Performer Biographies

“The American clarinetist Jean Kopperud was absolutely smashing” (New York Post). Reviewers have called Kopperud “superhuman”, “magnificent”, “unforgettably visual”, “staggering”, “sensational”, “dazzling”, “wonderful”, “the total clarinetist” and the list goes on. But possibly Allan Kozinn of the New York Times says it best. “It began brilliantly, with an overdriven, virtuosic clarinet line that Jean Kopperud played with the power, texture and coloration that have become her trademark… Ms. Kopperud has the technique and imagination to make nearly anything sound interesting.”

A graduate of The Juilliard School and former student of Nadia Boulanger in France, Kopperud has toured the United States, Canada, Europe, Japan, China, the Caribbean and Australia as concert soloist and chamber musician. Presently she is performing with The New York New Music Ensemble, Omega, Ensemble 21, Washington Square Chamber Players and University at Buffalo’s Sinfonietta. She has recorded for Deutsche Grammophon, Bridge Records, CRI, Albany Records, Mode, G M Recording, Koch, Musical Heritage, New World Records and Centaur Records.

Kopperud is also a performer on the cutting edge of the Music-Theater genre. National acclaim for her presentations of Karlheinz Stockhausen’s “Harlekin”, the demanding performance work for dancing clarinetist, resulted in her Avery Fisher Hall debut presented by the New York Philharmonic. Each holiday season, she takes part in the Twelfth Night Festival in Westerly, Rhode Island, where she is seen starring in unusual performance art roles. Working with Broadway director, Tom O’Horgan, Jean Kopperud developed “CloudWalking” a music-theater work that previewed at ClarFest in 1988 and toured for three years. “Cloud Walking” is a reference to Kopperud’s passion for skydiving. She found a way to include even that in her show, which amused and amazed audiences with her very special combination of musical and athletic abilities.

Currently Ms. Kopperud is a tenured Professor of Music at the University at Buffalo. (Formerly on the New York University and Columbia faculties and 18 years with Juilliard’s Music Advancement Program.) She also teaches a class called “On the Edge” in the Evening Division at the Juilliard School. “On the Edge” is a course to practice performing that is also done in workshop around the country.

The Winnipeg Free Press reviewed a past project that Kopperud toured, which might describe her newest adventure called “Rated X” premiered last fall on the West coast. “You can expect to have your head bent a little. You will stay awake. You will be fascinated and infuriated… and exhilarated by what you have heard.” “Rated X” is seven clarinet and piano works written for Kopperud asking composers to dare to stretch the medium. Rated X II for clarinet and percussion premieres in the fall of 2010.

Megan Kyle performs as a soloist, chamber musician, and orchestra musician around the Buffalo and Western New York region, tackling standard repertoire and new music with equally fierce enthusiasm. Currently a member of the Buffalo-based new music ensemble Wooden Cities, she previously played in the Civic Orchestra of Chicago. She has performed with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, the Slee Sinfonietta, the Erie Philharmonic, the Erie Chamber Orchestra, and the New World Symphony in Miami.

Highlights of the past year include a solo recital at the Chicago Cultural Center’s Preston Bradley Hall, a chamber music performance with Yo-Yo Ma and members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and numerous solo and chamber appearances with Wooden Cities.

Ms. Kyle holds a Master of Music with Distinction in Oboe Performance from DePaul University (2013), as well as a B.M. in Oboe Performance and B.A. in English with High Honors from Oberlin Conservatory and College (2011). Her principal teachers were Eugene Izotov, Robert Walters, Alex Klein, and Louis Rosenblatt.

Oboist, Jacqueline Leclair, resides in New York City and Montréal Québec and is a member of Signal and Sequitur. She can frequently be heard performing with other New York City ensembles. As of August 2012, Dr. Leclair is Assistant Professor of Oboe at McGill University’s Schulich School of Music. From 2007-2012, she was Assistant Professor of Oboe at Bowling Green State University (Ohio). 2010-2012, she also served as BGSU’s MidAmerican Center for Contemporary Music’s Director.

Luciano Berio’s Sequenza VIIa Supplementary Edition by Jacqueline Leclair is published by Universal Edition, Vienna, and Dr. Leclair’s recording of the piece is on Mode Record’s collection of all the Berio Sequenzi and other solo works.

Summer festivals for which Dr. Leclair has served as faculty and/or performer include the Lincoln Center Festival (NYC), Chamber Music Conference at Bennington College (VT), June In Buffalo (NY), Chamber Music Festival of Aguascalientes (Mexico), East/West Festival (Kazan, Tatarstan) and the Sebago Music Festival (ME) among others.

In addition to performing a variety of classical and other musics, Dr. Leclair specializes in the study and performance of new music. She has premiered many works, and she regularly presents classes in contemporary music and its techniques at schools such as UCLA, the Eastman School of Music, Brigham Young University, The North Carolina School for the Arts and University of California San Diego.

Dr. Leclair has recorded for labels such as Nonesuch, CRI, Koch, Neuma, and CBS Masterworks, receiving critical acclaim in particular for her premiere recording of Roger Reynolds’ Summer Island.

Dr. Leclair studied with Richard Killmer and Ronald Roseman at the Eastman School of Music of the University of Rochester and SUNY Stony Brook, earning a Bachelor of Music, Performer’s Certificate, Masters Degree and Doctorate of Musical Arts.

The New York Times has reviewed Dr. Leclair’s performances as “astonishing” and as having “electrifying agility”; and the New Yorker has referred to her as “lively” and “wonderful.”

Before coming to Michigan, Adam Unsworth served as Fourth Horn of The Philadelphia Orchestra from 1998 to 2007. Prior to his appointment in Philadelphia, he spent three years as Second Horn of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. He also served as a guest Principal horn with the St. Louis Symphony as well as Principal horn of the Colorado Music Festival. A former faculty member at Temple University, he has appeared at many universities throughout the United States as a recitalist and clinician. He has made several solo and chamber appearances at Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall. Mr. Unsworth received his formal training at Northwestern University, where he studied with former Chicago Symphony Orchestra members Gail Williams and Norman Schweikert. He continued with graduate work at the University of Wisconsin-Madison with Douglas Hill. He later recorded Jazz Set for Solo Horn, released in 2001 as part of Thoughtful Wanderings, a compilation of Hill’s works for horn. In 2000, the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music named him their Distinguished Alumnus of the Year. In 2006 Adam released his first jazz CD entitled Excerpt This!, which features five of his original compositions for jazz sextet and three unaccompanied works.

Assistant Professor of the State University of New York at Buffalo, and UB’s Brass Area Coordinator, Jon Nelson maintains an active career as performer, producer and collaborator. He is a founding member of the internationally recognized Meridian Arts Ensemble, and has collaborated with numerous contemporary composers, most notably Milton Babbitt and Frank Zappa.

Jon has been instrumental in the commissioning of over sixty new works for trumpet in various ensembles, and his arrangements have been performed and recorded by the Cologne Stadt Ballet, Atlantic Brass Quintet, Lake George Opera, Ethos Percussion Quartet, Lark Quartet, and Dweezil Zappa. He is also the founder of The Consortium for New Trumpet Music, which seeks to create new music for trumpet in a variety of contexts, and is the Managing Director of Blue Bison Music.

