Artists

Omar Carmenates is currently the Associate Professor of Percussion at Furman University in Greenville SC. He holds a Doctor of Music degree from Florida State University, a Master of Music Degree in Percussion Performance from the University of North Texas, and a Bachelor’s degree in Music Education from the University of Central Florida.

Marvin J. Carlton is an American composer of opera, art song, symphonic works, choral works, and chamber music. His micro-opera 3D's DANCE HALL won the audience choice award at The Atlanta Opera's 24-Hour Opera Project in 2013, while his opera PIE, PITHE, AND PALLETTE won the judge's award in 2016. His music has been heard in concerts by Belleville (IL) Philharmonic Chorale, Centralia (IL) Philharmonic Orchestra, The Atlanta Opera, International Double Reed Society, St. Martin Chamber Players, Heart of Illinois Woodwind Quintet, The American Patriot Wind Ensemble, the Southern Illinois Grade School Vocal Music Association, and One Ounce Opera (Austin, Tx).

Philip Carlsen (b. 1951, Coulee Dam WA) earned degrees in composition from the University of Washington, Brooklyn College, and the CUNY Graduate Center. His principal teachers were Robert Suderburg and Jacob Druckman; he also studied with William Bergsma, Stuart Dempster, Mario Davidovsky, and Charles Dodge.

Joanne D. Carey studied composition with Lou Harrison, Tikey Zes, and Alan Strange at San Jose State University where she earned B.A. and M.A. degrees (1979, 1986). She spent a decade (1983-1993) as a visiting composer at Stanford University’s Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (CCRMA) during which she composed three computer-generated pieces.

A native of Memphis TN, baritone Courtney D. Carey earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Music from Morehouse College in Atlanta GA, Master of Music degree in Conducting from Eastman School of Music in Rochester NY, and the Professional Studies Diploma in Voice from Mannes College of Music in New York NY. Carey made his operatic debut in the summer of 2003 as Morales in Bizet’s Carmen and Hermann in Offenbach’s Hoffmans Erazaehlungen with the Komische KammerOper Muenchen in Munich, Germany. Since his debut, Carey has sung principal and supporting roles in Il Tabarro, Gianni Schicchi, Die Zauberfloete, My Fair Lady, Ariadne auf Naxos, and Don Alfonso in Mozart's Cosi fan Tutte. 

Lauded as “technically fearless with…an enormous, rich sound” (La Scena Musicale), pianist Michelle Cann made her orchestral debut at age fourteen and has since performed as a soloist with prominent orchestras such as the Atlanta and Cincinnati symphony orchestras, The Cleveland Orchestra, the New Jersey Symphony, and The Philadelphia Orchestra.

Saxophonist Dr. Dave Camwell is a distinguished, versatile, and dynamic performer, and serves as the Director of Jazz Studies and Associate Professor of Music at Troy University in Alabama. Camwell has been a Yamaha Performing Artist since 2004, a D'Addario Performing Artist since 2009, a Beechler Artist since 2003, and has over 30 publications available through Jeanne, Dorn, and UNC Jazz Press.

Richard Campanelli was born in Hartford CT. When he was seven years old the family moved to Springfield, MO. There were not a lot of opportunities for an artistic education of any sort there, but he was able to finally talk his parents into getting a piano and started taking lessons from local piano teachers.

Clifton Callender (b. 1969, Pascagoula MS) is Associate Professor of Composition at Florida State University, and holds degrees from the University of Chicago, Peabody Conservatory, and Tulane University.

Curt Cacioppo's compositions synthesize and reflect multiple dimensions of his musical and humanistic experience. Like his mentor Leon Kirchner, and other composer/performers such as Frederic Rzewski and George Walker, he is a formidable pianist, fully grounded in the traditional solo, ensemble, and concerto literature, and avidly involved with new repertoire.

Thomas Cabaniss (b. Charleston SC, 1962) is a composer for dance, theater, film, and the concert stage. Cabaniss helped to create the Lullaby Project at Carnegie Hall, serving young parents in shelters, hospitals, and prisons with collaboratively created songs for their children. He has been teaching at Juilliard in the Dance Division since 1998 and in the Music Division since 2007. He served as education director for the New York Philharmonic and Music Animateur at the Philadelphia Orchestra. He has written articles for Chamber Music Magazine and the Teaching Artist Journal. His music is published by Boosey & Hawkes, European American Music, G. Schirmer, and musiCreate publiCations. He is a member of ASCAP and an associated artist of Target Margin Theater.

