Amadi Azikiwe, violist, has been heard in recital in major cities throughout the United States, such as New York, Boston, Cleveland, Chicago, Houston, Baltimore, and Washington, D.C., including an appearance at the U.S. Supreme Court. In recent seasons, Mr. Azikiwe been a guest of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center at the Alice Tully Hall in New York, and at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. Since then, he has performed throughout Israel, Canada, South America, Central America, India, Japan, Hong Kong, and throughout the Caribbean. He has also collaborated with such artists as Awadagin Pratt, Mitsuko Uchida, Andras Schiff, Nobuko Imai, David Soyer, and Felix Galimir.

Chester Biscardi, composer-in-residence, is a recipient of the Rome Prize, a Guggenheim Fellowship, an Academy Award in Music, the Aaron Copland Award, fellowships from the Bogliasco Foundation, the Djerassi Foundation, and the Rockefeller Foundation, grants from the Fromm Music Foundation at Harvard, the Martha Baird Rockefeller Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the New York Foundation for the Arts, and a commission from the Koussevitzky Music Foundation in the Library of Congress. He received an M.M. in Musical Composition from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and an M.M.A. and Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Yale. He is the Director of the Music Program at Sarah Lawrence College. Visit chesterbiscardi.com for further information.

Alan Blank, composer, was born in New York in 1925. His early musical training was on the violin. He attended the High School of Music & Art where an interest in conducting and composition was fostered. Further studies were at the Juilliard School of Music (1945-1947), Washington Square College (BA, 1948), University of Minnesota (MA,1950) and the University of Iowa. He was a violinist with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra (1950-1952) and has taught at a number of schools and universities. Currently he is a retired professor of composition at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, VA.


Flutist Beth Chandler enjoys an active career as a soloist, chamber musician, orchestral player, and teacher. She has been a recitalist at the Kennedy Center, and also performs with the Montpelier Wind Quintet. She has been the winner of the 1999 Flute Talk Competition, the 1999 Myrna Brown Artist Competition, and several National Flute Association Competitions. Dr. Chandler earned degrees from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, New England Conservatory, and Baylor University, and was a Fulbright Scholar to the United Kingdom. Her teachers include Bradley Garner, Paula Robison, Trevor Wye, and Helen Ann Shanley. She is currently the flute professor at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia.

Music director and baroque violinist Garry Clarke is one of the leading exponents of period instrument performance of his generation. Mr. Clarke is founder of Chicago's Baroque Band, and Artistic Director of the UK's 18th Century Concert Orchestra. He is on the faculty of the Music Institute of Chicago. Mr. Clarke performed with all the major period groups, including The Academy of Ancient Music, The Sixteen and The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, working with such eminent musicians as Christopher Hogwood, John Elliot Gardiner, Sir Charles Mackerras and Ton Koopman. Mr. Clarke has performed with harpsichordist Michelle Roy, the Washington Bach Consort and Opera Lafayette.

Andrew Connell plays saxophone and clarinet in ensembles ranging from jazz to classical chamber music to Brazilian chorinho. He studied jazz improvisation and arranging with Ray Brown, clarinet with Rosario Mazzeo, Janet Averett, and Fred Ormand, and saxophone with Don Sinta. He has performed with the Roanoke, Santa Cruz, Monterey (CA), and Toledo (Ohio) Symphonies, and has appeared at the Spoleto Festival USA and the Monterey, Montreux–Detroit, and San Francisco jazz festivals. Mr. Connell has performed with Luciano Pavarotti, Dave Leibman, Lou Rawls, and Mike Marshall and Choro Famoso. He has recorded for the Musical Heritage Society, Intrada, Adventure Music, Earthbeat! Traveler, and Acoustic Levitation labels. Mr. Connell is also an ethnomusicologist whose primary research is in Brazilian popular instrumental music and is currently an Associate professor of Music at James Madison University, where he teaches courses in American music, jazz history, and world music.

