Trio Virado consists of Flutist Amy Porter, Violist Juan-Miguel Hernandez, and Guitarist João Luis, three of the most distinguished artists on their respective instruments. “They present a set of performances that are unfailingly strong, expressive, and imaginative” (American Record Guide), representing a unique mosaic of culture through their repertoire and maintaining a sonority with uncommon resonance between their instruments. Performing music from Bach to Piazzolla, they have given world premieres by composers Sergio Assad, Fred Hand and David Sampson, and play original works and arrangements by Trio member João Luis. They present outreach to children and adults, offering audiences a passion for teaching and showmanship that showcases their infectiously happy personalities. The WholeNote magazine wrote, “Trio Virado’s musicianship is world class,” and after their CD Mangabeira was released observed that “The musical chemistry clicked with a permanent trio, more concerts, more pieces and this debut release.”

Featured in the March 2018 edition of New on NAXOS for her recording of Michael Daugherty’s Trail of Tears with the Albany Symphony Orchestra, flutist Amy Porter has been praised by critics for her exceptional musical talent and passion for scholarship. This captivating performer was described by Carl Cunningham in the Houston Post as having “succeeded in avoiding all the overdone playing styles of the most famous flutists today.” In American Record Guide, flutist Christopher Chaffee wrote, “If you have not heard her playing, you should.” Ms. Porter “played with graceful poise,” noted Allan Kozinn in The New York Times. And Geraldine Freedman, writing in the Albany Gazette, commented, “Amy Porter showed that she’s not only very versatile but that she can do everything well. She chose a program that tested every aspect of her playing from a Baroque sensibility to using the instrument as a vehicle of sound effects, and she met each challenge with passion, skill and much musicality.”


Ms. Porter has been a featured soloist with the American Composers Orchestra at Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall, and with the Atlanta, Houston, Omaha, Delaware, Albany, Flint, Billings, Battle Creek, Arkansas, and Elgin symphony orchestras. She has twice appeared in recital at the National Concert Hall in Taipei, as well as at Skidmore College’s Arthur Zankel Music Center. Her collaborators have included such distinguished conductors as Nicholas McGegan, Ransom Wilson, David Alan Miller, Yoel Levi, Thomas Wilkins, José-Luis Gomez, Enrique Diemecke, David Amado, Anne Harrigan, and Arie Lipsky. She has given premieres of works by Michael Daugherty, Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, Joel Puckett, Christopher Caliendo, Katherine Hoover, and Frank Ticheli, among others.


Winner of the 3rd Kobe International Flute Competition and the Paris/Ville d’Avray International Flute Competition, Ms. Porter has served on international juries around the world, including the 6th Kobe International Flute Competition. She has been heard in recital on National Public Radio; highlighted on PBS’s Live From Lincoln Center; and featured on the covers and as a writer for the magazines Flute Talk in the USA and The Flute in Japan.


In 2006 Ms. Porter became the first performing artist to be awarded the University of Michigan’s Henry Russel Award for distinguished scholarship and conspicuous ability as a teacher. Her popular study guide on the German composer Sigfrid Karg-Elert elicited the following comment from Spanish Flute Society: “Strength, beauty, a captivating and seductive force, sensitivity, perfection and a sense of humor characterize the impressive American flautist Amy Porter.”


She has won praise both as a recording artist and as a chamber musician. Corinna da Fonseca-Wollheim, in her New York Times review of the CD In Translation: Selections from J.S. Bach’s Cello Suites on the Equilibrium label, applauded Ms. Porter for her “gleaming, lyrical reading” of those works. As a member of Trio Virado with violist Juan-Miguel Hernandez and guitarist João Luiz, she recorded Mangabeira, a CD featuring works by Piazzolla, Brouwer, Hand, Assad and Luiz, about which Ken Keaton wrote in American Record Guide: “First let me say that these are fine musicians, and they present a set of performances that are unfailingly strong, expressive, and imaginative.”


Formerly a member of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Ms. Porter was recently appointed Principal Flute of North Carolina’s Brevard Music Center, where she will perform as soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral player.


