Performers

The Bowed Piano Ensemble, founded by composer Stephen Scott at Colorado College in 1977, has evolved into a small experimental-music orchestra whose ten players conjure, from one open grand piano, long, singing lines, sustained drones, chugging accordion-like figures, crisp staccato tones reminiscent of clarinets, deep drum tones and more, often simultaneously, to create a rich, contrapuntal new-chamber-music tapestry.

The Phoenix Ensemble is a mixed instrument chamber music group based in New York City. It was founded in 1991 with goals to inspire a new and diverse audience for classical music through live performances, recordings, and innovative community residencies. Through supporters such as the National Endowment for the Arts, it has been in residence at a wide range of venues, including NYC’s Greenwich House, the Aaron Copland School of Music, and the 92nd Street Y. The group also encourages the creation of new works, and sheds light on important unexplored music of our time.

Tapestry is a chamber group weaving together four unique performers working with six versatile composers. Each of these accomplished musicians brings a distinct thread of musical and cultural experiences to this project, resulting in an exciting recording of new repertoire. While there have been a handful of recordings in the past devoted to the earliest repertoire for the oboe, clarinet and piano trio by composers such as Edouard Destenay and Jean Gabriel Marie, this recording is remarkable in that it comprises all newly composed works for trio and quartet, driven by the combination and contrasts of the performers rather than a specific instrumentation.

Harmonija Dissonance Ensemble evolved from the eponymous research and performance project that started at the Academy of Music in Zagreb in 2016. Guided by the idea of bridging the gaps between the worlds of academic and folk musicians, of traditional and art music, the project soon evolved into the lively and stimulating space of mutual learning, experimenting, and music-making of renowned traditional singers and the Academy’s students.

Ergon is an Athens based contemporary music ensemble created in 2008 for performing works by living composers as well as masterpieces of the 20th and 21st-century avant-garde. Noted for its exciting interpretations and meticulous preparation, it has received praise from critics and audiences alike, making it the leading ensemble of its kind in Greece. An extremely flexible and versatile ensemble, Ergon is based on a core formation that is further reinforced, depending on the project, by a great number of guests and exceptionally talented musicians. Directed by a five-member musician team, responsible for planning, and collaborations, its original and adventurous programming includes chamber and orchestral music, musical theatre works, dance, contemporary opera, and cinema.

The New London Chamber Ensemble is a wind quintet with a difference. For over two decades the NLCE has challenged traditional ideas of chamber music with their innovative programs combining classic repertoire with semi-staged works incorporating drama, speech, and action.

Juventas New Music Ensemble is a contemporary chamber group with a special focus on emerging voices. Juventas shares classical music as a vibrant, living art form. They bring audiences music from a diverse array of composers that live in today’s world and respond to our time. Since its founding in 2005, Juventas has performed the music of more than 300 living composers. The ensemble has earned a reputation as a curator with a keen eye for new talent. It opens doors for composers with top-notch professional performances that present their work in the best possible light.

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.

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.

EXIGENCE is the professional vocal ensemble of the Sphinx organization, led by founding conductor Eugene Rogers and composed of vocal artists including solo performers, educators, conductors, and composers. The name EXIGENCE is inspired by the definition of the word — “an urgent need or demand.” Their mission is to promote excellence and diversity through choral music within Black and Latinx communities by creating a platform for soloists and composers of color while inspiring and challenging audiences around the country and world.

“Adventurous and passionate,” (The New Yorker) Ukrainian-born American pianist Inna Faliks has made a name for herself through her commanding performances of standard piano repertoire as well genre-bending interdisciplinary projects, and inquisitive work with contemporary composers. After her acclaimed teenage debuts at the Gilmore Festival and with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, she has performed on many of the world’s great stages, with numerous orchestras and in solo appearances. Faliks is currently Professor of Piano and Head of Piano at UCLA. Critics praise her “courage to take risks, expressive intensity and technical perfection” (General Anzeiger, Bonn), “remarkable insight” (Audiophile Audition),“poetry and panoramic vision” (Washington Post), “riveting passion, playfulness” (Baltimore Sun), and “signature blend of lithe grace and raw power” (Lucid Culture).

