Performers

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 33 recordings, winning three GRAMMY® Awards for Best Choral Performance, while nominated nine times. 

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 33 albums, earning three GRAMMY® Awards for Best Choral Performance and multiple nominations. The Crossing is Musical America's 2024 Ensemble of The Year.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The Brno Contemporary Orchestra (BCO) was founded in 2011 with the aim of performing the world’s contemporary music and selected 20th-century works in Czechia and Czech music throughout the world. The ensemble includes top-level professional musicians employed in the leading Czech orchestras. It draws on a large pool of permanent collaborators who perform in various lineups according to the needs of each project.

The Janáček Philharmonic is a world-class symphony orchestra based in Ostrava, Czech Republic and an emerging figure on the international performance scene. With over 100 top-level musicians, the orchestra aims to introduce unique, quality repertoire while showcasing their own recognizable sound.

Jiří Petrdlík (b. 1977) is appreciated as one of the most respectable conductors of his generation. He studied piano, trombone, and conducting — 1995–2000 at Prague Conservatory, and 2000–2005 at Academy of Performing Arts Prague — with Hynek Farkač, Miroslav Košler, Miriam Němcová, Radomil Eliška, and Tomáš Koutník, and took part in the masterclasses of the New York Philharmonic Principal Conductor Kurt Masur and the BBC Philharmonic Principal Conductor Jiří Bělohlávek. Petrdlík also successfully took part in several competitions, including the Donatella Flick Conductor Competition in London.

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.

Pavel Šnajdr is a Czech conductor and composer. He is a graduate of the Janáček Academy of Music and Performing Arts (JAMU), Brno in composition (which he studied with Alois Piňos) and conducting (with Emil Skoták). Beyond working with symphony orchestras, he has been engaged by music theatres including the J.K. Tyl Theatre in Pilsen, the Prague State Opera and the Moravian Theatre in Olomouc, and currently conducts opera at the National Theatre in Brno.

With a deep love for music new and old, Chinese culture and music, and exploring crossroads between music and language, Boston native Julia Glenn savors finding and contributing to unique artistic voices as an international performer of modern and baroque violins. Called “remarkable,” “gripping,” and “a brilliant soloist” by the New York Times, she recently joined the Naumburg-winning Lydian String Quartet and the faculty of Brandeis University after teaching for three years at the Tianjin Juilliard School, where she served as violin and theory faculty and was a member of the Tianjin Juilliard Ensemble.

A small Gulf Coast Texas town was not a likely place for a future jazz musician and composer to grow up, but Paul English’s father was an accomplished jazz trombonist and a respected music educator and band director. Early on he introduced his son to Dave Brubeck, J. J. Johnson, and Count Basie (in that order) as well as Bach, Beethoven, and Stravinsky. This magical world fascinated Paul, and almost before he could speak, he was banging out sounds on the piano that must have been painful to others but glorious in his own mind.

Chris Brubeck is a GRAMMY®-nominated composer who continues to distinguish himself as a multi-faceted performer. A talented bassist and trombonist as well as an award-winning writer, Brubeck is tuned into the pulse of contemporary music. The respected music critic for The Chicago Tribune, John von Rhein, calls Brubeck: “a composer with a real flair for lyrical melody — a 21st Century Lenny Bernstein.” Brubeck has created an impressive body of symphonic work while maintaining a demanding touring and recording schedule with his various groups. He was a member of the Dave Brubeck Quartet for 16 years, and a frequent guest artist with the Quartet before and after that time period.

For half a century, the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra (MPO) has been Malta’s leading musical ensemble. The orchestra was founded in April 1968, when musicians from the defunct Commander-in-Chief (C-in-C) orchestra of the Malta-based British Mediterranean Fleet regrouped as the Manoel Theatre Orchestra. It continued to serve as the theatre’s resident orchestra until September 1997, when it became an independent orchestra, taking up the name National Orchestra of Malta. The orchestra became the MPO in 2008 when it expanded to a full-sized symphony orchestra, bringing together the best of Maltese talent and musicians from Europe and beyond.

Raised amidst the diverse musical traditions of southern Appalachia, cellist Juliana Soltis inspires audiences the world over with “exquisite, heart-rending” (Early Music America) performances that are redefining classical music. A “true virtuoso” (Classical Music), Soltis delights in connecting listeners with the forgotten stories of classical music. 

Milton Rubén Laufer has graced some of the world's most iconic venues including Lincoln Center, New World Center, and Tchaikovsky Hall and has shared the stage with legendary artists like Natalie Cole, Chucho Valdés, and Guerassim Voronkov. His appearances on Spanish-speaking television and radio have transcended borders, captivating audiences throughout Europe, South America, Central America, and the Caribbean. A versatile artist, Laufer's portfolio includes performing, arranging, production, and sound reconstruction credits across renowned labels including Naxos, Bis Records, Beauport Classical, and Zenph Sound Innovations.

Flutist Lindsey Goodman is a soloist, recording artist, chamber collaborator, orchestral musician, educator, and clinician whose “palette of tone colors includes cool silver, warm chocolate, the bright colors of a sunrise, and the deep blue of midnight.” (The Flutist Quarterly) Renowned for her “energy and artistry, conveying her exuberance and creativity” (Pittsburgh in the Round), Lindsey has performed solo and chamber concerts, taught masterclasses, and given presentations at countless series, festivals, and universities. Performances “played with conviction” (New York Times) have been heard across three continents, including at Carnegie Hall, Eastman School of Music, Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Oberlin Conservatory of Music, Google headquarters, University of Cincinnati College’s Conservatory of Music, several National and Canadian Flute Association conventions, across China, and on the Nobody Listens to Paula Poundstone podcast.

A pianist with “an artistic ferocity that captivated and astonished listeners” (Waverly Newspapers), Clare Longendyke is a soloist, chamber musician, and musical innovator who performs with American orchestras and on recital series around the world. Recent highlights include performances of concertos by Mozart, Falla, Rachmaninoff, Florence Price, and Joan Tower with orchestras in Minnesota, Iowa, Indiana, and Virginia, and the release of her debut solo CD in 2024, …of dreams unveiled featuring works of Debussy, Amy Williams, and Anthony R. Green.