Artists

Sophie Dupuis (b.1988) is a francophone composer from New Brunswick, Canada, interested in acoustic, electroacoustic, vocal, and interdisciplinary art music. She finds her inspiration in the picturesque scenery of the Maritimes where she grew up, as well as in various performance and visual art forms. Her work has been commissioned and performed by soloists and groups including Duo Holz, Made in Trio, Din of Shadows, Ballet-Opéra-Pantomime, Thin Edge New Music Collective, ECM+, the Naden Band of the Royal Canadian Navy, Quasar saxophone quartet, and Esprit Orchestra.

William Toutant was born in Worcester MA. He received his B.A. and M.A. from George Washington University and his Ph.D. in music theory and composition from Michigan State University. He joined the music faculty of California State University, Northridge in 1975. During the next 38 years he not only taught in the Department of Music, but he also served in a variety of administrative positions including Dean of the Mike Curb College of Arts, Media, and Communication.

Michael M. Lee is a composer and teacher with a background in composition, theory, post-tonal analysis, and musicianship, and is a graduate of the U.S.C. Thornton School of Music (D.M.A.), Juilliard (M.M.), and Eastman (B.M.). Born in Atlanta GA, and raised in Maryland, he was first introduced to classical music through the trumpet. He can play the piano and took several private lessons in classical guitar at the Peabody Institute in Maryland before starting his bachelor's degree in composition. His music can be heard on Spotify and Apple Music and purchased on iTunes, Naxos, or Amazon. He is currently residing and teaching in Southern California.

Keith Kramer is a composer of over 40 works for orchestra, chamber ensembles, solo instruments and electronic media. Keith Kramer's music is at times subtle and restrained, and other times ferocious and demanding. Always searching for new modes of expression, each piece that Keith composes represents another facet of a continuous journey of discovery. Keith’s music has also been performed and recorded by the Slovak National Symphony Orchestra, the Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra, David Taylor, Leonard Garrison and many others.

Timothy Kramer’s music reflects his fascination with motivic patterns, cyclical relationships, and musical gestures that unfold in a variety of changing speeds and textures. Originally from Washington State, Kramer (b. 1959) began playing the piano at an early age, and, although trained as a pianist, organist, and harpsichordist, he spent many years as a youth playing bass guitar in jazz and rock ensembles. His music reflects this influence, and he sometimes integrates various aspects of American popular music into his pieces.

Malcolm Dedman was born in London, England, on November 3, 1948. Fascinated at an early age by his mother’s piano playing, she taught him to play when he was around 5 years of age. Once Dedman had a basic understanding, he found himself improvising alongside his regular practice. By the age of 12, he realized that he wanted to write some of these ideas down, so this became the starting point to his career as a composer.

Robyn Jacob is a pianist, singer, composer and educator who lives and works on the unceded territories of the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh, Xʷməθkʷəy̓əm and Səl’il’wətaʔ Nations, also known as Vancouver. She has toured Canada and internationally with her avant-pop project Only A Visitor, who have released four albums to date, recently signing on with Mint Records. Her recent composition projects include commissions by Third Coast Percussion, So Percussion, Chor Leoni, Re:Naissance Opera, and Little Chamber Music. Her work often explores writing for unusual ensembles, as well as collaborations with visual artists and instrument makers.

Clipper Erickson made his debut at age nineteen in Los Angeles as soloist with the Young Musicians Foundation Orchestra, followed by studies at The Juilliard School, Yale University, and Indiana University, where he trained with the renowned British pianist John Ogdon. Erickson has won top prizes at international competitions and performs as soloist with orchestras throughout the US, as well as recitalist in venues including the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., Carnegie Hall, and Symphony Space in New York.

Randy Bauer's works have been performed across the United States and Europe by members of the Minnesota and St. Paul Chamber Orchestras, the Brentano String Quartet, eighth blackbird, Nash Ensemble of London, Zeitgeist, and many others, and has been broadcast on WFMT Chicago and Minnesota Public Radio. He has been a McKnight Foundation Fellow, and a resident artist at Yaddo, the Ucross Foundation, and the Atlantic Center for the Arts. He holds degrees from the Peabody Conservatory and Princeton University, and is on the faculty of Macalester College in St. Paul MN.

Ahmed Alabaca is an African American composer, conductor, songwriter, pianist, and community facilitator creating power and possibility, through music, for himself and the diverse communities he is a part of. Raised in San Bernardino CA, in a low-income community, Alabaca knows the value of hard work and perseverance in the face of systemic and interpersonal challenges. Alabaca’s vision is “a new renaissance” for underrepresented composers, which centers on the works of people of color and creates opportunities for them to perform, record, and archive their work.

