Artists

Juli Nunlist (1916 – 2006) received a B.A. in English Composition from Barnard College in 1940, magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa. In 1957, at the age of 40, she entered Manhattan School of Music as a composition major, and received her Bachelor’s degree in 1961 and her Master’s in 1964, studying with Vittorio Giannini, Ludmila Ulehla, and Nicholas Flagello. Her Spells is a choral setting of six poems by the English poet Kathleen Raine and was chosen for performance by the University of Kansas Concert Choir (Clayton Krehbiel conducting) at the Sixth Annual Symposium of Contemporary American Music, April 1964. In addition to Spells, her works include this string quartet, piano, choral, and chamber music, and a symphonic tone suite after Juan Ramon Jimenez’ prose poems, Platero and I.

Born in Honolulu HI, Daniel Morse was raised on every sort of music from Bob Marley to Beethoven and Paul Simon to Prokofiev. Combined with the pervasive multiculturalism of Hawaii, his background has given him a truly egalitarian outlook towards music, through which he sees that all styles and genres are somehow valid and worthwhile.

The atmospheric and evocative music of Jonathan David Little is notable for its mystical beauty, intensity, and richness of material. After initial studies at the University of Melbourne, where he won the Lady Turner Exhibition, he completed a Doctoral degree researching the development of 'exotic' orchestration in 19th and 20th-century music. Interviewed in the Sept-Oct 2012 issue of American Fanfare, Little's musical style was defined as 'ecstatic minimalism.' Italian and other European critics have preferred the more general terms 'antique futurism' or 'picturesque archaism.'

Composer Whitman Brown has received awards and commissions from organizations such as ASCAP, BMI, the Yaddo and Millay artist colonies, the Bedford Springs and Stroud Festivals, and the Warebrook Festival of Contemporary Music. Ensembles such as the Arden, Everest, and Lydian String Quartets, Kalliope Trio, Arcadian Winds, Bala Brass, and the Master Singers have performed his compositions. He is currently Head of Theory and Composition at Walnut Hill School for the Arts and has taught at Brandeis University, Boston University, Longy School of Music, and the Powers School of Music.

Matej Meštrović (b. 1969) is undoubtedly the most versatile artist on the Croatian cultural scene, and an exclusive artist of PARMA Recordings. In 2018, he premiered the Danube Rhapsody for piano and orchestra in Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium, thus becoming the first Croatian composer to have his own work premiered in that prestigious hall.

Ssu-Yu Huang, a native of Taiwan, enjoys an active career in contemporary music. Her compositions – covering a wide range of music with bold and delicate genres – are performed by professional musicians and orchestras in Argentina, Canada, Chile, China, Germany, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, United States, the United Kingdom, and Venezuela.

Shudong Braamse has appeared on stages in Canada, Italy, Austria, Estonia, Spain, Finland, Latvia, Singapore, Taiwan, and China. She has premiered a number of vocal works, including Gary Nash’s cycle Peace, Love and Prosperity premiered in Nashville in 2010, and Michael Bulychev-Okser’s Spanish art song Romance de la Luna premiered in 2014 in Tallinn, Estonia.

Composer, violinist, and poet Patricia Van Ness draws upon elements of medieval and Renaissance music to create a signature voice that has been hailed by musicians, audiences, and critics. She has been called a modern-day Hildegard von Bingen 1,2, with her ability to compose music "ecstatic and ethereal," "both ancient and new" 2,3. As in medieval aesthetics, her music and poetry explore the relationship between beauty and the Divine.

Richard Thompson is a performer and composer whose work encompasses jazz and Third Stream composition. Originally from Aberdeen Scotland, Thompson made his debut as a concert pianist at the Purcell Room, Queen Elizabeth Hall in London in 1984.

David Carpenter was born in 1972 in Poughkeepsie, NY, a city on the Hudson River just north of New York City. He began music lessons on the French horn, for which he wrote his first piece, “The Mourning Dove,” at age 10. He went on to study music at Bates College in Lewiston, ME, where he graduated summa cum laude with his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1994.

