Deep-Sky Objects/Stars

Sebastian Currier

Heralded as “music with a distinctive voice” by the New York Times and as “lyrical, colorful, firmly rooted in tradition, but absolutely new” by the Washington Post, Sebastian Currier’s music has been presented at major venues worldwide by acclaimed artists and orchestras.

Trevor Weston

Trevor Weston’s music has been called a “gently syncopated marriage of intellect and feeling.” (Detroit Free Press). Weston’s honors include the George Ladd Prix de Paris from the University of California, Berkeley, an Arts and Letters Award in Music and a Goddard Lieberson Fellowship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and residencies from the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts and MacDowell.

Karol Bennett

Soprano Karol Bennett has been heard worldwide in lieder, oratorio, opera, and new music. Her honors include the Pro Musicis International Award, a fellowship from the Bunting Institute of Radcliffe College, an Artistic Ambassadorship, and a Duo Recitalists Grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. Bennett has appeared as soloist with numerous ensembles, including the Houston Symphony, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, Sinfonia Cracovia, Da Camera of Houston, the New York New Music Ensemble, the Quarteto Latino-Americano, and the Borromeo, Cassatt, Chiara, Boston Composers, Del Sol, Enso, Flux, Maia, and Mendelssohn String Quartets.

Laura Bleakley

Hawaii born Korean-American pianist Laura Bleakley is currently a Butler Studio Artist at Houston Grand Opera. She recently just finished her tenure as a resident artist at Utah Opera. She received her Masters in Collaborative Piano at the University of Houston, where she’s currently a Doctoral Candidate. She received her Bachelors of Organ and Piano performance from the University of Puget Sound.

Lisa Burrell

Dr. Lisa Burrell is on the music faculty of Lone Star College in Houston TX. She is a violinist, violist, string clinician, and a Guild Certified Feldenkrais Practitioner. She teaches classes in the Feldenkrais Method® at Rice University, she is on the governing committee for the International Society for Music Education’s Musicians’ Health and Wellness SIG, and she is an active member of the Performing Arts Medicine Association. She teaches privately online and in the Houston area, working with both young musicians, professional musicians dealing with injury, and music educators. She is a regular clinician in the Houston public schools, college and university music programs, and teacher in-services, emphasizing pedagogy that promotes healthy playing through movement-based learning.

Amanda Galick

Amanda Galick is a flutist and educator in the Washington DC area. She is the former second flute and piccolo of the Sarasota Opera Orchestra. A past Young Artist with DACAMERA of Houston, she has performed in many concert venues around the globe, including Carnegie Hall, Disney Hall, Shanghai Grand Theatre and Beijing’s National Centre for the Performing Arts, as well as more unconventional settings such as the Houston Museum of Fine Arts, Menil Collection and independent school districts across the Houston area.

Jackson Guillen

Honduran violinist and violist Jackson Guillen has performed in venues in the United States, Mexico, Honduras, Colombia, and Chile, and has toured across Latin-America with the Orchestra of the Americas. He has served as Principal Second Violin of the Gulf Coast Symphony, Lubbock Symphony, and the Symphony of Southeast Texas, and as regular guest concertmaster of the Shreveport Symphony. An avid chamber musician, Guillen completed a two-year Fellowship with Da Camera of Houston and was recently selected to be a part of the Future of Music Faculty Fellowship with the Cleveland Institute of Music and as a Mentor for the University of Houston’s Real-world Artists Mentorship Program. He also performs regularly with several organizations in Houston. Guillen also plays an important role in the organization of the Encuentro de Cuerdas, a string-focused festival in Honduras.

James Dunham

James Dunham’s rich background includes winning a GRAMMY® award as violist of the Cleveland Quartet and also the Naumburg Chamber Music Award as founding violist of the Sequoia String Quartet. An Historically Informed musician, he is violist of the Axelrod String Quartet at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington DC and appears regularly with the Bach Society Houston and Ars Lyrica Houston. In addition, his collaborations on contemporary and standard repertoire with the American, Jupiter, Pacifica, Takács, and New Zealand String Quartets have taken him around the world.

