Artists

Daniel Ott is a recipient of honors from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the ASCAP Foundation. He has received commissions from the National Symphony Orchestra, New York City Ballet's Choreographic Institute, the Chiara Quartet, and Bargemusic, among others. Ott’s music has been heard all over the world, most notably at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, Sadler’s Wells, the Louvre, the Guggenheim, and the Foro Internacional de Música Nueva in Mexico. He holds degrees from the Curtis Institute of Music and the Juilliard School, and currently serves on the faculty of both Juilliard and Fordham University.

Rebecca Oswald is an award-winning composer with many areas of experience and excellence. From 1980 to 1995 she was a freelance pianist, accompanist, keyboardist and studio musician in Houston, Texas. In 1998, she earned her BM in Music Theory and Composition summa cum laude from Westminster Choir College of Rider University and in 2001 she completed her MM in Composition from the University of Oregon School of Music. Today she is a composer, pianist, orchestrator, singer, arranger, and producer based out of Eugene, Oregon.

The Janáček Philharmonic is a world-class symphony orchestra based in Ostrava, Czech Republic and an emerging figure on the international performance scene. With over 100 top-level musicians, the orchestra aims to introduce unique, quality repertoire while showcasing their own recognizable sound.

Composer Paul Osterfield was born in Nashville TN in 1973. Spending his formative years in Northeast Ohio, he composed and performed as a cellist throughout middle school and high school, in addition to studying violin, piano, and conducting. His early efforts as a composer were recognized in 1990, when the United States Copyright Office and the Library of Congress awarded Osterfield first prize in their Young Creators’ Contest. The following year, that winning work was performed by the Cleveland Orchestra on their Family Key Concert Series.

David Osbon is a composer, conductor, and academic whose music has been performed, broadcast, and recorded around the world. Most of this international recognition comes from the years he spent as a researcher and professor in cities as diverse as Philadelphia, The Hague, and Istanbul. Osbon’s compositions have received many awards including the Arts Council of Great Britain DIO Award, the RVW Trust electro-acoustic music award, Hilda K. Nietsche Prize, David A. Halstead Prize, Academy of Music (Vienna), and the New Symphony (Vienna Prize). Still Waiting for the Revolution… for piano trio was a prize winner in both the Franz Schubert and the Clements Memorial prizes for chamber music.

Raisa Orshansky commenced her formal musical training at Vitebsk College of Music, where she specialized in folk instruments. She went on to graduate studies at Minsk Belarusian State University of Culture and Arts, where she studied orchestra conducting.

The Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra boasts 150 years of tradition of first-class musicianship in Zagreb and across Croatia. It acts as a promoter of the art of music in Croatia and a cultural ambassador of Croatia in the world. It is a symbol of the city in which it operates and a musical institution that captures the urban image of Zagreb as a central European musical, art and cultural centre.

The Brno Contemporary Orchestra (BCO) was founded in 2011 with the aim of performing the world’s contemporary music and selected 20th-century works in Czechia and Czech music throughout the world. The ensemble includes top-level professional musicians employed in the leading Czech orchestras. It draws on a large pool of permanent collaborators who perform in various lineups according to the needs of each project.

The Chicago Arts Orchestra was established by a group of musicians and creative artists to perform great music and to make music accessible and affordable. Comprised of professional musicians with active performance schedules in Chicago, the CAO aims to achieve its mission by providing educational opportunities for the community through the performance of historic and new orchestral music. The CAO seeks to be innovative in its programming and presentation of concerts.

Founded in 1997, the orchestra is comprised of over 65 local professionals, educators, dedicated amateurs, and advanced students drawing audiences and members along the Seacoast from Newburyport MA to York ME and west to Bedford NH. The orchestra presents four main concerts each season at The Music Hall in Portsmouth NH, along with numerous chamber music and school concerts throughout the year.

