Joen Vasquez, the only violist ever to win the "Artists International" competition in New York, recently became the only musician to twice win Pittsburgh's coveted Passamaneck Award. He has performed in recital on the Y series at Carnegie Music Hall in Pittsburgh.

Mr. Vasquez comes from a family of six sibling musicians and holds an Master of Arts degree from The Juilliard School where he studied with Margaret Pardee. He has received Diplomas Di Merito and D'Honore from Academia Chigianna where he studied with Bruno Giuranna.

Mr. Vasquez has won many other competitions and awards including: First Prize in Washington's International Music Competition in 1982; Bronze Medal in the 1983 Geneva International Viola Competition; Winner of the Augusta Symphony Competition for strings in 1980; Finalist of the 1982 International Competition for Viola in Munich; and Winner of the Pittsburgh Concert Society Auditions in 1991.

Mr. Vasquez has performed as soloist with many orchestras in the Americas, including the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, the Windsor, Ontario Orchestra, the Venezuela Symphony, the Bogota Philharmonic in Colombia, the Sodre Orchestra in Uruguay, the Carcas Filarmonica in Puerto Rico and Dominican Republic, Solistas De Venezuela in the 1985 Casals Festival in Prades, France, and the Maracaibo Symphony in the Kennedy Center and Victoria, Canada. Additionally, he has premiered many Concertos written for him including the Penderecki Viola Concerto in 1983.

Mr. Vasquez won the audition for Assistant Principal Violist of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra in 1985, a position which he presently continues to hold. Mr. Vasquez is a founding member of the string quartet "Il Quattro" and can be heard on Alanna Records.