Artists

A Grammy-nominated artist and McKnight Fellow, José A. Zayas Cabán has presented performances and taught master classes throughout Europe, the Caribbean, and North America. A native Puerto Rican (born and raised in Mayagüez PR) and musician activist, José now resides in Minneapolis MN and is building an artistic career focused on developing projects, albums, and collaborations that address, respond, and raise awareness about current events and social issues.

Born in San Francisco, violist Brett Deubner has established himself as one of the foremost violists of his generation. As a sought after soloist who has performed with orchestras on five continents, Deubner has redefined the role of “solo artist” and has given the viola a new standing in the world of classical music with his virtuosity, commitment to championing new music, and his mentoring tomorrow’s young artists.

Composer Paul Osterfield was born in Nashville TN in 1973. Spending his formative years in Northeast Ohio, he composed and performed as a cellist throughout middle school and high school, in addition to studying violin, piano, and conducting. His early efforts as a composer were recognized in 1990, when the United States Copyright Office and the Library of Congress awarded Osterfield first prize in their Young Creators’ Contest. The following year, that winning work was performed by the Cleveland Orchestra on their Family Key Concert Series.

Heidi Jacob’s music has been described by BBC Magazine as “compositions ...of complex mesmerizing beauty,” by David Patrick Stearns of the Philadelphia Inquirer as “a musical adventurer,” and by Gramophone Magazine as music with “.....forthright expressiveness [that] exposes a multitude of stylistic associations.” A composer, cellist, and conductor, she is a graduate of both the Curtis Institute of Music and The Juilliard School, with a D.M.A. in composition from Temple University. She has performed as a cellist throughout the United States and Europe and has recorded as a cellist and conductor for the Capstone Records, Albany Records, and Navona Records.

Born in Detroit MI in 1970, Sean Hickey’s earliest music education began at age 12 with an electric guitar, a Peavey amp, and a stack of Van Halen records (the early ones of course). He studied jazz guitar at Oakland University, later graduating with a degree in composition and theory from Wayne State University. His primary instructors were James Hartway, James Lentini, and Leslie Bassett. After moving to New York, Hickey pursued further studies with Justin Dello Joio and Gloria Coates. His works include a symphony (Olympus Mons), concertos for clarinet, cello and mandolin, two string trios, a string quartet, a flute sonata, a woodwind quintet and trio, numerous pieces for solo instruments, church, theater and orchestral music.

Composer and conductor Joseph Gregorio has received commissions from ACDA, Cantus, The Esoterics, and Choral Chameleon, and was awarded a 2015 Commissioning Grant from the Ann Stookey Fund for New Music. Gregorio’s music is published by Areté Music Imprints, E.C. Schirmer Music Company, Walton Music, and Imagine Music Publishing. He is the director of choirs at Swarthmore College and was the founding director of Ensemble Companio, which he led from 2011-2016 and which won the 2012 American Prize in choral performance. Gregorio has also served as assistant conductor of the San Francisco Bach Choir and has taught music theory and musicianship at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and Temple University.

“Richard Galliano has changed the course of accordion history. Today we can speak of ‘before’ and ’after’ Galliano.” — Yasuhiro Kobayashi, accordionist and musician accompanist of the singer Björk It was my dearest wish: to give a fair place to this instrument, unjustly qualified as the “poor man’s piano,” whereas my accordion has always been a Steinway with braces. I was determined to restore the image of my instrument, so I left my native village and “went up to Paris” like many others. There I had the chance to meet artists who quickly put their trust in me: accordionists like Jo Basile, singers like Claude Nougaro, Serge Reggiani, Barbara, and jazzmen like Chet Baker, Charlie Haden, Ron Carter and Michel Portal.

Simon Andrews is an English composer who is earning a reputation as a creator of eloquent concert music that blends harmonic complexity and lyricism, introversion and broad gestures, delicate timbres and bold statements. His output ranges from large-scale orchestral works and opera to intimate chamber music, with a special delight in chamber music with solo voices. He studied at Oxford University, and the Royal Academy of Music, and gained a Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley. Winner of the 1985 Benjamin Britten Prize, his music has been commissioned and performed to critical acclaim on both sides of the Atlantic.

Deborah Kavasch, composer, soprano, specialist in extended vocal techniques, and music educator, has had works commissioned and performed in North America, Europe, the United Kingdom, and China. She has received grants and residencies in composition and performance, was a 1987 Fulbright Senior Scholar to Stockholm, and has appeared in major international music centers and festivals in concerts, solo recitals, workshops, lecture/demonstrations, and television and radio broadcasts since 1981.

Formed in 1891 as the Scottish Orchestra, the company became the Scottish National Orchestra in 1950, and was awarded Royal Patronage in 1977. Throughout its history, the Orchestra has played an integral part in Scotland’s musical life, including performing at the opening ceremony of the Scottish Parliament building in 2004. Many renowned conductors have contributed to its success, including George Szell, Sir John Barbirolli, Walter Susskind, Sir Alexander Gibson, Neeme Järvi, Walter Weller, Alexander Lazarev and Stéphane Denève.

