Artists

Praised by the New Music Connoisseur for her “technical certainty and musical imagination,” French double bassist Pascale Delache-Feldman has been described as “a gifted colorist who produced an entire range of orchestral effects” (Boston Phoenix). In her recent appearance at the Kennedy Center, Delache-Feldman performed her own arrangement of Astor Piazzolla’s Four Seasons of Buenos Aires, which is included in her Navona Records album LET’S TANGO with Duo Cello e Basso and pianist Victor Cayres. Other recital credits include performances at Radio France; Franz Liszt Academy, Hungary; and Teatro Victoria Eugenia, San Sebastian, Spain. As a soloist, she has performed with the Merrimack Valley Philharmonic, the North Shore Philharmonic, and the Greensboro Festival Orchestra.

A native of New York City, pianist Robert DeGaetano (1946 – 2015) enjoyed a widely esteemed career as both a virtuoso interpreter of the great keyboard repertoire and a composer of striking originality and communicative intensity.

Malcolm Dedman was born in London, England, on November 3, 1948. Fascinated at an early age by his mother’s piano playing, she taught him to play when he was around 5 years of age. Once Dedman had a basic understanding, he found himself improvising alongside his regular practice. By the age of 12, he realized that he wanted to write some of these ideas down, so this became the starting point to his career as a composer.

Described by American Record Guide as “...a composer whose heart and care are palpable... who has a voice that deserves to be heard often” and by the Baltimore Sun as having “a refined sense of melodic arcs and harmonic motion,” Peter Dayton’s compositions have been performed across North America and in Europe.

An American whose music has been characterized by "propulsive, syncopated rhythms, colorful orchestration, and instrumental virtuosity," (Robert Kirzinger, Boston Symphony) composer Kevin Day has quickly emerged as one of the leading young voices in the world of music composition today, whose music ranges from powerful introspection to joyous exuberance. Kevin Day is an internationally acclaimed composer, conductor, and pianist, whose music often intersects between the worlds of jazz, minimalism, Latin music, fusion, and contemporary classical idioms.

Composer Sparky Davis' music is featured on THE MUSIC OF SPARKY DAVIS, an album highlighting his "modern, not modernistic" approach to composition.

Melissa D’Albora’s music addresses mental health and political discourse, ranging from gun violence to women’s rights. Respire (2020) for flute and guitar is a reflection searching for inner peace. The piece received the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation grant and was premiered by Duo Sequenza in 2021. A Fantasy (2019), commissioned by GRAMMY®-Award winning Seraphic Fire, addresses the expectations women face in society. South Florida Classical described her work as “an exploration of spatial harmonics that evidenced a sure command of writing for the voice.” D’albora’s works have been performed throughout North America by community ensembles like the East Central Indiana Community Orchestra and professional artists like Claire Grellier and Seraphic Fire.

Greg D'Alessio is a professor of composition at Cleveland State University, where he is also the coordinator of the electronic and computer music program. Among his honors and awards as a composer are a commission from the Koussevitsky Foundation in the Library of Congress, The Aaron Copland Prize, a Guggenheim Foundation fellowship, The Cleveland Arts Prize, 2 Ohio Arts Council Individual Artist Awards, the Board of Director’s Prize from the Society for electro-acoustic music (SEAMUS), The Commuinity Partnership for Arts and Culture fellowship, and the Otto Ettinger fellowship to the Tanglewood Music Festival.

A great artist can manifest answers to otherwise perplexing aspects of our world through their craft and help us find understanding. Composer, author, and long-time PARMA artist Michael G. Cunningham (1937-2022) was the embodiment of this truth, a prolific artist whose timeless body of work will resonate for years to come. From symphonies and other orchestral works to piano pieces, art songs, opera, choral compositions, and works for jazz ensembles spanning 11 Navona Records releases, Cunningham showed an unwavering dedication to sharing his music with the world. Upon receiving his doctorate from Indiana University, Cunningham embarked on an artistic journey that would lead him to write over 250 musical compositions spanning multiple genres, pedagogical music books, and more.

