Composers
William Stamm
James William Stamm completed his classical guitar and theory/composition B.F.A. at Marshall University in Huntington WV. As of the release of PATTERNS, he is completing an M.F.A. in film music composition at UNC School of the Arts. His musical background also includes songwriting.
Stamm’s ambition going forward is to continue creating concert works and establishing a career in film scoring, songwriting, and sharing music of all kinds.
Georges Raillard was born in Basel, Switzerland, in 1957. There he completed primary and secondary studies and studied foreign languages at the university level. From 1983 to 2001 he lived in Madrid as a teacher, translator, and writer. Since 2001 he has mostly lived in Basel.
From 1973 to 1978 he took private classes on classical guitar and composition with Elfin F. Vogel in New York. Since 1974 he has composed more than 50 pieces for guitar. In 2010 he won the second prize of the composition competition at the Claxica guitar festival in Castel D’aiano, Italy, with the composition Zerfall (Disintegration).
His composition Sinking Islands was released on the Navona Records multi-composer album BETWEEN THE ECHOES in 2016. His album BUTTERFLIES IN THE LABYRINTH OF SILENCE was also released on Navona Records in 2017. Both were performed by guitarist David William Ross.
He has published short stories, articles, and reviews in magazines and anthologies in German-speaking countries. Since 2015 he has been translating poems by the Spanish poet Manuel Álvarez Ortega (1923-2014) from Spanish into German, in collaboration with María Pilar Arroyo Navarro.
Raillard’s published books include Hirnströme eines Stubenhockers und anderes Erzählgut [Brain Currents of a Homebody and Other Stories], Cologne 1994; Das Wort und der Schrei (Erzählungen) [A Word and a Shout (stories)], Cologne 1997; and Herr Monza oder Herr Monza (51 Geschichten) [Mr. Monza or Mr. Monza (51 stories)], Cologne 2002. All of these are published by edition sisyphos. His books Der Lauf des Amazonas (Geschichten) [The Course of the Amazon (stories)], Norderstedt 2009 and Aus dem Hintergrund Chorgesang (und anderes Erzählen) [Choral Singing from the Background and Other Narrative], Norderstedt 2013) are all published by Books on Demand.
Santiago Kodela is an Argentinean composer and classical guitarist. He began his guitar studies at the Conservatorio Superior de Música "Manuel de Falla" (Buenos Aires, Argentina) under the tutelage of María Catalina Bello.
After years of outstanding academic performance, he relocated to Europe to pursue his bachelor's degree in Music Performance at the Royal Irish Academy of Music (Dublin, Ireland). Guided by Marion Hyland, he excelled in the performance of classical guitar repertoire. In 2016 he was awarded the coveted Gaiety Bursary (Royal Irish Academy of Music) which allowed him to perform the legendary "Concierto de Aranjuez" with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra at the National Concert Hall (Dublin, Ireland) under the conduction of Gavin Maloney.
In 2018, Kodela completed a master’s degree in Music and Media Technologies (Trinity College Dublin) where he specialized in Audio Production and Contemporary Music Composition. He composed a classical guitar quartet suite based on the works of contemporary guitarists and composers Allan Holdsworth and Fredrik Thordendal which was mastered by Grammy-winner mastering engineer legend Bob Katz.
His compositions tilt towards rhythmic richness, harmonic landscapes, and experimentation of contrasting musical languages. Although he specializes in guitar, he also writes music for more traditional ensembles, choir, and other solo instruments.
As a performer, Kodela toured extensively around both Argentina and Ireland and has taken countless masterclasses with some of the world's top performers, including artists such as Berta Rojas, Xuefei Yang, Walter Malosetti, Odair Assad, and Craig Ogden, among others.
photo: Olga Kuzmenko
Daniel Adams (b. 1956, Miami FL) is a Professor of Music at Texas Southern University in Houston. Adams holds a Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (1985), a Master of Music from the University of Miami (1981), and a Bachelor of Music from Louisiana State University (1978). Adams is the composer of numerous published musical compositions and the author of many articles and reviews on topics related to 20th-century percussion music, music pedagogy, and the music of Texas. His book entitled The Solo Snare Drum was published in 2000. He is also the author of two entries published in 2009 in the Oxford Encyclopedia of African-American History: 1896 to the Present and has authored a revision of the “Miami, Florida” entry for the Grove Dictionary of American Music.
