Artists

Gerardo Dirié was born in Cordoba, Argentina. In his youth, he played bass in instrumental rock bands and studied classical guitar, clarinet, and cornetto. He became immersed in electronic music as well as choral, folk, and early music ensembles. He graduated from the National University of Cordoba with a degree in Composition. He received a Fulbright Fellowship to study Composition at the Jacobs School of Music, Indiana University. From 1994 to 2003, he worked as a faculty member at the Jacobs School. In 2003, he moved to Australia to take a teaching and research position in Music Theory and Composition at the Queensland Conservatorium, Griffith University.

Herbert Deutsch was a composer, author, educator, and performer, and was Professor of Music at Hofstra University for 57 years. He is a composer of music in various media and his work has been widely performed, and commissioned works have been featured at national and regional conferences. In 1972, Deutsch co-founded the Long Island Composers Alliance. During his career at Hofstra, he founded Jazz Ensemble, Electronic Music Studios, New Music Ensemble, and created the B.S. Degree programs in Jazz, Composition/Theory and Music Business. He received the George Estabrook Distinguished Alumni Award in 1996 and the Hofstra Alumni Achievement Award in 2001. The Music Department has established the Herbert Deutsch Award for highest honors in Music Education.

James Dashow has had commissions, awards and grants from the Bourges International Festival of Experimental Music, the Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, Linz Ars Electronica Festival, the Fromm Foundation, the Biennale di Venezia, the USA National Endowment for the Arts, RAI (Italian National Radio), the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, the Rockefeller Foundation, Il Cantiere Internazionale d’Arte (Montepulciano, Italy), the Koussevitzky Foundation, Prague Musica Nova, and the Harvard Musical Association of Boston. In 2000, he was awarded the prestigious Prix Magistere at the 30th Festival International de Musique et d’Art Sonore Electroacoustiques in Bourges.

The 2022 winner of Music NB’s “Innovator of the Year” award, Martin Daigle is an interdisciplinary performer, composer, researcher, and producer from New Brunswick, Canada. Flourishing from creative foundations as a drummer and percussionist, his diverse work as a performer, composer, and researcher pushes the boundaries between audio-visual and electro-acoustic art. Daigle’s innovative approach to percussion music utilizes electronic devices; notably, ongoing research in the development of an “augmented drum kit,” which combines acoustic drum sounds, digital samples, and visual manipulations for a truly unique result.

Frederic D’Haene is a Belgian avant-garde composer and creator of his own composition technique called ‘paradoxophony’ or ‘paradoxical coexistence.’

Richard Crosby was born in Ashland, Ohio and raised in Largo, Florida. He holds the Bachelor of Music degree in Music Education, the Master of Music in Piano and I, Wind Conducting, and the Doctor of Musical Arts in Piano from the University of Cincinnati College­Conservatory of Music. His principal piano teachers at CCM were John Meretta and Richard Morris, and his conducting training was with Glenn Richter, John Leman and Terry Milligan. For five years Dr. Crosby held a graduate assistantship at CCM and taught class piano under the guidance of the nation­ally renowned pedagogue Dr. Cleveland Page, and from 1981-1986 he maintained a private studio in the Conservatory's Preparatory Department. Awards include the Cincinnati Clef Music Club Award in 1978, and Dr. Crosby was the winner of the Ohio Music Teachers Association Collegiate Piano Competition in 1984. 

A composer, songwriter, educator, guitarist, and radio host, Chris Cresswell is a curious musician whose work betrays his affection for sonic wanderlust. With an ear that incorporates all sorts of sounds, from field recordings to a singer/songwriter at an open mic night, Cresswell’s music “… blurs the boundaries between industrial and organic, soothing and suspenseful, and introspective and anxious” (International Clarinet Association) and “…is not really my thing, but it’s cool to hear him on the radio.” (his Mom). Having once shared the stage with a Pulitzer Prize winning poet and a Top 40 country star (two different occasions), Cresswell’s music has been heard in coffee shops, concert halls, and venues around the world, from chic Brooklyn venues like Areté Venue and Gallery and The Firehouse Space, to Birmingham, England’s renown Symphony Hall and the Paleis voor Schone Kunsten in Brussels.

Known for being "...deeply connected to the moment of creation both with their own instruments and each other," (The Minnedosa Tribune) COULOIR is bringing transcendent Art Music into the 21st Century. With a palpable chemistry in their music making, they share their passion for creating fresh music with contemporary composers using the exquisite sound world of cello and harp. "...the body language of (cellist, Ariel) Barnes and harpist Heidi Krutzen drew the assemblage into their shared artistic vision so convincingly, (with) many welcome moments of emotional/intellectual bliss." JWR

Gheorghe Costinescu, born in Bucharest in 1934 and residing in New York since 1969, has been active as a composer, conductor, pianist, musicologist, and educator.