Described as “harmonically lush and lyrically soaring” by the New York Times, and as having “abstract elegance, structural coherence, and tender feeling” by the Wall Street Journal, music by Daniel Crozier has been performed or recorded by the Fort Worth Opera, the Boston Symphony Chamber Players, the Seattle Symphony Orchestra, the New York City Opera, the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra, the Bach Festival Society of Winter Park, Songfest 2004, Winsor Music, saxophonist Branford Marsalis, oboist Peggy Pearson, and pianists Heidi Louise Williams and Vivian Choi.

Gramophone Magazine calls Shawn Crouch a "gifted young composer" and Anthony Tommasini of the New York Times describes Shawn Crouch's work as music of "gnarling atonal energy". Lawrence Johnson of the Miami Herald called his Road From Hiroshima; A Requiem a "staggering achievement, an imaginative, powerful and deeply moving work" making the Miami Herald and Sun Sentinel's 2005 Classical Music Standouts.

Bruce Crossman’s sound world embraces Asian traditional musics, free form improvisation and European influenced interval-colour sonority towards a personal Pacific identity. He has been mentored by Chinary Ung and studied composition with Ross Edwards, David Blake and Jack Speirs.

Allan Crossman has had the great pleasure to write for soloists and ensembles worldwide, including many commissions and awards. Millennium Overture appeared on the eponymous GRAMMY-nominated album from North/South Consonance; Music for Human Choir shared Top Honors at the Waging Peace Through Singing Festival in Oregon; Flyer, for cello solo and string orchestra, was written in 2003 for the centenary of the first Wright Brothers flight and premiered/recorded by the North/South Chamber Orchestra (NYC) under Max Lifchitz, with cellist Nina Flyer.

The Crossing is a professional chamber choir conducted by Donald Nally, dedicated to performing new music and committed to addressing social, environmental, and political issues through nearly 180 commissioned premieres. Collaborating with prestigious ensembles and venues like the New York and Los Angeles Philharmonics, Park Avenue Armory, Lincoln Center, and Carnegie Hall, The Crossing has released 35 albums, earning three GRAMMY® Awards for Best Choral Performance and multiple nominations. The Crossing is Musical America's 2024 Ensemble of The Year.

Richard Crosby was born in Ashland OH and raised in Largo FL. He holds a Bachelor of Music degree in Music Education (1979), a Master of Music degree in Piano and Wind Conducting (1981), and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Piano (1990) from the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music. His principal piano teachers at CCM were John Meretta and Richard Morris.

Rosśa Crean (they/them) jokingly says they “create music that they like to listen to when they are by themself, eating raw cookie dough in a dark closet,” but in truth, their music has been referred to as being “funny...and virtuosic” (Classic Concert Nova Scotia), having “exceptionally different, outstanding quality” (Download), and music that “stirs you deep, undertones of humanity” (Access Contemporary Music).

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.

Heralded by Reno Arts News for her “tender” playing, Sarah Coyl enjoys a diverse musical career playing and teaching violin and viola. She is a member of the Reno Philharmonic Orchestra and an instructor of violin at the University of Nevada, Reno. As an emerging chamber musician, she has performed in concert on viola with world-renowned pianist Joyce Yang. Recent solo engagements include a performance of the Bruch Violin Concerto with the Tahoe Symphony Orchestra.

I'lana Cotton is a composer, improviser, and pianist who has created works for a broad range of genres, from solo piano and small chamber groups to large choral and instrumental ensembles. Her concert music has been performed in the United States, the UK, Europe, and China.

Through her depth of expression as an internationally recognized harp soloist, actor, writer, and teacher, Rita Costanzi, in the words of Irish Author, Treasa O’Driscoll, “bears the mark of the true artist whose task it is to rise above the tumult of the times. A force of truth and love in herself and a musician of exceptional accomplishment, her playing never fails to touch the souls of listeners in deep and unexpected ways.”