Ann SunHyung Kim (violin)

Ann SunHyung Kim, born in Seoul, South Korea, began studying the violin at a very early age. At the age of 9, she immigrated to New Zealand. After graduating from the Specialist Music Program at Burnside High School, Ms. Kim moved to New York where she studied with Albert Markov, Isaac Malkin and Lucie Robert for her Bachelor of Music and Masters of Music degrees from Manhattan School of Music. She is currently a Doctorate of Music candidate at Stony Brook University, NY. During her years at Manhattan School of Music, she performed in Orpheus Institute, working closely with musicians from Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Kurt Masur Conducting Seminar and Manhattan Chamber Sinfonia for a concert at Carnegie Hall with Pinchas Zukerman. Ms. Kim participated in festivals such as the Castleton Festival in Virginia, founded by Maestro Lorin Maazel, Spoleto Festival USA, held in Charleston, South Carolina and the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, held in Germany.

Grover Edwards (clarinet)

Grover Edwards studied clarinet at Carnegie Mellon University, receiving both his undergraduate and graduate degrees there. He’s the principal clarinetist of the New York Symphonic Arts Ensemble, COSM chamber orchestra and has performed with the Brooklyn Symphony Orchestra, the Brooklyn Wind Symphony, and is a member of the Midtown Winds woodwind Quintet. Grover studied with Guido Meccoli of the Pennsylvania Ballet, Anthony Gigliotti of the Philadelphia Orchestra, Louis Paul and Tommy Thompson of the Pittsburgh Symphony and Larry Combs of the Chicago Symphony.

Michael Katz (cello)

Described by the press as “outstanding” and “warm-toned,” Israeli Cellist Michael Katz has appeared as a soloist and chamber musician in various concerts and festivals in North America, Europe and Israel, including Ravinia, Yellow Barn, Sarasota, Orford, Kfar Bloom and others. Winner of all three categories at the 2011 Aviv Competition, Mr. Katz has also won first prizes at the Juilliard Concerto Competition, the Turjeman Competition and the Israeli Conservatory Scholarship Competition. As a member of the Lysander Piano Trio, Mr. Katz has won first prizes at the Coleman and the J.C. Arriaga competitions. Mr. Katz has collaborated and performed with musicians such as Itzhak Perlman, Laurence Lesser, Donald Weilerstein, Peter Frankl, Roger Tapping, Violaine Melancon, Paul Biss, and Yehudi Wyner. Mr. Katz received his Bachelor of Music degree from the New England Conservatory and his Master of Music degree from the Juilliard School where he studied with Joel Krosnick.

Jessica Taskov (flute)

Recently described as “exquisite” by the South Florida Classical Review, Flutist Jessica Aura Taskov performs as an orchestral player, chamber musician and soloist.  She has performed with the Munich Symphony, Florida Grand Opera, Palm Beach Opera, Award-winning Seraphic Fire, Palm Beach Pops, Southwest Florida Symphony, DiCapo Opera, Opera On Tap, and various other groups throughout NYC and Florida in venues from Carnegie Hall to Bargemusic to the United Nations and everything in between.  She has been a soloist with the New Jersey Philharmonic on several occasions, and also with Ensemble 212, performing all 4 of Mozart’s works for Flute and Orchestra, and with the Purchase Camerata playing C.P.E. Bach’s Concerto in Bb as winner of the 2001 Baroque Concerto Competition.  She recently returned as soloist with Ensemble 212 performing C.P.E. Bach’s Concerto in d minor during the 2011-2012 season.  Her teachers include Robert Langevin, principal flute at the NYPhilharmonic, and Stephanie Mortimore solo piccolo of the MET Opera.  She received her BM from Purchase with Tara O’Connor, and MM from LYNN University in Boca Raton on full scholarship with Renee Siebert.  Native New Yorker, she currently lives in Westchester with her husband, oboist, Veroslav Taskov.

Justin Hopkins (Bass-baritone)

American bass-baritone Justin Hopkins burst onto the international opera scene in 2010, performing the combined roles of Il Servo, Il Medico and Heraldo in Macbeth with Le Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels. He was praised as having "created something very beautiful with the role" and the production was awarded "Production of the Year" by Opernwelt. In the same season Mr. Hopkins performed the roles of Colline in La Boheme with the Verbier Festival Academy and Cappadocian in Salome under the direction of Valery Gergiev with the Verbier Festival Orchestra in Switzerland. During the 2010-2011 season, he performed Frère Laurent in Romeo at Juliette with Opera Company of Philadelphia as well as in Philip Glass' Hydrogen Jukebox with Fort Worth Opera.

