Artists

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.

With a musical palette ranging from traditional Jewish prayer modes to minimalist textures with rich melodic contours, and from jazz-influenced rhythms to imaginative orchestrations of the natural world, composer Dr. Meira Warshauer’s music has been performed live to critical acclaim and heard on broadcast and online media worldwide. In much demand for commissions, she writes for orchestras, chamber and vocal ensembles, and soloists, as well as opera.

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.

An explorer of sonic realms, Judith Shatin is equally known for her acoustic, electroacoustic, and digital music. Called “highly inventive on every level” by the Washington Post, her music has been commissioned by organizations including the Barlow Endowment, Fromm Foundation, Carnegie Hall, the Library of Congress, Wintergreen Performing Arts, and the Lila Wallace Reader’s Digest Arts Partners Program.

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.

Inspired by the worlds of nature and literature, Michael Matthews creates music that compels the listener to step beyond the every day to dwell for a while in images of paradox, to consider the ever-changing tapestry of life. Matthews has a deep love for the contemporary symphonic tradition and has established himself as a master of large-scale musical structures, motivic relationships, and organic wholeness, all of which lie at the core of symphonic thought. The symphony is, for Matthews, both a vital form and a special challenge that allows for musical ideas to be carried between movements. Compositional influences include Beethoven, Mahler, Schoenberg, Shostakovich, Schnittke and, more recently, Scandinavian composers Pettersson and Aho.

Mari Tamaki is a Japanese cellist, composer, performer, and producer whose great improvisational and compositional skills create fascinating music, fluidly crossing genres both classical and contemporary. As a composer, she has successfully created works in a variety of styles, including classical music, progressive rock, free improvisation, avant-garde, and collaboration with the Butoh dance form. In her pieces, she skillfully transitions from tense dissonance to complete harmonization by the end. She employs a lyrical style while emphasizing dissonance. 

Nicholas Weininger (b. 1978) is a composer, singer, software engineering manager, and leadership coach. Weininger's works for a cappella chorus have been performed by ensembles across the United States, ranging from the International Orange Chorale of San Francisco and the NYC-based ensemble Choral Chameleon to the West Genesee High School Chorale, the Germantown Friends School Concert Choir, and the festival ensemble Coro Mundi. In March 2023, the Empire City Men's Chorus premiered his cantata Hakol Hevel (All is Mere Breath) for TTBB chorus, orchestra, and soloists. Weininger's works are published through Personage Press and ArrangeMe. 

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.

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.”

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.

Eric Marshall Price was born November 8, 1944 in Philadelphia PA. He was raised in Abington PA, and graduated from Abington High School in June, 1962. Not exposed to classical music during his childhood and adolescent years, Price’s desire to compose did not begin until his early college years, when a roommate with a massive classical record collection introduced him to classical music. Also interested in a career in Psychology and Medicine, Price pursued classical composition as a side gig. He studied under Donald Rappoport at Settlement Music School in Philadelphia for a number of years. Price’s first major classical piece, which he called his Student Sonata, (Piano Sonata #1 in A minor) came around his 36th birthday.

Anthony Wilson (b. 1962) developed a strong interest in music from an early age. He spent many hours at the piano as a child,  experimenting with various combinations of sound. His parents’ record player also provided the wonderful experience of being able to enjoy both the world of classical music and popular music.  

In a career of over 50 years, award-winning composer, pianist, and recording artist Margaret Brandman has followed her passion to create appealing music with strong melodic content, sensitive harmonies, and rhythmic ingenuity. Her output includes works for orchestra, chamber ensembles, choir, solo voice, and solo instruments, composed across a wide range of genres from Contemporary Classical to Jazz and Latin-American. 

Octavian Nemescu (1940-2020) was born in Pascani (Romania). He studied composition with Mihail Jora at the Conservatory of Music in Bucharest, obtained the Ph.D. in Musicology in 1978, at the Conservatory in Cluj, under the guidance of Sigismund Toduta. The title of his doctoral thesis was: “The Semantic Capacities Of Music,” published as a book, at Editura Muzicala Publishing House, Bucharest, 1983. He was an assistant and then lecturer at Brasov University (School of Music) between 1970-1978.

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.

John J. Craven (b.1971) was enthusiastically drawn to listening to classical music, music theater, and popular music as a child. He studied piano and flute and began to compose at age 11. He was a winner in the Fourth International Aaron Copland Competition for Young Composers at age 12. He studied piano at the Peabody Conservatory of Music from 1989 to 1991. From 1992 to 1994 he received a B.A. in Communication Studies at the University of Iowa; in 1997 he completed a B.F.A. in music composition at SUNY Purchase. He returned to Peabody in 2009 to receive a M.M. in composition.

Hendrik Hofmeyr, who has been described as South Africa’s most performed composer of Classical music, was born in Cape Town in 1957. He achieved his first major success as a composer in 1988 with the performance at the State Theatre of The Fall of the House of Usher, which won the South African Opera Competition and the Nederburg Opera Prize. In the same year, Hofmeyr, who was furthering his studies in Italy during ten years of self-imposed political exile, obtained first prize in an international competition in Trent with music for a short film by Wim Wenders. In 1992 he was appointed lecturer at the University of Stellenbosch, and in 1997 won two further international competitions, the Queen Elisabeth Competition of Belgium (with Raptus for violin and orchestra) and the Dimitri Mitropoulos Competition in Athens (with Byzantium for high voice and orchestra).

Both critics and other artists have recognized composer David Gaines (b. 1961) for his imaginative orchestrations and his uniquely international and eclectic style. His music, which has been performed across North America and Europe, includes two symphonies, concertos for baritone saxophone, trombone, and euphonium, plus a variety of chamber, choral, and electronic music. A graduate of Northwestern University, American University, and Johns Hopkins University's Peabody Conservatory of Music (where he earned a doctoral degree in composition), he has been a faculty member at The New School's online Master of Media Technology degree program via Connected Education, Inc., for which he created the first Internet university-level music course for credit (on the history of electronic music technology), as well as University of Maryland Global Campus (formerly University of Maryland University College), where he held the rank of adjunct associate professor.

Ryan Homsey is a versatile, award-winning American composer, equally at home writing for instrumental and choral ensembles, theater, dance, and film. His background in classical, electroacoustic, and popular music draws inspiration from his history as a professional ballet dancer. Homsey’s works have been performed by JACK Quartet, PUBLIQuartet, Access Contemporary Music, ensemble mise-en, Duluth-Superior Symphony Orchestra’s Music to You String Quartet, Boston New Music Initiative, and the Orlando Contemporary Chamber Orchestra at such venues as the Taipei Cultural Center, the Museum of Natural History, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, HERE Arts, and National Sawdust.