Artists

Pianist Kathryn Goodson, an international performer, teacher and coach, has performed collaborative recitals with vocalists and instrumentalists throughout the United States, Europe and Japan. In 2013-2014, she was a recital partner at the Detroit Institute of Arts, the Italian Embassy in Washington, D.C., Stanford University, the Grand Teton Music Festival and the first-ever Alumni-Konzert at Karlsruhe Musikhochschule in Germany.

Patrick Hawkins holds degrees in performance from the Peabody Conservatory at Johns Hopkins University, East Carolina University, and Arizona State University. Post-graduate studies in music education were taken at California State University, Los Angeles, and at the University of Washington, Seattle. His major teachers have included Janette Fishell, Peggy Haas Howell, Kimberly Marshall, and Carole Terry (organ); Shirley Mathews, and Webb Wiggins (harpsichord); and Shuko Watanabe and Joseph Rackers (piano).

Composer Gerald Cohen has been praised for his "linguistic fluidity and melodic gift," creating compositions with "a strong sense of tradition- one that embraces Brahms, Bartok, and Britten on one hand and his own Jewish heritage on the other" (Gramophone Magazine). His deeply affecting compositions have been recognized with numerous awards and critical accolades.

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.

Mitch Hampton was born in 1967 in New York City, was educated at Interlochen Arts Academy and received a Bachelor's and Master's from New England Conservatory of Music. His piano teacher and mentor while there was Stanley Cowell. His composition instructor was Thomas McKinley.

Marvin Schluger (1923-2004) was born into a poor immigrant Jewish family in Philadelphia PA. His father had been a coppersmith in the Old World but found it difficult to make a living in America, so Schluger's mother worked to sustain the family. It seemed, however, that there was always an extra dollar-and-a-half for Schluger and his sister to take weekly music lessons. Piano studies with Joseph Levine, and subsequently with Maria Carreras, were the focus of this early music education, while Schluger's explorations in composition were largely self-taught.

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.

Raymond Bokhour is a composer, actor, and playwright. He has composed for over 70 theatrical productions over 30 years, with 10 years as Resident Composer for Albany's Actors Shakespeare Company. He composed for the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Company's productions of Winter's Tale, Much Ado, and Twelfth Night.

Shuko Watanabe, Instructor of Music, holds a D.M.A. from the University of Maryland at College Park, MM and BM from the Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University, studying under Lillian Freundlich, Stewart Gordon and Roy Hamlin Johnson.

Timothy Gaylard, Professor of Music, holds a Ph.D. in Musicology from Columbia University, Artist Diplomas from the Royal Conservatory of Music at the University of Toronto and the Mozarteum in Salzburg, and B.A. and B.M. degrees from Carlton University.

Jorge Variego (b. 1975, Rosario, Argentina) has a Doctorate degree in Music Composition from the University of Florida; a master's of music degree in composition and clarinet Performance from Carnegie Mellon University; and a J.D. equivalent from the National University of Rosario. He currently serves as Assistant Professor of Music Composition, Theory and Woodwinds at Valley City State University.

The music of ERIC NATHAN (b. 1983, New York NY) has been performed in the United States and abroad at music festivals including the Aldeburgh Music Festival (UK), Tanglewood, Aspen, Ravinia Festival Steans Institute, Banff Centre, World Music Days, Yellow Barn as well as at the Louvre Museum and Carnegie Hall.

Alex Freeman (b. 1972, Raleigh NC) composes in a wide range of styles and media. He holds degrees from the Eastman School of Music, Boston University's School of Fine Arts, and the Juilliard School, where he completed his doctoral studies in 2004. His doctoral research led him to Finland, via a Fulbright Fellowship, where he lived for six years, studying at The Sibelius Academy and freelancing, before he assumed his current position of Assistant Professor of Music in Composition at Carleton College in Northfield MN.

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.

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.

Greg Bowers is active as a composer, performer, and director in a variety of genres. He is currently Assistant Professor of Music Theory and Composition at the College of William and Mary. His creative work includes concert music, musical theater, multimedia, and performance art and he is currently pursuing research in film music cognition and other forms of interdisciplinary art.

Douglas Detrick is a composer, songwriter, trumpeter, banjoist, writer, podcast producer and arts leader whose work in these diverse areas is distinguished by its quiet thoughtfulness and its embrace of good ideas from unconventional sources.

Ruud van Eeten (b. 1973) composed his first pieces when he was 11 years old. He earned Bachelor's degrees in Orchestral Conducting and Theory of Music at the Brabants Conservatory of Tilburg, and received his Master's degree in Orchestral Conducting at the Royal Conservatory of the Hague.

Martin Schlumpf (b. 1947) was born in the Swiss town of Aarau, where he was raised and educated through his high school graduation in 1966. During these years, he played double bass in various jazz groups, along with studying classical cello. Schlumpf also began writing essays on composition during this time, beginning with his discovery of the music of Austrian composer Anton Webern.

Chris Wild (b.1983) was born and raised in Vancouver, Canada. He is now based in the United States where he is active as a cellist, conductor, and music educator.