Sidney Marquez Boquiren (composer, Stop and Frisk)

Sidney Marquez Boquiren’s compositional work and performance activities typically involve multi-disciplinary and/or multi-media collaborations. He and choreographer Trebien Pollard developed and performed The Civilized Captivity of a Primitive Existence (2008). For the premiere of Four Songs (2009), set to poetry by Jacqueline Jones LaMon and composed for tenor and guitar, he designed Last Seen, an interdisciplinary event that explored the issue of “disappearance” through the performance of songs and readings of texts. He has premiered two new works on a double-bill: We Will Not Be Silent (2010), an improvised work for piano and electronics assisted by Bryan Teoh written in response to the recent surge of cyber-bullying, and Odes to Earth and Air (2010), a semi-staged multi-media chamber opera with lyrics by Daniel Neer, and video and direction by Ted Gorodetzky. He has also written the score for Jane Pickett’s short film Cuttlefish (2011). Sidney teaches at Adelphi University.

Daniel Felsenfeld (composer, A Genuine Willingness to Help/ Raw Footage)

Photo by Meghan HickeyDaniel Felsenfeld has been commissioned and performed by Simone Dinnerstein, Opera On Tap, Metropolis Ensemble (with Nicole Atkins), Meerenai Shim, Two Sense (Lisa Moore and Ashley Bathgate), ASCAP, San Jose Opera, ETHEL, Great Noise Ensemble, American Opera Projects, the Da Capo Chamber Players, Transit, Redshift, Nadia Sirota, Blair McMillen, Two Sides Sounding, Kristin Elgersma, Eleanor Taylor and Jen Devore, Holly Chatham, Momenta Quartet, Nouvelle Ensemble Moderne, Cornelius Duffallo, Stephianie Mortimore, Mellissa Hughes, Corey Dargel, Jenny Lin, New York City Opera (VOX), ACME, Redshift, New Gallery Concert Series, Gabriella Diaz, Jody Redhage, Caroline Worra, and New England Conservatory Philharmonic. Future projects include pieces for Sequitur (based on unpublished writings of David Foster Wallace), an opera based on the life of Dr. Kinsey for Opera on Tap, Kathy Supove, Michael Zegarski, Great Noise, Ensemble 212, Vocallective, Cadillac Moon Ensemble and Vision Into Art.

One Ring Zero

One Ring Zero is led by Michael Hearst and Joshua Camp. The band has released eight albums, including As Smart As We Are: The Author Project, featuring lyrics by Paul Auster, Margaret Atwood, Dave Eggers, and Neil Gaiman, among others; Planets, a collection of new compositions that represent the solar system and beyond; and their most recent, The Recipe Project, in which the band has taken recipes from today’s top chefs (Mario Batali, Tom Colicchio, David Chang, etc.), set them to music, and sung them word for word. One Ring Zero has performed at music venues and cultural institutions including the Whitney Museum of Art, Central Park Summer Stage, The Kennedy Center, Toronto’s Harbourfront Centre, Spring Scream in Taiwan, Era in Tokyo, New Morning in Paris, The Chicago World Music Festival, and the Fundacion Principe de Asturia in Spain. The band’s music has been featured in dance concerts, films, television, animations, fashion shows, and NPR programming including This American Life, Fresh Air, and Morning Edition. oneringzero.com

Zach Redler (composer, Male Identity)

Zach Redler is a composer, pianist, copyist, musicologist and musical director in and out of New York City. Zach actively works as a vocal coach and accompanist for students at NYU. He is a copyist for many Broadway and Opera composers. As a part of the Virginia Arts Festival’s John Duffy Institute he has studied with John Duffy, Libby Larsen, David Lang, Bernard Rands, Michael Korie and Mark Campbell. Recent productions as composer: Breakfast (Metropolis Opera Project); The Memory Show (Off Bway 2012; Barrington Stage); Loving Leo (Sharon Playhouse; ATF); Perez Hilton Saves the Universe (Regional; Various NYC Venues). Zach's music has been performed at Lincoln Center, Merkin Hall, Joe's Pub (among others) and has been critically acclaimed by The New York Times, Variety and The Boston Globe. He is a member of ASCAP, Local 802 and a graduate of NYU Tisch’s Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program. www.zachredler.com

