Bio of composers > RIVERA, Carlos Rafael Los Angeles based musician Carlos Rafael Rivera was born in Washington, DC, and grew up in Guatemala, Costa Rica, Panama, and Miami. Being of Cuban/Guatemalan descent, his work as composer is an amalgamation of his passion for cross-cultural folklore and music. From the Tibetan Buddhist chants of his choral work "Motet for Twelve Singers," through his orchestral setting of the Mayan myths of the ³Popol-Vuh,² Carlos' compositions have been recorded by Chanticleer for Warner Classics, the LA Guitar Quartet for Sony Classical, and Denis Azabagic for Naxos. Performers of his work include some of the world's brightest young stars, such as percussionist Colin Currie, the Cavatina Duo, the Aquarelle Guitar Quartet, and guitarist Masahiro Masuda. His music is published by Mel Bay and Doberman-Yppan, and awarded by the American Composers Orchestra, BMI, the Guitar Foundation of America, and twice by ASCAP. As a guitarist, Carlos¹ recorded work includes performances on feature soundtracks for Lions-Gate Films (Crash-2005), and Universal Pictures (Dragonfly-2002), as well as studio sessions for Vagrant, Island/Def Jam, and Universal Records. He has performed live with Grammy Award winning Jazz Trumpet Soloist Arturo Sandoval, and currently with singer/songwriter Randy Coleman, recently opening for ³The Who² at the Hollywood Bowl. Carlos is also a second prize winner at the D'Addario International Guitar Concerto Competition. While studying guitar with Carlos Molina, his compositional studies began at Miami¹s Florida International University with Fred Kaufman and Orlando Garcia, continuing at the University of Southern California¹s Thornton School of Music with Stephen Hartke, and Donald Crockett. Carlos is pursuing a Doctoral in Musical Arts degree at the USC Thornton School of Music, where he holds a teaching assistantship. He is also appointed faculty in guitar studies at the Pasadena Conservatory of Music. Carlos Rafael Rivera Website