Soprano Katharine Dain, equally at home in opera, concert, and recital, has appeared as Fiordiligi (Cosi fan tutte), the title role of Cavalli's La Calisto, and as soprano soloist with the Collegiate Chorale, Mark Morris Dance Group, New York City Ballet, New York Virtuoso Singers, Rebel Baroque Orchestra, Parley of Instruments, and New England Baroque Soloists in venues including Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center. She has co-founded two critically acclaimed chamber groups: Callisto Ascending, a period-instrument ensemble, and Lunatics at Large, a contemporary music group.


Baroque violinist Martin Davids founded and directs the Callipygian Players in Chicago, and is principal second violinist in the Baroque Band and Brandywine Baroque. He is concertmaster of Reno Baroque Ensemble and Bach Collegium of Ft. Wayne. He has performed with Music of the Baroque, Central City Opera, Chicago Opera Theater, Aradia, Toronto Consort. Mr. Davids received his Performer Diploma from the Early Music Institute at Indiana University where he studied with Stanley Ritchie. He teaches violin at Loyola University Chicago and has taught master classes at the University of Michigan, Cornell, and Northwestern. He is known for his work on the electric violin with his electric Baroque ensemble Discontinuo, and in modern compositions.

Pianist Gabriel Dobner won the special accompanist prize in the International Hans Pfitzner Lieder Competition in 1994. He has performed regularly with notable singers Cornelia Kallisch, René Kollo and Alexandra Petersamer in many European concert venues including Vienna and Zürich. He has performed in the United States, Canada and Japan. He has recorded for the Ottavo, MDG and Kannevas labels. His recording of Schubert's Die Winterreise with baritone Kevin McMillan was released in 2007. Gabriel Dobner joined the faculty at James Madison University in the fall of 2001. He earned advanced degrees from Indiana University in Bloomington, studying with James Tocco and Leonard Hokanson.

Cellist Carl Donakowski; B.M. Indiana University; D.M.A. SUNY Stony Brook; and Artist Diploma Musikhochschule Freiburg. His teachers included Timothy Eddy, Janos Starker, Gary Hoffman and Christoph Henkel. He was a prize-winner in the 1989 Mendelssohn Competition. He has been a member of the North Shore Pro Musica, the Fontana Chamber Music Society and the Orpheus Piano Trio. As a member of the West End Chamber Ensemble, he participated in the NEA/Chamber Music America Rural Residency Chamber Music Initiative. He teaches and performs at the Bay View Music Festival as a member of the Westbrook String Quartet.

Charles Dotas, is Director of Jazz Studies at James Madison University. He was on the Faculty of Jazz Studies at McGill University from 1994-1998. Dotas is an active jazz educator, adjudicator and clinician. He has been Composer-in-Residence at jazz festivals and universities throughout the United States. His music has been performed and recorded by university ensembles in Germany, Australia, South Africa, Canada, and the United States, and is published by UNC Jazz Press, Dorn Publications, Walrus Music, and Schirmer Music. Dotas studied with Ray Wright, Manny Albam, Bill Dobbins, Fred Sturm, and Samuel Adler. He holds degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, the Eastman School of Music, and the University of Northern Colorado.

Drummer and percussionist Jonas Durante began his music studies in 1993 with Duda Neves, drummer for the late Brazilian pop star Tim Maia. He then studied Drums and popular music at Universidade Livre de Música in São Paulo, Brazil, where he played with various nationally known artists including Arthur Maia, Leo Gandleman, Lilian Carmona, Marcelo Martins. From 1995-2005, Jonas taught drums at the Blue Note School in São José dos Campos and performed with Metalmanera, a big band led by Chico Oliveira. Jonas moved to Washington D.C. in 2007 and is currently studying jazz at Montgomery College, teaching private lessons, and performing with various Washington DC Metro artists.

