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Performer

Joann Whang

Joann Whang

 

Joann Whang

First and Audience Prize winner at the Amsterdam Cello Biennale Competition, Joann Whang has performed as a soloist with the Amsterdam Sinfonietta, NJO New Music Ensemble, and the Dutch Youth String Orchestra, as well as performed in numerous festivals including Ravinia, Birdfoot, Delft, Domaine Forget, Giverny, Grachten, and Storioni. She has also been broadcasted in the Netherlands on Radio 4 and public television station VPRO’s Vrije Geluiden. Joann has performed alongside notable artists such as Martin Beaver, Steven Dann, Misha Dichter, Leon Fleisher, Sol Gabetta, Anssi Karttunen, Johannes Moser, Astrid Schween, David Shifrin, and the Brentano Quartet.

 
 
 

Jessica Han

Jessica Han

 

Jessica Han

New York based musician, Jessica Han (Jesse), is Principal Flute of Opera Saratoga in Saratoga Springs, NY,  a member of Jazz Band, The Gil Evans Project and is a substitute musician for the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, New York Philharmonic,  Albany Symphony Orchestra, Princeton Symphony, and broadway musicals Wicked and The Lion King.  

Additionally, Ms. Han performed as Guest Principal flute and piccolo for the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra (2014) and Opera National de Lorraine/Orchestra Symphonique et Lyrique de Nancy et de Lorraine (2012).

 
 
 

Cole Belt

Cole Belt

 

Cole Belt

Cole Belt is a performer and teacher living in Brooklyn, NY. His fascination with music was and is perpetuated by a deep enjoyment of collaboration. Cole has performed in venues all over the area including: Jazz! At Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, DiMenna Center, Symphony Space, Whitney Museum, Feinstein’s 54, McCarter Theatre, Institute for Advanced Study, Public Records, Caveat, and Spectrum. He’s also performed with: New York City Opera, Metropolis Ensemble, New York Wind Orchestra, Princeton Festival, and Manhattan Saxophone Quartet. Additional appearances include, New World Symphony, Pensacola Symphony, National Music Festival Orchestra, Hot Springs Festival Orchestra, and Taneycomo Festival Orchestra.

 
 
 

Thomas Giles

Thomas Giles

 

Thomas Giles

Thomas Giles is a New York City-based saxophonist working at the intersection of contemporary performance, improvisation, and interdisciplinary collaborations. To date Giles has premiered more than 200 new works, many of which are dedicated to him. Recent premieres have included works by Augusta Read Thomas, Marcos Balter, Marc Mellits, and Nicola LeFanu. Giles has enjoyed close working relationships with some of today’s leading composers e.g., Meredith Monk, David Lang, Martin Bresnick, Charles Wuorinen, Mika Pelo, Dan Becker, and the American indie-rock duo Wye Oak.

 
 
 

Bryan McNamara

Bryan McNamara

 

Bryan McNamara

Bryan McNamara began making music at age 6 in his upstate New York church handbell choir. The saxophone came next at age 10. 18 years later, he is a versatile and happily busy musician and arts administrator living in Brooklyn. Sadly, no handbell gigs have come up lately. Bryan loves performing with Singularity, which he has happily played in since 2013. Recent Singularity performances include joining the opera pits of New York City Opera and The Princeton Festival, and premiering an in-house arrangement of William Brittelle’s Future Shock during an album release party hosted by Metropolis Ensemble, William Brittelle, New Amsterdam Records, and Nonesuch Records at Public Records in Brooklyn. Other favorite performances of Bryan’s include playing saxophone in Philip Venables’ breathtaking opera 4.48 Psychosis with Contemporaneous at the 2019 Prototype Festival, and singing in the October 2018 world premiere of David Lang’s Mile Long Opera on the High Line in New York City. Bryan currently enjoys work as Artistic Operations Manager of the All Souls Unitarian Church music department and Production Manager of Musica Viva NY, and can be found in the All Souls Choir bass section most Sunday mornings.

