Artists

David R. Peoples writes with a ginger ale in hand on a balcony surrounded by forest. It’s from Flowery Branch GA, surrounded by nature, that all his compositions begin before being released into and around the world. Peoples enjoys sharing his own and other composers’ new music in recitals. From April 2021 to May 2022, he presented recitals featuring over 100 composers in all 50 states through the National Association of Composers, Music Teachers National Association, Research on Contemporary Composition Conference, and Electrophonic Concerts.

Scott Pender (b. 1959) has called the phonograph his first music teacher. He cites his parents’ “extensive, eclectic record collection” as a primary early influence. As a child, he began making up tunes at the piano and taught himself to read music. Formal study in piano and theory as a teenager led to his enrollment at Peabody Conservatory, where he began composition studies with Jean Ivey. He holds degrees in philosophy from Georgetown University and music composition from Peabody Conservatory.

Twice the recipient of the Milwaukee Artist Resource Network's Music Award (2013 & 2016), Craig Peaslee's music has been described as bold, crass and unapologetic. His compositions can be traditional, multi-faceted, dissonant, genre-bending and have been known to directly confront social and political issues in order to bring attention to such issues as well as get listeners to critically think and discuss the challenges facing the world we live in.

Composer Gemma Peacocke grew up in Hamilton, New Zealand, and she moved to the United States in 2014. She writes a broad range of music including art-pop songs, EDM-inspired tracks and orchestral music. She has a particular love of interdisciplinary work and often collaborates with artists, writers, and theatre designers.

Peter Paulsen is an active performer on the Philadelphia jazz scene as well as Assistant Principal Bass of the Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra and Principal Bass of the Allentown Symphony Orchestra. He has received three PA Council on the Arts composition grants and was recognized with a PEW Fellowship in Composition. Paulsen has released five critically acclaimed CDs of his compositions: Three-Stranded Cord by Peter Paulsen Quintet; Tri-Cycle by Peter Paulsen Trio; Peter Paulsen Change of Scenery Sextet; Goes Without Saying by Peter Paulsen Quintet; and A Few Thoughts by Peter Paulsen Trio.

An Italian native, Christian Paterniti graduated in piano with honors under the guidance of Caterina del Campo at the Arcangelo Corelli Conservatoire in Messina, Italy. Under Gaetano Indaco, he obtained a degree in piano and recommendation to publish his dissertation on Traité historique d'analisé harmonique (1982) by the composer and musicologist Jacques Chailley.

Unifying principles of jazz and classical in his work, Dutch composer Jesse Passenier explores the peripheries of genres and the depth and possibilities of harmony. He is the winner of the Dutch Rogier van Otterloo Award 2017, acknowledging his success in bringing together musical genres, leading his own orchestra, and writing for orchestra. Passenier is co-founder and artistic director of Fluid Foundation. Having established himself as a composer, he musically developed in a broader sense as an arranger, conductor, drummer, pianist, and vibraphonist.

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.

John Partridge has been performing in the San Francisco Bay Area since the 1970's. As a concert pianist and organist, he specializes in music by American composers. As a composer, he has written everything from film scores to church cantatas.  After graduating from Berkeley High School, John attended UC Santa Cruz where majored in composition and conducting. Returning to the Bay Area in 1976, Partridge served as music director of the Bay Psalmers (a chorus composed of businesspeople in downtown San Francisco), of Berkeley Harmonia Chorus and Orchestra, and at several local churches.

Ronald Keith Parks (b. 1960) is an active composer of acoustic and electroacoustic music. His diverse output includes orchestral works, instrumental and vocal chamber music, choral music, electroacoustic music, and interactive computer music. Recent commissions include Elements for the Blue Ridge Chamber Players, Fierce Winds for the Charlotte Symphony Flutes, I thought I'd better let you know for the Charlotte Symphony's Orchestra on Campus Composers Project, Things Get Out of Hand... and Alhambra Tiles for the Out of Bounds Ensemble, A Matter of Perspective for Duo XXI, Off on a Tangent... for the Red Clay Saxophone Quartet, Torque, Wavelength and Afterimage 8 for the Charlotte Civic Orchestra, Afterimage 7 for the NeXT Ens, and ...drift... for the Force of Nature artist exchange program.