Bass Michael Haag trained with the Trier Boys Choir, studied at the Luxemburg Conservatory, and attended masterclasses in Salzburg, Prague, and Sion. His teachers include Ionel Pantea, Peter Schreier, Andreas Schmidt, and Theo Adam. He is a winner of the Vienna Schubert and Bayreuth Wagner competitions. Mr. Haag has a flourishing European career, singing operatic, orchestral and song repertoire. He has sung more than 30 operatic roles and is presently a member of the Essen Aalto Opera. He has appeared in concert with soprano Barbara Hendricks and in a concert for Pope John Paul II in Rome.


The Hound Dog Hill Boys are a six piece neo-traditional string band from Virginia's Shenandoah Valley. Founded in 2003 by banjo player and singer Cutch Tuttle, the Hound Dog Hill Boys use all acoustic instruments and draw their influence from the Valley's musical heritage. They have been featured on WHSV TV 3, WVLS Appalachian Radio, WXJM 88.1, & WTJU 91.1. In 2006, they released "Twisted Sneergrass", a self produced CD retrospective. In 2007, Hound Dog Hill was awarded several awards, including 1st place Best Original Song at the Appalachian Sting Band Festival and 2nd Place Neo-Traditional Band. Click here to visit hounddoghill.com.

Ian Howell, countertenor. In 2006, Mr. Howell took First Prize at the American Bach Soloists International Solo Competition and Third Prize at the Oratorio Society of New York's Competition. Howell can be heard with the all male chamber choir Chanticleer on the Grammy award winning Lamentations and Praises and the Grammy nominated Our American Journey. Recent roles include the alto soloist in Handel's Messiah at Carnegie Hall's Stern Auditorium, Solomon in Handel's Solomon, Endimion in Cavalli's La Calisto, and Lichas in Handel's Hercules. Mr. Howell maintains a teaching studio in the New Haven area and teaches regularly in New York City. Mr. Howell graduated with an M.M. in Voice offered jointly by the Yale Institute of Sacred Music and the Yale School of Music.

Wanchi Huang, began violin lessons with her mother at the age of six. At age 14 she made her solo debut with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Catherine Comet. Wanchi attended the Curtis Institute (BM), The Julliard School (MM) and the Indiana University School of Music (DMA). Her teachers included Jasha Brodsky, Jaime Laredo, Dorothy Delay, Naoko Tanaka, and Franco Gulli. She has given acclaimed performances in Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York City, Taipei, and Washington D.C., including the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater. Her performances have aired on Philadelphia's WFLN, as well as on WQXR in New York City. She is currently an associate professor of violin at the JMU School of Music.

Erin Keefe, violin, was the winner of the 2006 Avery Fisher Career Grant, and is quickly establishing a reputation and earning praise as a compelling artist who combines exhilarating temperament and fierce integrity. A top prize winner of several International Competitions, she recently took the Grand Prizes in the 2007 Torun International Violin Competition (Poland), the 2006 Schadt Competition and the Corpus Christi International String Competition, and was the Silver Medalist in the Carl Nielsen, Sendai (Japan) and Gyeongnam (Korea) International Violin Competition. http://erinkeefeviolin.com


Violinist Gesa Kordes performs with numerous chamber ensembles and Baroque orchestras including the Washington Bach Consort, Ensemble Musical Offering, Muses’ Delight, Opera Lafayette, Ensemble Tra i Tempi, the Rheinisches Barockorchester Bonn, and the Atlanta Baroque Orchestra.  She has toured as soloist and chamber musician in the U.S., Central America, Europe, and Israel, and has recorded for NPR, harmonia mundi, FONO, Dorian, and Naxos.  Since 1998, Ms. Kordes has been in demand as a teacher and ensemble director of chamber groups and period orchestras in the U.S. and Europe. After teaching at Indiana University and UNC-Greensboro, she joined the faculty of the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa in August 2009 as the director of the newly-founded Baroque Ensemble.

Bassist Alex Lacquement is a graduate of James Madison University and holds a B.M. in Music Education and a minor in Jazz Studies. Recently, he has recorded an album of his original compositions with his group the Acoustic Pool Party. Alex has been directing ensembles for the past two years and teaching private/group lessons for six. He is currently freelancing in the Northern Virginia and D.C. area and is planning on attending graduate school in the fall of 2010.