With the Meridian Arts Ensemble, he records exclusively for Channel Classics and 8bells Records. As an independent artist, he has produced two solo recordings for 8bells Records; Gran Calavera Electrica and Metalofonico!. He is currently producing a series of compact disc recordings for 8bells that feature contemporary and newly commissioned works for brass. He can be heard on over 30 other recordings with various ensembles.

He served as Principal Trumpet for the Festival Orchestra d’Aix en Provence in France under the direction of Pierre Boulez (2000), and the Mineria Festival Orchestra in Mexico City (1998). Jon has also appeared with the Baltimore Symphony, Buffalo Philharmonic, and the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra.

Active in the field of education, he has recently performed and taught numerous festivals including the Meridian Seminar @ ECU, Bar Harbor Brass Week, Wellesley Composers Conference, Atlantic Brass Seminar, June in Buffalo, and the Festival Centro Historico in Mexico City. He has presented numerous masterclasses in the US, Holland, Germany, Belgium, Taiwan, Mexico, Colombia, Cuba, and Costa Rica. He currently is Teacher of Trumpet at Princeton University, and has also taught at Boston University, Hartt College, and Middlebury College.

Jon is also active as a freelance musician in the New York City area. He has appeared in Broadway orchestra pits of Chicago, Fiddler on the Roof, 42nd St., Nine, Man of LaMancha, The King and I, Camelot, and Crazy for You. He was also a member of the Tom Pierson Orchestra, and the Kirk Nurock Big Band. Most recently, Jon has also been a co-curator of FONT – the Festival of New Trumpet Music, a month long festival of contemporary trumpet music in New York City.

Jon Nelson holds a B.M. from The Juilliard School where he studied with Mark Gould.

Percussionist Tom Kolor specializes in 20th and 21st century music, and is one of New York City’s most in demand chamber musicians. Currently an Assistant Professor at University at Buffalo, Mr. Kolor directs the Percussion Ensemble, teaches private lessons, and is Principal Percussionist with UB’s Slee Sinfonietta.

Professor Kolor appears throughout the United States and Europe as a member of Talujon Percussion, Manhattan Sinfonietta, Ensemble 21, Sospeso, American Modern Ensemble and Newband. In addition, he is a frequent guest of such ensembles as the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, New York New Music Ensemble, Speculum Musicae, Continuum, Da Capo Chamber Players, Group for Contemporary Music, and Orpheus Chamber Orchestra.

As a soloist, Professor Kolor has given dozens of premieres by such composers as Milton Babbitt, John Zorn, Wayne Peterson, Tania Leon, and Jerome Kitzke. He has recorded for Bridge, New World, Albany, Capstone, Innova, Wergo, Naxos, CRI, Koch, Tzadik, North/South Consonance, and Deutsche Grammophon labels.

Critically acclaimed percussionist Stephen Solook currently resides in Buffalo, NY. As a vivacious interpreter of contemporary music Steve has worked with such composers as Pulitzer Prize winners Paul Moravec and Roger Reynolds, Chinary Ung, Bruce Adolphe, and David Loeb. With co-founder, Tiffany Du Mouchelle, of the Aurora Borealis duo (for soprano and percussion) they have performed together more then any other duo of its kind. Venturously they encourage the development of and explore equally composed works for this primal combination. Mr. Solook has performed as a soloist throughout the United States, Egypt, Mexico, Papua New Guinea, and is a sought after concerto soloist for many ensembles and composers. As an orchestral musician, Steve has served as principal percussionist/timpanist with multiple New York City ensembles, was a member of the La Jolla Symphony in San Diego, California, and performed as an substitute percussionist with the Buffalo Philharmonic. As a member of the non-profit organization Cultures in Harmony, Mr. Solook has traveled to perform, teach, and lead workshops in Cameroon, Egypt, Mexico, and Papua New Guinea. Ethnomusicological research has brought Steve to Fiji in a search to locate and document pre-colonial music, as a conservation project with Pacific Blue Foundation. Steve has performed with Bang on a Can All-Stars, Eighth Black Bird, the International Contemporary Ensemble, red fish blue fish, San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, Joseph Alessi, Bob Becker, David Krakauer, Steven Schick, Lucy Shelton, Socalled, Gordon Stout, Glen Velez, and the Jose Limon Dance Company.  He has had the privilege to work under such conductors as John Rutter, JoAnn Falletta, Paul Nadler, and Edwin Outwater, and in venues ranging from Los Angeles’s Disney Hall and New York City’s Lincoln Center to the legendary nightclub CBGB’s. Steve can be seen on QPTV and heard on Bridge, Vortex, and Mode labels, as well as additional forthcoming productions with Mode records. Dr. Solook received his Doctorate of Musical Arts degree from the University of California at San Diego, after attending Mannes College and Ithaca College.

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Kristen Moss Theriault has emerged as one of Canada’s most innovative young harpists. A versatile performer, Kristen’s artistry is evident whether presenting showpiece solos, playing with preeminent symphony orchestras or engaging new audiences at downtown clubs and festivals. Originally from Portland, Oregon, Kristen completed her Bachelors of Music in harp performance with celebrated recording artist Dr. Carrol McLaughlin at the University of Arizona, and then went on to receive her Masters degree from the University of Toronto, where she studied with world-renowned harpist Judy Loman. Kristen also attended the Henry Mancini Jazz Institute on a full scholarship, where she received advanced training from jazz artists such as Ray Brown, Jack Elliot and Carol Robbins.

A featured soloist at the Niagara International Chamber Festival, Kristen collaborated to great acclaim in a presentation of chamber music alongside the legendary violinist, Zvi Zeitlin. Her passion and expertise have led to performances at Roy Thompson Hall with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and at the Glen Gould Studio for CBC’s live broadcast of “Two New Hours”. An experienced recording artist, Kristen is frequently called to lend her talents to film scores and commercial tracks, and recently appeared in the live CBC production of “How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria?” as part of the studio orchestra.

As principal harpist for the Slee Sinfonietta, Kristen enjoys pushing the boundaries of the harp in a contemporary music setting, and has had the opportunity to work with composers such as Charles Wuorinen, David Felder and Michael Colgrass. She was recently featured on the CBC Radio broadcast of The Origin Cycle, a Canadian premiere of eight new works based on the writings of Darwin.

Kristen is often found assailing many an ear and a few preconceived notions of the harp at Independent Arts Festivals, new music concerts and in local attics and basements. She records and tours internationally with resident Toronto bands, and her inventive work with other contemporary and improvisational ensembles allows her to experiment with new sounds and new music.

Along with maintaining a private studio for harp instruction, she also holds the post of Adjunct Instructor of Harp with the State University of New York at Buffalo and Music Instructor at Manor Montessori in Toronto.

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Originally hailing from the UK, award winning harpist Rosanna Moore is equally at home on stage as a soloist, chamber musician and orchestral player. She was the first harpist ever to become a finalist in the Royal Northern College of Music’s Gold Medal Weekend (the highest accolade offered for solo performance), the first harpist to be awarded the Stan Barker Memorial Prize for jazz improvisation, and was placed third in Europe’s first Jazz and Pop Harp competition. More recently she was awarded the Robert Wayne Barlow Award for excellence in harp performance and was awarded third place in Tierra47’s pedal harp competition

As an avid chamber musician, Rosanna is a founding member of Trio Alexander (flute, viola, harp) and Sticks&Strings percussion and harp duo. Described as “daring and unconventional”, Trio Alexander has recently returned from their first UK tour having been supported by an Eastman Development Grant and can regularly be seen in concert throughout the East Coast. As a rather novel duo, Sticks&Strings aims to build a repertoire for harp and percussion duos and often collaborate with other art forms. They are currently working on a new show titled God Complex which will premiere in 2018. They were recently awarded the United Kingdom Harp Association Bursary to help fund the project.

