What we’ve done…
Andrew Bergeron
Andrew Bergeron is instructor of guitar and music theory at Grand Rapids Community College and Aquinas College. He is the founder of the Suzuki guitar program at Grand Rapids Community College where is has taught since 2002. Mr. Bergeron has been on staff as a church musician, co-director, and composer at Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Grand Rapids, MI since 2003. Bergeron also performs with Folias, a nationally touring flute and guitar duo that specializes in original compositions and Latin American music that he co-founded with his wife flutist Carmen Maret in 2004.
Andrew is a founding performer and composer with the Grand Rapids Guitar Quartet which performs Mr. Bergeron’s new works and arrangements throughout West Michigan. Andrew Bergeron has been a Blue Griffin Recording artist since 2004 and released his third CD with Folias in 2008.
Andrew received his Bachelor of Arts in Music and Philosophy from Grand Valley State University in Allendale, MI with a focus on guitar performance, music composition and Chinese philosophy. Mr. Bergeron received his Master of Music in composition at Michigan State University School of Music where he was recipient of the “Paul Harder Composition Scholarship.”
Mr. Bergeron’s music has been performed by the contemporary music ensemble at Michigan State University Musique 21 including his chamber work Once More (2003) and his prize winning guitar concerto Big Bend (2005) which placed first in the Michigan State University Concert Competition in 2004 and was premiered by Andrew Bergeron on solo guitar with Musique 21. Andrew Bergeron’s electronic music work, “Coming Home” was chosen to be played at the Electronic Music Midwest Festival on October 21, 2005 . His tango arrangements of Piazzolla’s Milonga del angel for solo flute, solo guitar and strings was premiered by Folias with the Alma Symphony in February 2007. Andrew Bergeron’s most recent premier was his setting of the Passion of Christ According to St. Luke which was performed by Folias and a chamber ensemble in Grand Rapids, MI on April 1, 2007 at Bethlehem Church.
Andrew Bergeron’s main guitar teacher was Brian Morris at Grand Valley State University. He also studied with Nicholas Goluses and Scott Tennant while at the Eastman Guitar Festival. Andrew’s main composition teachers were Charles Ruggiero and Bob Schechtman and he studied theory with Sherman Van Solkema.
Carmen Maret
Carmen Maret, is a freelance performer, composer, and concert organizer based in Grand Rapids, MI. She is an endorsed Pearl Flute artist and Blue Griffin Recording artist and released her third CD with the nationally touring flute and gutiar duo Folias that she co-founded with her husband Andrew Bergeron in 2004. She also manages Foliasmusic, the online store and blog for promoting new works for flute and guitar.
Ms. Maret is the co-music director and choir conductor at Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Grand Rapids, MI and is the founder/director of the MAJIC (Musical Arts for Justice in the Community) Concert Series that provides donation based classical, jazz and world music concerts to the community to raise money for social justice organizations throughout West Michigan. In 2009, Carmen Maret also founded the early childhood music center Heartside Music Together at Bethlehem Lutheran Church.
Carmen received her Bachelor of Music in flute performance from the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music and her Master of Music in flute performance from Michigan State University School of Music. She also received a second Master of Music degree in ethnomusicology at Michigan State University with a focus on Argentine tango music and dance. Carmen Maret is co-founder of the Grand Rapids Tango Community where she works as a tango dance teacher and tango musician.
Carmen Maret’s primary teachers are Mary Posses and Richard Sherman. She attended the Eastern Music Festival in 1999 and also studied with Peter Lloyd at his summer flute seminar in St. Andrew’s, Scotland in 2000. Carmen has performed in masterclasses with William Bennett and Julia Bogorad and attended masterclasses with Carol Wincenc, James Galway, and Emmanuel Pahud. Carmen’s jazz teachers include Bobby Watson and Ron Blake. She also studied tango music with bassist Pablo Aslan.