Sara Cooper (librettist, Male Identity)

Sara Cooper is a graduate of the Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program at Tisch (NYU).  Book and Lyric credits include: The Memory Show, World Premiere, Barrington Stage Company, William Finn's Musical Theatre Lab (2010), NAMT (2009), Bronfman Artist Fellowship (2009), NYC in 2012!!; Loving Leo, reading, TriArts Sharon Playhouse (2011), workshop, Adirondack Theatre Festival (2010), retreat, Weston Playhouse (2010); October Songbook Series: The Songs of Zach Redler and Sara Cooper, Arts and Artists at St. Paul (2010); The Tenth Floor, (book only), New York Musical Theatre Festival (2010), Talkin' Broadway 2010 Summer Theatre Festival Citations: Outstanding New Musical (2010);  Emergency Contraception!: The Musical, Theater for the New City (2007); We Love You, Johnny Hero, NY Fringe Festival (2006). Short plays/musicals/operas and songs around NYC. As an educator, Sara has worked for Lincoln Center, CUNY City College, and Theater for the New City. Dramatists Guild and ASCAP. http://saracooper.weebly.com

Daniel Neer (librettist, Stop and Frisk)

Daniel Neer enjoys a uniquely diverse career as a singing actor, clinician, playwright and librettist in the performance arts. He has portrayed over 100 roles in theater, opera, oper-etta and musical theater, receiving critical acclaim for his diverse range of characterizations, and has recorded for Dreamworks, Albany, Newport Classics and Naxos labels. 2011 his first play, ‘The Interview’ received a world premiere as part of the New Works International Festival for Short Plays at the Richmond Shepherd Theater in New York City. He is librettist for two chamber operas: Mercury Falling, which received great critical and audience acclaim at the Long Leaf Opera Festival, and Odes to Earth and Air, which received a workshop premiere at Adelphi University. Daniel is the creative director of his own production com-pany, NeerSighted Productions, which explores unique combinations of music, theatre and media arts to create compelling storytelling of original works, with special focus on both educational and sociological perspectives. www.danielneer.com

Kayleigh Butcher (mezzo-soprano)

Kayleigh Butcher, originally from London, England, has recently been seen in the world premiere of Jamie Leigh Sampson's one-act opera, Wearing White, in a.per.io.dic's John Cage Festival, and performed Tristan Perich's piece "What's thought of as a boundless, continuous expanse...." for 5 sopranos and 15-channel, 1-bit electronics on the Philip Glass: Music with Friends Benefit concert at the Issue Project Room in Brooklyn. Kayleigh also dabbles with composition, writing fugues and other arrangements for Quince Contemporary Vocal Ensemble. www.kayleighbutcher.com

Marcy Richardson (soprano)

 Hailed by Opera News for her “best all-around performance” in Handel’s Ariodante (Princeton Festival), soprano Marcy Richardson recently sang the role of the stripper Ani King George in Charlotte Jackson and Gordon Beeferman's The Enchanted Organ, a burlesque opera satirizing the porn industry, at Dixon Place in New York City. Other highlights of the 2011/2012 season include her Alice Tully and Avery Fisher Hall debuts as the soprano soloist in the Faure Requiem and Mozart Vesperae Solennes de Confessore, Diana/Giove as Diana in La Calisto with Vertical Player Repertory, John Eaton’s The Greeks at Symphony Space for the New Composers Alliance Summer Festival, Thomas Ades' Five Eliot Landscapes and Mohammed Fairouz's Bonsai Journal with the Mimesis Ensemble, Monica in The Medium with St. Petersburg Opera, and gala concerts with the Princeton Symphony and Toledo Opera. www.marcyrichardson.com.

