Performers

A two-time Michigan Emmy Award winner, a 2017 Sphinx Medal of Excellence recipient, and a 2015 Grammy® Award nominee, Eugene Rogers is recognized as a leading conductor and pedagogue throughout the United States and abroad. In addition to being the founding director of EXIGENCE and the director of choirs and an associate professor of conducting at the University of Michigan, Rogers is the artistic director of The Washington Chorus (Washington DC). 

Dr. Diane Retallack has been Artistic Director of the Eugene Concert Choir organization since 1985 and is the founding director of the chamber ensemble Eugene Vocal Arts and the Eugene Concert Orchestra. She earned a Doctor of Music in Choral Conducting from Indiana University where she studied conducting with Margaret Hillis, founding director of the Chicago Symphony Chorus, and score analysis with master choral scholar Julius Herford. She has also drawn experience and inspiration from workshops and festivals with Helmuth Rilling and Robert Shaw. 

Richard Crosby was born in Ashland OH and raised in Largo FL. He holds a Bachelor of Music degree in Music Education (1979), a Master of Music degree in Piano and Wind Conducting (1981), and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Piano (1990) from the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music. His principal piano teachers at CCM were John Meretta and Richard Morris.

Angelique Poteat (b. 1986) is a native of the Pacific Northwest, and many of her works are inspired by the natural beauty of the region. Her music has been described as “engaging, restless” (New York Times), “serious and nicely crafted” (American Record Guide), and “extremely accomplished and vividly picturesque” (Seattle Times), receiving performances on four continents by ensembles including the Seattle Symphony Orchestra, arx Percussion Duo, Emerald City Music, CernaBella, and Trio Claviola. Poteat is the recipient of the 2015 American Prize in Orchestral Composition for her work Beyond Much Difference (2014), and has held Composer-in-Residence positions with the Seattle Symphony Orchestra and the New Music on the Rock Festival.

Ukrainian-born Natalya Pasichnyk, prize winner of several international piano competitions, has with Stockholm as her base, and with her deeply intellectual and creative interpretations, established herself as one of Europe's leading concert pianists. Sweden’s biggest classical music journal OPUS magazine listed her twice (2014, 2022) as one of Sweden's most influential cultural personalities. She has over the years also dedicated much energy on uncovering the unknown Ukrainian musical treasure for the Western audiences, and she has frequently appeared in both radio and TV.

Huang is the Full Professor of Violin at James Madison University School of Music and contributes to the community as a concertmaster of the Waynesboro Symphony. Her recordings of the complete Sonatas of Eugène Ysaÿe, Partitas and Sonatas of J.S. Bach for unaccompanied violin, and music by William Walton and Benjamin Britten in a collaboration with longtime friend and pianist Robert Koenig, are all on the Centaur Records label, have been excellently reviewed. “. . . her incisive technique and an exceptionally rich and beautiful tone. . .” was noted by Phil's Classical Reviews, Audio Video Club of Atlanta.

Michael Clark is a pianist devoted to the interconnection of performance, scholarship, and pedagogy. He has appeared in 15 U.S. states as a soloist, chamber musician, and clinician, specializing in 20th and 21st century repertoire. An advocate for the music of Florence Price, Clark has presented numerous lecture recitals on her piano works and made his solo album debut with Price’s complete waltzes and selected character pieces for Navona Records.

Internationally acclaimed veterans of contemporary music, Sirius Quartet combines exhilarating repertoire with unequalled improvisational fire. These conservatory-trained performer-composers shine with precision, soul and a raw energy rarely witnessed on stage, championing a forward-thinking, genre-defying approach that makes labels like 'New Music' sound tame.

Now celebrating 30 years, Empire City Men's Chorus (ECMC) has resounded with the heartbeat of humanity, transcending the realm of a traditional choral ensemble to become a transformative movement. From its founding in 1993 as The Gay Gotham Chorus, ECMC has remained dedicated to giving back to the LGBTQ community, initially supporting AIDS-related healthcare services and evolving to fearlessly confront the pressing challenges of New York City’s at-risk individuals, making a resounding impact in the greater community.

