Artists

In a versatile career, Robert Ziegler conducts music from Albinoni to Zappa and collaborates with artists across the musical spectrum. He trained as a pianist with Jakob Gimpel and John Ringgold and studied conducting with Franco Ferrara. A former prize winner in the G. Fitelberg Conducting Competition, Ziegler has directed orchestras including London Philharmonic, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC Concert Orchestra, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Dublin’s RTE Concert and Symphony Orchestras, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, and the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.

Dana Zenobi has earned national recognition as an interpreter of Art Song by women. She has also garnered operatic success in roles ranging from Mozart and Verdi to Mark Adamo and Philip Glass, appearing with Austin Opera, Lyric Opera Cleveland, The Living Opera, Opera in the Heights, line upon line percussion ensemble, and the Austin Civic Orchestra. Both her performing and her studio teaching have received accolades from The American Prize.

DANIEL ZEHRINGER is Associate Professor at Wright State University, where he serves as head of the Trumpet Studio and Brass Division, coordinator of the Faculty Brass Quintet, and conducts the Wright State University Trumpet Ensemble.

Mark Zanter has appeared on NPR’s Live at the Landmark, WILL, IPR, WVPN’s In Touch With The Arts, is published by Les Productions d’OZ, Schott European American and MJIC, and his works have been performed nationally and internationally at festivals including, MUSIC X, June in Buffalo, Soundscape, NYCEMF, Echofluxx, SEAMUS, the Atlantic Center for the Arts, Generative Art International, Seensound, MIUC, Melbourne, and SPLICE.

Judith Lang Zaimont's music is often cited for its immediacy, emotion and drama. Her distinctive style-strongly expressive, sensitive to musical color and rhythmically vital-is evident in even her early music. The New York Times described it as "exquisitely crafted, vividly characterized and wholly appealing," and perhaps for these reasons her music has consistently drawn performers from around the globe and several of her works have achieved repertoire status.

Dr. Amir Zaheri (b. 1979) is the musical director and conductor of the University of Alabama Contemporary Ensemble, which is committed to performing music of the 20th and 21st centuries, including masterworks by established composers, music by emerging composers, and the music of University of Alabama student and faculty composers. He also serves as full time instructor of composition and theory, maintaining a full studio of student composers. Immediately prior to his appointment, Zaheri held the distinguished Narramore Fellowship at the University of Alabama, in Tuscaloosa, where he received the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Music Composition in 2013. At UA, Zaheri studied under the primary tutelage of C.P. First and received additional instruction from Peter Westergaard.

Jazz Orchestra of the Academy of Music in Zagreb was founded in 2016, following in the footsteps of the renowned Big Band of the Academy of Music of the early 1980s, founded and led by the distinguished professor Stanko Selak. The repertoire of the Orchestra encompasses standard pieces written for big band orchestra that in time became the canonical literature of big bands around the world, as well as works of contemporary composers of art music inspired by jazz.

Native to Indonesia, Yudha is an accomplished pianist who has performed in the US, Austria, Cambodia, Canada, France, and Germany. She has performed with the Cleveland Orchestra in addition to being a frequent soloist with the Duke University Symphony Orchestra. She is a notable music educator haven given master classes and presentations all over the United States and Southeast Asia. She recently presented lecture recitals at TEDx Talks, the Ohio Music Teachers Association Conference, the College Music Society (CMS) National Conference, and CMS Regional Conference.

Hagai Yodan (b. 1985) is an Israeli pianist, vocalist, harpsichordist, and composer. His repertoire spans from early music to contemporary pieces, and he has collaborated with nearly 300 different composers.

Stephen Yip was born in Hong Kong and is now living in the United States. He received his doctor of musical arts (D.M.A.) at Rice University and bachelor of fine arts (B.F.A.) at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, studied with Law Wing-­fai, Clarence Mak, and Arthur Gottschalk.

Honolulu-born violinist Patrick T.S. Yim has performed throughout the world at venues including Carnegie Hall and David Geffen Hall (New York), Seoul Arts Center, Harpa Concert Hall (Reykjavík), Hong Kong City Hall, Severance Hall (Cleveland), Orchestra Hall (Chicago), Teatro alla Scala (Milan), and the Musikverein (Vienna). Yim made his solo debut with the Honolulu Symphony and in recent years has performed concerti of Bach, Brahms, Bruch, Lalo, Mozart, and Vivaldi.