 
 
 

Brandon Ridenour

Brandon Ridenour

 

Brandon Ridenour

Brandon Ridenour is a stylistically diverse trumpet soloist, collaborative artist, composer and arranger. Recognized as “…heralding the trumpet of the future” (Chicago Sun Times) and for “demonstrating the trumpet’s huge potential for lyricism” (Cleveland Plain Dealer), he has combined his wide-ranging activities as soloist and chamber musician with his passion for composing and arranging, resulting in his distinctive artistic voice and vision.  

At the age of twenty, Brandon became the youngest member ever to join the iconic Canadian Brass, a position he held for seven years. With the group, he played in distinguished venues around the world, performed on television, recorded ten albums, appeared on NPR’s Tiny Desk, and received three Juno Award nominations. He also created a catalog of new arrangements for the ensemble, which are still performed today. Brandon rejoined Canadian Brass in 2019 and continues to create new repertoire for the group.

 
 
 

Sam Wells

Sam Wells

 

Sam Wells

Sam Wells is a musician and video artist based in Philadelphia. Sam has performed throughout North America and Europe, as well as in China. He is a recipient of a 2016 Jerome Fund for New Music award, and his work, stringstrung, is the winner of the 2016 Miami International Guitar Festival Composition Competition. He has performed electroacoustic works for trumpet and presented his own music at the Bang on a Can Summer Festival, Chosen Vale International Trumpet Seminar, Electronic Music Midwest, Electroacoustic Barn Dance, NYCEMF, N_SEME, and SEAMUS festivals. Sam and his music have also been featured by the Kansas City Electronic Music and Arts Alliance (KcEMA) and Fulcrum Point Discoveries. He has also been a guest artist/composer at universities throughout North America. 

Sam is a member of SPLICE Ensemble. Sam has performed with Contemporaneous, Metropolis Ensemble, TILT Brass, the Lucerne Festival Academy Orchestra, and the Colorado MahlerFest Orchestra. Sam has recorded on the SEAMUS and Ravello Recordings labels.

Sam holds degrees in both performance and composition at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, graduate degrees in Trumpet Performance and Computer Music Composition at Indiana University, and a doctoral degree at the California Institute of the Arts. He is an Assistant Professor of Music Technology at Temple University.

 
 
 

John Gattis

John Gattis

 

John Gattis

Originally from Tennessee, John Gattis is a horn player and educator based in New York City. He is a founding member of the horn trio Kylwyria and has performed with a wide variety of groups such as the Talea Ensemble, International Contemporary Ensemble, A Far Cry, Radio City Orchestra, and the West Point Band. As an avid performer of contemporary music John has had the opportunity to premier dozens works by composers such as John Zorn, Olga Neuwirth, Brian Ferneyhough, and Christian Wolff.

John holds degrees from Stony Brook University and the Cleveland Institute of Music and has studied with Richard King, William Purvis, and Ann Ellsworth. He is on the faculty of the Dwight-Engelwood School in New Jersey.

 
 
 

Bert Hill

Bert Hill

 

Bert Hill

New York based horn player, Bert Hill, is an active performer who is at home with a wide array of music styles. He has recently been heard in concert with Azlo Orchestra at Carnegie Hall, DCINY Orchestra, Gateway Classical Music Society, Juilliard Orchestra, Sheep Island Ensemble, and The Chelsea Symphony among others. An avid advocate of new music, Mr. Hill is a core member of Ensemble Moto Perpetuo. In addition, he has performed with the Tactus Ensemble under the direction of Jeffery Milarsky, Ensemble Mise-En and many recital and chamber performances of new and contemporary works. He can be heard on the album Journey to Journey, featuring the compositions of Miho Hazama, released on Universal Records (Japan) in 2011. Bert has made solo concerto appearances performing Reinhold Gliere's Horn Concerto, Op. 91, with the Sewanee Summer Music Festival Orchestra and the Schumann Konzertstucke in 2013 with the New York Symphonic Arts Ensemble. As an educator, Bert keeps an active studio of private students and works as a section and orchestra coach for InterSchool Orchestras. In 2011 he was on the faculty of the Rodney Mack Big Brass Seminar, held at the Curtis School of Music. His academic degrees in music are from Indiana State and Temple University where his principal teachers were Brian Kilp and Shelly Showers.

