Aldo Rafael Forte (b. 1953, Havana): A music educator, composer and arranger, Forte’s works have been widely performed and recorded by the Southwest German Radio Orchestra, the Filharmonie Bohuslav Martinu Orchestra and many bands including those of the University of Georgia, the University of North Texas, the National Dutch Youth Wind Band, the Militarmusik der Voralberg in Austria, the U.S. Marine Band and the USAF Heritage of America. In 2003, he was commissioned by the Van Gogh Documentatie Museum in Nuenen, the Netherlands, to transcribe his band work Van Gogh Portraits for brass band to celebrate Van Gogh’s 150th birthday. He is a composer/arranger with the United States Air Force Heritage of America Band at Langley Air Force Base, also in Virginia. His compositions range from chamber pieces to major pieces for band and orchestra. He has received commissions for new works from the Southwest German Radio Orchestra and various university bands and ensembles. He holds music degrees from Tennessee Technological University and the University of Southern Mississippi. (Cintas for music, 1985-86)