Mike Fansler is Professor of Music and Director of Bands at Western Illinois University in Macomb IL, where he provides direction and leadership for its comprehensive band program. He serves as conductor of the university Wind Ensemble and Chamber Players and teaches graduate and undergraduate conducting. He has served Western Illinois University since 2001.

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. 

With a charismatic blend of technical flair, polish, and grace, Portuguese-Canadian clarinetist Wesley Ferreira is widely considered a gifted expressionist. Equally at ease performing masterworks and contemporary repertoire, he has been praised by critics for his “beautiful tone” and “technical prowess” (The Clarinet Journal) as well as his “remarkable sensitivity” (CAML Review), and Fanfare Magazine notes that he is “clearly a major talent.”

Dieter Flury was born and brought up in Zurich (Switzerland) and studied with Hans Meyer (Principal Flute of the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich), André Jaunet (at the Zurich Music Academy), and Aurèle Nicolet. In addition to his flute studies he graduated in mathematics at the Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich. At age 25 he was appointed a member of the Vienna State Opera Orchestra and in 1981 he was named Principal Flute of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra.

Known for his joyful spirit and praised for his “clear, expressive playing,” “mature display of pyrotechnics,” and “seasoned artistry,” pianist Richard Fountain has steadily garnered recognition for his versatile abilities as soloist, collaborator, teacher, and conductor. Fountain’s diverse repertoire includes Bernstein’s Age of Anxiety and concertos by MacDowell, Shostakovich, and Philip Glass, in addition to thoughtfully programmed solo recitals and extensive experience as a collaborator. He is especially noted for performing the complete cycle of Franz Liszt’s monumental transcriptions of Beethoven’s nine symphonies.

The 2014 and 2018 Latin GRAMMY® Nominee for Best Classical Album and 2008 GRAMMY® Nominee for Best Instrumental Soloist without Orchestra, pianist Allison Brewster Franzetti has received international acclaim from critics and audiences alike for her stunning virtuosity and musicality, both as a soloist and chamber musician. Her performances include the live Latin GRAMMY® Awards television broadcast, the GRAMMY® Awards Classical Music Tribute to Earl Wild and Lang Lang at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, the American Classical Music Hall of Fame, the Robert Schumann Festival at the Marcella Sembrich Museum in Lake George NY, the Campeche Festival in Mexico, and at the opening of the VI International Festival of Music at the Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Hailed as a “virtuoso” by Donal Henahan of the New York Times, “an extraordinary musician” by The Washington Post, “stupefying” by L’Est Vaudois (Switzerland) and “one of America’s outstanding virtuoso double bass players,” with “eloquent playing, reinforced by his marked beauty of tone” by The Strad (magazine), Richard Fredrickson made his Carnegie Recital Hall debut at the age of 24 after winning the Concert Artists Guild award. This marked the first time the award had ever been presented to a double bassist.

Vox Futura is New England's premier recording choir for composers, recording artists, film, television, and video games. Past projects have included work with internationally distributed classical production house PARMA Recordings, video game companies Nintendo and Bandai Namco, legendary German power metal band Blind Guardian, and platinum selling world music artist Sami Yusef.

Dr. Misha Galaganov performs solo and chamber music concerts in major concert halls in the United States, Middle East, Latin America, Europe, and Asia. He has premiered about 30 compositions for viola alone, viola with piano, and viola in chamber music, written for him by composers from Israel, Russia, Mexico, Peru, Belgium, Italy, Uruguay, and the United States. As Principal Viola of the Dallas Chamber Symphony, he also premiered many pieces written for small symphony orchestra and string chamber ensembles.