Lachezar Kostov

Formerly associate principal cellist of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Lachezar Kostov has performed as a soloist at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Leipzig Gewandhaus, and Oji Hall in Tokyo. Kostov studied cello at the National Conservatory in Sofia, Bulgaria and furthered his education at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts and at Yale and Rice universities. Lachezar has released two critically-acclaimed CDs by Naxos (The Complete Cello Works by Nikolai Roslavets), and Navona Records (PARAPHRASES AND TRANSCRIPTIONS). During the summer he is a frequent guest artist at festivals such as the Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival, the Texas Music Festival, the Lakes Area Music Festival, and the Cactus Pear Festival in San Antonio. A Larsen Strings Artist, Kostov exclusively uses the company’s new Il Cannone cello strings. Since 2024, Kostov is the Associate Principal cellist of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra.

Maureen Nelson

Violinist Maureen Nelson joined the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra after leading the GRAMMY®-nominated Ensō String Quartet for over a decade, captivating audiences from major concert stages of the world, regularly concertizing throughout North America and abroad.

A native of Pennsylvania, Nelson was enrolled in Temple University’s Center for Gifted Young Musicians at the age of 12, and began attending the Curtis Institute of Music shortly thereafter. While studying in Germany, she was concertmaster of the Detmolder Kammerochester. Currently, Nelson is a member of the Houston-based orchestra ROCO and New York’s Festival Orchestra of Lincoln Center.

Maiko Sasaki

Dr. Maiko Sasaki is a distinguished clarinetist known for her dynamic performances as a soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral player. She has collaborated with prominent ensembles, including Musiqa, ROCO, Opera in the Heights, the Sarasota Orchestra, and the Gilbert & Sullivan Society of Houston. Sasaki has also been featured in prestigious chamber music concerts such as the Kennedy Center Conservatory Project and ROCO’s Connections series. Her artistry has earned her the prestigious Presser Music Award, recognizing her excellence and outstanding promise in the field of music. Originally from Japan, Sasaki is admired for her kind and reserved demeanor off-stage, which contrasts with the vivid emotion and expressiveness she brings to her performances. Houston critic Sydney Boyd praised her clarinet solo in Act Two of La Traviata as “exquisite and full of overwhelming emotion.” In addition to her performing career, Sasaki serves as Artist Liaison for ROCO. She holds a Doctor of Musical Arts from Rice University and enjoys sewing as a creative hobby outside of music.

Tali Morgulis

Israeli-American pianist Tali Morgulis is a passionate performer and a dedicated pedagogue. Prize winner of several international competitions, Morgulis continues to present critically acclaimed solo, chamber music, and orchestral performances worldwide. Morgulis’ recordings can be found on Delos, Albany, and Navona Records labels.

Mayara Velasquez

Venezuelan cellist Mayara Velasquez started her musical studies at The Carabobo Conservatory and continued her education as part of “El Sistema” nucleo Valencia. She received her Bachelor of Music degree from the Louisiana State University and a Master’s in Music from the University of Houston Moores School of Music.

Sarah Manguso

Sarah Manguso is the author of ten books, most recently the novels Liars and Very Cold People. Her work has been translated into 15 languages. Her other books include a story collection, two poetry collections, and four acclaimed works of nonfiction: 300 Arguments, Ongoingness, The Guardians, and The Two Kinds of Decay. Her work has been recognized by an American Academy of Arts and Letters Literature Award, a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Hodder Fellowship, a Pushcart Prize, and the Rome Prize. She grew up in Massachusetts and now lives in Los Angeles.

sarahmanguso.com

Robert Hayden

Robert Hayden (August 4, 1913–February 25, 1980) was an American poet, essayist, and educator. He served as Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 1976 to 1978, a role today known as U.S. Poet Laureate. He was the first African-American writer to hold the office.