Performers

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.

Donald Nally collaborates with creative artists, leading orchestras, and art museums to make new works for choir that address social and environmental issues. He has commissioned nearly 200 works and, with his ensemble The Crossing (Musical America’s 2024 Ensemble of the Year), has produced 35 albums, winning three GRAMMY® Awards for Best Choral Performance, while nominated nine times. 

Adam Estes is associate professor of music at the University of Mississippi, where he teaches saxophone, coaches woodwind chamber ensembles, and teaches woodwinds methods courses. Prior to working in Mississippi, he was assistant professor at Minot State University. Formerly a band director in the public schools in Mason TX, Estes has also held posts as visiting professor of saxophone at Furman University and the University of South Carolina, as well as instructorships at Presbyterian College and the South Carolina Governor’s School for the Arts and Humanities. He is the founding member of the Assembly Quartet, which celebrated their 20th year in 2023, and maintains an active performance schedule as a soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral musician. Abroad, his performing career has taken him to venues in Scotland, Ireland, Austria, Switzerland, France, and Belgium. Estes is a Légère Endorsing Artist, Yamaha Performing Artist, and has recorded with PARMA Recordings, Albany Records, AMP Recordings, Mark Records, and MSR Classics.

Clarinetist Gary Dranch, a specialist in new and contemporary music, obtained his Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Performance from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1981. Dranch has devoted his career to promoting new compositions for clarinet and enlarging its repertoire. As a native New Yorker, Dranch returned home to embark on a freelance career, performing and championing new music compositions with NYU’s Contemporary Players, The New Repertory Ensemble of New York, The American New Music Consortium, The Forum For New Music at NYU, and with North/South Consonance, performing at The Loeb Center, Carnegie Hall, Symphony Space, and LaMama, among other contemporary new music venues.

Founded in 1924 by visionary violin teacher Mary V. Dodge, Portland Youth Philharmonic provides young musicians in Portland OR with a challenging opportunity to explore their creativity while receiving the highest quality musical education. The nation’s first youth orchestra, PYP has produced consistently inspiring performances and upheld a tradition of excellence since its first public concert in February 1925. Alumni of this organization can be found around the world in professional orchestras, teaching music at every level, and promoting music education as an important life skill that benefits individuals in any career path.

Sirius Quartet combines exhilarating repertoire with unequaled improvisational fire. These conservatory-trained performer-composers shine with precision, soul and raw energy, championing a forward-thinking, genre-defying approach. Since their debut concert at the original Knitting Factory in New York City, Sirius has played some of the most important venues in the world, including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall, the Beijing Music Festival, the Cologne Music Triennale, the Beethoven-Haus Bonn, Stuttgart Jazz, Musique Actuelle in Canada, the Taichung Jazz Fest — Taiwan’s biggest jazz event — and many others.

The Canadian Encyclopedia calls Christina Petrowska Quilico, C.M., OOnt, FRSC, “one of Canada’s most celebrated pianists. Equally adept at Classical, Romantic and Contemporary repertoires...she is also a noted champion of Canadian composers.” She was appointed to the Order of Canada in 2020 “for her celebrated career as a classical and contemporary pianist, and for championing Canadian music” and to the Order of Ontario in 2022 “for opening the ears of music lovers through her performances and recordings, her teaching at York University and her establishment of The Christina and Louis Quilico Award at the Ontario Arts Foundation and Canadian Opera Company.” She was also inducted in 2021 into the Royal Society of Canada, “the country’s highest honor an individual can achieve in the Arts, Social Sciences and Sciences.” In September 2023, the Ontario Arts Council named her winner of its Oskar Morawetz Award for Excellence in Music Performance for having “reached a degree of international attention through appearances in other countries, and/or through broadcast and recordings,” with the jury asserting, “She is a legend.” 

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.

Acclaimed as “dynamic and knowledgeable” by the Buenos Aires Herald, Croatian conductor Miran Vaupotić has worked with eminent orchestras including the London Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, the Berliner Symphoniker, the Russian National Orchestra, the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Budapest Symphony Orchestra MÁV, Orchestre de Chambre de Genève, the Cairo Symphony Orchestra, Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional Argentina, and others, performing in major halls around the globe such as Carnegie Hall, Wiener Musikverein, Berliner Philharmonie, Rudolfinum, Smetana Hall, Victoria Hall, Forbidden City Concert Hall, Shanghai Oriental Art Center, Dubai Opera, Tchaikovsky Hall, International House of Music, CBC Glenn Gould Studio, and more.