Delea Shand (soprano)

Delea Shand recently completed a Masters in Contemporary Performance at the Manhattan School of Music, and was a fellow at the Bang on a Can summer festival at MassMoca, Massachusetts, where her performance of George Crumb’s “Madrigals, Book Two” was hailed by the Albany Times Union as, “Especially impressive.... even while delivering some swooping and percussive vocal affects.” With Opera on Tap, Delea sings regularly in bars and backrooms and directs their new music ensemble, New Brew. Delea has performed at Galapagos Art Space, Symphony Space (Thalia), City Winery, Webster Hall, Barbes, The Tank, Parkside Lounge, The Gershwin Hotel, The Phoenix Concerts, Central Presbyterian Church, and Freddy’s Backroom and Bar. Delea is a Teaching Artist for the Metropolitan Opera Guild. www.deleashand.com

Brandon Snook (tenor)

American tenor Brandon Snook’s AOP credits include the world premiere of Nkeiru Okoye’s song, 1861, set from Walt Whitman’s poem of the same name, which was performed at Manhattan’s Hudson Guild Theatre. Recent performances include Vietnam POW Captain Jim Thompson in Chelsea Opera’s production of Glory Denied (“vocal freshness, tempered with despondency”-The New York Times) and Alfred in Die Fledermaus at Greenville Light Opera Works. Other appearances include Cincinnati Opera, Michigan Opera Theatre, Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Des Moines Metro Opera, Sarasota Opera, and Seagle Music Colony. A native of Dallas, Mr. Snook holds Voice degrees from The University of Kansas and The University of Michigan.

Jorell Williams (Baritone)

Praised by Opera News as having a “Solid vocal core” and the ABC News & Entertainment as “smooth-voiced”, American Baritone Jorell Williams’s highlights include The Villager with the New York City Center Encores! production of Kurt Weill's Lost in the Stars, Captain Corcoran in HMS Pinafore (2011) and Fiesque in Maria di Rohan (2010) with the Caramoor Interna-tional Music Festival, “The Muir” with the Mark Morris Dance Group, and appearing with the Metropolitan Opera/Lincoln Center Opera Theatre’s collaborative workshop reading of Nico Muhly’s Two Boys (2011) and Michael Torke’s Senna (2010). Jorell had the honor of performing in “A Celebration of America” in the Kennedy Center’s Eisenhower Theater on the occasion of the Presidential Inauguration of Barack Obama. www.myspace.com/jorellwilliams

Yoon Jae Lee (conductor)

Yoon Jae Lee enjoys a multi-faceted career as conductor, arranger, and pianist. Founder & Artistic Director of Ensemble 212, Mo. Lee is also Music Director of the Old York Road Symphony and the Wyoming Seminary Civic Orchestra. His collaborations include the Attacca String Quartet, Daniel Phillips of the Orion String Quartet, mezzo-soprano D’Anna Fortunato, composers Huang Ruo and Mohammed Fairouz, members of the Boston Sym-phony Orchestra and the Philadelphia Orchestra. Mo. Lee conducted the world premieres of Fairouz’s Double Concerto “States of Fantasy”, commissioned by Ensemble 212 with Nicho-las Kitchen & Yeesun Kim of the Borromeo String Quartet, “Tahrir” with clarinetist David Krakauer, and the New York premiere of his Symphony No. 2. Mo. Lee will conduct the world premiere of Fairouz’s Symphony No. 3 “Poems and Prayers” for Soloists, Mixed Chorus & Orchestra with the Young New Yorkers’ Chorus and Ensemble 212 later this season in February 2012. www.yoonjaelee.info

Jeanne-Minette Cilliers (pianist, music director for Male Identity)

Fostering a strong interest in new music, Ms. Cilliers has worked with prominent contemporary composers such as Dominick Argento, William Bolcom, Jake Heggie, John Corigliano, Mark Adamo and Sven-David Sandström. Her recording of Mr. Argento’s Andreé Expedition (with Håkan Hagegård) will be released in the upcoming season. Currently, Ms. Cilliers is on the faculty at the Manhattan School of Music, while also music director for the Martina Arroyo Opera Foundation in New York City. She served as principal coach/pianist at Glimmerglass Opera Festival in 2009 and 2010, and at The Santa Fe Opera in 2011. jmcilliers.com/

David Del Tredici

David Del TrediciGenerally recognized as the father of the Neo-Romantic movement in music, David Del Tredici has received numerous awards (including the Pulitzer Prize) and has been commissioned and performed by nearly every major American and European orchestral ensemble. “Del Tredici,” said Aaron Copland, “is that rare find among composers — a creator with a truly original gift. I venture to say that his music is certain to make a lasting impression on the American musical scene. I know of no other composer of his generation who composes music of greater freshness and daring, or with more personality.”

