion of Gregorian chant. He plays the mass regularly in the Oaxaca Cathedral and has been invited to play masses and concerts for local celebrations in the Oaxacan villages with restored organs.