Highlights of Ms. Porter’s 2019-20 season include a tour of Missouri with Trio Virado and appearances at the Brevard Music Center as Principal Flute, The University of Kansas, and MidSouth Flute Festival. She will also perform Daugherty's "Trail of Tears" with the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra. Recent study guide releases include her latest “THE GAUBERT CYCLE: The Complete Works for Flute and Piano by Philippe Gaubert” with guests Tim Carey and Penelope Fischer. The printed edition, Philippe Gaubert Treasures for Flute and Piano, is published by Carl Fischer.


Born in Wilmington, Delaware, Ms. Porter graduated from The Juilliard School and pursued further studies at the Mozarteum Academy in Salzburg. She plays a 14K white gold flute with rose gold engraved keys made for her by the Wm. S. Haynes Co.


Amy Porter is represented worldwide by Sciolino Artist Management (samnyc.us).

The Washington Post has praised violist Juan-Miguel Hernandez as having “…the sweetest, most sonorous tone…” (Charles T. Downey). The Atlanta Journal Constitution describes him as “…tender, lyrical, loaded with personality” (Pierre Ruhe).

Performances as soloist and chamber musician have seen Juan-Miguel Hernandez on some of the world’s leading halls, including Carnegie Hall, Concertgebouw (Amsterdam), Disney Hall (Los Angeles), Salzburg Mozarteum, King’s Place (London), Hamburg Elbphilharmonie and The White House.

As a soloist Juan-Miguel has made appearances with orchestras, including the Rochester Philharmonic, San Fransisco Chamber Orchestra, the Chicago Sinfonietta, iPalpiti Orchestra, as well as the Colorado and Atlanta Symphonies. As a chamber musician he has collaborated with distinguished artists such as Lynn Harrell, Ralph Kirshbaum, Kim Kashkashian, Gérard Caussé and Itzhak Perlman.

Chamber music being at the forefront of his career, Juan-Miguel was a founder and member of the Harlem Quartet from 2006 to 2012 after which he joined the legendary Fine Arts Quartet from 2013 until 2018. He is a also founder and member of the "Trio Virado" (Flute, Viola, Guitar) as well as the "Boreal Trio” (Clarinet, Viola, Piano), both specializing in the creation of new repertoire.

Festival and program appearances as guest artist and pedagogue include the Festival Pablo Casal (Prades, France), the Festival Des Arcs (France), the Amalfi Coast Music Festival (Italy), Stellenbosch International Chamber Music Festival (South Africa), the Brevard Summer Institute (USA), the Mozaic Festival (USA), Festicamara (Colombia), Montreal Jazz & Panama Jazz Festivals and Musica Mundi International Festival (Belgium), Borromeo (Switzerland) & Madeline Islands (USA) Chamber Music Festivals and the Festival Del lago (Mexico).

Juan-Miguel has been featured on radio airwaves and television broadcasts throughout Canada, and the United States including NBC's Good Morning America, The Today Show, NPR radio, PBS and the Telemundo Network. His recordings were released by Cedille records, the White Pine, Navona and Naxos music labels.

Juan-Miguel Hernandez was born in Montreal, Canada and began his musical studies at the age of seven. Among his teachers were Jean MacRae, Paul Coletti at the Colburn Conservatory and Kim Kashkashian at the New England Conservatory. He also worked with Dimitri Murrath, Paul Neubauer, Karen Tuttle, Steven Dann, James Dunham, Barbara Westphal and Pinchas Zukerman.

Juan-Miguel won the first Prize at the International Johannes Brahms Competition (Austria), adding to other top prizes won at the National Canadian Music Competition, and the 9th National Sphinx Competition, presented by JPMorgan Chase. He was honored with the medal of the National Assembly of Quebec for his significant international achievements.

His strong commitment to educate and engage new audiences all around the globe have brought him to reach young musicians and various communities through art convoys in South Africa and Venezuela, various music festivals in South America and outreach projects in Europe and North America.

In 2016 Juan-Miguel was appointed as a professor at the Royal Academy of Music (London). He was invited to serve on the Jury of the 2017 Johannes Brahms International Competition/Austria and the 2018 Sphinx Competition/USA.

Beyond his extensive classical repertoire he has regularly performed with Jazz living legends Gary Burton, Stanley Clark, Paquito D’Rivera and Chick Corea.