 
 
 

Elizabeth Martignetti

Elizabeth Martignetti

 

Elizabeth Martignetti

Hornist Elizabeth Fleming Martignetti has performed chamber music, orchestral concerts, and recitals in the United States, Europe, and Asia. Elizabeth is a dedicated chamber musician, and is hornist with the the horn-organ duo Cor de Nuit with organist Aymeric Dupre la Tour, the Tessera Wind Quintet, and Hellgate Harmonie, and she has performed in chamber music concerts at Carnegie’s Zankel Hall and Norfolk’s acclaimed Music Shed. As an orchestral hornist, she has served as principal horn for Ensemble 212, Ensemble du Monde, Ensemble Polifonica, and the Empire State Sinfonia, among others, performing in notable venues throughout New York, Connecticut, and Asia. Elizabeth has also recently served as instructor of music at Southern Connecticut State University, where she taught music appreciation and world music, and has taught horn at Yale College and at the University of Bridgeport. A native of the Atlanta area, she has also done recording for the Cartoon Network.

Elizabeth holds Master of Musical Arts and Master of Music degrees from the Yale School of Music, where she completed research on the manifestation of nostalgia and tradition in the horn works of Paul Hindemith, and Bachelor of Music degree from the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati.

 
 
 

Jonathan Greenberg

Jonathan Greenberg

 

Jonathan Greenberg

Jonathan Greenberg has served on the low brass faculty of Hunter College, The City University of New York, since 2009 and has held similar positions at The Avenues School and Manhattan School of Music, Pre-college Division.  Jonathan has enjoyed a freelance career in NYC that has spanned several decades and a multitude of musical styles.  He has appeared with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, American Symphony, American Ballet Theatre, the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, and Honolulu Symphony. He is a founding member of the groundbreaking Carnegie Hall LinkUp Orchestra.

Chamber music experience includes performances with the Metropolis Ensemble, Manhattan Brass Quintet, St. Luke’s Trombone Quartet, Absolute Ensemble and with the American Brass Quintet at the Aspen Music Festival. Commercial/Jazz experience includes performances with The Big Apple Circus, Toshiko Akiyoshi Jazz Orchestra, the Mingus Big Band, and tours of Japan with the Manhattan Jazz Orchestra. Jonathan continues to enjoy a prolific Broadway career, playing both trombone and tuba for shows that include Disney’s The Lion King, Wicked, The Phantom of the Opera, and the Radio City Christmas Spectacular, among many others.

 
 
 

Michael Lormand

Michael Lormand

 

Michael Lormand

New York City–based trombonist Mike Lormand is a performer of eclectic contemporary and classical music. He is a member of the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), Deviant Septet, IRIS Orchestra, Riverside Symphony, and Weather Vest. He appears frequently with groups such as Talea Ensemble, Argento Chamber Ensemble, NOVUS NY, Wordless Music Orchestra, Metropolis Ensemble, TILT Brass, and Paragon Ragtime Orchestra. Lormand's love for the orchestral repertoire has led to performances with the Metropolitan Opera, Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra, The Knights, New York City Ballet, New York City Opera, American Ballet Theater, American Symphony Orchestra, New York Pops, Radio City Music Hall Orchestra, and St. Paul Chamber Orchestra.  As a soloist, he has commissioned numerous new works, with notable premieres at the Ojai Music Festival, Lincoln Center Out of Doors Festival, American Trombone Workshop, and International Trombone Festival. He recently performed the long-delayed U.S. premiere of Marius Constant's 1977 trombone concerto, Gli Elementi, with the Riverside Symphony at Alice Tully Hall. A graduate of Manhattan School of Music (MM) and the University of Southern Mississippi (BM), Lormand studied with Per Brevig, David Taylor, Marta Hofacre, and Robert Schmalz.