Adams has served as a panelist and lecturer nationally and internationally. He has received commissions from The McCormick Percussion Group, The McCormick Duo, the Robinson High School Percussion Ensemble (Tampa FL), The Gulf Coast Community Band, The Leechburg (PA) High School Percussion Ensemble, the Louisiana State University Percussion Ensemble, the EOS flute and guitar duo, guitarist Kenneth Kam, VioLet, Lee Hinkle, Richard Nunemaker Studios, Selmer Paris, Buffet Crampon, and D’Addario Woodwinds.
Adams’s music has been performed throughout the United States and in Spain, Germany, Belgium, Sweden, Finland, Costa Rica, Turkey, Argentina, Bulgaria, Canada, Australia, Great Britain, and South Korea. His music is recorded on Capstone Records, Ravello Records, Navona Records, Potenza, Albany, and Summit Records.
photo: Olga Adams
Dr. David Arbury grew up in Washington, DC where he sang from age 9 as a boy treble at Washington National Cathedral in the Cathedral Choir of Men and Boys under Richard Dirksen and later, Douglas Major. He remained with the choir for 18 years and in that time sang with every voice part. Through the 1990s while still in the choir, he became active in DC’s thriving indie rock scene, playing drums and bass with several bands in the post-punk community there.
He has worked at the Music Division of the Library of Congress, co-founded an independent record label, conducted small ensembles, and is a founding member of the early music vocal ensemble Icarus. He holds degrees in music composition from the University of Maryland, Arizona State University, and Haverford College. From 2001-2003 he was Composer-in-Residence for the Cathedral Center for the Arts at Trinity Cathedral in Phoenix AZ. He was Vice-President of the Contemporary Music Society in Tempe AZ and founded University of Maryland’s New Music Initiative. He has frequently appeared as a guest lecturer and speaker, has taught as an adjunct professor at Catholic University and the University of Maryland, and currently teaches at Los Angeles City College and East Los Angeles College.
Arbury is the principal composer for both Wolf Knife and Prominence Films production companies and has worked on most of their projects for film and video including the live orchestral original score for “Of Fortune and Gold” (2015) which won Best Picture at the Boston International Film Festival. His choral music has been performed by top choirs all over the United States, including that of Washington National Cathedral. His choral works are featured on three albums: two from the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle in Washington, DC – Christmas at St. Matthew’s and New Music from the Cathedral – and one – Cathedral Favorites – from the Trinity Cathedral choir in Phoenix AZ. His instrumental and electronic compositions have been featured in conferences and festivals hosted by Crossing 32nd Street, The Society of Composers, the Percussive Arts Society, the University of Maryland, and LAVAL Virtual, and an album of his chamber music – Alchemy – is available from New Ovation Music. He has received commissions and grants from numerous ensembles and organizations including the American Composers Forum, the Arizona Commission on the Arts, the Institute for Studies in the Arts, the Phoenix Arts Commission, Taffety Punk, and the Wolf Trap Foundation. His compositions for concert hall, church, dance, and theater have been performed throughout the United States and Europe.
photo: John Nyboer
As a composer, Bunny composes contemporary classical music as well as jazz and ballads. Her most recent works include “Breathe” for jazz ensemble, “Suite for Sarro” for string trio, “Fantasy for Saxophones”, (quartet) “Fantasy for Brass” (quintet) and the suite “Two Rivers and An Ocean” for mixed percussion ensemble. Her client commissions include arrangements. Bunny holds a Master of Fine Arts degree in Music Composition from the Vermont College of Fine Arts.
As a pianist, Bunny Beck is heard playing elegant background jazz at restaurants, cocktail lounges and hotels, as well as for corporate and private events, for which she customizes her repertoire to meet the client’s music preferences.
As a recording artist, Bunny’s albums are produced by PARMA Recordings. “From the Spirit” features an array of her compositions performed by the Bunny Beck Jazz Ensemble. “Abrazzo: The Havana Sessions” a compilation recording of works by American composers recorded in Havana, Cuba includes Bunny’s “Jazz Vocal Suite” and “Jazz Instrumental Suite”. Her “Sound Tapestries” album features jazz standards played by the Bunny Beck Trio.
