Ewan Armstrong (USA)

Ewan Armstrong began studying classical guitar at the age of 7 with George Little at South Shore Conservatory in Hingham, MA. He continued his music education in high school by attending Walnut Hill School for the Arts in Natick MA, where he studied with Jerome Mouffe through New England Conservatory’s Preparatory Division.

Ewan has participated in master classes with David Leisner, Leo Brouwer, Matthew McAllister, Matthew Cochran, and many others. In 2024 he was awarded the Frank Wallace Fellowship by the Boston Classical Guitar Society and will perform in their 2024-2025 concert series. Ewan is currently enrolled at Johns Hopkins Peabody Institute and the Krieger School for Arts and Sciences, pursuing a Bachelor of Music degree in the studios of Manuel Barrueco and Franco Platino, and a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics.

Allan Chen (Canada)

Tommy Dupuis (Canada)

The extraordinary journey of classical guitarist Tommy Dupuis began when he was 17 at the Cégep de Drummondville, when he undertook a double Diploma of College Studies program in Health Sciences and Music (jazz guitar interpretation). Following his first few live performances, he fell in love with the music scene and the ability to share more than music with his audience. He decided to dedicate himself entirely to music by pursuing his undergraduate studies in classical guitar at the School of Music of Sherbrooke University. Three years later, he was admitted into the graduate program at the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University, where he graduated with a Master´s Degree and Graduate Performance Diploma. Tommy is currently pursuing his Doctor of Musical Arts degree at Peabody with Manuel Barrueco and Franco Platino.

Laurel Harned (USA)

Born in 2005, Laurel Harned began her guitar studies at the age of 9nine under Susan Graves, later with Jack Sanders. In the Fall of 2025, Laurel entered the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University, where she is pursuing her Bachelor’s degree in Guitar Performance with Maestro Manuel Barrueco. Before attending Peabody, she earned her Associate’s degree from Moreno Valley College.

Laurel has performed solo recitals at the ESRI Forum in Redlands and for the Carmel Guitar Society. In July 2025, she was a soloist with the Oklahoma Chamber Orchestra, performing Joaquin Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez. She has performed in nearly twenty masterclasses and has won first prizes in several competitions. In 2024, she was awarded the prestigious Jack Kent Cooke Young Artist Scholarship and appeared on NPR’s From the Top. That same year, she attended the Volterra Project in Italy on a full scholarship. She has recorded videos for Guitar Salon International (USA) and Siccas Guitars (Germany), garnering over one million views. She is proud to serve as an Augustine Strings Ambassador and a representative for Super Light Cases.

Junhong Kuang (China)

As one of the most influential young musicians today, guitarist Junhong Kuang was selected as one of the 30 Brilliant Classical Musicians Under 30 by conductor Julian Lloyd Webber. In 2017, he was awarded the top prize in the classical guitar category of the prestigious ARD Music Competition, along with the Audience Prize and the Ifp-Musikpreis, making him the youngest prizewinner in ARD’s history.

Junhong has performed with some of the top orchestras around the world, including the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, Czech Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra, Munich Radio Orchestra, Basel Collegium, and Chengdu Symphony Orchestra.

He has released two recordings on Naxos. He is an associate professor at the Sichuan Conservatory of Music and is a faculty member at the Preparatory Division of The Tianjin Juilliard School in Beijing.

Junhong began his study at the age of nine with Professor Xu Bao in Chengdu, China. He entered the Peabody Conservatory at the age of 15 and completed his Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees with Maestro Manuel Barrueco. He is currently pursuing his Artist Diploma with Maestro Manuel Barrueco.

Samuel Liang (Taiwan)

Classical guitarist Samuel Liang is a distinguished Taiwanese musician renowned for being the youngest guitarist to win over ten international guitar competitions and concerto competitions.

Samuel has been acclaimed for his solo and concerto performances across Singapore, Malaysia, China, South Korea, the United States, and Taipei. In May 2024, Samuel graduated with highest distinction at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where he studied under the mentorship of David Tanenbaum. Currently, Samuel is pursuing his master’s degree under the tutelage of Manuel Barrueco at the Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University.

Samrat Majumder (Scotland-India)

Samrat Majumder, a Scottish-Indian classical guitarist, completed his Artist Degree at the Robert Schumann Hochschule in Düsseldorf, Germany, with Professor Alexander Ramírez. Samrat also holds a Master’s degree from the Royal Conservatory in the Hague (cum laude) where he studied with Professor Enno Voorhorst, and a Bachelor’s degree from the Royal Conservatory of Scotland (RCS) where he graduated with Honors of the First Class, having previously studied with Professor Allan Neave. During his time at the RCS, Samrat was awarded the “Governor’s Recital Prize” for Strings in 2020. Prior to higher education, Samrat studied with Peter Stewart at the Junior School of the RCS.

A top prize winner in the Koblenz International Guitar Competition in 2024, Samrat is the Classical Guitar Ambassador for the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. In 2025, he was announced as a new artist for the Young Classical Artists Trust (YCAT) following his performance at Wigmore Hall in London. In addition, as the first recipient of the YCAT 40th Anniversary Artist, Samrat becomes a joint YCAT–Concert Artists Guild (USA) artist for 2025.

In the fall of 2025, Samrat was accepted into the Doctor of Musical Arts program at the Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University, in the studio of Maestro Manuel Barrueco.

Penelope Shvarts (USA)

Penelope Shvarts has played both classical and flamenco guitar since she was 5 years old, having studied with teachers Gohar Vardanyan, Elysa and Jason Hochman, and Grisha and Dmitry Goryachev. She has a plethora of accolades from competitions like the National High School Guitar Competition, Southern Guitar Festival, YoungArts National Arts Competition, and Guitar Foundation of America International Youth Competition.

Most recently, Penelope was presented in the Emerging Artist Showcase at the Long Island Guitar Festival and performed alongside violinist Midori at the Midori & Friends 30^th Anniversary Gala. While studying music, Penelope has worked with organizations such as Strings4Smiles, Notelove, and Midori & Friends, where she helps to promote free music education.

In the fall of 2023, Penelope will begin her undergraduate degree in classical guitar performance at the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University, where she will study under Maestro Manuel Barrueco.

Hejia Zhu (China)

Hejia Zhu was born in Fuzhou, China, in 2007. From the age of 8, she studied classical guitar at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing. During this period, she participated in master classes with many international guitarists, such as Alvaro Pierri, Hubert Kappel, Meng Su, Eric Franceries, Jeremy Jouve, and Diego Campagna. Hejia is currently pursuing her Bachelor of Music degree in Guitar Performance at the Peabody Conservatory with Maestro Manuel Barrueco.