Kristina Warren
Kristina Warren (kmwarren.org) is a composer, improviser, and maker. She writes and performs acoustic and electronic sound using instruments she and others made. Her first solo album, filament (2019, released as petra), is “precise and unpredictable, making repeat listens irresistible” (Marc Masters), while her bespoke wearable electronic instrument Exo.Rosie sees her rolling around on the floor. Recent events include New Interfaces for Musical Expression, Movement and Computing Conference, Memphis Concrète, and Spektrum [Berlin], and recent ensemble collaborations include Chartreuse, JACK Quartet, So Percussion, Talea Ensemble, and Yarn/Wire. Recently Visiting Assistant Professor of Electronic Music & Multimedia at Brown University, Warren holds a PhD in Composition & Computer Technologies from the University of Virginia.
Rudy Hypolite
Trinidadian-born and Boston-bred, Rudy Hypolite is an American Film Institute and Henry “Eyes on the Prize” Hampton award recipient. Rudy directed and executive-produced PUSH: Madison versus Madison, the acclaimed basketball documentary feature film, broadcast on ESPN Classic network 40+ times, Magic Johnson’s Aspire network and PBS’ World America Reframed series. “This Ain’t Normal” is Rudy’s fourth, independent film as director and producer. The film humanizes the stories of gang-involved youth and the unusual team of social and street workers tasked with helping to transform their lives. It won the Audience Choice Award for Documentary Feature Film at the Orlando Film Festival and was recently released to North American audiences on various VOD, cable and satellite television platforms by media mogul Byron Allen’s Entertainment Studios. Rudy previously worked at Cambridge Community Television and on USA’s The Big Easy television series. A graduate of Boston University’s Television and Film Program, he retired in 2020 as the Technical Supervisor of Harvard University’s Science Center Media and Technology Services after 23 years and is presently a full-time documentary filmmaker.
Nick Photinos
Four-time Grammy Award-winning cellist Nick Photinos is one of the most innovative and multifaceted cellists of our time. Described as a “commanding soloist” (ClevelandClassical.com) whose “virtuoso cello playing is scintillating” (Chicago Classical Review) and “outstanding for his exquisite precision” (SFCV.org), Photinos has collaborated and toured with an astounding array of artists including rock/pop artists Björk, Wilco, Bryce Dessner, Bonnie “Prince” Billy, film composer Gustavo Santaolalla, classical artists Dawn Upshaw, Philip Glass, the Bang on a Can All-Stars, and jazz artists including Sheila Jordan, Laurence Hobgood, Zach Brock, and Matt Ulery. He has appeared as soloist with numerous orchestras including the Cleveland, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, Toronto, Utah, and Atlanta Symphonies, the last with whom he recorded Jennifer Higdon’s On a Wire. He has performed across the globe including the Sydney Opera House, the Barbican in London, KBC Hall in Seoul, Carnegie Hall in New York City, Walt Disney Hall in Los Angeles, and Red Rocks Amphitheatre outside Denver. In 2019 he reached millions of listeners on “Live from Here” with Chris Thile and on Netflix’s original movie The Two Popes. He was for 24 years the founding cellist of Eighth Blackbird
Photinos’ numerous recordings span the Cedille, Nonesuch, New Amsterdam, Greenleaf, and Naxos labels. He recorded for Wilco on their Grammy-nominated album The Whole Love, and with Autumn Defense on their album Once Around. His debut solo album, Petits Artéfacts, “a bold solo debut from one of the most notable artists in contemporary music today” (PopMatters), was released on the New Amsterdam label and features first recordings of the most acclaimed names in new music (David Lang, Bryce Dessner, David T. Little, Andrew Norman) as well as a younger generation of groundbreaking composers (Pascal Le Boeuf, Molly Joyce, Florent Ghys, Angelica Negrón). Nick is currently on the faculty of the Longy School of Music of Bard College, the Bang on a Can Summer Festival, the Chosen Vale International Cello Seminar, and performs in the Grossman Ensemble at the Chicago Center for Contemporary Composition. For more information, go to nickphotinos.com.
Yosvany Terry
“Since arriving in New York City in 1999, Cuban saxophonist, percussionist and composer Yosvany Terry has helped redefine Latin Jazz as a complex new idiom” says The New York Times
Born into a musical family in Camaguey, Cuba, he received his first musical instruction on the violin from his father, violinist and chekere player Don Pancho Terry who led Maravilla de Florida, the 1950s-formed collective widely acknowledged as one of Cuba’s most respected Charanga groups. As a result of his father’s legacy, Yosvany’s childhood house was home to music and an extended family of Cuban musicians.