In addition to her house ensembles, Rosanna enjoys the challenge of working with eclectic ensembles such as Divinity (an Indian classical music group), jazz groups and even the US Army Band. Notably, she has performed for royalty in an ensemble of 60 harps for Prince Charles’ 60th birthday and recently shared the stage with five-time Grammy winning soprano, Kathleen Battle as part of her Underground Railroad tour. As an orchestral musician, she was recently appointed as Principal Harp with the Orchestra of the Southern Finger Lakes and Second Harp with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra.

Rosanna enjoys working with composers and has both commissioned and premiered works at festivals such as: Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, Tête à Tête Opera Festival and Eastman’s Women in Music Festival. In 2014 she premiered two harp concerti by composers Nicholas R. Conn and Dan Kohane and in 2017, she performed the US premiere of David Horne’s Splintered Instruments. She has worked with numerous contemporary music groups and initiatives such as Sounds of the Engine House (Manchester, UK), The Future Blend Project (Warwick, UK), Ensemble Signal (NY), Ithaca College Contemporary Players (NY), Society for New Music (NY), Ensemble LINEA (France) and OSSIA New Music (NY). Additionally, she served on the board of OSSIA New Music as President in 2015/2016.

Finally, as a passionate educator and researcher, Rosanna wishes to bring the harp to as many people as possible. She currently holds the position Harp Instructor at the Eastman Community Music School in addition to being Professor of Harp at Nazareth College. Her research deals with the connection between musical performance and theatre. This recently culminated in being shortlisted for the Lecture Recital Prize at the Eastman School of Music and having her paper published in Contemporary Music Review, both of which explored the relationship between choreography and performance in R. Murray Schafer’s Crown of Ariadne.

Rosanna is currently completing the Doctor of Musical Arts program with a minor in theatre and an Arts Leadership Certificate at the Eastman School of Music. She studied in the studio of renowned harpist Kathleen Bride, where she was generously supported by the Eileen Malone Scholarship. Rosanna graduated with honours from the Royal Northern College of Music in 2011, where she studied with the acclaimed Welsh harpist Eira Lynn Jones. Prior to this she attended the prestigious Chetham’s School of Music.

music since making his debut with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at age 17. In January 2012, he was appointed pianist of the New York Philharmonic and has been featured in works by Lindberg, Stravinsky, Ives, Milhaud and R. Strauss among others. In June 2012 he will give the New York Premiere of Elliott Carter’s Two Conversations and a Controversy for piano, percussion and chamber orchestra with Musicians of the New York Philharmonic and David Robertson conducting as part of the CONTACT! series. He has previously collaborated with Mr. Robertson in performances of Gyorgy Ligeti’s Piano Concerto and Olivier Messiaen’s Oiseaux Exotiques. Since 2001, Huebner has been a member of Antares, a quartet comprised of clarinet, violin, cello and piano. First prize winners of the 2002 Concert Artists Guild International Competition, Antares appears regularly in major chamber music venues throughout the country.

Mr. Huebner has twice been a featured recitalist at the Ojai Festival in California. Most recently in 2010, performing the complete Vingt Regards sur l’Enfant-Jesus by Olivier Messiaen. Other recent highlights include solo appearances at the Monday Evening Concerts and Piano Spheres series in Los Angeles, The Carlsbad New Music Festival, the oh-ton new music series in Oldenburg, Germany, and recitals in New York City of the solo music of Stravinsky and Andriessen presented by Miller Theater and Le Poisson Rouge, respectively.

Mr. Huebner is currently Assistant Professor of Music at the University at Buffalo where he maintains an active piano studio. His performances have been broadcast on PBS and NPR, and on radio stations KMOZ (Los Angeles), WNYC (New York), Radio Bremen (Germany), ORF (Austria) and the BBC. He has recorded for Col Legno, Centaur, Bridge, Albany, Tzadik, Innova, New Focus Recordings and Mode Records. A recently released two-disc set on Mode features Huebner and pianists Yuji Takahashi and Marilyn Nonkin in the complete piano music of Roger Reynolds. Mr. Huebner holds a B.M. and M.M. from The Juilliard School where he studied with Jerome Lowenthal.

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Jade Conlee is a pianist and music theorist pursuing a PhD at Yale University. In 2014, Jade was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to study modernist and recent European repertoire at the Stuttgart Musikhochschule with Nicolas Hodges. While in Germany, she researched self-perception of aesthetic-political structures within Germany’s nationally diverse contemporary performance community.  Jade has given solo recitals of contemporary music in New York City and Berlin, and her writing has been published by Serpentine Magazine, Blatt 3000, and West 10th.

Jade has been a featured performer at festivals for contemporary music at the Banff Centre, Mannes, NEC, and June In Buffalo, where she shared a concert with Irvine Arditti. Jade completed her Masters degree in piano performance in 2017 at the University at Buffalo in the studio of Eric Huebner. She earned her Bachelor of Music degree from NYU where she studied with Dr. Marilyn Nonken and completed a minor in creative writing.

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Shannon Leigh Reilly Steigerwald specializes in the study and performance of contemporary music in her career as a violinist. A dedicated collaborator, she pursues working with young composers, giving many premieres of her colleagues’ compositions. Steigerwald is a founding member and on the administrative board for Ensemble iD, a Rochester-based group of musicians and composers who seek to obliterate the line separating traditional and contemporary classical music, performing old and new works side by side. She teaches at the University of Buffalo as the adjunct violin professor. Steigerwald has performed with ensembles such as Ensemble Signal, Broadband Ensemble, OSSIA Ensemble, and the JACK Quartet. She holds a BM and MM in violin performance from the Eastman School of Music. She is married to Thomas Steigerwald, a concert pianist and New World fellow. She is currently reading Guns Germs and Steel, by Jared Diamond.

Leanne Darling creates a powerful new voice for the viola. She draws from her classical technique, her skills in many musical genres, and her passion for improvisation to break the boundaries of this underused instrument. She holds degrees from the Eastman School of Music and the Cleveland Institute of Music. She was a finalist in the ASTA National Solo Competition and a winner of the Durham (NC) Young Artists Competition. Professionally, Darling has held the principal and assistant principal position in the Florida West Coast Symphony, the Missouri Chamber Orchestra, and the Salzburger Kammerphilharmonie.

Cellist/composer Jonathan Golove is a native of Los Angeles, California and a resident of Buffalo, New York, where he serves as Associate Professor in the University at Buffalo’s Department of Music. Mr. Golove’s career is marked by its versatility, sense of adventure, and commitment to the performance of both new and traditional works, as well as of improvised music. He has been featured as soloist with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, Slee Sinfonietta, New York Virtuoso Singers, and, as a baroque cellist, with the USC Early Music Ensemble. He has recorded for the Albany, Centaur, CRI, Albuzerque, and Nine Winds labels, and his performances and interviews have been broadcast by numerous National public radio stations, as well as the West German Radio, Radio Nuevo León, and Radio France. His summer festival appearances include the Sebago-Long Lake and Roycroft Chamber Music Festivals, as well as numerous festivals devoted to new works, including June in Buffalo, the North American New Music Festival, the Aki Festival of New Music, and the Festival del Centro Histórico, Mexico City. A member of the critically acclaimed Baird Trio, Mr. Golove is a former member of the Elisha and June In Buffalo String Quartets, and has performed as a guest with the Cassatt Quartet and the Cleveland Octet.