John Christopher Wineglass is a multiple ®EMMY Award-Winning Composer who has performed on five continents, before U.S. presidents since Ronald Reagan, and with several ®OSCAR and ®GRAMMY Award-winning artists including Aretha Franklin, Whitney Houston, and Jamie Foxx to name a few. He has written several scores and incidental music for shows on MSNBC, CNN, NBC, CBS, and ABC as well as documentaries on Headliners & Legends for The Brady Bunch, Kathy Lee Gifford, and Farah Fawcett. Having scored mainly independent films, several of his nationally syndicated commercials include music for the United States Army, American Red Cross, and Texaco as well.

Barbara Jazwinski’s music has been heard throughout North America, Europe, and the Far East. Her portfolio, influenced by her Polish heritage and by the culture of New Orleans, her home for many years, includes over 100 original compositions in various genres and for many different vocal and instrumental ensembles. She has been commissioned by many artists and ensembles around the world and her works have been presented to critical acclaim at well-known concert series and international festivals. Among her numerous awards are the Prince Pierre of Monaco Composition Award and the First Prize in the Nicola De Lorenzo Composition Contest. Barbara Jazwinski’s compositions are available on several recording labels and on websites and radio stations around the world.

Steve Law is a British composer, arranger, and pianist. He studied composition at Bristol University under Raymond Warren and received a masters degree for his jazzy opera Heaven on Earth, which has been described as “a significant contribution to the genre.” Law has a gift for melody that is rare in contemporary music and a popular original style that assimilates jazz and pop influences. He has recorded and performed his music. Musicweb International described Law’s first solo piano album as “kaleidoscopically varied... impressionistic atmosphere... slowly burning passion.” His Violin Concerto was performed in Scotland and 3 Poems by Lorna Law were performed by Ferrier Award-winning baritone Gareth Brynmor John. Law is a published arranger of Dudley Moore’s music with Faber, and is working on a volume for the Gershwin Critical Edition.

David Watkin has made a wide range of acclaimed recordings including Sonatas by Vivaldi (Hyperion), Beethoven (Chandos), and Francis Pott (Guild), Haydn’s Sinfonia Concertante with OAE (Virgin), and Schubert Quintet with the Tokyo Quartet (Harmonia Mundi). He has been a soloist at Wigmore Hall, Barbican, Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Carnegie Hall, New York, and performed the Schumann Concerto with Sir John Eliot Gardiner and Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique at Lincoln Center, New York. As a guest artist he has collaborated with Robert Levin and Fredericka von Stade. As a founder member of the Eroica Quartet he has performed all over Europe and the United States and their recordings of Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Schumann, Debussy, and Ravel have astonished critics.

Composer Mark Eliot Jacobs, born in 1960, lives in southern Oregonís Rogue River Valley. He is a frequent participant in the musical life of the valley: principal trombonist in the Rogue Valley Symphony, and musician with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, among other engagements. He is an adjunct instructor at Southern Oregon University where he has taught in the areas of music theory, composition, and low brass. Mark holds the degree Doctor of Music from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois in Music Composition (1986).

Inspired by Christian iconography, Nathan’s compositions emphasize music’s ability to propose emotional narratives by layering and/or juxtaposing simple musical ideas, or “sonic icons.“ This approach to composition—praised by the Boston Globe as “adroit and expressively efficient”—stresses the relationship between disparate musical ideas, which the audience is invited to reconcile of their own accord. And while the narrative journeys of Nathan’s compositions can thus be as varied as humanity itself, the subject of each work points only to One: the salvation of humanity.

Bernard Hughes’s music has been performed by various ensembles, including the BBC Singers and the London Mozart Players at major British venues such as the Royal Albert Hall and St Paul’s Cathedral. His music has won a number of awards both in the UK and internationally, and is regularly broadcast on the UK’s BBC Radio 3. Bernard Hughes’s BBC commission Birdchant was premiered at the Proms festival in August 2021. After studying music at Oxford University, and composition privately with Param Vir, Bernard was awarded a Ph.D. in composition by London University in 2009.

Mark Edwards Wilson, currently a member of the faculty of the University of Maryland, began his productive career in his native California. He studied with Henri Lazarof and Leon Kirchner at the University of California at Los Angeles, where he received a Ph.D. at the age of 25. He has received many prizes, awards, and other honors for his orchestral and vocal works, as well as his chamber music and electro-acoustic compositions, many of which have been commissioned and performed by major institutions and performing organizations.

Founded in 1924 by visionary violin teacher Mary V. Dodge, Portland Youth Philharmonic provides young musicians in Portland OR with a challenging opportunity to explore their creativity while receiving the highest quality musical education. The nation’s first youth orchestra, PYP has produced consistently inspiring performances and upheld a tradition of excellence since its first public concert in February 1925. Alumni of this organization can be found around the world in professional orchestras, teaching music at every level, and promoting music education as an important life skill that benefits individuals in any career path.

Dr. J.A. Kawarsky (b. 1959) is Professor of Music Theory and Composition at Westminster Choir College of Rider University in Princeton in New Jersey. Kawarsky received his B.M. in composition from Iowa State University and his M.M. and D.M.A. from Northwestern University, where he studied with John Paynter, Alan Stout, and Frederick Ockwell. In 1982, Kawarsky conducted the Opera Company of the Negev Region in Be’er Sheva in Israel. Before coming to Westminster in 1989, he taught at Fort Hays State University, the University of Wisconsin, and Moraine Valley Community College.