Yosvany went on to study Western classical music in Havana at the prestigious National School of Arts (ENA). His music draws inspiration from parallel and intermingling traditions that have roots in the Caribbean and West & Central Africa, as well as from European harmonic traditions and the broad range of Jazz Traditions. Yosvany’s work cross-pollinates technical mastery with experiential vision and a desire for inter-cultural expression. A deep commitment to participating in meaningful exchanges compels Yosvany to perform and record with some of the world’s most talented musicians. Collaborators include Steve Coleman, Rufus Reid, Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Vijay Iyer, Jeff “Tain” Watts, Avishai Cohen, Eddie Palmieri, Silvio Rodriguez, Baptiste Trotignon and Gerald Clayton. Yosvany received a Grammy Nomination, for his New Throned King CD and is a Doris Duke Artist award recipient.
A natural teacher and cultural bearer, Yosvany is driven to share talent, craft and experiential knowledge with the emerging generation of creative musicians, as well as preserve and deepen the understanding of the music from the Caribbean and other parts of the African Diaspora. Over the years, he’s taught courses and delivered master classes across the country and throughout the world. He has served such notable institutions as Princeton University, The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music, the Brubeck Institute, NYU, Goddard College, Boston University, Casa de las Americas in Havana, Royal Conservatory of Music in Winnipeg, Banff Center for Arts and Creativity, Columbia University, the University of Salvador de Bahia, University of Rio de Janeiro, and he continues to be resident instructor at the Stanford Jazz Workshop. In 2015, Yosvany joined the full-time faculty at Harvard University as Senior Lecturer and Director of Jazz Ensembles in the Department of Music. Find out more at http://www.yosvanyterry.com.
Julia Izumi
Julia Izumi is a writer and performer who makes plays, musicals, and other theatrical nonsense. Her work has been developed and presented at Manhattan Theatre Club, Clubbed Thumb, Bushwick Starr, WP Theater, Berkeley Rep’s Ground Floor, SPACE on Ryder Farm, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Ojai Playwrights Conference, Seattle Rep, Barn Arts Collective, NNPN/Kennedy Center MFA Playwrights’ Workshop, BMI’s Librettists Workshop, Great Plains Theatre Conference, Williamstown Theatre Festival, CAATA’s National Asian-American Theatre ConFest, Pork Filled Productions, and San Francisco Playhouse. Honors for her work include O’Neill’s NPC Finalist, Kilroys List Honorable Mention, and Theater Masters’ Take Ten. She has received the inaugural OPC Dr. Kerry English Award, KCACTF’s Darrell Ayers Playwriting Award, NY Society Library’s Emerging Women’s Artist Grant and a Puffin Artists’ Grant. She is a 2020/2021 New Georges Audrey Resident and an upcoming New Dramatists member. Currently under commission from True Love Productions, MTC/Sloan, and Playwrights Horizons/Soundstage. MFA: Brown University. www.juliaizumi.com
Dana Jessen
Hailed as a “bassoon virtuoso” (Chicago Reader), Dana Jessen tirelessly seeks to expand the boundaries of her instrument through original compositions, improvisations, and collaborative work with innovative artists. Over the past decade, she has presented dozens of world premiere performances throughout North America and Europe while maintaining equal footing in the creative music community as an improviser. Her solo performances are almost entirely grounded in electroacoustic composition that highlight her distinct musical language. As a chamber musician, Dana is the co-founder of the contemporary reed quintet Splinter Reeds, and has performed with Alarm Will Sound, Amsterdam’s DOEK Collective, the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, and the Tri-Centric Ensemble, among many others. A dedicated educator, Dana teaches at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and has presented masterclasses and workshops to a range of students from across the globe. More at: www.danajessen.com
Wang Lu
Composer and pianist Wang Lu writes music that reflects a very natural identification with influences from urban environmental sounds, linguistic intonation and contours, traditional Chinese music and freely improvised traditions, through the prism of contemporary instrumental techniques and new sonic possibilities. She is currently the David S. Josephson Assistant Professor of Music at Brown University, after receiving her doctoral degree in composition at Columbia University and graduating from the Beijing Central Conservatory of Music. Wang Lu’s works have been performed internationally, by ensembles including the Ensemble Modern, Ensemble Intercontemporain, Chicago Symphony Orchestra MusicNOW, Alarm Will Sound, Minnesota Orchestra, American Composers Orchestra, Orchestre National de Lille, Holland Symfonia, Shanghai National Chinese Orchestra, Taipei Chinese Orchestra, Musiques Nouvelles, Le Nouvel Ensemble Moderne, International Contemporary Ensemble, Ensemble Dal Niente, Third Sound, Yarn/Wire, Curious Chamber Players, Ensemble Pamplemousse, Argento, the Aizuri Quartet, the New York Virtuoso Singers, Momenta Quartet and violinists Miranda Cuckson, Jennifer Koh, and pianist Joel Fan among others. Her upcoming projects include a flute and electronic piece for Claire Chase’s Density 2036, a solo piano work for Shai Wosner in honor of I.M. Pei, a new work for the Longleash trio supported by New Music USA, a new work for the Talea Ensemble commissioned by the Fromm Foundation at Harvard University, a new choir and electronic work titled At Which Point for The Crossing, and an episode of TV opera desert in, produced by Boston Lyric Opera for June 2021 release.
