Biography
Ronald Villabona was a winner and only representative from Venezuela at the YouTube Symphony Orchestra 2011, which had it's live broadcast from the Sydney Opera House and it's the most viewed online concert to date, gathering 33+ million viewers on an unprecedented online collaboration.
As composer, the Classical Music Institute comissioned a work for two violins, viola, cello, bass and guitar titled Tema y Consecuencia and was premiered at the CMI summer program in San Antonio in June 2018. His Serenade for Strings: A Ludwig Souvenir was premiered on February 2020 by the CMI to honor Beethoven’s 250th anniversary.At his YouTube channel, Ronald is sharing violin tutorials and performances for the online community, and his project MangataM, which aims for content creation, original music and audiovisual production in YouTube and Instagram, has 3 of his compositions premiered online as well.Ronald Villabona is the first violinist graduated from the Universidad de los Andes in Venezuela, under violinist Simon Gollo, and also holds a Master's degree in Violin Performance from the Pennsylvania State University under violinist Max Zorin.Ronald Villabona plays a violin by awarded luthier Antonio Rizzo made in 2017.Currently he is a violinist and education advisor at the Classical Music Institute in San Antonio, TX.
Born in Merida, Venezuela, he started the violin at the age of 7 in the System of Venezuelan Youth Orchestras, where later on he was appointed concertmaster, violin teacher, sectional leader and guest conductor, receiving violin, conducting and pedagogy lessons on that period.During his formation as a violinist, he received lessons from acclaimed violinists such as: Maurice Hasson, Virginie Robilliard, Alexis Cardenas, Philip Setzer, David Geber, Daniel Phillips, Dmitri Berlinski, Alex Kerr, Giora Schmidt y Kazuhiro Takagi. As well as chamber music coaching from Cuarteto Latinoamericano, festivals in Venezuela, Colombia, Brasil and Aruba.