The Madison Singers are James Madison University's finest small choral ensemble and the SMF's chorus-in-residence. Dedicated to the art of small ensemble performance, The Madison Singers perform repertoire from medieval to contemporary; from Ockeghem to Bach to Copland. Current director Patrick Walders is a professional vocalist, educator, church musician, and conductor. As the Director of Choral Activities at JMU, he directs the JMU Chorale and oversees the Men's Chorus, Women's Chorus and Treble Concert Choir. He is Associate Conductor of the National Philharmonic Chorale, and Artistic Director of the National Philharmonic Singers at Strathmore. For information visit: orgs.jmu.edu/choirs.

Anthony Manzo performs in Washington with the Smithsonian Chamber Players and the National Symphony, in Chicago with the Baroque Band, and as solo bassist of San Francisco's acclaimed New Century Chamber Orchestra. He is on the chamber music faculty of the National Orchestral Institute in Washington. Mr. Manzo played in the New World Symphony in Miami and in Norway with the Bergen Philharmonic. He spent seven years performing, recording, and touring the world with the Munich Chamber Orchestra. His chamber music festival appearances include Spoleto and the Garth Newel Music Center, where recent collaborators include Menahem Pressler, the St. Lawrence Quartet, and the Auryn Quartet. He plays a double bass made by Jean Thibouville Lamy circa 1890.

Gigi MacLaughlin, grew up in João Pessoa, Paraiba, where she studied classical piano. She later took up the accordion and also plays a full array of Brazilian percussion instruments. Gigi came to the US in 1992 and began working with guitarist Richard Miller in 1994. She currently performs regularly throughout the Washington DC area, both with her own band and with other area artists. Her repertoire includes a wide range of Brazilian musical styles, including bossa nova, samba, baião, forró, choro, and frevo.



Soprano Dorothy Maddison is Professor of Voice and Opera at JMU. Off campus, she has performed in opera, concert and oratorio in the US, England, Germany and Brazil. In addition to twenty years of professional singing in Europe, Dr. Maddison is co-author of Kein' Angst Baby!, a book to help singers audition in Germany.   Her discography includes Christmas Art Songs and Songs for Brenda and Bertha featuring the song cycles ME (Brenda Ueland) by Libby Larsen and Brautlieder by Peter Cornelius. She received a BM degree from St. Olaf College, her MM and DMA from Arizona State University, and studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London.

Washington McClain, baroque oboe, recorder, obtained his Bachelor Degree from the Northeast Louisiana University. He received his Master's Degree in oboe at Northwestern University. He was the first woodwind player performing on period instrument to be featured in the specialized publication Windplayer Magazine. He has performed with the Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, the Aradia Ensemble, Apollo's Fire Baroque Orchestra, Opera Lafayette, Washington Bach Consort, the Pacific Baroque Orchestra, with Ensemble Arion, the Studio de musique ancienne de Montréal, Harpsichord in Concert and Les Idées heureuses. Mr. McClain currently teaches at The Early Music Institute at Indiana University.

Baritone Kevin McMillan's career includes a Grammy award, a Gramophone award and Juno award nominations. He has appeared with the New York Philharmonic, the Boston Symphony, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the San Francisco Symphony. He has worked with Herbert Blomstedt, Pierre Boulez, Raphael Frühbeck de Burgos, Sir Andrew Davis, Charles Dutoit, Neeme Jarvi, Jesus Lopez-Cobos, Kurt Masur, Sir Roger Norrington, Hellmuth Rilling and the late Robert Shaw and Sergiu Commissiona. After preliminary schooling at the Universities of Guelph and Western Ontario, Kevin studied at the Britten-Pears School, and attained a Master's Degree at Juilliard. He sang the title role in Sir Peter Maxwell Davies' oratorio, Job; and the Canadian premiere of Songs of Milarepa by Phillip Glass. For more information visit www.kevinmcmillan.ca