 
 
 

Ben Cassorla

Ben Cassorla

 

Ben Cassorla

Ben Cassorla is an unrepentant hipster that loves to make music and cook. If his music were a dish, it would be a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Simple yet so satisfying. Some might wash that down with a glass of milk, but Ben would probably opt for a beer. Cassorla is Ben's band. A minimalist indie-pop outfit whose songs hear the phone ring but just don't care enough to get up. Cassorla's muted guitars and dry 70's style drums stumble out of your speakers and squint at the sun.

 
 
 

Aleeza Meir

Aleeza Meir

 

Aleeza Meir

Aleeza Meir is the pianist for Brooklyn Youth Chorus’s Concert Ensemble and Junior Ensemble.  Raised as a homeschooler, she pursued her musical studies independently with two beloved mentors: fortepianist Malcolm Bilson and composer Steven Stucky.

Accomplished on piano, organ, and harpsichord, Aleeza began her career as a staff pianist at the Ithaca College School of Music at the age of 16. She has since appeared with artists and groups including the Brooklyn Interdenominational Choir, Cayuga Vocal Ensemble, Bob Chilcott, Edward Carroll, Harolyn Blackwell, Kronos Quartet, Jan Opalach, Orchestra of the Southern Finger Lakes, and the New England Symphonic Ensemble, in venues ranging from Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, to National Sawdust, to St. Olaf’s Church in Balestrand, Norway. She has also performed in the Czech Republic, France, the Netherlands, and North America, in a wide variety of venues and capacities ranging from concerto soloist to continuo player. She placed second in the International Piano Masterclass of Bechyne festival competition and was a prizewinner in the Otto B. Schoepfle national organ competition.

Ms. Meir previously served as pianist for the Boys Choir of Harlem and spent ten years as keyboardist for John Rutter in New York City.  Besides her position at Brooklyn Youth Chorus, she is faculty pianist for the Allen-Stevenson School, pianist for Middlebury Language Schools’ German for Singers program, music director for historic Old First Reformed Church in Brooklyn, and founder and artistic director of Baroquelyn.

 
 
 

Paul Cornish

Paul Cornish

 

Paul Cornish

Los Angeles-based pianist and composer Paul Cornish strives to inspire freedom and collaboration in his music and community. Hailing from Houston where he was a student at the prestigious High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, Cornish was one of seven jazz prodigies worldwide selected to be awarded a full fellowship to attend the esteemed Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz at UCLA.

Cornish received the Los Angeles Jazz Society’s 2020 New Note Commission and recently was awarded First Place in the Jacksonville Jazz Piano Competition and the 18th Street Arts Center’s 2021 Make Jazz Fellowship. Cornish was also awarded the Grand Prize in the 2018 American Jazz Piano Competition. Currently residing in Los Angeles, Cornish has performed extensively across the globe with such notable artists as Herbie Hancock, Louis Cole, Theo Croker, Snoh Aalegra, Terrace Martin, Thumpasaurus and HAIM.

 
 
 

Daniel Castellanos

Daniel Castellanos

 

Daniel Castellanos

Daniel Santiago Castellanos is a composer, tenor, and pianist based in New York City. His composition for mezzo-soprano and piano, Death is nothing at all, won first prize at the 2019 NYC songSLAM competition. Ensembles that have performed his music include the Semiosis Quartet, The Orchestra Now (TŌN), Da Capo Ensemble, and The Saint Thomas Choir of Men and Boys. He graduated from Bard Conservatory of Music in 2018, and is now attending Mannes School of Music to receive a MM in Composition in 2023.

