Artists

A concert clarinetist of international reputation, Burton Beerman has been hailed by audiences as one of the leading clarinetists of contemporary and avant-garde music whose virtuosity and technical control of the instrument establish him as an extraordinary and compelling performer. As a composer he has straddled both the worlds of acoustic and computer music and is particularly known for the graceful integration of interactive video, electric clarinet and dance. Performances have taken place in such international arenas as Paris, London, Brussels, Tokyo, Mexico City, New York City, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Houston and Chicago. Founder of the acclaimed New Music Festival of Bowling Green State University, he is director of the University's Music Technology Studios. 

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. 

Flutist, pianist, composer, and conductor Byron W. Petty holds a BM in flute performance from the Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University, where he studied with the noted flutist Britton Johnson. He has served as Instructor of Piano at Roanoke College and Instructor of Flute and Piano at Southern Virginia University. He is a Lecturer in Music and has taught courses in Composition and Musical Analysis as Visiting Assistant Professor of Music at Washington and Lee University. From 1995-2002, Petty was the Conductor/Music Director of the Eurydice Community Orchestra of Roanoke and subsequently, the Artistic Director from 2002 through 2003.

Elizabeth R. Austin’s music is meticulous and complex, filled with movement, growth, and turning points. Not a bad description for her own life.” This quote, from an article in SCOPE (Winter, 2011) written by Michael K. Slayton, continues to be relevant to this octogenarian, whose focus on writing music has become even more intense!

David K. Gompper (b. 1954) has lived and worked professionally as a pianist, conductor, and composer in New York, San Diego, London, Nigeria, Michigan, and Texas. He is currently Professor of Composition and Director of the Center for New Music at The University of Iowa. From 2002 to 2003 Gompper was in Russia as a Fulbright Scholar, teaching, performing and conducting at the Moscow Conservatory. 

A native of New York City, Allen Brings received a Bachelor of Arts degree magna cum laude from Queens College  and a Master of Arts degree from Columbia University, where he was a Mosenthal Fellow and a student of Otto Luening, and  a doctorate in theory and composition from Boston University, where he was a teaching fellow and a student of Gardner Read.

Bruce Hamilton composes and performs music in a variety of genres. He is a Professor of Music at Western Washington University, where he teaches composition, theory, and directs the electroacoustic music program. He received his DM from Indiana University, and has performed as a percussionist, improviser, and electronic musician for over 20 years. His music is published by Non Sequitur Music and can be heard on the Albany, Memex, P'hill, SEAMUS, and Mark labels. Hamilton has received honors, awards and commissions from ALEA Ill, AMC, ASCAP, PAS, Barlow Endowment, Carbondale Community Arts, Indiana University, Jerome Foundation, National Society of Arts and Letters, Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, Whatcom Symphony, Russolo-Pratella Foundation, and SEAMUS.

Jason Haney's music has been performed in the US, Canada, the UK and China; at the Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall, the Scotia Festival in Halifax, New Music Miami, Music2000 in Cincinnati, the Staunton Music Festival, Richmond's ChamberFest, the Composers Inc. concert series in San Francisco, and by groups such as the Chester Quartet, the Sunrise Quartet and the New Millennium Ensemble. He has won awards and honors from the National Association of Composers USA, ASCAP, the Music Teachers' National Association, and first prize in the Washington International Competition, among others. He teaches composition and music theory at James Madison University.

Composer Paul Osterfield's works have been performed throughout the United States and internationally by soloists and ensembles, including the Blakemore Trio, neoPhonia, the Stones River Chamber Players, and the Cleveland Orchestra at their "Family Key Concert" series. His music is available on the Equilibrium and Capstone labels. A recent artist at the MacDowell Colony, he has also received awards from BMI, ASCAP, the National Federation of Music Clubs, and the Library of Congress. Paul Osterfield has served on the faculties at Middle Tennessee State University, where he is Associate Professor of Music Composition and Theory, and Ithaca College. He holds degrees from Cornell University, Indiana University, and the Cleveland Institute of Music, having studied composition with Steven Stucky, Roberto Sierra, Eugene O'Brien, Frederick Fox, and Donald Erb.

J. Ryan Garber is an Associate Professor at Carson-Newman College where he teaches music composition, theory, organ, and bassoon. A native of Virginia, he earned degrees from James Madison University and The Florida State University. Garber has received awards, grants; and recognition from five national organizations. In 2002, the Tennessee Music Teachers Association presented Garber with its "Composer of the Year" award. His Concerti no for orchestra is featured on ERM Media's "Masterworks of a New Era" series. and his music has been performed in many parts of the US and in Germany and Austria.