Willem Van Twillert (The Netherlands, b. 1952) studied the organ and piano at the Regional Music School in Amersfoort with Henk Seldenthuis. Starting in 1970, he studied the organ, improvisation, and composition at the Sweelinck Conservatory in Amsterdam with Piet Kee and piano with Willem Brons. In 1975 he commenced a 3-year course of orchestral conducting studies with the Dutch orchestra conductor Anton Kersjes. In 1979, he obtained a diploma for Church Music and Performing Musician Cum Laude, with a teaching-endorsement for improvisation. A scholarship afforded him the opportunity to specialize in historic music between 1978 and 1981, including studies with Gustav Leonhardt (organ). In 1976, van Twillert was the first Dutch organist to reach the final of the 'Grand Prix de Chartres' in France.

Robert E. Thomas (b. 1971) is an active composer, teacher, and scholar whose music has been presented around the United States and overseas. Working in both electronic and acoustic mediums for instrumentation ranging from solo works to large orchestra, his main compositional interest is working with layered structures. His music has been performed by ACME (the American Contemporary Music Ensemble), Composer's Chamber Ensemble, Contemporary Chamber Players, HELIX! Ensemble, Ionisation, Nodes Performing Arts, and Tony Oliver.

John Dante Prevedini (b. 1987) is a composer, educator, and public speaker hailing from Connecticut and active throughout Southern New England. Drawing upon a variety of fields of knowledge (including linguistics, the fine arts, the physical sciences, religion, and philosophy), his work aims to examine unconventional facets of everyday life through a multidisciplinary lens.

The BONIFANTES Boys Choir was founded in 1999 and in its short life has won a place among the cream of the choir ensembles in the Czech Republic. Talented boys from the ages of 4 to 20 years work in seven departments of the singing school known as “BONIFANTES School of Arts” with a capacity of 350 students. All the singers have solo voice training lessons and many of them play musical instruments. Almost 100 boys visit the concert department alone and the choir takes part in up to 100 concerts and performances each year.

Since 1989, Jan Jirásek’s works have been presented on numerous stages and festivals worldwide. Jirásek composes music for major music houses and interpreters. Examples include his Bread and Circuses composition for six players on percussion instruments (Munich Biennale, 1992), a postmodern arrangement of J.S. Bach’s St. Luke Passion (Munich Biennale, 1996, Minneapolis MN, 2000), Dance with the Universe concert for the organ and orchestra (Portland Chamber Orchestra, 2012), Missa propria choral composition (Prague, Spring 1994 and 2014, Carnegie Hall, New York, Lincoln Center, New York, Avignon Festival, France etc.), Fragile Balance/Letter to Heaven (Vega String Quartet, Atlanta GA, 2012), King Lávra (micro-opera, Khorikos New York NY, 2013), and other works.

Omar Carmenates is currently the Associate Professor of Percussion at Furman University in Greenville SC. He holds a Doctor of Music degree from Florida State University, a Master of Music Degree in Percussion Performance from the University of North Texas, and a Bachelor’s degree in Music Education from the University of Central Florida.

The works of Greek New Zealand composer John Psathas emerge from a truly dazzling 21st century backdrop, where dynamic collaboration with creative masters from all corners of the physical and artistic globe result in outcomes that are visionary, moving, and inspired.

Pianist, composer, and accordionist Hakan A. Toker is from Mersin Turkey. He studied classical music in Turkey and the United States, graduating from Indiana University School of Music (BM), where he double majored in piano and composition. Besides his formal education, he is mostly self-taught in the fields of improvisation, jazz, and world music.

Stas Namin is a cult figure in Russia: he is a musician, composer, and producer; an artist and photographer; and a director and producer of theatrical stage productions and films. Namin is one of the founders of Russian rock music: he fronted legendary band The Flowers and was creator and producer of rock band Gorky Park. He organized the country’s first independent producing company and was behind its first private musical enterprises: a record label, a radio station, a television network, a concert agency, and a design studio. Namin launched the country’s first music festivals and started Russia’s first non-governmental symphony orchestra and contemporary musical theater. His song We Wish You Happiness has been a national hymn to happiness for more than 30 years.

Growing up on a farm outside of Spartanburg SC, Dr. Phillip Chase Hawkins serves as Principal Trumpet with the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra, a position he has held since 2013. He is also a member of the cornet section in Fountain City Brass Band and is an active performer on historical instruments as a member of Kentucky Baroque Trumpets and Saxton’s Cornet Band. Hawkins can also be heard as a performing and recording artist for the Nashville Music Scoring Studio and Sound Lair Studio.