Vladimir Mendelssohn, viola, composer-in-residence, has produced works for solo instruments, mixed choir, symphony and chamber orchestra. His chamber works include four string quartets, Nova for clarinet, string trio, piano and percussion, and Don Aldebarran for seven stringed instruments, piano and actor. He has also composed music for ballet, stage and screen. Mr. Mendelssohn is Professor of chamber music at the Paris Conservatoire. He also teaches at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague and at the Folkwang Hochschule in Essen. He collaborated on a prize-winning recording of Brahms Lieder. He has performed at Gidon Kremer's Lockenhaussen and Dmitry Sitkovetsky's Wasa Festival.

Guitarist Richard Miller earned a Master of Music degree in guitar performance from Manhattan School of music and a Ph.D. in music theory from Catholic University of America, where he now teaches theory, ear-training, and guitar. He has become well known in the Washington, DC area for his performances of both classical guitar music and popular Brazilian and Latin-American music and has traveled extensively for concerts and recitals in United States and Latin America. A reviewer of a recital by Richard at the State Department affirmed, “Throughout his recital, he not only displayed impeccable technique but communicated his love of this beautiful music.” His dissertation, The Guitar in the Brazilian Choro, will be published soon by VDM Verlag.

Clarinetist Janice L. Minor performs with the Montpelier Wind Quintet, Prestige Clarinet Quartet, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra/Pops, Cincinnati Opera, Richmond Symphony, Roanoke Symphony, Opera Roanoke, and on soundtracks for the Discovery Channel and National Geographic. She has been a soloist with the U.S. Army Band "Pershing's Own," Northwest Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati Eighteenth Century Ensemble, and was featured at the Lucca Music Festival. Her appearances as a recitalist and clinician include the Kennedy Center, Aspen Music Festival, Interlochen Center for the Arts, International Clarinet Association Conference, Oklahoma Clarinet Symposium, Midwest Clinic and VMEA Conference. Her teachers include Ronald de Kant, Larry Combs, John Yeh, Clark Brody and Robert Marcellus. Dr. Minor is the clarinet professor at James Madison University and a Buffet-Crampon performing artist/clinician.

Drew Minter, countertenor, has appeared in leading roles in the opera houses of Brussels, Toulouse, Boston, Washington, Santa Fe, BAM, Wolf Trap, Glimmerglass, Nice, Marseilles, as well as the Halle, Karlsruhe, Maryland, and Goettingen Handel Festivals. A founding member of the Newberry Consort and TREFOIL, Minter also sings frequently with the Folger Consort and ARTEK. He has been a featured guest at festivals such as Ravinia, BAM’s Next Wave, Tanglewood, Marlboro, Boston Early Music, and Edinburgh.  An active opera stage director, Minter is the artistic director of Boston Midsummer Opera.  He writes regularly for Opera News and teaches voice, opera workshop, and the Madrigal Singers at Vassar College.

Mira, a Charlottesville-based chamber choir directed by Debbie Hunter, is now in its fourth year of performing music from the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries. Their mission involves making early music more accessible to the public, and involves educational, community outreach and therapeutic aspects. Many audience members comment on the lightness and joy in the attitude of the group, which makes for an exciting, entertaining and rejuvenating experience. Under the expert and deeply informed direction of Ms. Hunter the ensemble has performed in a number of venues in Virginia, notably Historic Bruton Parish Church in Williamsburg where they have become favored performers, as well as the National Cathedral in Washington D.C. Other venues include Westminster Canterbury, UVA Chapel and St. Paul’s Memorial Church in Charlottesville. Visit: debbiehuntermusic.com

Violinist Diane Pascal attended The Juilliard School and the Curtis Institute of Music where she studied with Ivan Galamian and Jascha Brodsky. Her graduate studies were with Sandor Vegh at the "Mozarteum" in Salzburg. Ms. Pascal is currently a member of the Rosamunde Quartett Munich and the Da Ponte Piano Trio. She appears regularly as concertmaster with orchestras such as Camerata Salzburg, Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra, Munich Chamber Orchestra, and is currently the Artistic Director of the Zagreb Chamber Orchestra. She was Primarius of the Lark Quartet from 1996 - 2002.