Much of his early work consisted of elaborate vocal settings of James Joyce (I Hear an Army; Night Conjure-Verse; Syzygy) and Lewis Carroll (Pop-Pourri, An Alice Symphony, Vintage Alice and Adventures Underground, to name just a few). More recently, Del Tredici has set to music a cavalcade of contemporary American poets, often celebrating a gay sensibility (three examples: Gay Life, Love Addiction and Wondrous the Merge). OUT Magazine, in fact, has twice named the composer one of its people of the year.

Over the past several years he has ventured into the more intimate realm of chamber music with String Quartet No. 1, Grand Trio (brought to life by the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio and recently printed by Boosey & Hawkes), and — harkening to his musical beginnings as a piano prodigy — a large number of solo-piano works (Gotham Glory, Three Gymnopedies, Ballad in Yellow, S/M Ballade, and Aeolian Ballade). Still, the extravagant Del Tredici remains at large and busy. In May 2005 Robert Spano conducted the Atlanta Symphony and Chorus in the premiere and subsequent recording of Paul Revere’s Ride, recently nominated for the 49th Annual Grammy Awards as the Best New Classical Composition of 2006. November 2005 held the world premiere of the melodrama Rip Van Winkle with the National Symphony Orchestra conducted by Leonard Slatkin and narrated by world famous Broadway actor, Brian Stokes Mitchell.

In recent years several Del Tredici CDs have abounded: on Deutsche Grammophon, an all-Del Tredici CD (released in its highly-regarded “20/21” series) featuring conductor Oliver Knussen, soprano Lucy Shelton and the Netherlands’ ASKO Ensemble; on the Music and Arts label, a pair of recent Del Tredici song cycles featuring soprano Hila Plitmann with the composer at the piano; on Dorian, In Wartime, a spectacular new work for concert band; and on Koch, a selection of piano compositions played by Anthony de Mare. Among past recordings were two best-sellers — Final Alice and In Memory of a Summer Day (Part I of Child Alice); the latter work won Del Tredici the Pulitzer Prize in 1980.

March 2007 marked David Del Tredici's 70th birthday, with concerts given throughout the year, including the premiere of Magyar Madness, a chamber piece for clarinet and string quartet, commissioned by Music Accord for clarinetist David Krakauer and the Orion String Quartet. Another premiere was S/M Ballade for solo piano which was commissioned and performed by Marc Peloquin.

Recent publications include a collection entitled Songs for Baritone and Piano as well as the score and parts for the piano trio entitled Grand Trio. A second printed volume of solo piano pieces is in progress which will include Gotham Glory and Three Gymnopedies.

Distinguished Professor of Music at The City College of New York, Del Tredici makes his home in Greenwich Village.

David Del Tredici is published exclusively by Boosey & Hawkes. www.daviddeltredici.com

Manly Romero

Manly RomeroManly Romero’s songs, chamber music, symphonic works and stage works have been performed across the US and internationally, and praised as “lively, rhythmic and punchy.” Romero studied with David Conte and Conrad Susa at San Francisco Conservatory of Music (SFCM), where he assisted in orchestrating The Dangerous Liaisons. Under the mentorship of Michael Daugherty and William Bolcom, Romero completed a DMA at the University of Michigan while composing orchestral works such as Spirals (recorded on the Klavier Gold label), his symphony, Cortège; Blanco, Azul, Rojo, and a first draft of his opera, Dreaming of Wonderland. These compositions garnered awards and commissions from The American Academy of Arts and Letters, American Composers’ Orchestra, The Ragdale Foundation, American Music Center, San Francisco Camerata Americana, and NYFA. Romero serves as Artistic Director for the New York City-based composers’ collective Random Access Music (RAM) and of the Queens New Music Festival. He works at Manhattan School of Music as Performance Librarian and Administrative Director of the Contemporary Performance Program. He lives in Brooklyn with his nine-year old son, Cameron, to whom Dreaming of Wonderland is dedicated.www.manlyromero.com