Katherine Petersen, soprano

Katherine Petersen is an engaging Soprano specializing in the performance of 21st Century repertoire for Voice/Saxophone and Russian Art Song. Her recent collaborations with Decho Saxophone Ensemble include performances at the International Congress of Voice Teachers in Vienna (2022), Cleveland Uncommon Sound Project (2022), Women Composers Festival of Hartford (2022), International Saxophone Symposium (2020) and […]

Molly Jones, saxophone/composer

Molly Jones’ practice incorporates improvisation, composition, and multimedia performance with saxophones, flutes, and electronic samples.  Her work originates in a place of playfulness, listening, and attention. Formed by her experiences in jazz, classical, Balkan brass, and Scottish country dance/contradance ensembles, and by her fascination with found sounds, she has created chamber works, graphic scores, electroacoustic […]

Nick Zoulek, saxophone/composer

“…Zoulek’s performance, on saxophones in every range, is stunningly virtuosic, whatever the genre…none of this would matter much (except to saxophonists) if he were a less imaginative composer.” (The Wall Street Journal). A modern saxophonist of “pure mindfulness and talent” (PopMatters), Nick Zoulek’s artistry as a performer, collaborator, composer, and media artist has led to a diverse portfolio of distinctive […]

Richard Brasseale, saxophone

Richard Brasseale is a saxophonist, composer, and educator in the Chicago area. An acclaimed saxophonist, he has played with numerous ensembles, including the Milwaukee Symphony, Madison Symphony, Fulcrum Point New Music Ensemble, Camerata Chicago, Civic Orchestra of Chicago, and others. Recent solo performances include the DePaul Symphony Orchestra, North Park Orchestra, and various recitals in […]

Abdo Timejardine-Zomeño, clarinetist/saxophonist/composer

Abdo Timejardine-Zomeño is a Chicago-based clarinetist, woodwind doubler, composer, and arranger. He is currently earning a double degree in Clarinet Performance and Mechanical Engineering at the University of Illinois at Chicago. His on campus ensemble participation includes performing in the UIC Wind Ensemble, Orchestra, Pep Band, as well as various chamber music ensembles. Abdo’s primary […]

Wenbin Lyu, composer/guitarist

Wenbin Lyu is a US-based Chinese composer and guitarist. The compositions written by Wenbin Lyu combines contemporary western techniques with ancient oriental culture. He seeks inspiration from nature, science, and video games. Lyu has received fellowships from Tanglewood Music Center, Cabrillo Festival Composers Workshop, and Britten-Pears Young Artist Programme. Lyu’s works have been performed at […]

Adam D. O’Dell, composer

Described as “kaleidoscopic,” and praised for its “real power,” “triumphalism,” (Fanfare Magazine) and “depth, beauty, and rich dimension” (The Courier), the multistylistic work of Baltimore-based composer and pianist Adam D. O’Dell (b. 1992) invokes theatre, nature, and human behavior and speech to explore the territory between the profound and the absurd. O’Dell has been commissioned […]

Trey Tillotson, composer & clarinetist

TREY TILLOTSON has worked in the classical music world since 2014. Born in 2002, Tillotson had his first official freelancing opportunity in 2015, and has since then performed, whether clarinet or piano, at various events, such as for a wedding, fundraisers, and multiple churches in the Pittsburgh area. His performance experiences include solo, chamber, choral, […]

Amanda Beaune, violinist

Amanda Beaune is a violinist and educator who is community focused and driven. She has found herself to be truly at home in new music, and believes that new music can serve as a direct path to connect with youth and our surrounding communities. As a whole, Amanda is working to elevate new music to […]

Osnat Netzer, composer

Osnat Netzer /osˈnat ˈnɛtsɛʁ/ is a composer, performer and educator. Osnat creates her compositions collaboratively, tailoring her work to the performer’s sensibilities, physicality and improvisational inclinations. She takes inspiration from cognitive linguistics, and in dialogue with the embodied experience of physical forces, such as potential and kinetic energy, resulting in compositions that are rich in […]

Greg A. Steinke, composer

Dr. Greg A Steinke is retired, former Joseph Naumes Endowed Chair of Music/Art and Associate Dean of Undergraduate Studies, Marylhurst University, Marylhurst, Oregon; Associate Director, Ernest Bloch Music Festival (‘93–97) and Director, Composers Symposium (‘90–97) (Newport, OR); served as the National Chairman of the Society of Composers, Inc. (1988–97). Composer of chamber and symphonic music […]

Xavier Beteta, composer/piano

Born in Guatemala City, Xavier studied piano at the National Conservatory of Guatemala with Consuelo Medinilla. At age 18, he was awarded the first prize at the Augusto Ardenois National Piano Competition and third prize at the Rafael Alvarez Ovalle Composition Competition in Guatemala. He continued his piano studies in the United States with Argentinean […]

Matt Kubek, saxophone/educator

Born in 1997 in Vladivostok, Russia, Aleksandr Romunchkin was adopted at a mere 6 months old and brought to America by his parents Steve and Deborah. Later, Romunchkin became a U.S citizen through adoption and his name was changed to Matt Kubek. Matt Kubek considers himself a Russian-American Saxophonist. Throughout his life, Matt has always […]

Nightingale Ensemble

Nightingale Ensemble is comprised of an eclectic group of instruments not often seen in the same company. The ensemble performs commissioned and already existing works by contemporary composers that explore new musical landscapes and push the pairing of instruments. In addition, they also use their unusual instrumentation to their advantage in order to perform lesser known […]

Ryan McGuire

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, […]

Carlos Alberto Vázquez

Symphonic, solo, choral, chamber, theater and electronic music composer Carlos Vázquez is one of the most outstanding Latin American contemporary composers coming from the Caribbean basin. Ha has composed and presented the two most ambitious work done in his country; the opera La Mina de Oro and the Requiem domesticus. Born in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico, […]

Madeleine Wilmsen, flute

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 […]

Laura Adkins, oboe/composer

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, flute/teaching artist

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 […]

Thiago Ancelmo, clarinet

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 […]

Marc Mellits, composer

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, composer/sound artist

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 […]

Jane Heron, Founding Member and Supporter

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, composer

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, saxophone/composer

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 […]

Koeun Grace Lee, piano

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, Conductor, Producer, Inter-Disciplinary Artist

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 […]

Constellation Men’s Ensemble

Constellation Men’s Ensemble (CME) is a Chicago-based vocal group dedicated to creating distinct performances in unique spaces, empowering the next generation of singers through educational engagement, and expanding the repertoire for men’s vocal music by commissioning new works from both emerging and established composers.  In 2016, CME founded their new music series NOVA, “new, original, vocal, […]

Rosśa Crean, composer

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 […]

Nick Photinos, cello

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 […]

Anna Laurenzo, mezzo-soprano

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, bassoon

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 […]

Jessica Wolfe, bass

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, saxophone

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 […]

Henry X. Zheng, violin

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 […]

Mischa Zupko, composer/piano

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 […]

Adam Kennaugh, collaborative composer

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 LaMark, composer/piano

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 […]

Anna Fisher-Roberts, flute

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, flute

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 […]