Caitlin Edwards is a violinist, arranger, recording artist, and teacher based in Chicago. She began her musical journey at the age of 8 within a non-profit organization in her hometown of Birmingham AL. She later attended the University of Louisville (B.M.) and DePaul University (M.M.). Edwards is a classically trained violinist, but she’s inspired by gospel, jazz, hip-hop, and neo-soul. She released her debut album, Exhale, in 2021. She composes original music and intentionally performs the works of Black composers to help ensure that these composers and their compositions are remembered and spotlighted for aspiring young BIPOC musicians and the world as a whole. 

Daniel Schlosberg leads a kaleidoscopic musical life. He has appeared with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in numerous chamber music concerts and new music concerts, and was a featured soloist in subscription performances of Messiaen’s Trois Petites Liturgies. He has a passion for contemporary music, collaborating frequently with Eighth Blackbird and Third Coast Percussion.

Reed Chamberlin serves as director of bands at the University of Nevada, Reno, where he conducts the Nevada Wind Ensemble, teaches conducting, and guides the band program. He holds a doctor of musical arts degree in conducting from the Eastman School of Music where he was the assistant conductor of the Eastman Wind Ensemble, a Fennell Conducting Fellow, and recipient of the Walter Hagen Prize in conducting.

The nationally recognized Nevada Wind Ensemble is the flagship wind and percussion ensemble at the University of Nevada, Reno. Using one-per-part instrumentation, the Wind Ensemble performs a broad repertoire of classic and contemporary styles, ranging from large band works to chamber pieces. The ensemble tours regularly throughout the Western United States and provides the opportunity to collaborate with world-class guest conductors and guest artists. The group consists of graduate and undergraduate students.

Gary Smart’s career has encompassed a wide range of activities as composer, classical and jazz pianist, and teacher. Always a musician with varied interests, he may be the only pianist to have studied with Yale scholar/keyboardist Ralph Kirkpatrick, the great Cuban virtuoso Jorge Bolet, and the master jazz pianist Oscar Peterson. A true American pluralist, Smart composes and improvises music that reflects an abiding interest in Americana, jazz, and world music, as well as the Western classical tradition.

Paul Kopetz is an award-winning composer and a multi-instrumentalist, arranger, conductor, and teacher. He is a graduate of The University of Melbourne, The Victorian College of the Arts, The Rotterdam Conservatorium, and Monash University. His works have been performed in the United States, Asia, Europe, and Australia. Kopetz’s music has been described as “a highly emotive and colorful mix of polystylistic soundscapes where Contemporary Classical forms provide a flexible springboard for personal journeys of reflection, social commentary, explorations of the natural world and above all artistic integrity.”

The Ulysses Quartet has been praised for their “textural versatility,” “grave beauty,” and “the kind of chemistry many quartets long for, but rarely achieve” (The Strad), as well as their “avid enthusiasm ... [with] chops to back up their passion” (San Diego Story), “delivered with a blend of exuberance and polished artistry” (The Buffalo News). Founded in the summer of 2015, the group won the grand prize and gold medal in the senior string division of the 2016 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition and first prize in the 2018 Schoenfeld International String Competition. In 2017, the quartet finished first in the American Prize and won second prize at the Osaka International Chamber Music Competition.

Described by NPR's Ron Schachter as "a musical Lewis and Clark, opening up new musical territories," Duo Cello e Basso “unites passion with elegance” (Boston Globe). Cellist/composer Emmanuel Feldman and double bassist Pascale Delache-Feldman partner to perform repertoire ranging from Bartok, Mozart, and Rossini to Feldman, Pinkham, and Schnittke. With more than 20 commissions and premiers to their credit, the duo creates dynamic programming that surprises and energizes audiences.

Hailed by John Williams as “an outstanding cellist and truly dedicated artist,” Emmanuel Feldman performs in the United States and abroad as a soloist, chamber musician, and composer. Described by Gramophone as “an artist who combines communicative urgency with tonal splendor,” Feldman’s recent release Our American Roots (Delos) includes Pulitzer Prize winning composer George Walker’s cello sonata. An enthusiastic collaborator, he has partnered in a wide range of performances with Bobby McFerrin, the Mark Morris Dance Group, Verona String Quartet, and Boston Pops. 

Praised by the New Music Connoisseur for her “technical certainty and musical imagination,” French double bassist Pascale Delache-Feldman has been described as “a gifted colorist who produced an entire range of orchestral effects” (Boston Phoenix). In her recent appearance at the Kennedy Center, Delache-Feldman performed her own arrangement of Astor Piazzolla’s Four Seasons of Buenos Aires, which is included in her Navona Records album LET’S TANGO with Duo Cello e Basso and pianist Victor Cayres. Other recital credits include performances at Radio France; Franz Liszt Academy, Hungary; and Teatro Victoria Eugenia, San Sebastian, Spain. As a soloist, she has performed with the Merrimack Valley Philharmonic, the North Shore Philharmonic, and the Greensboro Festival Orchestra.