Mr. Golove is also active as an electric cellist, particularly in the field of creative improvised music, and he is one of a handful of performers on the historic theremin cello. He has performed and recorded with groups including the Michael Vlatkovich Quartet, Ubudis Trio, and Vinny Golia’s Large Ensemble, and made appearances at the Vancouver Jazz Festival, the Eddie Moore Jazz Festival (Oakland), and the International Meeting of Jazz Musicians (Monterrey, Mexico). He has also been honored to perform with such leading figures as Andrew Cyrille, Rashied Ali, Sonny Fortune, Ramón Lopez, and Andre Jaume. Mr. Golove gave the first performance of Varese’s Ecuatorial using Floyd Engel’s recreated theremin cello in 2002, and he played the work with the Asko/Schoenberg Ensemble this past year at the Holland Festival (Amsterdam) and Festival d’Automne (Paris), and more recently with the London Sinfonietta at the Southbank Centre. He will bring this historic instrument to New York City for a performance at the Lincoln Center Festival in July 2010.

Mr. Golove received his undergraduate education at the University of California at Berkeley, where he was a cello student of outstanding Bay Area cellists Bonnie Hampton and Stephen Harrison. As recipient of an Alfred Hertz Traveling Fellowship, he spent a year abroad studying with contemporary music legend Siegfried Palm in Cologne, Germany. He earned a Masters degree in cello performance from USC, studying with LA Philharmonic principal cellist Ronald Leonard.

Dr. Megan McDevitt moved to Buffalo, NY after completing her DMA at the University of Michigan with Dr. Diana Gannett. Born and raised in San Francisco, she has worked extensively as an orchestral musician, having performed regularly with the bass sections of the Oakland, Berkeley, Silicon Valley, Marin, Santa Rosa, and Stockton Symphonies (among others), as well as Lansing and Ann Arbor Symphonies in Michigan. Megan studied with Barry Green at the University of California at Santa Cruz, where she received her Bachelor of Music with Honors, and continued on to her Master of Music with Scott Pingel at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Other influences include Christopher Hanulik and Eugene Levinson, with whom Megan studied at the Aspen Music Festival. For many years, Megan has performed in the Mendocino Music Festival Orchestra, and since 2012 has spent most summers as a faculty member at Golden Gate Bass Camp in San Francisco.

In the last few years, Megan’s interest has turned to new music, working closely with composers via commissions and performing with various professional new music groups including ÆPEX Ensemble, Null Point, Wooden Cities, and Slee Sinfonietta, in addition to the Magik*Magik Orchestra and the Switchboard Operators in San Francisco. Megan has been a fellow at the New Music Workshop at Yale’s Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, where she worked with emerging composers to realize their works, and at the Future Music Lab of the Atlantic Music Festival, where she explored music performance technologies in partnership with IRCAM in Paris. She is half of the bass duo Shade & Light (with Betsy Soukup) which includes creating performances that are transformative for audiences as well as themselves and collaboratively creating new works with artists of various disciplines. Megan’s interests extend to the research of gender in the field of music (particularly in the realm of bassists), and she has lectured on this topic at the International Society of Bassists convention in Ithaca, at Atlantic Music Festival, and at the Great Lakes Regional College Music Society Conference in Westerville, Ohio.

Her passion for teaching brought her to the role of the classical bass instructor for the Young Musicians Choral Orchestra in Berkeley, whose mission is to provide musical education and college preparation for financially challenged but highly talented junior high and high school students. YMCO introduced Megan to the benefits of El Sistema-inspired programs and sparked a drive to help children in underserved communities through music-making. She continued this drive through her work with the University of Michigan’s Musical Artist Citizens program in Ann Arbor, where she managed the program from the administrative side, acting as liaison to the university. Megan is honored to currently serve as Associate Director of Buffalo String Works, another El Sistema-inspired program, and hopes to bring her experience and passion to the refugee community on Buffalo’s West Side.

Although prolific as a classical bassist, Megan also enjoys playing outside the genre, and has performed onstage with bands including Chicago, the Fifth Dimension, and Sting as a member of the Magik*Magik Orchestra.  She has previously been a member of an Americana band, and has been known to cover Radiohead on her recitals.

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Brad Lubman, conductor/composer, has played a vital role in contemporary music for more than two decades. A frequent guest conductor of the world’s leading ensembles, he has gained widespread recognition for his versatility, commanding technique, and insightful interpretations.

Conducting a broad range of repertoire from classical to contemporary works, Lubman has led major orchestras in Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Taiwan, and the U.S. Among these are the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Dresden Philharmonic, DSO Berlin, RSO Stuttgart, WDR Symphony Cologne, National Symphony Orchestra Taiwan, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Finnish Radio Symphony, and the Netherlands Radio Chamber Philharmonic.

In addition, he has worked with some of the most important European and American ensembles for contemporary music, including Ensemble Modern, London Sinfonietta, Musik Fabrik, ASKO Ensemble, Ensemble Resonanz, Los Angeles Philharmonic New Music Group, Chicago Symphony MusicNOW, and Steve Reich and Musicians.

Lubman has conducted at new-music festivals across Europe, including those in Lucerne, Salzburg, Berlin, Huddersfield, Paris, Cologne, Frankfurt, and Oslo. He has recorded for BMG/RCA, Nonesuch, Koch, and New World, among other labels. His own music has been performed in the USA and Europe, and can be heard on his first portrait CD, insomniac, on Tzadik.

Brad Lubman is particularly noted for his ability to master challenging new scores in a variety of settings, a skill honed during his tenure as Assistant Conductor to Oliver Knussen at the Tanglewood Music Center from 1989-94. That aptitude has earned him the opportunity to premiere works by a wide range of composers, including Michael Gordon, Jonny Greenwood, David Lang, Helmut Lachenmann, Meredith Monk, Michael Nyman, Steve Reich, Augusta Read Thomas, Julia Wolfe, Charles Wuorinen, and John Zorn.

Lubman is Music Director of the new music ensemble Signal, founded in 2008 and recently hailed by The New York Times as “one of the most vital groups of its kind.” With critically-praised performances at the Bang on a Can Marathon, Le Poisson Rouge (NYC), and the Ojai Music Festival, Signal has rapidly become a vital force in the American new music scene.

Brad Lubman is on faculty at the Eastman School of Music and the Bang on a Can Summer Institute. He is represented by Karsten Witt Musik Management.