Throughout his career, composer ROBERT BAKSA has steadfastly re­sisted jumping on the bandwagon of musical fads or academic trends, choos­ing instead to pursue a personal vision of his own by speaking through a musi­cal voice that combines the linear clarity and architectural shape of the classical era with a distinctly American and con­temporary sensibility. 

William Vollinger is predominantly a composer of vocal music, spoken and/or sung, performed by groups such as the Gregg Smith Singers and New York Vocal Arts Ensemble, whose performance of Three Songs About the Resurrection won first prize at the Geneva International Competition. The instrumental work The Violinist in the Mall won the 2005 Friends and Enemies of New Music competition. Sound Portraits is a collection of his vocal works featuring soprano Linda Ferraira recorded by Capstone-Ravello. Raspberry Man was selected for both the 2009 National SCI Conference in Santa Fe NM and the University of Nebraska 2009 New Music Festival.

Pierre, a French native, came to music as a child, studying classical piano and transcribing themes from movie composers on the family’s piano. Emotions are in the center of his work, and reviewers have often noted cinematic elements in his music, while describing “an imaginative musical craftsman at work, capable of evoking real wonder, mystery, reverence, and celebration.”

Daniel Adams (b. 1956, Miami FL) is a Professor of Music at Texas Southern University in Houston.  Adams holds a Doctor of Musical Arts (1985) from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, a Master of Music from the University of Miami (1981) and a Bachelor of Music from Louisiana State University (1978). He served as the College Music Society Board Member for Composition from 2015 through 2017. Adams is the composer of numerous published musical compositions and the author of many articles and reviews on topics related to 20th-century percussion music, music pedagogy, and the music of Texas.  His book entitled “The Solo Snare Drum” was published in 2000. He also contributed two entries published in 2009 in the Oxford Encyclopedia of African-American History: 1896 to the Present and has authored a revision of the Miami FL entry for the Grove Dictionary of American Music.

Eric Honour has developed an international reputation as a composer, saxophonist, and audio engineer. A member of the Athens Saxophone Quartet, he performs regularly throughout Europe and the United States, and has presented lectures and master classes at many leading institutions.

The McCormick Duo is a classical duo of flute and percussion music consisting of flutist Kim McCormick and percussionist Robert McCormick. They have worked together for nearly 25 years performing concerts on recital series university venues and scholarly music conferences.

Kim McCormick is on the artist faculty of the University of South Florida and a member of the Opera Tampa Orchestra, the Florida Wind Band, and the McCormick Duo for flute and percussion. As an advocate for new music, she has commissioned and premiered numerous new works for flute. Her recordings on the Honeyrock and Capstone labels have received high critical acclaim in some of the leading audiophile journals. She has performed extensively in the United States and has also recently given concerts in Ecuador, Canada, France, China and South Korea. She is Past President of the Florida Flute Association and holds the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of North Texas.

Richard Stoltzman’s virtuosity, technique, imagination, and communicative power have revolutionized the world of clarinet playing, opening up possibilities for the instrument that no one could have predicted. He was responsible for bringing the clarinet to the forefront as a solo instrument, and is still the world’s foremost clarinetist. Stoltzman gave the first clarinet recitals in the histories of both the Hollywood Bowl and Carnegie Hall, and, in 1986, became the first wind player to be awarded the Avery Fisher Prize. As one of today’s most sought-after artists, Stoltzman has been a soloist with more than a hundred orchestras as well as a recitalist and chamber music performer, innovative jazz artist, and prolific recording artist. A two-time Grammy Award winner, he has amazed critics and audiences alike in repertory spanning many musical genres.

Founded in 2001 by pianist Idith Meshulam, Ensemble Pi is a new music ensemble dedicated to performing the music of living composers, undiscovered composers of the past, and masterpieces of chamber music. Through innovative programming and collaborations with visual artists, writers and dancers, Ensemble Pi bridges the gap between new music and new audiences while engaging with political and social issues.

Lukas Foss (1922-2009) German-born American composer of primarily stage, orchestral, chamber, choral, vocal, and piano works that have been performed throughout the world; he was also active as a conductor. He started piano and theory studies with Julius Goldstein-Herford at an early age and began composing at age seven. After studies in composition in Paris from 1933-37, he studied composition with Rosario Scalero at the Curtis Institute of Music from 1937-39.