Ryan McGuire is an emerging American composer based in the Chicago area. Though he is young, he has already exhibited the traits of a great composer in the making. From the age of 9, he has produced a body of works that are ever increasing in their sophistication and maturity. An admirer of Beethoven, Schubert, […]
Madeleine Wilmsen is a performer and teacher based in the Chicago area. She recently graduated from the University of Kansas with a Bachelor of Arts in Music with an emphasis in Flute Performance where her principal teachers were Sarah Frisof and Michael Gordon. She was awarded placement in the University Honors Recital in 2016 and […]
Oboist and composer Laura Adkins has been an advocate of contemporary music for much of her professional career. She was recently awarded a scholarship to attend a composition residency at the Banff Centre for the Arts with her duo partner, pianist and composer Jonathan Hannau, which resulted in a full-length, collaboratively-composed concert program. In 2016, […]
Lisa Goethe-McGinn has an active career as a soloist, chamber musician, and teaching artist. She has performed in festivals and concerts throughout the U.S. and abroad. Known as a versatile performer, Lisa is a much sought after performer of contemporary, cutting-edge music and improvisation. She is currently working on solo and collaborative projects and with […]
Clarinetist Thiago Ancelmo has an active career as chamber musician, orchestral player, and educator. Awarded in more than ten competitions, including the prestigious “New Talents of Brazilian Music”, he has performed in eleven countries in Europe, South America, and North America. An enthusiastic of the music of our time, Thiago has performed music by living […]
Composer Marc Mellits is one of the leading American composers of his generation, enjoying hundreds of performances throughout the world every year, making him one of the most performed living composers in the United States. From Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center, to prestigious music festivals in Europe and the US, Mellits’ music is a […]
Beth Bradfish is a composer and sound artist whose goal is to bring her audience as close to sound as possible. She explores both contemporary acoustic and electronic sounds. Her focus is on creating environments where the audience is free to move through the sound and experience it with more than their ears. She composes […]
In 2004, Lawrence Klevan and I became friends. New music was a major common interest. Lawrence was working for the Chicago Dance and Music Alliance and had come to know many of the new music ensembles. He and I talked about the idea of creating a consortium of the performing groups, and we raised the question with several […]
Tim Corpus is an internationally performed composer, sound designer, and arts administrator who calls Chicago home. Highlights include performances at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, Federal Justica Cultural Center of Brazil, the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, RHA Gallery in Ireland, and the Chicago Cultural Center. In addition to concerts, he has […]
Mark Nagy is a Chicago-based saxophonist and composer. In addition, he designs, builds and performs using electronics. A project that he is currently involved in is the recording of the entire Cornelius Cardew Treatise with another electronic musician. Considering the magnitude of the score, 193 pages, it is an ambitious project. Their eventual goal is […]
South Korean native Koeun Grace Lee is an accomplished performer, educator, and conference lecturer. She holds a Doctor of Musical Arts in Piano Performance and a Post-Master’s Certificate in Music Theory Pedagogy from the University of North Carolina-Greensboro, a Master of Music in Piano Performance from the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music, and […]
Carmen Helena Téllez is a conductor who specializes in the interpretation of new music and in the conceptualization and production of multidisciplinary music projects. In her career spanning more than 25 years she has commissioned, premiered and recorded dozens of works for instrumental and choral ensembles, symphony orchestras and opera companies in the US and […]
Rosśa Crean (they/them) jokingly says they “create music that they like to listen to when they are by themself, eating raw cookie dough in a dark closet,” but in truth, their music has been referred to as being “funny…and virtuosic” (Classical Concert Nova Scotia), having “exceptionally different, outstanding quality” (Download), and music that “stirs you […]
Multi-Grammy Award-winning cellist Nick Photinos is one of the most innovative and multifaceted cellists of our time. An ardent advocate of new music, he has worked closely with many of the foremost composers of this era and has premiered hundreds of works throughout his career. Apart from four Grammy wins, he has received Musical America’s […]