Zach Heyde
Zach Heyde (b. 1993) is a composer, content creator, and educator living in Los Angeles, CA.
After his parents discovered him playing TV show themes by ear at the age of 3, Zach began his lifelong pursuit and study of music. He began studying piano and composing at age 7, writing a piece annually for his hometown’s “Young Composers Concert” series. After winning national recognition for a composition in high school, Zach was accepted into the Hartt School of Music’s composition program, where he met lifelong friend and collaborator Frank Tedesco. The two would later launch their YouTube channel Frank & Zach Piano Duets, combining costumes, comedy, and classical music into a channel with over 300k subscribers to date.
After graduating Hartt in 2015, Zach moved to Nashville, working as an on-call assistant music copyist for Ocean Way Studios and doing independent work for various clients. His first major commercial breakthrough was scoring four episodes for Marvel Ultimate’s web series, after which Zach relocated to Los Angeles to continue pursuing composition full-time.
Since his move to LA in 2019, Zach has composed for numerous clients including Private Division, UltraPro Entertainment, Snowflake, Saving Throw, and The Armchair Historian. Along with his composition work, Zach works as a music copyist, orchestrator, and as an educator privately and on his YouTube channel. His most recent project is Frostfell, a winter/fantasy album engineered for tabletop gamers and background listening. Watch Zach on YouTube: https://youtube.com/zachheyde Zach’s Website: https://zachheyde.com Zach’s Socials: https://taplink.cc/zachheyde
Malik Williams is a platinum selling composer, producer, engineer and educator whose work has appeared in records, film, television, and in national advertising campaigns. His successful work as a composer, multi-instrumentalist and vocalist, and his ability to work in many different genres, has made Mr. Williams an in demand producer. Mr. Williams owns and operates Liptunes Music / Reel Sync Music, music production and publishing companies based in Boston, Massachusetts.
– Member: GRAMMY, Audio Engineering Society (AES), SSBC
– DEI Committee/Townof Randolph MA
– Social Media: @malikmasonwilliams
– www.liptunesmusic.com
Gary Galbraith has been exploring, developing, creating, and producing dance works that utilize various forms of technology to enhance and augment the creative process and audience experience since 2000. Among his many works, his early Kinetic Shadows, which was an early implementation of high speed network technologies via Internet2, broke many barriers utilizing video streams and was a finalist in the Northern Ohio Live Awards.
Mr. Galbraith was also a principal dancer with the Martha Graham Dance Company where he danced many of the prestigious male roles in the repertory that Graham created. During his tenure with the company, Galbraith was also featured in new ballets created for the Graham Company, including Robert Wilson’s Snow on the Mesa and But Not For Me by Tony Award winning choreographer Susan Stroman as well as serving as rehearsal assistant for the company. Lucinda Childs choreographed Histoire on him which was premiered by the Graham Company and which he later premiered in Cleveland. He has been a regisseur of the Graham ballets and has staged works for schools and companies around the world.
Mr. Galbraith is recognized as one of the distinguished alumni of Case Western Reserve University (CWRU). As Professor of dance at CWRU, Mr. Galbraith is the Artistic Director of Dance and teaches advanced modern technique, choreography and dance wellness. Mr. Galbraith was honored by the graduate students of Case Western Reserve University with the 2005 Diekhoff Award for excellence in Graduate Teaching.
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