Artists

Composer and conductor Lee Actor has won a number of awards for his compositions, most recently for Concerto for Horn and Orchestra, which was the First Prize Winner in the 2007 International Horn Society Composition Contest. Variations and Fugue for Orchestra was a finalist in both the Columbia Orchestra's 2007 American Composer's Competition and the Holyoke Civic Symphony's 2005 Composition Competition, and Prelude to a Tragedy was selected as a finalist in the Columbia Orchestra's 2005 American Composer's Competition.

Actor's orchestral music is characterized by its dramatic impact and emotional expressivity, featuring striking use of harmony, counterpoint, motivic development, and lyricism with a fresh, modern flavor. These attributes are most prominent in Actor's large-scale dramatic works. Referring to Actor's Concerto for Violin and Orchestra, Keith Kreithman of the San Mateo County Times wrote "this is a major work deserving of national attention…this concerto verges on masterpiece". His work has been characterized by conductor Kirk Trevor as "music of the highest quality in craftsmanship, inventiveness, and imagination."

A former violinist with the Albany Symphony Orchestra, Actor has advanced degrees in both engineering and music composition. He has studied composition with Donald Sur, Brent Heisinger, Charles Jones, and Andrew Imbrie, and conducting with Angelo Frascarelli, David Epstein and Higo Harada. Actor was named Composer-in-Residence of the Palo Alto Philharmonic in 2002, following his appointment as Assistant Conductor in 2001, and named Assistant Conductor of the Nova Vista Symphony in 2008. Actor's past releases include a CD of orchestral works released by MMC Recordings in June 2005 and a second orchestral CD released by Albany Records in April 2008.

He is a member of the American Music Center and ASCAP, who recently named Actor the recipient of an ASCAPlus award for the sixth consecutive year.

Reviews

A pianist who "can create whatever type of music he wants at the keyboard" (Chicago Sun-Times) and a composer who writes "with uncommon imagination" (Atlanta Journal-Constitution), James Adler's extensive list of compositions is headed by Memento mori: An AIDS Requiem. A 75-minute for work for chorus, soloists, and orchestra, Memento mori has been performed worldwide since its 1996 premiere, and recorded by AmorArtis Chorale and Orchestra under the direction of Johannes Somary on Albany Records. Other works by Adler include the often-performed Carols of Splendour, which premiered at Carnegie Hall; ItÕs Gotta Be America, commissioned for the Centennial Celebration of the Statue of Liberty; and Canticle For Peace, written for the opening of the 43rd session of the United Nations General Assembly.

Adler made his performing debut with the Chicago Symphony at the age of 16 and has appeared in recital on the OrchestraÕs Allied Arts Piano Series. His concert schedule has also included appearances on the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concerts Series at the Chicago Cultural Center; featured soloist performances at Alice Tully Hall and Symphony Space in New York City; festival performances in Grant Park (Chicago), Thesseloniki, Greece, and New York; and a special London orchestral performance at the Royal Albert Hall, broadcast by the BBC.

Adler holds a bachelor's degree in piano performance and a master's degree in composition from the Curtis Institute of Music. He is a member of the Fine Arts Department faculty at Saint Peter's College.

For more information, please visit www.adleroaksmusic.com.

Reviews

A graduate of UCLA in music and the child of European trained professional violinists, Adrienne began studying the piano at age 4 and composition at 10. She had the good fortune to have had great teachers: for piano, Jacob Gimpel and Aube Tzerko in Los Angeles, Joanna Graudan at the Aspen Music School and early composition studies with Saul Kaplan and Leonard Stein. After enjoying a lengthy hiatus performing other people's music, she returned to studying composition with Stephen "Lucky" Mosko at CalArts and orchestration with Albert Harris.

Reviews

Israeli-born composer and singer/songwriter Ayala Asherov-Kalus is a recipient of the 2011 ASCAPlus Award, winner of the 2011 Chamber Music Composition Award at the biennial Athena Music Festival, and 2010 recipient of the Wild Acres Residency. She is a member of ASCAP, The American Composers Forum, and ACUM. She has a long-reaching musical background, having been raised in a family of actors and directors (her grandparents were among the founders of the Habima National Theater of Israel). As a composer, Ayala’s music ranges from songwriting to programmatic music in the concert hall to multimedia, including film scoring, museum exhibitions, and compositions inspired by the written word. She received her Bachelor of Music summa cum laude in composition and film scoring from the Berklee College of Music in 1998, and her Masters of Music in film scoring from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts in 2000. She has written musical scores for The Learning Channel, Discovery Channel, and National Geographic, and underscored exhibits at the Jerusalem Theater (“Poetry and Pictures”); Boston Aquarium, combining live music, electronics, and sound effects; and the interactive multimedia presentation, “The Naharayim Experience,” at the Gesher Museum in Israel. As a songwriter, her songs are published, recorded, and released by many celebrated Israeli artists. Her best known song, lyrics and music, “Along the Sea” (“Le’Orech Ha Yam”), was recorded by Ofra Haza in 1994, and is one of the most recorded songs in Israel. Ayala released her debut CD, Crossing the River in 2007. She has appeared and performed in Tel Aviv, Columbia, South Carolina, and at the Piccolo Spoleto Festival in Charleston SC in 2008, and continues to perform her own material on the piano.

In 2011 Ayala completed the score for Second Act, a six part documentary series about the Israeli National Theater for Israel Educational Television. In 2010 Ayala scored “The Forgotten Founder,” part of the South Carolina ETV documentary series, Carolina Stories, which aired in October 2010.

You can learn more about Ayala at www.AyalaAsherov.com.