Artists

Brendon McConville (b. 1977) is a composer, theorist, and teacher at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. He has crafted works for numerous contemporary ensembles. His music has been performed in the United States and throughout Europe, including performances and recordings with the Kiev Philharmonic Orchestra, the Symphonic Orchestra of Lviv, and the Rutgers Symphony Orchestra.

Kevin McCarter writes music for chamber groups, solo performers, choral ensembles, and orchestras. His music has been performed in a variety of venues. The Chicago Chamber Orchestra gave the premiere of Opening Ideas at the Chicago Cultural Center. The Manhattan Choral Ensemble commissioned As the Earth Brings Forth Her Bud for a spring performance on the Columbia University campus.

Born in Texas in 1947, Michael Mauldin moved to New Mexico in 1971 for "the light, the space and the timelessness." He completed a graduate degree in composition, opened a music school, raised a family and wrote music. He was recognized in 1980 as the national Composer of the Year by the Music Teachers National Association. In 1985, his Fajada Butte was performed in Kennedy Center by the National Repertory Orchestra for the 20th anniversary of the National Endowment for the Arts. He teaches in Albuquerque and at his composing and teaching retreat near Cuba, New Mexico.

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.

Described as a violinist with “chops to burn, and rock solid musicianship” (The Whole Note, Toronto), Canadian violinist Véronique Mathieu enjoys an exciting career as a soloist, chamber musician, and music educator. An avid contemporary music performer, she has commissioned and premiered numerous works by American, Brazilian, and Canadian composers, and has worked with composers such as Pierre Boulez, Heinz Holliger, and Krzysztof Penderecki. Her album debut of solo works by Boulez, Donatoni, and Lutoslawski was praised as a display of “outstanding violin playing” and “stunning [performance] with amazing technique.”

Norman Mathews’s art songs were featured, along with the works of John Kander and Charles Strouse, at the Kennedy Center in a program of classical music written by theatre composers.

As an active composer in the Minneapolis area for the past several years, Heath Mathews has been called a "gifted young composer" who "writes with a clarity of musical voice." The compositional interests of Dr. Mathews include a wide range of musical genres and styles. Playing in rock and jazz groups in his youth, the composer draws influence equally from the vernacular music of contemporary culture, western art music, and world music.

Miguel Matamoro studied composition with Gabriel Erkoreka, Ramón Lazkano, and Zuriñe F. Gerenabarrena at the Higher School of Music of the Basque Country, Musikene, and then his received his master’s degree from the Higher School of Music Katarina Gurska in Madrid.

Elizabeth Starr Masoudnia, solo English horn of the Philadelphia Orchestra since 1995, has toured the globe with the Philadelphia Orchestra to wide critical acclaim with many of the world’s finest conductors. She has premiered several solo English horn pieces written explicitly for her, including concertos by Behzad Ranjbaran and Nicholas Maw, and David Ludwig’s Piccola Notturna for English horn, harp, and string quintet.

Recognized as an artist of unusual sensitivity and virtuosity, pianist Steven Masi has concertized extensively throughout North America, Europe, and Asia. He has appeared at the Casals Festival, Aspen Music Festival, Chautauqua Festival, Park City International Festival, Central Vermont Chamber Music Festival, and Music Festival of the Hamptons. His many orchestral appearances have included series with the The Atlanta Symphony, the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra, and New Symphony Orchestra of London. In Germany he was an artist member of the Bonn Chamber Music Society.

Born in Plainfield, New Jersey in 1931, Donald Martino began music lessons at nine ñ learning to play the clarinet, saxophone, and oboe ñ and composing at age 15. He went on to obtain degrees from Syracuse and Princeton Universities.

Joanna Marsden is a “fabulous” (The Whole Note) flautist based in Montréal, Québec. She has performed with numerous ensembles throughout North America and Europe “beautifully” (Luis Gago, Madrid) and “with notable rhetorical clarity” (Boston Musical Intelligencer), and worked with conductors including Ton Koopman, Masaaki Suzuki, Václav Luks, Julian Prégardien, Mathieu Lussier, and Florian Heyerick, among others. She holds degrees from Vassar College, the Royal Conservatory of the Hague, and McGill University. She has offered engaging workshops and masterclasses to students throughout Europe and North America.