In the spring of 2020, Ms. Laurenzo made her Off-Broadway debut understudying the role of Mrs. Van Buren and singing in the ensemble of the world premiere of Intimate Apparel at the Lincoln Center Theater by Ricky Ian Gordon and Lynn Nottage (postponed due to COVID19). Additional recent engagements include a role and company debut […]
Ben Roidl-Ward is the bassoonist of Ensemble Dal Niente and Assistant Professor of Bassoon at the University of Northern Iowa. He also holds positions as a Contemporary Leader for the Lucerne Festival and as the second bassoonist of the Illinois Symphony. Ben’s dedication to working with and advocating for composers of his generation has led […]
With over ten years of experience in arts administration, music, and education, Jessica Wolfe thrives in connecting communities through the transformative power of shared musical experiences. Presently, she serves as the Director of Production and Education at the University of Chicago Presents where she produces classical, jazz, early music, contemporary, and world music concert series […]
Phil Pierick is a saxophonist, improviser, singer, and educator based in Chicago. Equally at home performing a range of music from Renaissance motets to 21st-century works, he has been described as “the Swiss Army knife of saxophonists.” As a soloist and member of the saxophone duo Ogni Suono, he has performed over a hundred recitals […]
Chicago-based violinist Henry X. Zheng engages in a vibrant and fulfilling career as a chamber musician, recitalist, orchestral performer, and arts administrator. Performances have taken Mr. Zheng across the United States and to stages around the world, including venues in China, Italy, and Mexico. Recent awards include residency at the Avaloch Farm Music Institute, and […]
CELEBRATED FOR COMPOSITIONS THAT ARE EMOTIONALLY-CHARGED AND VISCERALLY-ENGAGING, COMPOSER MISCHA ZUPKO WRITES MUSIC THAT EXCITES BOTH MUSICIANS AND AUDIENCES Working collaboratively with other great musical minds, his body of work is intensely virtuosic and bracing in its vision and scope. In the words of Chicago Tribune critic John von Rhein, Zupko’s piano concerto Fahrenheit was“…a powerhouse of the evening” and […]
As a collaborative composer, Adam Kennaugh believes honest and powerful music is created through open communication and genuine back-and-forth of ideas between performer and composer. He centers each work around the preferred musical techniques and concepts of the performers, fusing their technical and expressive prowess with his musical language, which exists in the space between […]
Carl J. LaMark’s work as a composer, pianist, and collaborator has been described an exercise in “sustained intensity”. Coming from a long line of Chicago natives, he received the majority of his training as a pianist at the Music Institute of Chicago at Winnetka and Northwestern University under primarily under Dr. Soo Lee. He received […]
Praised for her intuitive musicality, her wide range of technical abilities, and her natural stage presence, Anna Fisher-Roberts brings the masterpieces of classical music into the modern era. With innovative, interactive performances featuring both brand-new and time-honored pieces, Anna ventures to bring classical music to modern audiences of all ages and backgrounds. Anna is a […]
Suzanne Hannau (Gillen) is an active freelance performer and teacher in the Chicagoland area noted by the Chicago Tribune for being “…especially deft at those dual actor/musician duties.” Suzanne is passionate about the marriage of different performance arts in a production and is always looking for opportunities to combine instrumental doubling with movement, acting, and […]
Praised by critics for her “astounding virtuosic gifts” (Boston Herald), “achingly pure sound” (The Toronto Star), and “impressive technical and interpretive control” (The New York Times), Tricia Park enjoys a diverse and eclectic career as a violinist, educator, curator, writer, and podcaster. Tricia is the producer and host of the podcast, “Is it Recess Yet? Confessions of a […]
“…a precise and engaged artist, unafraid of deep ambiguities…” (Justin Hayford, The Chicago Reader) Shi-An Costello (世安) is a composer, pianist, and a proud second generation mixed race Asian American, born and raised in Chicago. Although he started piano lessons at a young age, Shi-An’s first love was sports. But in high school, he fell […]
Quirky and vibrant, Jonathan Hannau is a Chicago-based composer and pianist submerged in the surreal, abstract, minimal, and colorful possibilities of music. He actively embraces eclecticism and explores the concepts of narrative, drama, and stark expression while pushing them down the rabbit hole of timbre. Starting his musical career as a classically-trained pianist, his exposure […]