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Matthew Cham­ber­lain is a com­pos­er and con­duc­tor work­ing in New Haven, Connecticut. His works have been per­formed by numer­ous ensem­bles in the USand Europe, includ­ing the JACK quar­tet, Ensem­ble Mul­ti­lat­erale, Quatuor Tana, Ensem­ble LIN­EA, and the Ardit­ti Quar­tet. He has con­duct­ed numer­ous per­for­mances of con­tem­po­rary music, includ­ing more than 50 world pre­mieres with ensem­bles rang­ing from the Slee Sin­foni­et­ta (US) and THReNSeM­Ble (Hun­gary) to the Ober­lin Con­tem­po­rary Music Ensem­ble and the North­ern Ohio Youth Orchestra. Recent­ly, Matt attend­ed the Fon­da­tion Roy­au­mon­t’s Acad­e­mie Voix Nou­velles 2017where his piece Office Park was pre­miered and where he was award­ed a com­mis­sion for a new piano solo. Matt earned a Bach­e­lor’s degree in Com­po­si­tion and a Mas­ter’s in Con­duct­ing from the Ober­lin Con­ser­va­to­ry of Music, where he stud­ied with Josh Levine, Tim Weiss, and Raphael Jimenez. He his cur­rent­ly fin­ish­ing a PhD in com­po­si­tion at SUNY Buf­fa­lo with David Felder.

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Gil Rose is a conductor helping to shape the future of classical music. His dynamic performances and many recordings have garnered international critical praise.

In 1996, Mo. Rose founded the Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP), the foremost professional orchestra dedicated exclusively to performing and recording symphonic music of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Under his leadership, BMOP’s unique programming and high performance standards have attracted critical acclaim and earned the orchestra thirteen ASCAP awards for adventurous programming as well as the John S. Edwards Award for Strongest Commitment to New American Music.

Mo. Rose maintains a busy schedule as a guest conductor on both the opera and symphonic world. He made his Tanglewood debut in 2002 and in 2003 he debuted with the Netherlands Radio Symphony as part of the Holland Festival. He has led the American Composers Orchestra, the Warsaw Philharmonic, the National Symphony Orchestra of the Ukraine, the Cleveland Chamber Symphony, the Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana and the National Orchestra of Porto and has made several appearances with the Boston Symphony Chamber Players. He has curated the Fromm concerts at Harvard University and also served as the Artistic Director of the Ditson Festival of Contemporary Music at Boston’s Institute of Contemporary Art.

Mo. Rose recently partnered with the American Repertory Theatre and the MIT Media Lab to create the world premiere of composer Tod Machover’s Death and the Powers, directed by Diane Paulus. He conducted this multi-media work at its World Premiere at the Opera Garnier in Monte Carlo, Monaco in September 2010 and also led its United States premiere at the Cutler Majestic Theatre in March 2011, as well as its Chicago Premiere the following month at Chicago Opera Theatre.

An active recording artist, Mo. Rose’s extensive discography includes world premiere recordings of music by Louis Andriessen, Derek Bermel, John Cage, Robert Erickson, Lukas Foss, Charles Fussell, Michael Gandolfi, John Harbison, Lee Hyla, David Lang, Tod Machover, Steven Mackey, Steven Paulus, David Rakowski, Bernard Rands, George Rochberg, Elena Ruehr, Gunther Schuller, Reza Vali, and Evan Ziporyn on such labels as Albany, Arsis, Cantaloupe, Chandos, ECM, Innova, Naxos, New World, and BMOP/sound, the Grammy-nominated label for which he serves as Executive Producer. His recordings have appeared on the year-end “Best of” lists of The New York Times, Time Out New York, The Boston Globe, Chicago Tribune, American Record Guide, NPR, and Downbeat Magazine.

Over the past decade, Maestro Rose has also built a reputation as one of the country’s most inventive and versatile opera conductors. The conductor joined Opera Boston as its Music Director in 2003. In 2010, he was appointed the company’s first Artistic Director. Under his leadership, Opera Boston has experienced exponential growth and is now acknowledged as one of the most important and innovative companies in America. Mo. Rose has led Opera Boston in several national and New England premieres including: Shostakovich’s The Nose, Weber’s Der Freischütz and Hindemith’s Cardillac and has conducted such luminaries as Stephanie Blythe, Ewa PodleÅ›, James Maddalena and Sanford Sylvan in signature roles. In 2009, Mo. Rose led the world premiere of Zhou Long’s Madame White Snake which won the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 2011.

During his tenure at Opera Boston, Mo. Rose has also served as the Artistic Director of Opera Unlimited, a contemporary opera festival which he also founded. With Opera Unlimited, he has led the world premiere of Elena Ruehr’s Toussaint Before the Spirits, the New England premiere of Thomas Ades’ Powder Her Face, as well as the revival of John Harbison’s Full Moon in March and the North American premiere of Peter Eötvös’ Angels in America to critical acclaim.

In 2007, Mo. Rose was awarded Columbia University’s prestigious Ditson Award as well as an ASCAP Concert Music award for his exemplary commitment to new American music. He is a three time Grammy Award nominee.

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merican conductor Case Scaglione has impressed orchestras across the globe with his sensitive and thoughtful music-making. The 2016/17 season sees Case Scaglione make concert debuts with Norrlandsoperan, Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne and Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra. He also returns to Kristiansand Symfoniorkester and Brno Philharmonic, and following previous successes with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra he returns to conduct a concert in the orchestra’s ReMix series. He will also work with Sarasota Orchestra and the Phoenix Symphony for the first time this season.

Last season, particular highlights included concerts with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg and the Juilliard Orchestra at New York’s Alice Tully Hall. He also returned to South America to work with Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de Colombia and made his French and German debuts with the Orchestre National d’Île de France and Stiftung Württembergisches Kammerorchester Heilbronn respectively.

A regular visitor to Asia, Scaglione has conducted concerts with the Shanghai Symphony, Guangzhou Symphony and China Philharmonic orchestras, and last season he returned to the Hong Kong Philharmonic for a third consecutive year. In the US, Scaglione has previously collaborated with the Baltimore Symphony and Rochester Philharmonic orchestras and has also appeared with the St. Louis Symphony, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, and the Houston, Colorado and Jacksonville symphony orchestras.

Formerly the Associate Conductor with the New York Philharmonic – a position revived especially for him by Music Director Alan Gilbert – Scaglione conducted critically-acclaimed concerts in the orchestra’s subscription series on several occasions during his tenure. He was also previously the Music Director of the Young Musicians Foundation Debut Orchestra of Los Angeles (2008-11), and was the driving force behind the artistic growth and diversification of the organisation, founding their educational outreach initiative ‘360° Music’. His eclectic programming included music by Ligeti, Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde – the orchestra’s first staged opera in nearly 60 years – and the Los Angeles premiere of John Adams’ Doctor Atomic Symphony. Passionate about music education, he maintains a regular teaching relationship with the Juilliard School.

Scaglione studied under David Zinman at the American Academy of Conducting at Aspen, where he won the James Conlon Prize. He was awarded the Aspen Conducting Prize in 2010 and in 2011 received the Conductor’s Prize from the Solti Foundation US. He was one of three Conducting Fellows at Tanglewood in 2011, chosen by James Levine and Stefan Asbury. Scaglione received his Bachelor’s Degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music and his postgraduate studies were spent at the Peabody Institute where he studied with Gustav Meier.

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In 1970, Wuorinen became the youngest composer to win the Pulitzer Prize (for the electronic work Time’s Encomium). The Pulitzer and the MacArthur Fellowship are just two among many awards, fellowships and other honors to have come his way.

