Sam Alvarez puts chill on everything. He also plays tenor saxophone with masso.

masso is a Chicago-based saxophone quartet first formed at Northwestern University in the fall of 2021. While embracing the study and presentation of the classical repertoire, masso is equally committed to the commissioning, performance, and democratization of contemporary classical music.

Born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Jaime Amador began his studies in the String Program for Children at the Puerto Rico Conservatory of Music as a student of Francisco Figueroa and Guillermo Figueroa. He was accepted to The Juilliard School, where he worked under Toby Appel.

Chicago violist Doyle Armbrust graduated with honors from Northwestern University and went on to study with Donald McInnes at the University of Southern California where he earned a Masters Degree in Viola Performance.

David Balakrishnan, the Turtle Island Quartet’s founder and ‘resident composer,’ graduated from UCLA with a B.A. in music composition and violin. Moving to the San Francisco Bay Area, he quickly established his reputation as a talented young improvising violinist.

Violinist Lauren Basney made her solo New York debut at Weill Hall in Carnegie Hall in 2004. Since then, she has performed throughout the United States and Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Germany, Austria, Japan, Israel and Australia, returning to Carnegie Hall twice in October 2007 and again in May 2008.

Born in Ekaterinburg, Russia, Natasha Bazhanov began playing violin at the age of five. After winning several regional youth competitions, she made her solo debut with Ural State Philhar- monic Orchestra at the age of nine and later was invited to Moscow Central Music School to join the class of professor Belenky.

Violist Heather Bentley has dedicated herself to chamber music, both as a performer and as an educator. In 2014, she co-founded the North Corner Chamber Orchestra (NOCCO), a conductorless orchestra that, in its three seasons, has produced over twenty concerts and commissioned two new important chamber orchestra works by Hanna Benn and Sean Osborn.

From his first orchestral work, The Last Days of Calvin and Hobbes, to his chamber piece, Twinkle Toes, the music of John Berners shows a fondness for the irreverent and a fascination with American styles from bebop to marching bands, and influences from the baroque era and the theater.

Cellist Hamilton Berry’s eclectic taste has led him to pursue various performing, arranging, and composing projects in the New York area and beyond. A member of PUBLIQuartet, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Toomai String Quintet, Founders, and The Con Brio Ensemble.

Beyond this point is an exploratory collaboration seeking to investigate resonances and intersections across several practices, including theater, movement, media/film, non-traditional musical forms, sculpture, text, and static and performative installations.

Pianist Xak Bjerken studied with Aube Tzerko at the University of California at Los Angeles and received his Master’s and Doctoral degrees from the Peabody Institute as a student of and teaching assistant to Leon Fleisher.

Born and raised in Walla Walla, Jim Bock has been a local radio broadcaster for 30 years. An alumnus of Walla Walla University and San Diego State University he and his wife, Ester, remain involved in many local activities and events.

Isaac Boone wishes he was playing with legos. He also plays soprano saxophone with masso.

masso is a Chicago-based saxophone quartet first formed at Northwestern University in the fall of 2021. While embracing the study and presentation of the classical repertoire, masso is equally committed to the commissioning, performance, and democratization of contemporary classical music.

New York-based Australian classical guitarist Rupert Boyd has been described by The Washington Post as “truly evocative,” by Gramophone as “a very fine musician,” and by Classical Guitar Magazine as “a player who deserves to be heard.”

Called “enchanting” by the Boston Globe, flutist Sarah Brady is sought after across the country as a soloist, chamber musician, and master teacher. An avid promoter of new music, she has premiered and recorded new music from many of today’s top composers.

Violinist Brittany Boulding Breeden, a member of the Seattle Symphony and Seattle Opera Orchestra, has appeared most recently as a soloist with the Olympia Symphony, Northwest Sinfonietta, Auburn Symphony Orchestra, Pacific Northwest Ballet Orchestra, and many more.

At the age of seven, Rodger Burnett got hooked on classical music when his father brought home a recording of Mendelssohn’s Italian Symphony from the local Reno, Nevada grocery store. His father, an amateur violinist, always had classical and big band music on the home stereo.

Tiani Butts is an Ensemble Member of the Ivalas Quartet. Tiani is a passionate solo and chamber musician that strives to use the arts to encourage and inspire young students from all backgrounds.

Shortly after his birth at St. Mary’s hospital, in Walla Walla, Kevin Casseday returned to live with the rest of the Casseday family in nearby Dayton. His early musical influences were his parents, in addition to Norma Evers and Mary Ellen Juris, organists at the First Congregational church in Dayton.

The Cerus Quartet consists of Roberto Campa on soprano saxophone, Laura Ramsay on alto saxophone, Kyle Kato on tenor saxophone and Samuel Dishon.