Photo Credit: Timothy Miller. Describing to the audience, the inspiration for "Suite for Sarro" performed at the Little Church Around the Corner, NY.
Jan Järvlepp returned to his native Ottawa in 1981 after completing his doctoral studies in composition and 20th-century music at the University of California, San Diego. His composition teachers over the years were Luis de Pablo, Alcides Lanza, Will Ogdon, and Roger Reynolds. Once back, he joined the Ottawa Symphony Orchestra and has been active as a freelance cellist, composer, teacher, recording technician, and as a contractor for chamber music groups. Freed from the restrictions of the university environment, he began composing in a newer style of postmodern music that would not be acceptable among academics. He has been delving deeper and deeper into the world of pop-influenced contemporary “classical” composition. He has completely turned his back on the avant-garde modernism that he was rigorously trained in, in order to concentrate on the emerging neo-tonal style.
In 1996, the Ottawa Symphony Orchestra premiered his percussion ensemble concerto, The Garbage Concerto, to a wildly receptive audience, and that success has now been repeated in many cities around the world. His chamber music has been featured in the Ottawa Chamber Music Festival and in the Music and Beyond Festival, and has been broadcast internationally. Järvlepp’s music has been heard on previous Navona albums including TOMORROW’S AIR (2017), LEGENDS AND LIGHT (2018), and PRISMA 2 (2019). Many of his compositions are available from the American publisher J. W. Pepper, either as digital downloads or in paper form, and from the Canadian Music Centre.
Photo Credit: Claudette Bockstael
performers
Lee Hinkle, D.M.A., is a percussionist and baritone vocalist whose percussion playing has been called “rock-steady” by the Washington Post. Hinkle is the principal percussionist with the 21st Century Consort. He made his Carnegie Hall solo debut in 2014 with the world premiere performance of Baljinder Sekhon’s Double Percussion Concerto for two percussion soloists and wind ensemble.
Hinkle’s notable performances have included the National Symphony Orchestra as well as tours with Bebe Neuwirth, Bernadette Peters, and the American Wind Symphony Orchestra. With over a dozen published albums to his credit, Hinkle’s most recent solo album released in January 2015, Theatrical Music for Solo Percussion, can be heard on Albany Records. An active percussion soloist, Hinkle has performed at universities, conservatories, and festivals both nationally and internationally, as well as at three Percussive Arts Society International Conventions.
Hinkle currently serves on the faculty at the University of Maryland where he is Co-Director of Percussion Studies. He also serves on the Percussive Arts Society’s New Music/Research Committee and is the President of the MD/DE Chapter of the Percussive Arts Society. Hinkle is a Yamaha Performing Artist and proudly endorses Remo, Innovative Percussion, and Grover Pro Percussion.
Robert McCormick is currently Professor of Music and director of the percussion program at the University of South Florida in Tampa. He served as principal percussionist/assistant timpanist with the Florida Orchestra for 20 seasons. He is a former member of the Harry Partch Ensemble and often performs with high profile artists of all genres. In 2010, he conducted the premiere performance of Chan Hae Lee’s Korean folk opera Simcheongga at the National Center of Performing Arts in Seoul. In March 2014 McCormick performed the world premiere of Baljinder Sekhon’s Double Percussion Concerto at Carnegie Hall with percussionist Lee Hinkle.
His myriad recordings with the McCormick Percussion Group, McCormick Duo, and others continually receive the highest critical acclaim from composers and scholars. McCormick is the host of the annual McCormick Marimba Festival which attracts major university marimba ensembles and performers from around the world. McCormick was the 2006 recipient of the Florida Music Educator of the Year Award; the 2007 Grand Prize in the Keystone Percussion Composition Award; the 2010 University Distinguished Teacher Award; and the 2015 Percussive Arts Society Lifetime Achievement in Education Award. He has also received several Global Music Awards for his album recordings, many of which are published on the Ravello label and distributed by Naxos. McCormick is most proud of the many highly successful students he has had the opportunity to work with over the years.
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