Wuorinen has written more than 260 compositions to date. His newest works include Time Regained, a fantasy for piano and orchestra based on early music (Matteo da Perugia to Orlando Gibbons) for Peter Serkin, James Levine and the MET Opera Orchestra, Theologoumenon, an orchestral tone poem commissioned for James Levine’s 60th birthday, Eighth Symphony and Fourth Piano Concerto for the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and Metagong for two pianos and two percussion. He has recently completed an opera on Annie Proulx’s Brokeback Mountain with libretto by Proulx for the Teatro Real in Madrid. Wuorinen’s previous opera Haroun and the Sea of Stories (1997-2001), based on the novel of Salman Rushdie, was premiered by the New York City Opera in fall 2004.

In 1984 Wuorinen was the first composer commissioned by the Cleveland Orchestra under its new Music Director, Christoph von Dohnanyi (Movers and Shakers); and likewise in 1996 the first to compose for Michael Tilson Thomas’ New World Symphony (Bamboula Beach) which the Miami herald described as “An exhilarating, festive, six minute tour-de-force for large orchestra.” In 1975 Stravinsky’s widow gave Wuorinen the composer’s last sketches for use in his homage A Reliquary for Igor Stravinsky, premiered by Tilson Thomas in Buffalo and Ojai. The Reliquary received its first recording under the baton of Oliver Knuusen and the London Sinfonietta on a Deutsche Grammophon CD, and was choreographed by Peter Martins for the NYCB in 1995 (with the composer conducting).

His works have been recorded on nearly a dozen labels including several releases on Naxos, Albany Records (Charles Wuorinen Series), John Zorn’s Tzadik label, and a CD of piano works performed by Alan Feinberg on the German label Col Legno.

Wuorinen’s works are published exclusively by C.F. Peters Corporation. He is the author of Simple Composition, used by composition students throughout the world.

An eloquent writer and speaker, Wuorinen has lectured at universities throughout the United States and abroad, and has served on the faculties of Columbia, Princeton, and Yale Universities, the University of Iowa, University of California (San Diego), Manhattan School of Music, New England Conservatory, State University of New York at Buffalo, and Rutgers University.

Wuorinen has also been active as performer, an excellent pianist and a distinguished conductor of his own works as well as other twentieth century repertoire. In 1962 he co-founded the Group for Contemporary Music, one of America’s most prestigious ensembles dedicated to performance of new chamber music. In addition to cultivating a new generation of performers, commissioning and premiering hundreds of new works, the Group has been a model for many similar organizations which have appeared in the United States since its founding.

Wuorinen is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Daniel Bassin is an active conductor, composer, and trumpeter, currently in his third season as Music Director of the UB Symphony Orchestra. Daniel came to UB after working for five seasons with the American Symphony Orchestra, in New York City. A New York native, Daniel received his initial training at the Juilliard Pre-College, before being invited by Maestro Benjamin Zander to assist in performances with London’s Philharmonia Orchestra, and was subsequently awarded a fellowship with Zander’s Boston Philharmonic Orchestra. In Boston, Daniel was accepted to the New England Conservatory as a composer, where he also studied trumpet with BSO principal trumpeter, Charles Schuleter, and conducting with Richard Hoenich. His education continued with a Masters of Fine Arts in Orchestral Conducting at Bard College, studying with Maestro Harold Farberman, and he is currently a candidate for the PhD in Composition at UB. A passionate advocate of new music, Daniel has led first performances of over 80 works, and has performed as a conductor and trumpeter in 37 countries. In 2008 he acted as assistant conductor for the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra’s 16-city tour of the American West Coast and Midwest, and in the summer of 2010, his string quartet Typographies II was performed by the Arditti Quartet as part of the June in Buffalo Festival. He was recently featured in Jan Jezioro’s November 3, 2011 ArtVoice article, “A Music Director With a Mission”. In March of 2012, Daniel was featured as guest conductor for the Williamsville district-wide String Orchestra Festival, and in April he had his debut as conductor of the Slee Sinfonietta.

Soprano, Tiffany Du Mouchelle is praised for her musical versatility, an electric stage presence and exceptional dramatic sensibilities. Most recognized for her fearlessness in exploring new and challenging repertoire, she ushers the voice into new realms of expressivity, including a vast array of musical styles and languages, featuring over 100 different languages, and exploring the genres of classical, world, contemporary, cabaret, and theatrical works.
Recipient of the prestigious Richard F. Gold Career Grant for American Opera Singers, Du Mouchelle has performed with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Bang on a Can All-Stars, Center for Contemporary Opera, Yellow Barn Music Festival, Skalholt Summer Music Series in Iceland, June in Buffalo Festival, Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, and American Composers Alliance, and in such prestigious venues as Lincoln Center, Disney Hall, The Consulate of the Republic of Poland, The New York Historical Society, The Ukrainian Institute, the residence of the United States Ambassador in Cairo, and the Acropolium in Carthage. Recent projects and collaborations include performances of Ana Sokolovich”s Love Songs (an unaccompanied operatic monodrama in 100 languages), the MODERN PREMIERE of Seckendorff”s Proserpina with New York Baroque, Inc., the WORLD PREMIERE of Paul Botelho’s electro-acoustical mono-opera Proserpina, the AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE of Stockhausen”s Sirius with Bendigo International Festival of Exploratory Music, the WEST COAST PREMIERE of Roger Reynolds” Justice (Clytemnestra), the WEST COAST PREMIERE of Pasqual Dusapin”s To Be Sung (Voice Two), along with residencies at Yellow Barn and Songfest. An active chamber musician, she is the co-founder of Aurora Borealis, a voice and percussion duo with Stephen Solook.  They frequently commission and perform new works, expanding the repertoire  for this unusual combination.
A collaborator with the cultural diplomacy organization Cultures in Harmony, she has served as an instructor of voice, musical outreach specialist, and performer for projects in Cameroon, Tunisia, Egypt and Papua New Guinea. In fall 2015, Du Mouchelle moved to Buffalo, NY, joining the faculty at University at Buffalo, where she serves as Director of Vocal Performance and Opera Studio and leads the experimental voice ensemble, Polyglot.

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World renowned American soprano Laura Aikin is a familiar presence in the world’s great opera houses and concert halls performing with many of the greatest conductors of our time including Claudio Abbado, Daniel Barenboim, Pierre Boulez, Sylvain Cambreling, William Christie, Christoph von Dohnányi, Daniele Gatti, Michael Gielen, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, René Jacobs, Fabio Luisi, Lorin Maazel, Zubin Mehta, Riccardo Muti, Helmuth Rilling, Donald Runnicles, Giuseppe Sinopoli, Markus Stenz and Franz Welser-Möst.

Possessing a range of over three octaves and an arresting stage presence, her repertoire embraces works from the Baroque to the contemporary. In great demand in both Europe and America she began her career as a member of the ensemble at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden Berlin (1992-98) where she performed more than 300 times in major roles like Lulu, Königin der Nacht/Die Zauberflöte, Zerbinetta/Ariadne auf Naxos, Amenaide/Tancredi, Sophie/Der Rosenkavalier, Adele/Die Fledermaus, and Zaide.