Choral Chameleon is an acclaimed vocal ensemble based in New York City, renowned for its diverse repertoire and innovative programming. Established in January 2008, Choral Chameleon consists of a semi professional chorus of over 50 voices and a core professional ensemble of 16 singers. The group is celebrated for blending popular music with Western art music, breaking down barriers between genres, and creating dynamic and transformative concert experiences. 

Laura Ward is pianist and Co-Artistic Director of Lyric Fest. As a distinguished collaborative pianist she is known for both her technical ability and vast knowledge of repertoire and styles. Concert engagements have taken her to Carnegie Hall, The Kennedy Center, Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, the Spoleto Festival (Italy) and the Colmar International Music Festival and Saint Denis Festival in France.

Soprano Ellaina Lewis is an accomplished soloist and collaborator who demonstrates an extensive range of vocal and dramatic ability. Her journey began as part of a richly musical family in Washington DC and has led to her current home in Seattle WA, where she is frequently seen on opera, concert, and recital stages. She has performed with Seattle Opera since 2011, most recently in X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X, by Anthony Davis. Lewis has also worked among other companies including the Harmonia Orchestra and Chorus, Tacoma Opera, Seattle Choral Company, Puget Sound Opera, Everett Symphony, and as a guest of the Ladies Musical Club, among others.

A versatile conductor, Eric Allen is sought as a conductor of all types of ensembles. At Texas Tech University, Allen serves as director of the Contemporary Music Ensemble. Under his direction, the CME has performed exciting and innovative programs in a variety of venues, providing opportunities for musicians to experience exploratory repertoire in a nurturing and collaborative environment.

The nationally recognized Nevada Wind Ensemble is the flagship wind and percussion ensemble at the University of Nevada, Reno. Using one-per-part instrumentation, the Wind Ensemble performs a broad repertoire of classic and contemporary styles, ranging from large band works to chamber pieces. The ensemble tours regularly throughout the Western United States and provides the opportunity to collaborate with world-class guest conductors and guest artists. The group consists of graduate and undergraduate students.

Reed Chamberlin serves as director of bands at the University of Nevada, Reno, where he conducts the Nevada Wind Ensemble, teaches conducting, and guides the band program. He holds a doctor of musical arts degree in conducting from the Eastman School of Music where he was the assistant conductor of the Eastman Wind Ensemble, a Fennell Conducting Fellow, and recipient of the Walter Hagen Prize in conducting.

Yuriy Bekker, critically-acclaimed violinist and conductor, has been a mainstay of the Charleston Symphony Orchestra (CSO) in Charleston SC for 15 years. He has recently been named the CSO’s artistic director and also continues to lead as concertmaster (2007) and principal pops conductor (2016). Bekker previously served as the orchestra’s Acting Artistic Director from 2010–2014, playing a major role in the orchestra’s successful resurgence.

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.

Umi Garrett is a highly accomplished solo, collaborative, and chamber pianist based in New York City. She has performed numerous solo and collaborative recitals in the United States and internationally, most recently through presenters such as the Chopin Foundation of the United States, the Grace Goudy Distinguished Artists Series, the Dame Myra Hess Recital Series, and the Clark Art Institute. Garrett has performed and toured with orchestras such as the Mainly Mozart Festival Orchestra, Hiroshima Symphony Orchestra, Boston Symphony and Pops, Symphony Boca Raton, Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, Wuhan Symphony Orchestra, and the New Mexico Philharmonic. Garrett is also a passionate performer of new music, collaborating with and performing pieces by acclaimed composers such as Samuel Adler, inti figgis-vizueta, and Gabriela Smith. 

American quintet Calliope Brass collaborates with the world’s most prominent creatives to build evocative, story-driven concert experiences for a variety of audiences. Inspired by the eponymous storytelling muse in Greek mythology, Calliope Brass (pronounced “Kuh-LIE-uh-pea”) is most known for its innovative approach to creating interactive concert experiences. As a registered nonprofit, Calliope has been awarded grant funding for performance and educational programming since its founding in 2015.

One of the finest flutists of his generation, Gary Schocker is also a pianist and harpist, a prolific composer, and a compassionate teacher. Born into a musical family in Easton PA, he began to play the piano before he was 3 years old. His father, Paul Schocker, was a multi-talented instrumentalist and composer as well. Schocker’s nursery shared a wall with his father’s studio, so music was heard around the clock. As a result, music has always felt as much a part of him as breathing.