Carlos Elias began his musical studies at the age of five at the National Center of Arts in San Salvador. After graduating from high school and coming to the United States, he graduated Magna Cum Laude from Biola University in California, obtaining a Bachelor´s degree in violin performance. He earned his Masters degree from the University of Cincinnati, College-Conservatory of Music and an Artist Diploma from Duquesne University in Pittsburgh. Among his teachers are Elizabeth Holborn, Mark Baranov, Valentin Stefanov, Won Bin Yim, and Hong-Guang Jia. He has also played in several master classes given by Ruben Gonzalez, Dorothy Delay, Andres Cardenas, Jacques Israelievitch and Sylvia Rosenberg. Mr. Elias has performed in solo recitals and in orchestras in the United States, El Salvador, and Japan, and was the winner of the Biola University Concerto Competition in 1988 and 1989, and 2nd place in the El Salvador Violin Competition in 1985. In 1986, he represented his country at the World Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Lorin Maazel. He has been a member of the Sendai Philharmonic Orchestra in Sendai (Japan), Pittsburgh Opera Orchestra, Erie Philharmonic, Wheeling Symphony Orchestra, and assistant concertmaster of the El Salvador Symphony Orchestra. He has participated in several music festivals, such as Congress of Strings, Aspen Music Festival (CO), Sarasota Music Festival (FL), Casals Festival (Puerto Rico), Affinis Music Festival (Japan), Western Slope Music Festival (CO), and, most recently, at the Corsi Internazionali di Musica (Italy). He studied conducting with Marlin Owen and Gerhard Samuel. He has conducted the Sendai Philharmonic Junior Orchestra in Japan and the National Center of the Arts Chamber Orchestra in El Salvador. Mr. Elias is currently Director of Strings/Orchestra at Mesa State and Concertmaster of the Grand Junction Symphony Orchestra. He and his wife, pianist Andrea Arese-Elias, gave their New York debut at Weill Hall in Carnegie Hall on March 28, 2002. Mr. Elias was invited to make his conducting debut in Bulgaria with the Pleven Philharmonic Orchestra on May 20, 2003. Carlos Elias plays a 1985 violin by the late American maker Sergio Peresson.