Laura Aikin is now a regular guest at the leading opera houses worldwide such as the Vienna State Opera, La Scala Milan, Bavarian State Opera, Opernhaus Zurich, Netherlands Opera, Opéra National de Paris, Semperoper Dresden, Gran Teatro del Liceu Barcelona, Opera Frankfurt, Chicago Lyric Opera, Santa Fe Opera, San Francisco Opera and Metropolitan Opera New York. In addition to her numerous concert appearances at the Salzburg Festival, she appeared among others as Königin der Nacht, in the world premiere of Henze’s opera L’UPUPA and as Konstanze/Die Entführung aus dem Serail. She was highly acclaimed by both audience and press for her interpretation of Marie in Zimmermann’s Die Soldaten in 2012 and in Birtwistle’s Gawain in 2013.

Miss Aikin has appeared as a concert artist throughout the world with orchestras such as the Dallas, London, San Francisco, Chicago, Vienna, BBC and Melbourne Symphony Orchestras, the Berlin, Munich, Israel and Vienna Philharmonic Orchestras, Cleveland Orchestra, Bayerische Rundfunk Orchestra, Ensemble Intercontemporain, Les Arts Florissants, Concerto Köln and Concentus Musicus. The many international festivals in which she has performed include Mostly Mozart Festival in New York, Schleswig-Holstein, Melbourne, Edinburgh, Lucerne, Wiener and Berliner Festwochen. She has performed as a Lied singer in Berlin, Milan, Dresden and Rome, and made her American recital debut in the San Francisco Chamber Music Series.

Her many acclaimed recordings include Beethoven’s Christus am Ölberg with Daniel Barenboim on the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s Centennial Edition Recording, Songs and Cycles by Rorem with pianist Donald Sulzen (Orfeo), Schönberg’s Die Jakobsleiter with the Südwestfunk Symphony Orchestra, Respighi’s La Campana Sommersa (Montpellier Opera) and a DVD of Lulu (Opernhaus Zurich). Other DVD releases include Henze’s l’Upupa, and Die Entführung aus dem Serail (Salzburg Festival) and Les Dialogues des Carmelites (La Scala with Riccardo Muti).

Since completing apprenticeships with the Santa Fe Opera and the Chicago Lyric Opera, mezzo-soprano Julia Bentley has appeared in leading operatic roles (Carmen, Rosina, Dorbella, Despina, and both Rossini and Massenet Cinderellas) from Anchorage to New York, and has been featured as a soloist with orchestras led by George Manahan, Raymond Leppard, Oliver Knussen, Robert Shaw and Pierre Boulez. She performs in Chicago with Mostly Music, CUBE, the Contemporary Chamber Players, the Orion Ensemble, Pinotage, the New Budapest Orpheum Society, Ensemble Noamnesia, Fulcrum Point, the Chicago Chamber Musicians, Chicago Opera Theater, Concertante di Chicago, the Newberry Consort, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Lyric Opera and the MusicNOW series at Symphony Center with conductor Cliff Colnot. She has appeared to critical acclaim at Weill Hall with Pierre Boulez as the soloist in Le Marteau Sans Maître, and recorded on the Albany, Cedille and Tintagel labels. Recent engagements have included performances of La Damnation de Faust with the Eastern Connecticut Symphony Orchestra, Pierrot Lunaire with eighth blackbird, ø with Sacramento Opera, Little Women with the Dayton Opera, and the Bach B Minor Mass with the Apollo Chorus as well as chamber music series in Chicago, Philadelphia, New York and the National Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C. After leading the Composer Focus project at the DePaul University School of Music for six years, she is currently teaching voice at Concordia University, and the graduate Art Song Seminar at North Park University. She coaches privately, specializing in audition preparation and advanced vocal literature. This season features first-time collaborations with Sarah Rothenberg, the Emerson Quartet and the Spektral Quartet, as well as continuing escapades with pianist Kuang-Hao Huang.

Ethan Herschenfeld has recently played Pinky Rabinowitz on Boardwalk Empire (HBO), Adeem Koroush on Girls (HBO), Anton Petrov on Blue Bloods (CBS), Agim Dervishi on Unforgettable (CBS), Eliot Tolken on Damages (FX), and Acid Head in the film It’s Kind of a Funny Story.

Last year he made his Metropolitan Opera debut as the Murderer in Macbeth. In recent seasons he made his Semperoper Dresden debut as Cardinal Brogni in La Juive, and his Teatro Real Madrid debut as Aguirre and HogBoy in the world premiere of Wuorinen’s Brokeback Mountain a performance for which critics praised his “dark, sculpted tone” (The Telegraph) and his “imposing stage presence and basso profondo” (Opera News). He sang his first Baron Ochs in Indiana, Gurnemanz (Parsifal) in Basel, Fafner and Hunding in Wagner’s Ring in Bari, King Marke (Tristan) in Turin, Judge Turpin (“exceptional”) in the Italian premier of Sweeney Todd in Bologna, Commendatore in Versailles (“big black bass voice”) Mephistopheles (Faust) in Hong Kong, Rocco (Fidelio) in Bolzano, Ravenna, and Tel Aviv, Sparafucile in Lugo di Ravenna, Tel Aviv and Philadelphia, and Kommissarius (Rosenkavalier) under the baton of Fabio Luisi in Genoa, where he also made his Italian debut in Billy Budd. L’Opera praised his “elegant singing” in Lugo calling him “an intense Sparafucile, rich with a beautiful deep vocal timbre and discrete phrasing.” He has sung Sarastro in Venice, Berlin, Stuttgart, Rome, Liege and Bremen where he also sang Zaccarias (Nabucco), Osmin (“a true creature of the stage.”), and the Kardinal (Rienzi) directed by Katharina Wagner. In the US he has sung Don Fernando (Fidelio), Commendatore (“an awesome presence.”), Grenvil (Travata) and Kommissarius with Florentine Opera, Milwaukee, Boito’s Mefistofele and Don Basilio at Bob Jones University, Abimelech (Samson and Delila) at Hawaii Opera, Butt the Hoopoe in the world premiere of Wourinen’s Haroun and the title role in Ariane et Barbe-Bleue at New York City Opera, Colline (Boheme) in Chattanooga, Indiana Elliot’s Brother (Mother of Us All) with the San Francisco Opera, Hale (The Crucible) at Chautauqua Opera, and King Zuoxian in the world premiere of Wenji in New York, and Hong Kong, a role for which the New York Times praised his “booming basso.” At Carnegie Hall he has sung Mozart’s Requiem and Vesperae Solennes, Handel’s Messiah, Haydn’s Theresienmesse, and the premiere of Rittenhouse’s Vision of the Apolcalypse, which he sang on tour throughout South Africa.

A graduate of Harvard College, and winner of the Schorr Prize (Connecticut), Excellence in Arts Competition (Philadelphia), and Sembrich Competition (New York), he began his vocal training with Franco Corelli and has studied since 1997 with Armen Boyajian.

Lauren Radnofsky is founding Co-Artistic/Executive Director and cellist of Ensemble Signal. Within her triple role, Radnofsky is responsible for program curation, general management, development, and also serves as the main producer, in addition to being a regular performer in the ensemble. Under her leadership – within the span of just five years – Radnofsky has overseen Signal distinguish itself as an ensemble of exceptional versatility, its ambitious range of activities including over 100 concerts, eight recordings, and the NY, world, or US premieres of over 20 works to date.

Radnofsky has managed all aspects of Ensemble Signal’s participation in projects at venues including Lincoln Center Festival, Walt Disney Concert Hall, BIG EARS Festival, Ojai Music Festival, Tanglewood Festival of Contemporary Music, Miller Theatre, Carnegie Hall, Works & Process at the Guggenheim (NY), the Wordless Music Series, Cleveland Museum of Art, (le) Poisson Rouge, and the Bang on a Can Marathon, and has served as a coordinator in the production of all Signal’s recordings; in addition to performing as cellist in all of the former.

