Alvaro González, a first-class soloist who is also principal cellist of the National Symphony of Costa Rica. (For many years, that orchestra was conducted by Irwin Hoffman, father of cellist Gary Hoffman, and the present conductor is Chosei Komatsu, who is also conductor of the Tokyo Philharmonic.) González studied cello with Uzi Wiesel in Israel for several years, and was a member of the Israel Philharmonic under Zubin Mehta, with which he toured throughout Europe, the US, South America and Japan. He has performed numerous concertos as soloist with the National Symphony of Costa Rica, and is also professor of cello at the University of Costa Rica.