Pianist Lori Piitz is Professor of Piano at James Madison University. She has participated in the Bach Festival at EMU, the Contemporary Music Festival at JMU and the Richmond Chamber Music Festival and has been heard in recital at the Kennedy Center. Ms. Piitz has been a guest at the Festival of the Sound in Canada, the Schleswig-Holstein and Villa Musica Festivals in Germany, and at the Mozart Bicentennial Series at Lincoln Center. Ms. Piitz holds performance degrees from Indiana University and the University of Ottawa where she was awarded the prestigious Isobel Firestone Performance Scholarship, and has attended the Banff School of Fine Arts. She has studied with Menahem Pressler, Leonard Hokanson, Jean-Paul Sevilla and Helgi Fatovic.

David Pope is a noted saxophonist and composer, holding degrees from UMASS, Amherst and Eastman, with additional studies at the University of Miami. He has toured North America and Europe with the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra, the Sax Maniacs and Saxology. He has publications with Hal Leonard, Dorn, and Ex Tempore. Known for his unique mastery of multiphonic saxophone performance, he has recorded two masterclass CD's and authors a regular column in Saxophone Journal. David has been on the faculty at James Madison University since 2000. His former students teach and perform throughout the country. His teachers include Lynn Klock, Yusef Lateef, Fred Sturm, Gary Keller, and Ron Miller.

Pablo Regis de Oliveira spent most of his adolescence in Brasilia, Brazil, where he was immersed in samba and other Brazilian music styles through his father's various musical ensembles. Pablo started performing carnaval percussion SambArte, a percussion ensemble in Cologne, Germany, where his father held a diplomatic post. While earning his BA in Latin American Studies at UCLA, Pablo dedicated himself to the cavaquinho, a Brazilian 4-string guitar related to the ukulele. A former member of the Los Angeles Choro Ensemble, Pablo plays with various groups in the Washington, D.C. Metro area.


Roger Roe, Acting Principal Oboe of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, is a graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Music, Southern Methodist University and Arts Magnet High School in Dallas. He has held oboe and English horn positions with the orchestras of Honolulu and Charleston, South Carolina. He is Associate Professor of Oboe and English Horn at Indiana University and served on the faculty of DePauw University for six years. In addition to solo appearances with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra on oboe, oboe d’amore, and English horn, Roger acts as narrator for children’s programs. He is a winner of the Fort Worth Young Artist Competition and of a Downbeat Magazine Award as Outstanding Young Classical Instrumentalist.

SMF Artistic Director Carsten Schmidt performs a repertoire ranging from the early Baroque to new works, of which he has premiered more than 100. He has appeared at the Ravinia Festival, International Schubert Festival in Amsterdam, the German Mozart Festival, Merkin Hall in NYC, Kennedy Center, and Kaleidoscope Festival in Moscow, and he has been heard in radio broadcasts worldwide. Since 2004 he has conducted opera productions of Handel and Purcell, and a concerto program at the Kuhmo Festival in Finland. He holds Artist Diplomas from the Folkwang Institute, Indiana University, and a doctorate from Yale. He has been Professor of Music at Sarah Lawrence College in NY since 1998.

At home in front of a harpsichord, organ, piano, or fortepiano, David Schrader has performed with the Chicago, San Francisco, and Dallas Symphony Orchestras, as well as with Chicago's Baroque Band, The Newberry Consort, The Chicago Chamber Musicians, and the Chicago Baroque Ensemble. He performed as the Artist of the Year at the Oulunsalo Soi Music Festival in Oulu, Finland. He was the harpsichord soloist with the Nagaokakyo Chamber Ensemble under Yuko Mori and the Canadian baroque orchestra Tafelmusik. He is Professor of Music at Roosevelt University's Chicago College of the Performing Arts Music Conservatory, where he has taught both graduate and undergraduate courses since 1986.