The music of Boston-based composer Richard Cornell deftly explores the nature of art and collaboration, highlighting the latent opportunities for artistic license and interpretation within music. His cross-disciplinary efforts combining visual elements with his works have led to installations, art works in virtual reality, and audio/video projects, one of which is included on his latest album TRACER on Ravello Records.

David Congo (b. 1952) graduated with honors from Western Connecticut State University in Danbury CT, and earned his master degree in music composition at the Ohio State University in Columbus OH. After studying music at these universities, Congo entered a career in the IT field, and immediately began combining computer technology with music creation. He has created works for acoustic and electroacoustic instruments for over 45 years.

Alla Elana Cohen is a distinguished composer, pianist, music theorist, and teacher who came to the United States in 1989 from Russia. Graduating from the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory with the highest honors of distinction, Cohen lives in Boston and is a professor at Berklee College of Music.

Paul Cohen is a sought-after saxophonist for orchestral and chamber concerts and solo recitals. He has appeared as soloist with the San Francisco Symphony, Richmond Symphony, New Jersey Symphony, Charleston Symphony, and the Philharmonia Virtuosi. His many solo orchestra performances include works by Debussy, Creston, Ibert, Glazunov, Martin, Loeffler, Husa, Dahl, Still, Villa-Lobos, Tomasi, and Cowell. He has also performed with a broad range of orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic, Metropolitan Opera (NYC), American Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, Santa Fe Opera, New Jersey Symphony, Oregon Symphony, San Diego Symphony, Long Island Philharmonic, Group for Contemporary Music, Greenwich Symphony, and New York Solisti.

Ted Coffey makes acoustic and electronic music, sound installations, and songs. His work has been presented in concerts and festivals across North America, Europe and Asia, at such venues as Judson Church, The Knitting Factory, Roulette, Symphony Space, and Lincoln Center (NYC), The Lab, New Langton Arts, Zellerbach Hall, and The Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (SF), Wolf Trap and The Kennedy Center (DC), the Korean National University of the Arts (Seoul), The Carre Theatre (Amsterdam), and ZKM (Karlsruhe, Germany).

The Chilean-American composer Miguel Chuaqui was born in 1964 in Berkeley California, and grew up in Santiago, Chile. He studied piano at the Escuela Moderna de Música and the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. In 1984 he transferred to the University of California at Berkeley, where he majored in Mathematics and Music, studied electroacoustic music at CNMAT (Center for New Music and Audio Technologies), and went on to complete his Ph.D. in Composition with composer Andrew Imbrie.

Kyong Mee Choi, composer, visual artist, painter, organist and poet, received several prestigious awards and grants including John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship, Robert Helps Prize, Aaron Copland Award, John Donald Robb Musical Trust Fund Commission, Illinois Arts Council Fellowship, First prize of ASCAP/SEAMUS Award, Second prize at VI Concurso Internacional de Música Eletroacústica de São Paulo, Honorary Mentions from Musique et d’Art Sonore Electroacoustiques de Bourges, Musica Nova, Society of Electroacoustic Music of Czech Republic, Luigi Russolo International Competition, and Destellos Competition.

Andrea Cheeseman is a clarinetist and teacher living in Columbia SC. Throughout her career, she has been committed to playing good music and collaborating with inspiring people who challenge her.

Avik Chari is a composer and sound designer obsessed with non-linear and interactive media. He embraces the use of space as a tool for musical structure and storytelling through his sound installations and electro-acoustic works. His latest works focus on ambience and space, and take a calm, meditative approach to rhythm, with pieces such as i’ll be there for you and memories. His music has been performed by the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, Transient Canvas, Eureka Ensemble, and the Boston Conservatory Choruses, and used in video games such as Covidopoly and Assemble This.

Chris Chafe is a composer, improvisor, and cellist, developing much of his music alongside computer-based research. He is Director of Stanford University's Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (CCRMA). At IRCAM (Paris) and The Banff Centre (Alberta), he pursued methods for digital synthesis, music performance, and real-time internet collaboration. CCRMA's SoundWIRE project involves live concertizing with musicians the world over. Online collaboration software including jacktrip and research into latency factors continue to evolve. An active performer either on the net or physically present, his music reaches audiences in dozens of countries and sometimes at novel venues.

Venezuelan born musician Orlando Cela is committed to engaging audiences with lively performances that open new worlds of experience. Known for his engaging performances using imaginative programming, Orlando has premiered in over 100 works, both as a flutist and as a conductor. In concert, Cela regularly offers short lively introductions to selected works, offering audiences entry points into unfamiliar works, to easily connect the music with other life experience.