Michael Hall, viola, lives in Chicago and is an internationally recognized soloist, teacher, andthought leader. Described by the New Music Connoisseur as “utterly masterful,” and ChamberMusic Today as having “superb technique,” he has over 50 compositions written for him. Inaddition to his performance activities, Michael is a board member of the American Viola Societyand Co-Founder/Artistic […]
Double bassist and violist da gamba Phillip W. Serna is an active and enthusiastic performer of contemporary, solo, orchestral, and chamber repertoires with a diversity of ensembles appearing with EChO – the Evanston Chamber Opera Company, Illinois Philharmonic, Illinois Symphony, Lake Forest Symphony, Musicians for Michiana, New Philharmonic, Northwest Indiana Symphony, Renovo String Orchestra, the Southwest […]
Michael R. Oldham (b. 1989 Braidwood, IL) is a composer and pianist who weaves imagery, story, and imagination into his music, with influences spanning from indie art rock, french impressionism, film music, and surrealist Americana. Music In Segments, Michael’s newest experimental work written exclusively for Instagram looping video, is available to play now. He has […]
Jazzwoman, Composer and Harpist with a strong musical personality and talent, Isabelle Olivier brings a wave of freshness and novelty to the international artistic world with her surprising and unique instrument. She recorded eight discs and a DVD of her personal work and traveled to 22 countries to present her musical creations. Since 5 years […]
Micah Clark graduated from Wheaton College in 2010 with a Bachelor of Music in Composition. While at Wheaton, he won the Presidential Scholarship in Music, Composition Competition Prize, the Josephine Halvorsen Composition Prize, the Chamber Music Competition, Best Original Score at the Wheaton College Film Festival, and was inducted into the Wheaton College Honor Society. […]
Dr. Cate Hummel loves performing, especially music that is not well known by both recognized and forgotten composers. She is active as a performing artist and clinician around the U.S. and internationally. Cate has collaborated with a number of contemporary composers, most recently Adina Izarra from Venezuela, to write a piece celebrating the 30th anniversary […]
Applauded for “some of the most spirited, stylish, and nuanced playing” (Chicago Classical Review) as well as her “invigoratingly fresh and perky interpretation” (Bachtrack), Leighann Daihl Ragusa, is an accomplished musician, performing on both historical and modern flutes. She has concertized throughout central Europe as well as the United States both as a soloist and as a collaborator […]
Jennifer’s commitment to engaging audiences through the performance of 21stcentury chamber music, sends her to world-renowned venues across the country including Bennet Gordon Hall at Ravinia, Chicago’s Pritzker Pavilion, the San Francisco Center for New Music, National Sawdust and Miller Theatre in New York. A solo competition prize winner of the Chicago Musicians’ Club of […]
Heike Burghart Rice is the Director of Music Ministries at Redeemer Lutheran Church in Hinsdale, Illinois. An ardent advocate for new music, Dr. Burghart Rice has performed solo organ works by Marilyn Shrude, William Bolcom, Steven Rice, and works for organ and electronics by Matthew McCabe, Huw Morgan, and Daniel Pinkham. She has performed P.P.S., […]
Described as “evocative” (Resonance) and “surreal” music “to bewilder, amuse, and provoke” (Epoch Times), the works of composer Steven Rice have won great acclaim and inspired intense debate. His music has been championed internationally by soloists and ensembles such as the Cabrillo Festival Orchestra (Marin Alsop, director), the Cleveland Chamber Symphony, Brave New Works, the […]
Roger Zare has been praised for his “enviable grasp of orchestration” (New York Times) and for writing music with “formal clarity and an alluringly mercurial surface.” His music often takes inspiration from science, nature, mathematics, and mythology. Currently based in Chicago, he was born in Sarasota, Florida, and began playing piano at age 5 and […]
Since spring of 2017, Marianne has collaborated with the Crossing Borders Music Collective and The Society for the Research and Diffusion of Haitian Music to present solo recitals featuring remotely known Haitian classical works for piano. Most recently, Marianne performed this program at the Ignatian Center for the Performing Arts in Miami, Florida. Previous performances have been […]
Joey Brink is the sixth University Carillonneur at the University of Chicago, where he performs on the 72-bell Rockefeller Memorial Carillon and directs a carillon studio of twenty students. He serves on the board of the Guild of Carillonneurs in North America and co-chairs the Johan Franco composition committee to promote new works for carillon. […]