Judith Shatin, is a composer, sound artist, community arts partner and educator. She is William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor at the University of Virginia, where she founded and directs the Virginia Center for Computer Music. She composes in genres ranging from chamber, choral and orchestral to digital and multimedia. A recipient of four NEA Fellowships, she has received awards from the American Music Center, Meet the Composer, the New Jersey State Arts Council and the Virginia Commission for the Arts. Shatin’s music has been performed at the Aspen, BAM Next Wave, Grand Teton, Havana in Springtime, and West Cork Festivals. Called “highly inventive...on every level; hugely enjoyable and deeply involving” (Washington Post), her music has been commissioned by ensembles ranging from the Kronos Quartet to the National Symphony. Visit judithshatin.com

Paulo Steinberg, piano, has performed extensively in the United States, Canada, Iceland and Brazil, his home country. He is Assistant Professor of Music at James Madison University where he teaches applied piano and piano literature for both undergraduate and graduate programs. Among his many awards, a scholarship from the Brazilian Government granted him the opportunity to pursue a Master of Music degree in piano at Arizona State University. He holds a doctorate in piano performance from Indiana University, where he studied piano with Evelyne Brancart and chamber music with Franco Gulli and Janos Starker. Paulo Steinberg’s recent interests include Brazilian music and piano technique. His upcoming projects entail teaching master classes, lecturing and performing in the USA, Canada and Brazil.

Jason Stell, commentator, received his Ph.D. in musicology in 2006 from Princeton University with a dissertation on the functions of chromatic pitches in Classic era music. Previous degrees in music and astronomy were from Pennsylvania State University.  He currently serves on the board of the Staunton Music Festival and writes concert notes for the SMF and other local musical events.  Stell sings with the vocal ensemble Zephyrus and has studied piano with Robert Taub and Carl Blake. 



George Balch Wilson, composer. A student of Ross Lee Finney, Roger Sessions and Nadia Boulanger, Wilson is the recipient of a Fulbright Fellowship, the Prix de Rome of the American Academy in Rome, a Citation and Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Walter Hinrichsen Award and the Society for the Publication of American Music publication award. For more than thirty years, he served on the faculty of the University of Michigan as Professor of Composition and Director of the Electronic Music Studios, founding “Contemporary Directions,” an ensemble and concert series devoted to new music. His music is published by Editions Jobert, C.F. Peters and S.P.A.M., and recorded by CRI and Access.

Cellist James Wilson has appeared at Carnegie Hall, Casals Hall in Tokyo, the Sydney Opera House, the Hong Kong Arts Festival, the City of London Festival, the Deutches Mozartfest in Bavaria, the Mostly Mozart Festival and the Aspen Music Festival. He has performed with violinist Joshua Bell, flutist Eugenia Zukerman, pianist Christopher O'Riley, guitarist Eliot Fisk, actress Claire Bloom, the Tokyo String Quartet, and the Mark Morris Dance Group. He performs with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and the Dodd String Quartet, teaches cello and chamber music at Columbia University, and is currently the Artistic Director of the Richmond Festival of Music in Virginia.

John Yannelli, composer of chamber, choral, orchestral and mixed ensemble pieces, works in both traditional and experimental styles of music. His special interests are in the development of electronic music, chamber improvisation and composing for theater, dance and film. Mr. Yannelli has written numerous scores for modern dance and has composed and designed sound for over fifty theater productions. He holds the William Schuman Chair in Music and is the Director of Electronic Music and Music Technology at Sarah Lawrence College. His music is published by Soundspells Productions and John Yannelli Music (ASCAP) and has been performed in major cities throughout the United States, Europe and Russia, including the Kennedy Center and Carnegie Recital Hall where he received critical acclaim for a concert devoted entirely to his music. Visit johnyannelli.com




Niccolo Athens was awarded a BMI student composer award in 2006 and in 2009. In 2007 he received the prize in the emerging artist category of the American Art Song Competition for Composers. In 2008 he attended the Aspen Music Festival where he studied with George Tsontakis. He has finished his third year as an undergraduate at Juilliard, where he studies with Samuel Adler. His music has been performed by the San Antonio Symphony, The Juilliard Orchestra, and the Youth Orchestras of San Antonio. His primary composition teachers have included Timothy Kramer and Samuel Adler.