Dr. Andrew Parker is currently Associate Professor of Oboe at the University of Texas at Austin and faculty at the Round Top Festival Institute. In addition to his teaching, Parker maintains a rich performing career as a soloist and chamber musician. He has performed concerti with numerous ensembles including the Dallas Wind Symphony, the Quad City Symphony, the Great Falls Symphony, the Puerto Rico Philharmonic, and the University of Texas Symphony Orchestra.  His solo album, The Singing Oboe, was featured as CD of the week for two consecutive weeks on the Boston classical station 99.5 WCRB.

Adrienne Park has extensive experience as a collaborative pianist in chamber, symphonic, and contemporary music settings. She has performed in recital with violinist Joshua Bell, cellists Shauna Rolston and Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi, bassist Edgar Meyer, flutists Paul Edmond Davies, Timothy Hutchins, and Tara Helen O’Connor, bassoonist Frank Morelli, saxophonist Nikita Zimin, horn artist Frøydis Ree Wekre, percussion group NEXUS, soprano Mary Wilson, and tenor Telly Leung.  Park is Assistant Professor of Collaborative Piano at the University of Mississippi. She mentors graduate collaborative pianists, coaches chamber ensembles, and has collaborated with UM students and faculty since 2001. She is the Artistic Director of the UM Music concert series Sonic Explorations which features multimedia performances with music faculty and professional musicians in the region. Themed concerts focus on a genre, region, or set of composers, exploring the sound world of that theme. Central to concert events is the use of multimedia – projected film, art, and poetry — with unique lighting designs and innovative stage positioning.

Australian composer George Palmer (b.1947) studied piano with several eminent teachers and has been composing since he was a teenager. However, he graduated in law, practiced as a barrister, and in 2001 was appointed as a Judge of the Supreme Court of New South Wales. He retired as a Judge in 2011 to devote himself entirely to composition.

Described by noted American composer Libby Larsen as “fearless on stage,” saxophonist Dr. Stephen Page has garnered international prominence as one of today’s leading saxophonists. Page has concertized across five continents, in the United Kingdom, France, Belgium, Thailand, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan, Canada, Australia, the Canary Islands, and throughout the United States.

Musica Pacifica has, since its founding in 1990, become widely recognized as one of America’s premier baroque ensembles, lauded for both the dazzling virtuosity and the warm expressiveness of its performances. They have been described by the press as “some of the finest baroque musicians in America” (American Record Guide) and “among the best in the world” (Alte Musik Aktuell). At home in the San Francisco Bay area, the artists perform with Philharmonia Baroque and American Bach Soloists, and appear with many other prominent early music ensembles nationally and abroad.

Antonija Pacek is a composer and pianist who lives in Vienna, Austria. She started with piano lessons at the age of six in her native Croatia. Antonija’s critically acclaimed, debut neoclassical piano album, Soul Colours, was published in 2014 by Autentico Music in Germany and was signed by Warner Chappell, the music publishing arm of Warner Music.

Paul Paccione was born in New York City in 1952. He studied classical guitar and music theory at the Mannes College of Music (B.M. 1974). While at Mannes, he was influenced by composer Eric Richards to begin compositional study. Subsequently, he began private composition studies with composer Harley Gaber. He continued composition studies at the University of California, San Diego, with composer Kenneth Gaburo (M.A., 1977). He later studied composition with composer/conductor William Hibbard, at the University of Iowa (Ph.D., 1984). 

Mario Oyanadel is a Chilean composer holding a B.A. in Composition from the University of Chile. His work is shaped by a diverse catalog that includes solo and ensemble chamber music, orchestral works, interdisciplinary pieces, scenic music, and performance. He has participated in various festivals including the Thailand Contemporary Music Festival, the Alba Rosa Viva! Festival, the University of Chili Contemporary Music Festival, among others. He has also received numerous international and national awards such as 1st place in the “Composition Contest Luis Advis 2017,” Chile.

Electronisist Josh Oxford, born in 1985, is a composer, arranger, and performer of myriad styles of music. He has performed throughout the world, especially in his native central New York, on piano, percussion, and Moog synthesizer. After suffering a debilitating car crash in 2010, Oxford has devoted his energy to composing.

Alexandra Ottaway has worked in different styles of music, from teaching with her NY State (K-12 Vocal) public school license to folk-rock recording, and from singing in A Capella choruses to accompanying bigger ones (adult and student). Her first instrument is piano. Ottaway started composing in 1980 and since 2007 has been revisiting the atonal universe in addition to songwriting. She got her BA in music from The Columbia School of General Studies and an MA in Music Education from NYU. She lives in Western MA with her husband and her cat.