The RTÉ Concert Orchestra (Principal Guest Conductor Stephen Bell; Associate Principal Conductor Gavin Maloney; Associate Artist Guy Barker; Conductor Laureate Proinnsías Ó Duinn; Leader Mia Cooper) is part of RTÉ, Ireland’s national public service multimedia organization. Founded in 1948, the orchestra specializes in eclectic programming and has performed with Luciano Pavarotti, Lang Lang and Cleo Laine, and Irish artists, including Sinéad O’Connor and Imelda May. A recent series of 1990s dance music events won the IMRO radio Outstanding Achievement Award for 2018, and the RTÉ CO is now collaborating with Jenny Greene on a new set. The RTÉ CO has performed in seven Eurovision Song Contests and holds numeral film credits, including Stephen Rennicks’ score to Room and Brian Byrne’s Golden Globe-nominated score to Albert Nobbs.

Vincent Kennedy is a composer and conductor from Dublin, Ireland, who received his earliest music education in CBS Westland Row, Dublin. He won the under 18 category in the Feis Ceoil national music competition at age 12, and two years later won the adult Feis Ceoil. He was performing trumpet with the National Symphony Orchestra by the age of 19, and holds a master’s degree from Dublin City University in humanities (music and composition). Kennedy’s life experiences have defined his musical purpose, and he describes it as thus; “Music has been a faithful friend: always there to uplift, distract, colour, and comfort. I write music to enrich life and take my inspiration from many sources and possibilities, like a bee using the nectar of different flowers to produce a unique honey.”

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.

Ian Gindes has performed live at many venues, including PianoForte Chicago, Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, the Donald W. Nixon Centre, Yavapai College Performance Hall, and Carnegie Hall in New York. Gindes’ debut there earned praise from New York Concert Review. His previous recording, American Visions, was lauded by Gramophone Magazine (UK) for its “keyboard brilliance,” and his music, along with his last album, has been featured on many radio stations including SiriusXM Symphony Hall, WFMT (Chicago), WWFM (New Jersey-Pennsylvania), as well as on American Veterans Radio, Chicago’s WGN-TV, and WAIF Radio of Cincinnati OH.

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.

As the laureate of the 2007 International Markneukirchen Violin Competition, and the 2007 Sion-Valais International Violin Competition, Sunmi Chang has performed widely and to acclaim throughout North America and Europe as a solo artist and chamber musician. In 2008, she was the soloist of the Asian Tour to Seoul, Beijing, and Shanghai with the Yale Philharmonia, performing the Beethoven Violin Concerto.

Yuriy Bekker, critically-acclaimed violinist and conductor, has been a mainstay of the Charleston Symphony Orchestra (CSO) in Charleston SC for 15 years. He has recently been named the CSO’s Artistic Director and also continues to lead as Concertmaster (2007) and Principal Pops Conductor (2016). Bekker previously served as the orchestra’s Acting Artistic Director from 2010-2014, playing a major role in the orchestra’s successful resurgence. 

Alyssa Reit is an independent composer, arranger, performer, teacher, and storyteller. As a harpist, she has performed with institutions ranging from the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, the Pittsburgh Symphony, and the Metropolitan Opera, to contemporary music groups and Irish bands. She has given concerts with John Cage, toured Europe with the legendary Martha Clarke, and traveled the United States playing with the world famous vocal group, Anonymous 4. Her main body of work has been creating theatrical-musical settings of myths, classic stories, and fairy tales; these have been performed at such venues as the Caramoor Center for the Arts, the NYU Steinhardt’s storytelling series, and at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, to critical acclaim.

One of today's leading oboists, GRAMMY Award winner Alex Klein was Principal Oboe with the Chicago Symphony for nine years under Barenboim. Klein won top prizes at the international competitions in Geneva, Tokyo, New York, and Prague.

Through her depth of expression as an internationally recognized harp soloist, actor, writer, and teacher, Rita Costanzi, in the words of Irish Author, Treasa O’Driscoll, “bears the mark of the true artist whose task it is to rise above the tumult of the times. A force of truth and love in herself and a musician of exceptional accomplishment, her playing never fails to touch the souls of listeners in deep and unexpected ways.”

Russian-born, American pianist Elena Dorozhkina has captivated her audiences with an expressive warm tone, virtuosity, and passion in her playing. Genuinely committed to share emotions conveyed in music, Dorozhkina has performed solo and collaborative recitals at concert halls of the United States, Germany, Czech Republic, Russia, and Ukraine. Dorozhkina’s 2022 Spivey Hall solo and collaborative recital performance was broadcast on The Atlanta Music Scene, WABE FM 90.1 radio.