As a tenor, Castellanos makes his living as a professional choral singer. He started out singing as a boy chorister at St. Thomas Church on Fifth Avenue in 2004, and since then, has sung with several different ensembles, including The Choir at the Church of Saint Mary the Virgin, with C4 Ensemble, and most recently, The Salvatones. He has performed as a soloist through other freelance work.

 
 
 

Grace Park

Grace Park

 

Grace Park

Praised by the San Francisco Chronicle as being “fresh, different and exhilarating” and Strings Magazine as “intensely wrought and burnished “,  violinist Grace Park captivates audiences with her artistry, passion and virtuosity. Winner of the the 2018 Naumburg International Violin Competition, she showcases her artistry as a dynamic soloist and dedicated chamber musician.

Ms. Park’s upcoming season includes her Carnegie Hall debut recital, a world premiere performance of Mason Bates’ first violin sonata, concerto debut with the Mexico City Philharmonic, and recitals at the Schubert Club, Krannert Center, and Dame Myra Hess Memorial.

 Ms. Park has appeared as soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician throughout the United States, Europe, Asia, and Canada at venues such as Walt Disney Hall, The Kennedy Center,  The Rudolfinum in Prague, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Jordan Hall  and Tri-Noon at Rockefeller University. She has performed and participated in festivals such as Music @ Menlo, IMS Prussia Cove, Festival Mozaic, Yellowbarn, and Perlman Music Program, where she has performed with many of today's celebrated artists.

 
 
 

Katie Hyun

Katie Hyun

 

Katie Hyun

A winner of Astral Artists’ 2016 National Auditions, violinist Katie Hyun has been described as “a virtuoso by any measure” (The Berkshire Review).  Passionate about incorporating different styles, her recent debut recital with Astral Artists in Philadelphia featured a program that showcased virtuosic works on both the Baroque and modern violins (going back and forth between the two).  Festival appearances include Chamber Music Northwest in Portland, Bravo! Vail in Colorado, Tippet Rise Arts Center in Montana, Mostly Mozart in New York, OBX Chamber Music Series in North Carolina, Crescent City Chamber Music Festival in New Orleans, and New York in Chuncheon in South Korea.  Katie currently serves as the concertmaster of NOVUS Trinity Wall Street, in addition to solo and chamber performances throughout the States.  On Baroque violin, she frequently appears with the Trinity Baroque Orchestra and Seraphic Fire.

Katie is also the founder and director of Quodlibet Ensemble, a collective of string players and creators dedicated to creating musical experiences that engage, entertain, and invite people to invest in their communities. Quodlibet has performed at the Shepherd Music Series in Collinsville, Yale British Arts Center, Drew University in Madison, NJ, Rockefeller University in NYC, and most recently the Baryshnikov Arts Center in NYC. In October 2020, Quodlibet partnered with VOTESart to produce a video performance aimed at raising awareness of voters’ rights which premiered at the Five Boroughs Music Festival.

 
 
 

Hiro Matsuo

Hiro Matsuo

 

Hiro Matsuo

Acclaimed by The New York Times as “striking,” cellist Hiro Matsuo has become one of the great talents of his generation. Matsuo is a member of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. In Cincinnati, he also serves as a co-artistic director of concert:nova, which aims "to transform hearts, minds and communities through thought provoking musical exploration."

An avid chamber musician, Matsuo has collaborated with distinguished artists such as Joshua Bell, David Aaron Carpenter, Roberto Díaz, Christoph Eschenbach, Midori Goto, Ida Kavafian, Alex Kerr, Yo-Yo Ma, Anne-Marie McDermott, Gil Shaham, and Joseph Silverstein, among others. He has served as principal cellist of the Metropolis Ensemble, Salomé Chamber Orchestra, and Solisti Ensemble. He has also performed with A Far Cry and Sejong Soloists.