Benjamin Yee-Paulson (b. 1994) is an internationally recognized American composer. Born in Boston MA, his music has reached many countries like the United Kingdom, France, Belgium, and the United States. His music has premiered in many prestigious places like Carnegie Hall, Jordan Hall, Harvard University, Curtis Institute of Music, Warwick Castle in England, La Schola Cantorum in Paris, and the world opening of Microsoft’s flagship store in New York City.

Clara Yang has performed in notable venues such as Carnegie Hall, the Forbidden City Concert Hall (Beijing), and the Auditorio Nacional de Música (Madrid). She is currently Associate Professor of Piano and Head of Keyboard Studies at UNC-Chapel Hill. As a soloist, she has collaborated with renowned conductors such as Vladimir Ashkenazy, Long Yu, Carl St. Clair, and Grant Llewellyn. She performed alongside Philip Glass in the Glass at 80 Festival, and she performed the world premiere of distinguished composer Chen Yi’s piano concerto with the China Philharmonic Orchestra in Beijing.

Violinist Audrey Wright is a multifaceted artist across solo and chamber music, as well as orchestral realms. She is Associate Concertmaster of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and Concertmaster of the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra, has performed across the globe in venues such as Carnegie Hall, Boston Symphony Hall, London’s Royal Albert Hall, Saint Petersburg Philharmonia, and the Vatican, and has soloed with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Baltimore Chamber Orchestra, New World Symphony, and Cape Symphony Orchestra. With a passion for innovative programming and juxtaposing a wide range of musical styles, her repertoire spans the early 17th century to modern day and her performing experience includes the full spectrum of these musical styles, from period performance practice to the premiering of new and personally-commissioned works.

Uniquely among classical composers Rain Worthington discovered her voice as a composer and learned her art autodidactically. She began intuitively composing works for solo piano and performing them from memory. Later she taught herself musical notation and compositional forms. Her writing has been described in the IAWM Journal as “a fusion of styles—ancient, medieval modality and sonorities, modernist minimalist ostinato, and classical approaches to basic ideas—to capture components of the human experience.”

Baritone Oliver Worthington has received international and regional acclaim for performances as an opera singer, oratorio soloist, and recitalist with organizations like Indianapolis Opera, Indianapolis Symphonic Choir, San Antonio Opera, San Antonio Symphony, Hill Country Lyric, Austin Opera, and Lone Star Lyric in roles ranging from Eisenstein to The Duke of Plaza Toro. A champion of living composers, he frequently premieres new works. Worthington is the Vocal Area Coordinator and the Producing Director of Butler Opera Theater at Butler University in Indianapolis.

Kong-Yu Wong was born in Canton and he then became a HongKonger. He studies music at different institutes in China and Hong Kong, and was awarded a PhD from the University of York in England. Principal mentors of his include composers Gao Weijie and Nicola LeFanu. Wong’s recent works include a number of vocal compositions in varied forces and different languages. His piano music for young people is especially welcomed by pianists and audiences alike.

Native Floridian Henry Wolking (1948) is a composer, trombonist, conductor, teacher, and author. He completed his Bachelor Degree in music education from the University of Florida, and Master of Music in Composition at the University of North Texas in 1971. At the age of 24, he began his teaching career as head of the jazz area at the University of Utah. He retired in 2011 and is a University Professor Emeritus Of Music. He is the recipient of the 2018 School of Music Camerata Award, which celebrates the contributions of musicians and patrons of the arts to the University of Utah and broader community. He maintains a busy schedule of writing and arranging for classical and jazz groups. There are currently over 75 of his jazz works in the Walrus/EJazzlines online catalog.

Michael Wittgraf (b. 1962) is an electronic music composer whose recent work explores live manipulation of feedback, interactive improvisation, and video. His music has been performed around the world, and is available on the Ravello, New Ariel, Eroica, and SEAMUS recording labels, and through iTunes, Spotify, SoundCloud, YouTube, and other platforms. He has awards, commissions, and recognition from ASCAP, Modern Chamber Players, National Symphony Orchestra, Tempus Fugit, Louisiana State University, University of Minnesota, University of North Dakota, Florida State University, PiKappa Lambda, Zeitgeist, Chiara String Quartet, Bush Foundation, North Dakota Museum of Art, North Dakota Council on the Arts, and more. He was awarded a North Dakota Individual Artist Fellowship in 2007, and in 2011 he was named the North Valley Arts Council Artist of the Year.

Although born in Wisconsin, “Dean” Witter was raised in Los Angeles CA. His early studies were with Halsey Stevens in composition and Ethel Leginska in piano.