A Grammy-nominated artist and McKnight Fellow, José A. Zayas Cabán has presented performances and taught master classes throughout Europe, the Caribbean, and North America. A native Puerto Rican (born and raised in Mayagüez PR) and musician activist, José now resides in Minneapolis MN and is building an artistic career focused on developing projects, albums, and collaborations that address, respond, and raise awareness about current events and social issues.

Ashlee T. Busch is a composer, performer, remixer, arranger, and educator based in Grand Rapids MI. Busch most enjoys collaborating with other artists in poetry, dance, installation art, video, and more. Such collaborations have included residencies with East Coast and Midwest universities, as an artist with Grammy-award-winning PARMA Recordings, publishing with mixed ensemble music education publisher Leading Tones LLC, publishing with digital choral music company Zintzo LLC, and collaborations with ensembles premiering her works across the United States.

Daniel Burwasser, born in New Brunswick NJ, is an American composer who has been writing and playing music since the age of 5. Originally a student of the piano, he eventually progressed to other forms of percussion, including drum set and orchestral percussion. He received his Bachelor’s degree from Temple University, a Master of Arts degree from Rutgers University, and his Ph.D. in Composition from the Graduate School of CUNY. He is a recipient of grants from both The American Music Center and Meet the Composer.

Robert Burrell (b. 1956) composes music across a wide spectrum of genre and medium. Coming out of his foundational years in the improvisational genre of charismatic worship music, he has developed a distinctive voice across multiple disciplines.

Harlem NY-born Reynard Burns' (b. 1946) prolific career includes work as a composer, arranger, and educator, as well as a bassist and guest conductor for several orchestra festivals. His compositions for full and string orchestra, wind ensemble, concert band, jazz ensemble, improvising strings, and other combinations have been performed throughout the United States and abroad, with his orchestral works receiving national recognition, most notably Flying, which was performed by the Long Island Philharmonic in a program honoring American composers.

Svjetlana Bukvich first came to the attention of the European music world following her appearances as featured soloist with the Sarajevo Philharmonic Orchestra, performing Beethoven’s 1st Piano Concerto at the age of 16, and the following year with Edinburgh George Heriot’s Symphony Orchestra with the 2nd Concerto. Driven by a need to express beyond interpretation, Bukvich studied at the Music Academy - University of Sarajevo, where she earned degrees in Composition and Musicology.

Composer Dalibor Bukvić (b. 1968) graduated from the Department of Composition at the Academy of Music in Zagreb under the mentorship of Stanko Horvat in 1995. He received the French government’s scholarship for the Paris Conservatory (Department of Electro-Acoustics, class of Laurent Cuniot, 1996–1997). He attended the National Conservatory of Boulogne, in the class of Michel Zbar (1996–1998), and the IRCAM’s Summer Academy in Paris in 1997. He perfected his skills on the summer course in Darmstadt with Karlheinz Stockhausen and Luca Lombardi in 1996. From 2002 to 2008, he worked in Paris as a professor of music theory, piano, and improvisation and as an accompanist at several conservatories in Paris and at the Conservatories in Ivry-sur-Seine and Fontenay-aux-Roses. Since 2008, he has been living in Zagreb and working as a professor at the Academy of Music in Zagreb, lecturing theoretical and musical courses.

Liova Bueno's music is performed in concerts and music festivals internationally, from Europe, the United States, and across Canada to countries in Central and South America. He has received commissions from and has collaborated with various ensembles, including Cuarteto de Bellas Artes (Mexico), Vox Humana Chamber Choir (Victoria, B.C.), the Victoria Choral Society (Victoria, B.C.), the London Symphony Orchestra (U.K.), the Janáček Philharmonic Orchestra (Czech Republic), BRNO Contemporary Orchestra (Czech Republic), the Illinois Modern Ensemble (Illinois), the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional Juvenil and members of the Orquesta Sinfonica Nacional (Dominican Republic), and members of the Victoria Symphony.

Gerry Bryant has been described by many as a renaissance man. Multi-talented Bryant graduated cum laude from both Phillips Andover Academy and Harvard, and received two graduate degrees (J.D. & M.B.A.) from UCLA. His musical influences range from masters of the Romantic Period in classical music (in particular Chopin, Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff), to jazz legends Nat King Cole and Duke Ellington, to contemporary pianists Keith Jarrett and Ramsey Lewis. He describes his original music as “Third Stream,” a term coined in 1957 by composer Gunther Schuller to describe a musical genre that is a synthesis of classical music and jazz.