As Co-Artistic Director of Signal, Radnofsky regularly collaborates with cooperating presenting organizations, composers, and artists to design a unique array of adventurous projects, thereby bringing programs of new or rarely performed music to the public. These projects range from a 2010 tour with iconoclastic German composer Helmut Lachenmann to programs including diverse pairings designed to illuminate modern or seemingly disparate works, and educational workshops with emerging composers and musicians.

As a cellist with Signal, Lauren has worked with composers and artists including Helmut Lachenmann, Steve Reich, Irvine Arditti, Oliver Knussen, Michael Gordon, David Lang, and Julia Wolfe. Outside of Signal, she has appeared as soloist with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra performing Kaija Saariaho’s Amers for cello and ensemble, and the Wordless Music Orchestra in Jonny Greenwood’s Doghouse for string trio and orchestra. Additionally, Radnofsky served on the faculty of the 2014 and 2015 Bang on a Can Summer Institute.

Winner of two Walter W. Naumburg Awards – as chamber musician and solo recitalist – soprano Lucy Shelton continues to enjoy an international career bringing her dramatic vocalism and brilliant interpretive skills to repertoire of all periods. An esteemed exponent of 20th- and 21st- Century repertory, she has worked closely with today’s composers and premiered over 100 works. Notable among these are song cycles by Elliott Carter, Oliver Knussen, Louis Karchin and James Yannatos; chamber works by Carter, Joseph Schwantner, Mario Davidovsky, Stephen Albert, Lewis Spratlan, Charles Wuorinen, Gabriella Lena Frank, Bruce Adolphe, Alexander Goehr, Poul Ruders, Anne Le Baron and Thomas Flaherty; orchestral works by Knussen, Albert, Schwantner, David Del Tredici, Gerard Grisey, Ezra Laderman, Sally Beamish, Virko Baley and Ned Rorem; and an opera by Robert Zuidam. In recent seasons, Shelton has premiered works written for her by Shulamit Ran, Dan Visconti, Frank Stemper, Kathleen Ginther, Tamar Muskal and Fang Man.

An avid chamber musician, she has been a guest artist with ensembles such as the Emerson, Brentano, Enso, Mendelssohn, Chiara and Guarnieri string quartets, the Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society, 21st Century Consort, Speculum Musicae, Da Capo Chamber Players, Sospeso, New York New Music Ensemble, Boston Musica Viva, Da Camera of Houston, eighth blackbird, Dolce Suono Ensemble, the Ensemble Moderne, Nash Ensemble, Klangform Wien, Schoenberg-Asko, and Ensemble Intercontemporain. Shelton has participated in numerous festivals including those of Aspen, Santa Fe, Ojai, Tanglewood, Chamber Music Northwest, BBC Proms, Aldeburgh, Caen, Kuhmo, Togo and Salzburg. In the fall of 2013, she is honored to begin a three-year term as a Board Member of Chamber Music America.

Shelton has appeared with major orchestras worldwide including Amsterdam, Boston, Chicago, Cologne, Denver, Edinburgh, Helsinki, London, Los Angeles, Melbourne, Minnesota, Munich, New York, Paris, St. Louis, Stockholm, Sydney and Tokyo under leading conductors such as Marin Alsop, Daniel Barenboim, Pierre Boulez, Reinbert De Leeuw, Charles Dutoit, Alan Gilbert, Oliver Knussen, Kent Nagano, Simon Rattle, Helmuth Rilling, Mstislav Rostropovich, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Leonard Slatkin and Robert Spano.

Shelton’s extensive discography is on the Deutsche Grammophon, Koch International, Nonesuch, NMC, Bridge, Albany and Innova labels and includes works by Carter, Knussen, Stravinsky, Messiaen, Wuorinen, Del Tredici, Adolphe, Rands, Ginastera, Kim, Le Baron, Baley, Ung and Schwantner.

A native of California, Shelton’s primary mentor was mezzo-soprano Jan De Gaetani. Ms. Shelton taught at the Third Street Settlement School in Manhattan, Eastman School, New England Conservatory, Cleveland Institute and the Britten-Pears School. She joined the resident artist faculty of the Tanglewood Music Center in 1996 and in the fall of 2007 she was appointed to the Manhattan School of Music’s Contemporary Performance Faculty. Shelton teaches privately in her New York City studio.

In recognition of her contribution to the field of contemporary music, Shelton has received Honorary Doctorate Degrees from both Pomona College (2003) and the Boston Conservatory (2013).

Ken Thomson is a Brooklyn-based clarinetist, saxophonist, and composer. In demand as a composer and freelancer in many settings, he moves quickly between genres and scenes, bringing a fiery intensity and emotional commitment to every musical situation; Time Out NY called him “the hardest-working saxophonist in new-music show business.”

He has recently released a CD of his compositions for the heralded JACK Quartet, entitled Thaw, on Cantaloupe Music, which was called #1 Classical CD of 2013 by Rhapsody.com, and was featured in NPR’s “10 Songs Public Radio Can’t Stop Playing.” His latest project as a composer-performer, called Slow/Fast, was created to meld jazz and contemporary music with a personal bent. The group released its second CD, Settle, internationally on NCM East Records in 2014. It was praised by The New York Times for its “intricate long-form compositions,” and garnered a five-star review in All About Jazz. The Chicago Reader wrote, “Thomson’s pieces breathe and emanate an infectious energy, with every wend and wind hurtling the music forward rather than showing off the band’s chops.”

He plays clarinet for the Bang on a Can All-Stars, one of the world’s preeminent new music ensembles. He is the musical director for the Asphalt Orchestra – a 12-piece next-generation avant-garde marching band, called “cooly brilliant, infectious… top notch players” by The New York Times. He plays saxophone and is one of the 3 composers in the punk/jazz band Gutbucket, with whom he has toured internationally to nineteen countries and 32 states over fourteen years, and released CDs for Knitting Factory, Enja, NRW, Cantaloupe and Cuneiform Records. He is on faculty at the Bang on a Can Summer Music Festival.

As a saxophonist and clarinetist, he is a member of the next-generation chamber orchestra Signal (conducted by Brad Lubman), working directly with composers from Steve Reich to Helmut Lachenmann and a performer on CDs for Mode, Orange Mountain, and Cantaloupe Records. He is a frequent collaborator with many new-composed music groups including Alarm Will Sound. He has also worked as a music director, notably, directing composer Julia Wolfe’s Traveling Music at the Bordeaux Conservatory, France, 2009, and has conducted performances of Music for Airports with the Bang on a Can All-Stars, choir, and guest musicians in Melbourne and Buenos Aires.

He has performed extensively across the US and Europe at major jazz festivals including Jazz a Vienne, San Sebastian Jazz Festival, London Jazz Festival, Warsaw Summer Jazz Days, Rotterdam Jazz, Jazz Saalfelden, Copenhagen Jazz Festival, Belgrade Jazz Festival, etc. He has recently been the subject of profile features in Downbeat and NewMusicBox. He is a Selmer Paris and Conn-Selmer Artist, a D’Addario Reeds artist, and endorses Sibelius software.