Artists

Brooklyn-based pianist Beth Levin is celebrated as a bold interpreter of challenging works, from the Romantic canon to leading modernist composers. The New York Times praised her “fire and originality,” while The New Yorker called her playing “revelatory.” Debuting as a child prodigy with the Philadelphia Orchestra at age twelve, Levin was subsequently taught and guided by legendary pianists such as Rudolf Serkin, Leonard Shure and Dorothy Taubman, Another of her teachers, Paul Badura-Skoda, praised Levin as a pianist of rare qualities and the highest professional caliber. Her deep well of experience allows an intuitive connection with the great pianistic traditions, to Bach, to Mozart, to Beethoven.

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.

Turkish composer Hakki Cengiz Eren’s (b. 1984) music has been performed across the United States and Europe. Recent performances of his music have been given by renowned soloists and ensembles, including Garth Knox, Calvin Wiersma, Mak Grgic, members of ECCE (Diamanda Dramm, Paolo Vignoroli, Vasko Dukovski and Virginie Tarrête), Argus Quartet, Ensemble Nodus and the Thornton Edge.

Called a true sound artist, who ". . .applies sound to the airwaves the same way a painter applies colors to canvas," (Fanfare), Judith Shatin is a composer whose music is inspired by a keen interest in literature and the visuals arts, and by the sounding world. She has been commissioned by organizations including the Barlow Endowment and Fromm Foundation, the Library of Congress and many more. Ensembles such as the American Composers Orchestra, Ensemble Berlin PianoPercussion, the Kronos Quartet and the National, Illinois and Richmond Symphonies have also commissioned her work.

A classically trained composer with an ongoing fascination for popular culture, Philip  Thompson's music explores a wide array of styles, from his baroque-metal professional wrestling opera The Final Battle for Love to the intimate and introspective Nocturnes for string trio. His compositions have been performed by IonSound Project, Thompson Street Opera, Alia Musica Pittsburgh, violinist Roger Zahab, and bassist Andrew Kohn among others. Performances of his work have taken place in venues including the Virginia Arts Festival, Pittsburgh Center for the Arts, the Centre for Intercultural Music at Churchill College (UK), Music on the Edge, The Listening Room (Grand Valley State University), and Concordia University’s EuCuE (Montreal).

Dr. Leslie Odom is Associate Professor of Oboe and Music Theory at the University of Florida. Her teachers include Richard Killmer (Eastman School of Music), James Lakin (University of Iowa), Malcolm Smith, (Butler University), and Marion Gibson (Principal Oboe, Louisville Symphony Orchestra). Dr. Odom received her Bachelor of Music in Oboe Performance from Butler University, in Indianapolis, Indiana; her Master of Music in Music Theory and her Doctorate of Musical Arts in Oboe Performance from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester New York. She also received the coveted Performer’s Certificate during her doctoral work.

Sidney started composing when he was 6. He learned species counterpoint when he was 10, and entered Juilliard when he was 15, studying composition with Hall Overton. He also studied with Roger Sessions and Otto Luening at Juilliard, with Darius Milhaud at Aspen, and with Charles Dodge at Columbia University. Over the past 10 years, his hearing has diminished rather severely. But with some creative programming of his hearing aids, he has continued composing, and today is at the top of his creative powers.

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

John K. Leupold, II is an Annapolis, MD based composer and percussionist whose music combines a wide variety of influences including popular music and world music with a deep grounding in classical forms and traditions. His music often centers on rhythm and utilizes elements of minimalist textures. While often not explicitly stated, Leupold's works often communicate a narrative left up to the listener to decipher. The Washington Post described his music as "an imaginative exploration of instrumental timbres and ranges impelled by repetitive melodic figures." His works have been performed by such groups as Inscape Chamber Orchestra, the Left Bank Quartet, and Capital Reeds.

Francesca Arnone is an active flute and piccolo soloist, chamber musician, and clinician.  An avid traveler, she enjoys pursuing this passion through music and has performed in Europe, Asia, and the Americas, in such venues as St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Royal Northern College of Music, Royal Conservatory of Madrid, Benedetto Marcello Conservatory in Venice, Split Academy of Music in Croatia, and the Chicago Public Library.

Violinist Mikylah Myers' performances have been called “energetic and virtuosic” by the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, and “captivating” by Boulder, Colorado’s Daily Camera. An award-winning chamber musician, Myers is the violin professor at West Virginia University and Coordinator of the String Area. She was formerly concertmaster of the San Juan Symphony in Durango, Colorado, and a member of the Moores Piano Trio in Houston, Texas, which was the silver prize winner at the 2000 Carmel Chamber Music Competition. During her time in Houston, Myers regularly performed with the Houston Symphony and the Houston Grand Opera. She was also a violinist with the New World Symphony in Miami Beach, Florida.  She has performed internationally as a soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral player in Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Italy, Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, and Spain, and was a 19-year member of the Britt Festival Orchestra in Jacksonville, Oregon.