He is currently working on a project which will feature classical repertoire for viola and analog synthesizer with Yamaha artist Merlin Etorre.

Further collaborations include Nora Jones’ album “Broken Little Hearts” as well as the album "Hot House" playing alongside Chick Corea and Gary Burton for which a Grammy was awarded.

Juan-Miguel Hernandez plays on a 2008 Miralles viola from Altadena/CA.

Two time Latin Grammy nominee guitarist, educator, and composer João Luiz, began to play the popular music of his native Brazil professionally during his childhood and was later trained in classical guitar by his mentor Henrique Pinto. Winner of the 2006 Concert Artists Guild Competition as a member of the critically acclaimed Brasil Guitar Duo, João has performed extensively in the United States, Asia, Europe and Latin America. His versatility led him to be chosen to collaborate with Yo-Yo Ma and Carlos Prieto on a project to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Cuban composer Leo Brouwer in a landmark concert in Cuba in 2014.

As a performer and composer João is equally at home with classical, Brazilian and world music; his solo guitar, guitar ensemble and chamber music repertoire covers all the main works in the guitar literature from Dowland to Berio and Brazilian rhythms from Choro to Baião. For five years João also performed and recorded with the classical guitar quartet Quaternaglia, one of Brazil’s most important chamber music ensembles. Musicians such as Sérgio Abreu, Paulo Martelli, Fábio Zanon and Alice Artzt have also been very important in his development as a guitar player.

João’s interests include bridging Classical, Jazz, and Latin American music, and discovering ways to make classical music education more accessible to minorities. One of João’s favorite projects was writing the guitar methods for beginners, designing the guitar curriculum and training instructors for an important music education initiative for underprivileged children in São Paulo, Guri Santa Marcelina.

João made his debut at the Aspen Festival in July 2010 as a member of the Brasil Guitar Duo. Previous summers have included concerts at New York’s River to River Festival, The Gran Teton Music Festival, Chautauqua Institution, Bermuda Guitar Festival, Tirol’s Outreach Festival (Austria), and Two Moors Festival (UK). Recently featured New York City recital engagements include Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, NY Guitar Seminar at Mannes College, Symphony Space and New York Guitar Society. In addition, the duo has performed for the Orange County (CA) Performing Arts Center, Lied Center (University of Kansas), Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, University of Chicago, Spivey Hall, Montalvo Center for the Arts, Purdue University Convocations, Daytona Beach International Festival, Virginia Arts Festival, CityFolk Festival in Dayton, OH, the Santa Barbara Symphony’s Guitar Festival, the Miami Guitar Festival, the Asociacion Nacional de Conciertos in Panama City, Semana de La Guitarra in Colombia, and the Classical Guitar Societies of St. Louis, Dallas/Ft. Worth, Tucson and Upstate New York.

His arrangements and compositions have been recorded and played by Marina Piccinini, Fábio Zanon, Paulo Martelli, Quaternaglia, Olson/De Cari Duo, Paquito D’Rivera, Clarice Assad, Christina Jennings, Bridget Kibbey, Sybarite 5, The Newman & Oltman guitar duo, Aquarelle Guitar Quartet, and the New York City Classical Guitar Society Orchestra. João has recorded more than fifteen CDs playing solo, duo, trio and in quartet, most of which have featured his arrangements of classical or Brazilian works. João holds a masters degree from Mannes College as a student of Michael Newman, and as the recipient of the Augustine Foundation scholarship he earned his doctoral degree from Manhattan School of Music where he studied with David Leisner.

Eager to expand the repertoire of his instrument João has commissioned and premiered works written for him by Sérgio Assad, Leo Brouwer, Egberto Gismonti, Clarice Assad, David Leisner, Paulo Bellinati, Marco Pereira, and Frederic Hand. João also formed the Trio Virado in 2011 with flutist Amy Porter and violist Juan Miguel-Hernandez to promote contemporary Latin American chamber music. The first CD of the trio, Mangabeira was released in the fall of 2015 featuring world premiere recordings of works written specially for the trio by Assad, Hand and Brouwer.

João is the director of chamber music at CUNY Hunter College and the head of the guitar at SUNY Purchase. He uses Augustine strings and plays on guitars made by Sérgio Abreu.