Chiayu was the winner of the Sorel Organization’s 2nd International Composition Competition, the 7th USA International Harp Composition Competition, ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer’s Awards, the Maxfield Parrish Composition Contest, and the Renée B. Fisher Foundation Composer Awards. Her work has been performed by the Detroit Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, American Composers Orchestra, Cabrillo Festival Orchestra, Aspen Music Festival Contemporary Ensemble, Eighth Blackbird, and Prism Quartet. Prior to entering Duke University, she studied at Yale University School of Music, and the Curtis Institute of Music.





Young Artist Fellow Sarah Davis, mezzo-soprano, is pursuing a degree in Vocal Performance at JMU. In 2009, she was named Best Collegiate Classical Female at the Virginia NATS Competition, placing second at the Regional Level. She is at home in both opera, theatre and choral settings. Sarah has performed at St. Matthew’s Cathedral, the Strathmore Performing Arts Center, and the Kennedy Center. She spent July 2009 touring England and Wales as mezzo-soprano soloist in performances of the Duruflé Requiem, under the direction of Patrick Walders and Colin Durrant. She has studied with Carrie Stevens and In Dal Choi.


Aleksandr Fester received his Performance Diploma from the Early Music Institute of Indiana University, Bloomington, studying early oboes with Washington McClain. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree from Sarah Lawrence College in 2003. Alek has performed professionally with the Bach Vespers orchestra at Holy Trinity Church in New York, the Dallas Bach Society, the Greenwich Music Festival, and with Bourbon Baroque in Louisville, KY. In September he will be moving to Basel, Switzerland to study with Katharina Arfken at the prestigious Schola Cantorum Basilliensis. 


Kelsey Schilling is currently pursuing an MM in historical bassoons at Indiana University, studying with Michael McCraw. He has performed with the Atlanta Baroque Orchestra, Indianapolis Baroque Orchestra, Washington Bach Consort and other period orchestras throughout the Midwest. He has appeared in the Magnolia Baroque Festival (NC), Bloomington Early Music Festival (IN), International Double Reed Society Conference (Ithaca, NY) and in Brazil with the wind ensemble Lipzodes. In 2007, he participated in the International Young Artist's Presentation - Historical Winds in Antwerp, Belgium with his ensemble New Harmonie Winds. Kelsey also holds a BA in Germanic Studies and a BM in baroque bassoon.

Mark Shuldiner is a 2009 graduate of Oberlin Conservatory's Historical Performance program.  He has played for master classes under the guidance of keyboardists such as Emanuel Ax and Davitt Moroney.  He has had the pleasure of playing harpsichord, celeste, and organ for staged productions of A Midsummer Night's Dream by Benjamin Britten and Monteverdi's L'incoronazione di Poppea under the direction of Stephen Stubbs.  Mark recently led a performance of Charpentier’s Les Arts Florissants to great success on a fringe concert at this year’s Boston Early Music Festival.  Mark is thrilled to be a part of this year's Staunton Music Festival.


Staunton native Matthew Stephens is a junior at James Madison University studying piano performance with an accompanying concentration. His teachers include Gabriel Dobner and Eric Ruple, with master class experiences with Leonard Hokanson and Margo Garrett. He was a finalist in the annual JMU School of Music Concerto Competition. At JMU Matthew serves as staff accompanist for the School of Theatre & Dance. He is also active as music director & vocal coach for theatre productions. He spent two summers studying at the Brevard Music Center with Elisabeth Pridonoff and performed Carmina Burana under the direction of Keith Lockhart.