Ben Johansen is an interdisciplinary composer fascinated with exploring new ways of creating and organizing sound, designing aesthetically compelling visuals, and working with small electronics to construct installation art. He challenges himself to 1) constantly expand the limits of performers and observers and 2) design atmospheres that foster improvisation and indeterminacy within boundaries that are accessible to participants. Teaching is a passion of his that accompanies his desire to continually learn, create, and research. Ben's schooling has greatly influenced his interests. He completed his Bachelor’s in Music Education and Master’s in Music Composition at Baylor University where he is currently employed. Ben earned his Ph.D. from University of North Texas in Music with an emphasis in Composition, a Specialization in Computer Media and a minor in Installation Art.

Margaret Anne Schedel is a composer and cellist specializing in the creation and performance of ferociously interactive media whose works have been performed throughout the United States and abroad. While working towards a DMA in music composition at the University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music, her interactive multimedia opera, A King Listens, premiered at the Cincinnati Contemporary Arts Center and was profiled by apple.com. She holds a certificate in Deep Listening with Pauline Oliveros and has studied composition with Mara Helmuth, Cort Lippe and McGregor Boyle. She is a joint author of Cambridge Press’s Electronic Music and recently edited an issue of Organised Sound on the aesthetics of sonification. Her work has been supported by the Presser Foundation, Centro Mexicano para la Música y les Artes Sonoras, and Meet the Composer. She has been commissioned by the Princeton Laptop Orchestra the percussion ensemble Ictus, and the reACT duo.

Ted Moore is a composer, sound designer, and music educator living in Minneapolis, MN. His work has been reviewed as “an impressive achievement both artistically and technically” (Jay Gabler, VitaMN), “wonderfully creepy” (Matthew Everett, TC  Daily Planet), and “epic” (Rob Hubbard, Pioneer Press). Moore’s work focuses on live electronic processing with live performers using the digital signal processing programming language SuperCollider.

Joseph Koykkar is a musician who is at home in a variety of music from classical to avant-garde to rock and blues. As a composer, he has had his music performed nationally and internationally for over the past 30 years. Besides Double Takes and Triple Plays, his music can be heard on ten additional CDs, including an all-Koykkar release on Northeastern Records in 1992. In the past ten years three of his compositions (Out Front, Panache, and Streets and Bridges) have been in contention for a Grammy in the “Best Contemporary Classical Composition” category. He has composed for a variety of media including chamber music, orchestra, music for dance, film/video scores, and electronic/computer music. In addition to composing he is a pianist and conductor. He holds degrees from Indiana University (M.Mus.) and the University of Miami (DMA) and has received grants and awards from such sources as the Pew Charitable Trust for Music, the NEA, Meet the Composer, ASCAP, the American Music Center, the Wisconsin Arts Board and the American Composers Forum.

Ron Nagorcka (born 1948) composes in his hand-built solar-powered studio in a remote forest in Tasmania (the island state off Australia’s south coast) where the natural world provides him with much of his inspiration. He has been exploring both music and nature since his childhood on an Australian sheep farm and studied music – including pipe organ, harpsichord, and composition – at the University of Melbourne and the University of California, San Diego. In the 1970s he was a prominent and influential figure in Melbourne as an innovative composer, teacher, keyboard performer and improviser with electronics.

Zoran Šćekić received his BFA in jazz guitar at University of Music and Performing Arts Graz (Austria). As a recipient of the 1998 Bruxelles Stipendium, Šćekić went to Helsinki to continue post-graduate studies in composition and arrangement, and to participate in the International Summit of Music Academy as a representative of the Sibelius Music Academia. His works as composer, arranger, and guitarist in the field of written and improvised music is available on the unofficial six-disc studio and live album compilation Selected Works in Equal Temperament. These recordings are the results of playing jazz guitar in duo, trio and quartet settings; collaborating with light and stage designers, choreographers, and visual artists in the creation of theater and film music; participating in jazz and free jazz festivals; and writing a number of works for big band, chamber orchestra, and large orchestra.

Russell Pinkston (b. 1949) currently resides in Austin TX, where he is Professor of Music Composition and Director of Electronic Music Studios at The University of Texas at Austin Butler School of Music. He holds degrees from Dartmouth College (BA 1975) and Columbia University (MA 1979, DMA 1984), where he studied composition with Jon Appleton, Jack Beeson, Mario Davidovsky, George Edwards, and Chou Wen-chung.

audiences across the United States, they have quickly become known as one of today’s most exciting wind quintets. Exploring the fringes of the quintet repertoire ­— new music, forgotten gems, original arrangements and music for children — Madera also engages audiences with the classic repertoire and beauty of the wind quintet sound.

Jennifer Borkowski enjoys an active and varied career as a flutist, researcher, teacher, and composer. She was founding member of the Ensemble-Zeitfluss Graz and has performed with the Klangforum Wien at the Konzerthaus in Vienna, and at modern music festivals Wien Modern and Steirischer Herbst. She has worked with composers such as Peter Ablinger, Nikolaus Huber, and Salvatore Sciarrino. Together with Andy Icochea, Borkowski co-founded the Ensemble Vienna Nova, performing chamber operas including three world premieres in Vienna’s Musikverein and at the Sagra Musicale Umbria in Italy. Prior to this period, she spent a decade as a freelance orchestral musician in the Philadelphia and New York areas.