For half a century, the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra (MPO) has been Malta’s leading musical ensemble. The orchestra was founded in April 1968, when musicians from the defunct Commander-in-Chief (C-in-C) orchestra of the Malta-based British Mediterranean Fleet regrouped as the Manoel Theatre Orchestra. It continued to serve as the theatre’s resident orchestra until September 1997, when it became an independent orchestra, taking up the name National Orchestra of Malta. The orchestra became the MPO in 2008 when it expanded to a full-sized symphony orchestra, bringing together the best of Maltese talent and musicians from Europe and beyond.

The Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra is one of the foremost and oldest symphony orchestras in the Czech Republic. It is based in the historical capital of Moravia, the city of Olomouc, and has been a leader of music activities in the region for the past 70 years. Its artistic development was directly influenced by distinguished figures from the Czech and international music scene.

The Lowell Chamber Orchestra is Lowell’s first and only professional orchestra, providing the area with an ensemble that presents music at a very high level, of all styles and time periods, entirely free to the general population. Now in its third season, the LCO has presented concerts that encompass established orchestral repertoire as well as multimedia works, stage works, lecture-presentations, and chamber music. As part of its mission of promoting, preserving, and educating, the repertoire includes works from the Baroque to current commissions.

The Zagreb Festival Orchestra was founded in 1989, comprised of the top classical performers in Croatia and formed with the intent to record a single album. That intent was fulfilled with OVERTURES, a record of composer Gioachino Rossini’s greatest operatic works conducted by the acclaimed maestro Michael Halász, a resident conductor at the Vienna State Opera for 20 years, and produced by six-time GRAMMY Award winner Martin Sauer.

Formed in 1891 as the Scottish Orchestra, the company became the Scottish National Orchestra in 1950, and was awarded Royal Patronage in 1977. Throughout its history, the Orchestra has played an integral part in Scotland’s musical life, including performing at the opening ceremony of the Scottish Parliament building in 2004. Many renowned conductors have contributed to its success, including George Szell, Sir John Barbirolli, Walter Susskind, Sir Alexander Gibson, Neeme Järvi, Walter Weller, Alexander Lazarev and Stéphane Denève.

The Croatian Chamber Orchestra was founded in 1988 and has since hosted more than 600 artists and premiered nearly 100 works by Croatian and foreign composers. The orchestra has collaborated with eminent maestros such as Nikolai Alexeev, Johannes Wildner, Enrico Dindo, Berislav Klobučar, Milan Horvat, Igor Gjadrov, Gleb Nikitin, Alan Buribaev, Uroš Lajovic, Daniel Bortolosy, Michał Dworzynski, Lawrence Rene, Nicholas Milton, Tibor Boganyi, Nikša Bareza, Saša Britvić, Vjekoslav Šutej, Ivan Repušić, Guido Mancusi, Michalis Economou, and others. Chief Conductors were Kazushi Ono, Pavle Dešpalj, Dian Tchobanov, and Miran Vaupotić.

Widely acclaimed by audiences and critics alike, The London Symphony Orchestra was named by Gramophone as one of the top five orchestras in the world. A world-leader in recording music for film, television, and events, it was the official orchestra of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games ceremonies, memorably performing Chariots of Fire on stage in the opening ceremony, conducted by Simon Rattle and with Rowan Atkinson.

The Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra (SOSR) was established in 1929 as the orchestra of the Bratislava-based branch of the Radiojournal radio institution, being the first professional symphony orchestra in Slovakia.

The UNLV Wind Orchestra has received international acclaim for its fresh and creative approach to music making. Performing contemporary repertoire in addition to classical masterworks, the Wind Orchestra at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas has been responsible for commissioning and premiering nearly 70 significant new works by America’s finest young contemporary composers. The Wind Orchestra has recently commissioned and premiered new compositions by landmark American contemporary composers Bruce Broughton, Roger Nixon, and James Barnes. The ensemble is comprised of music majors, non-majors, and includes select graduate students enrolled in the masters and doctoral performance degree programs at UNLV.

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.