Kristina Marinova has been described as a virtuoso performer of extreme energy and youthful vibrance. Her clear and precise tone enhances her stormy expressions and performances, full of grace, serenity, style, and beauty. Her album entitled 4 RHAPSODIES, which she performed live at Carnegie Hall on November 17th, 2022, has been called “A Feast for the Ears” by Darren Rea of Classical Music Review Magazine.

Ben Marino (b. February 18, 1982) is a composer, producer, and pianist. Born and raised in Valencia CA, his education in music started early at the piano learning the Suzuki method. His private piano studies continued throughout high school where he was influenced by the solo piano compositions of Bela Bartok and Frederic Chopin. After graduating William S. Hart High School in Newhall CA in 2000, he was accepted to study Piano Performance and Music Composition at the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA (2001-2002).

Ovidiu Marinescu is internationally recognized as a cellist, composer, conductor, and educator. He has performed at Carnegie Hall, Weill Hall, Merkin Hall (New York), the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory, Holywell Room in Oxford, Oriental Art Center in Shanghai, and has appeared as soloist with the London Symphony, New York Chamber Symphony, the National Radio Orchestra of Romania, Moscow Chamber Orchestra, Helena, Great Falls, Portsmouth, and Newark Symphonies, Southeastern Pennsylvania Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland Philharmonic, Limeira Symphony in Brazil, Orquesta de Extremadura in Spain, and most of the professional orchestras in his native Romania. The album LONDON CELLO CONNECTION features Marinescu and London Symphony Orchestra in eight newly commissioned cello concertos by North American composers.

The works of Liviu Marinescu (b. 1970, Bucharest, Romania) have received recognition in numerous festivals of new music throughout the world, and have been performed by prominent orchestras and ensembles, including the Cleveland Chamber Symphony, Czech Bohuslav Martinu Philharmonic, Orchestra 2001 in Philadelphia and the National Chamber Radio and Music Academy orchestras in Bucharest.

Andrew March was born in Nuneaton, Warwickshire, United Kingdom in 1973. In 1992, he was accepted at the Royal College of Music to study composition with Jeremy Dale Roberts. He graduated in 1996, gaining a Bachelor of Music degree with honors.

Marcellino's sound embraces Western art music tradition with eclectic influences from other musical traditions such as jazz and non-western music and folk traditions. Since graduation, Marcellino has built an international profile as a composer in various genres of chamber music, orchestral music, opera, musical theater, and radio works. He has been awarded various prizes and commissions, including an Australia Council Fellowship and the Lowin Prize for his work Canticle for Brisbane Cathedrals Festival.

Adnan Marafi is a Kuwaiti composer born in 1994. He graduated from the College of Basic Education in 2017 where he studied piano and violoncello. In 2019 he travelled to Tashkent and recorded his two suites: Karkadae for flute and piano, and Dune for violin and piano. In 2020 his music was performed at The Academy of Arts and Media for Youths in Kuwait, and was described as “Invigorating, rich, and a unique take on contemporary music.”

Emily Mantone, a cellist from Mount Sinai NY, recently completed her Master of Music degree at The Juilliard School. She previously completed her Bachelor of Music degree at The Juilliard School, under the tutelage of Timothy Eddy. Currently, Mantone is pursuing a postgraduate degree at the Yale School of Music, studying with Paul Watkins, former cellist of the esteemed Emerson String Quartet.  Mantone has served as principal cellist of both The Juilliard Orchestra and the Yale Philharmonia under the baton of such conductors as Tan Dun, Alan Gilbert, Barbara Hannigan, Peter Oundjian, David Robertson, and Gerard Schwarz. She has also been a member of the Axiom contemporary ensemble, the New Juilliard Ensemble, and participated in Juilliard Chamberfest. She has previously served as principal cellist of the Handel Festival Orchestra, based in New York City, and was a Fellow of the Apex Ensemble, based in Montclair, New Jersey, under the baton of Music Director David Chan.