¡Greg Zelek y Amigos!

Praised as “extraordinary in the classical music world” (Jon Hornbacher, PBS Wisconsin Life) and a “musical star” (Bill Wineke, Channel 3000), Greg Zelek is the Principal Organist of the Madison Symphony Orchestra and Curator of the Overture Concert Organ, where he oversees all of the MSO’s organ programming. Since September 2017, Greg has proudly held the Elaine and Nicholas Mischler Curatorship.

In addition to concertizing throughout the United States, Greg regularly performs with orchestras as both a soloist and professional ensemble member, including the MET Orchestra, Jacksonville Symphony, Florida Orchestra, New World Symphony, Ridgewood Symphony, Miami Symphony, and Madison Symphony. He regularly performs as a soloist around the country, including venues such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Jacoby Symphony Hall with the Jacksonville Symphony, and St. John’s Abbey in Collegeville, MN, among others. 

As a recital soloist, Greg has performed in many diverse venues throughout the US. Highlights of the 2017-2018 season include recitals at the Organ Historical Society Convention in Minneapolis, the famous Spreckels Organ Pavilion in San Diego, and Overture Center for the Performing Arts in Madison. Greg will also give a performance at the MET Museum in NYC on the historic Appleton Organ, as well as recitals for the Hartford AGO and Prince of Peace Lutheran Church in Largo, FL in the Spring. The 2016/17 season included performances at Doc Rando Recital Hall at UNLV, Octave Hall in Macungie, PA, and Denver’s Cathedral of St. John, and a recital with tenor Brandon Snook at Our Lady of Lourdes in Sun City West, AZ. Previously, he performed Cochereau’s Bolero for Organ and Percussion in Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center, which was broadcast on American Public Media’s radio program Pipedreams, and closed the WQXR Bach Marathon at St. Peter’s Lutheran Church, which was streamed live on New York City’s only classical music station. A proponent of new music for the organ, Greg has premiered and performed works by Juilliard composers and faculty, including Wayne Oquin’s Reverie and Samuel Adler’s Partita for Organ, in concerts throughout the country.

In 2016, Greg was chosen by The Diapason magazine as one of the top “20 Under 30” organists, a feature which selects the most successful young artists in the field. He was the First Prize winner in the 2012 Rodgers North American Classical Organ Competition, 2012 West Chester University Organ Competition, and the 2010 East Carolina University Organ Competition. A recipient of the inaugural Kovner Fellowship, Greg received his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees, as well as an Artist Diploma, from the Juilliard School as a student of Paul Jacobs.

A native of Miami, Florida, Greg was most recently the Music Director and Organist at the Episcopal Church of St. Matthew and St. Timothy in New York City. Prior to this appointment, he served as Organ Scholar at Hitchcock Presbyterian Church in Scarsdale, New York, under John King. Greg, who is Cuban-American and a native Spanish speaker, became the Music Director and Organist of Corpus Christi Catholic Church in Miami at age 15, and has served as the summer organist for San Pedro Apostol Church in Ramales de la Victoria, Spain. For more information on upcoming performances, please visit www.gregzelek.com.

Magela Herrera grew up between two worlds: one, her family’s deep ties to a large set of unique traditions influenced mostly by Afrocuban music; the other, the years she spent learning and studying classical music at the Conservatory of Music in her native Havana.

Praised often for her unique background that also includes Latin jazz and Euro jazz, Herrera developed her incredible instincts and keen musical chops from 2004 through 2011 as a member of Mezcla – one of Cuba’s leading jazz and fusion groups. Towards the end of her tenure in 2010, she was nominated for Best Solo Flute from the New York based magazine, Jazz Corner, for the tune “Quien tiene el ritmo” (who’s got the rhythm) on Mezcla’s album I’ll See You in Cuba. The recording was also nominated for Best Album.

Through the years, Herrera has shared the stage with an extensive list of acclaimed international artists including Chucho Valdez, Roberto Garcia, Ruy Lopez Nussa, Barbara Dane, Ralph Alessis, Geir Lysne, Jan Eggum, Sverre Indris Joner and Hovedoen Social Club, Alejandro Vargas, Sanskriti Shrestha, Oslo Chamber Orchestra, Eliel Lazo and The Cuban Funk Machine.

She has also performed at the Oslo Jazz Festival, Oslo World Music Festival, Copenhagen Jazz Festival, Lunatos Festival (Toronto) and at various jazz clubs and venues worldwide.

Herrera’s adventurous, confidence building road from holding court with Mezcla to her emergence as a solo performer and bandleader included living in Norway for a number of years, learning all about jazz improvisation and freer forms of musical expression while gigging there and earning Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees in Jazz Performance from the Norwegian Academy of Music. This was a major shift in mindset from her early days studying classical music at the Conservatory of Music in her native Havana and earning her first Bachelor’s degree in classical music from the Instituto Superior de Arte (ISA).

Alex Hernandez is a first generation Cuban-American born in Miami, Fl. He studied electric and upright bass in South Florida with Matt Bonelli, Dennis Marks and Luis Gomez-Imbert. He later continued his studies in NYC with the grand master Ron Carter as well as lessons with Andy Gonzales, Larry Grenadier and Orlando LeFlemming.

Alex has performed, toured and recorded around the world with an array of artists, most notably as a member of Jerry Gonzales’s Madrid All Star band, with Diego “el Cigala” and Bebo Valdes and on Joan Manuel Serrat’s “Versos en la Boca” world tour. In NYC, Alex was a member of the Sugar Hill Quartet, one of Harlem’s longest standing house bands holding down steady gigs at the Lennox Lounge, Minton’s and Smoke and accompanying artist such as Lillias White, Gregory Porter and George Coleman.  Alex was also a house musician at Spanish Harlem’s FB Lounge which featured NYC’s prominent salsa and Latin jazz musicians.  He was also a member of Bobby Sanabria’s Quarteto Ache and Big Band and was featured on the 2008 Grammy nominated “Big Band Urban Folktales” album.  Alex also held the bass chair with tap dancing phenom, Savion Glover, performing at jazz clubs, theaters and dance festivals across the U.S.

Alex has performed with Ira Sullivan, Dr. Lonnie Smith, Arturo Sandoval, Nestor Torres, Braulio, Wynton Marsalis, Kenny Barron, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Casandra Wilson, Gary Bartz, Jeremy Pelt, Ronnie Mathews, Mireya Ramos, Jonnny O’neil, Dormeshia Sumbry-Edwards, Paquito D’Rivera, Giovanni Hidalgo, Candido Camero, Bob Franceschini, Vince Cherico, Ray Barreto, Ludwig Afonso, Horacio “el Negro” Hernandez, Cliff Almond, Hector Martignon, Donny McCaslin, Joel Frahm, Troy Roberts, Mike Rodriguez, Ravi Coltrane, Camille Thurman, Martin Bejerano and many, many more.