Chicago area composer James Stephenson’s works have been performed by leading American orchestras and around the world, and have been hailed by critics as having “straightforward, unabashedly beautiful sounds” and “Stephenson deserves to be heard again and again!” (Boston Herald). His music incorporates a fresh and energizing sound scape that engages the audience while maintaining integrity and worthwhile challenges for the performing musicians. This rare combination has rewarded Stephenson with a host of ongoing commissions and projects.

A New York City native and Eastman School of Music graduate, Curtis Stewart has performed as a soloist with the National Repertory Orchestra at Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall. He has made chamber music appearances at Zankel Hall and the Rochester International Jazz Festival, holding his audiences “spellbound” with his “warm, clear sound…sparkling rhythmic energy” and “prodigious technique” (New Amsterdam Times, SoundWordSight).

Winner of "Ettore Pozzoli" International Piano Competition in Italy, pianist Anna Stoytcheva is described this way: “Stoytcheva’s tonal palette was a whirl of fabulous colors. Her agility was stunning at lighting speed” (Coral Gables Gazette). Currently Ms. Stoytcheva is the Co-Chair of Executive Board of “Bulgarian Concert Evenings in New York” series, held at the Bulgarian Consulate and at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall. She is also the pianist of American Chamber Players five-member ensemble, which performs extensively throughout the United States.

Taimur Sullivan enjoys a prolific career as a soloist, chamber musician, and educator. His performances have taken him from the stages of Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center to engagements in Russia, Germany, and throughout Latin America.

The New York Times praised him as “outstanding… his melodies phrased as if this were an old and cherished classic, his virtuosity supreme.”

Mezzo-soprano Elisa Sutherland gives detailed, stylistic performances of early and new music with “soul-infused expressiveness and unselfconscious joie de vivre” (New York Music Daily).

Ellie is a core member of Ekmeles, a sextet dedicated to exploring microtonal tuning and extended vocal techniques, and Alkemie, an ensemble made up of medieval specialists that celebrates the vibrant and timeless sounds of the past and present.

Equal parts passion, grit, and musical ecstasy, Sybarite5 is an intoxicating cocktail of genre-breaking artistry, expressed through the virtuosity of violinists Sami Merdinian & Suliman Tekalli, violist Caeli Smith, cellist Laura Andrade, and double bassist Louis Levitt. It’s the first ensemble of its kind to win the prestigious Concert Artists Guild competition, and the group continually evolves, defying categorization and keeping audiences on their toes.

Violinist Suliman Tekalli has established his unique voice as an exciting and versatile soloist and chamber musician. As the top prize winner of the 2015 Seoul International Music Competition and prize winner in the Sendai, Lipizer, and Szeryng International Violin Competition, he has performed as a soloist with orchestras throughout the U.S., Canada, Mexico, South America, Europe, and Asia.

Third Coast Percussion is a GRAMMY® Award-winning Chicago-based percussion quartet and GRAMMY®-nominated composer collective. For over fifteen years, the ensemble has created exciting and unexpected performances that constantly redefine the classical music experience.

Marcus Thompson, violist, has appeared as soloist, recitalist, and in chamber music series throughout the Americas, Europe and the Far East. He has been a soloist with the orchestras of Atlanta, Chicago, Cleveland, Saint Louis; The National Symphony, the Boston Pops and the Czech National Symphony in Prague. He performed the west-coast premiere of the Harbison Viola Concerto with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra; the Chicago premiere with the Chicago Sinfonietta, and the Boston premiere with the New England Conservatory Honors Orchestra.

Hailed by The Mercury News (San Jose, CA) as "a pianist with insight and passion, practically vanishing into the notes…" Jingwen Tu has forged a chamber and solo career throughout North America and Europe. Recent performances have taken her to such venues as Alice Tully Hall, the Rose Studio at Lincoln Center, The DiMennaCenter, The Morgan Library and Museum, the Banff Center, and Matav Music Hall in Budapest, among many others.

Its name derived from creation mythology found in Native American Folklore, the Turtle Island Quartet, since its inception in 1985, has been a singular force in the creation of bold, new trends in chamber music for strings. Winner of the 2006 and most recently, the 2008 Grammy Award for Best Classical Crossover Album, Turtle Island fuses the classical quartet esthetic with contemporary American musical styles, and by devising a performance practice that honors both, the state of the art has inevitably been redefined.

British-born cellist Sally Singer Tuttle, noted by The Strad Magazine for her “transforming sweep of gossamer beauty,” has performed as a soloist with the Pleven Philharmonic, Bulgaria, the Stony Brook Symphony Orchestra, New York, the Danbury Symphony, Connecticut, the Washington-Idaho Symphony Orchestra, Wenatchee Valley Symphony Orchestra, Walla Walla Symphony Orchestra and the St. Petersburg Chamber Philharmonic, Russia, amongst others.

Committed to both contemporary and standard repertoire, Cristina Valdes is known for presenting innovative concerts with repertoire ranging from Bach to Xenakis. She has performed across four continents and in a multitude of venues including Lincoln Center, Carnegie Recital Hall, and the Kennedy Center.

Rooted in the Pacific Northwest, Kristin Vining grew up in Olympia, Washington. After graduating from North Thurston High School in Tacoma, she moved to Walla Walla, attended Walla Walla University and Whitman College, graduating from Whitman in 1998.

Kristin teaches music at all three of Walla Walla's colleges.

The four members of Vital Quartet, violist William Frampton, cellist Alberto Parrini, and violinists Philip Payton and Orlando Wells, perform with a multitude of arts organizations in New York City and indeed around the world.

Hailed by Gramophone magazine for its "warmly considered playing" and "shadings of exquisite sheen and vibrancy," the Volta Piano Trio, formerly known as the Icicle Creek Piano Trio, has established itself as one of the Pacific Northwest's premier chamber ensembles. The members of the Volta Piano Trio originate from the United States, United Kingdom, and Russia. Together or as individuals, Jennifer Caine Provine, Sally Singer, and Oxana Ejokina have performed in venues such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Alice Tully Hall, the Phillips Collection, and the Royal Albert Hall, and have toured in Austria, Germany, France, Italy, and the U.K.

In addition to being the cellist of the Blair String Quartet, Felix Wang is a founding member of the Blakemore Trio and co-principal cellist of the IRIS Orchestra under the direction of Michael Stern. He has performed throughout the United States and Canada as a chamber musician, soloist, and in recital, receiving critical acclaim for, “beautifully wrought,” “dazzling,” and “soulful” performances.

Violinist Arianna Warsaw-Fan has established herself as one of the leading violinists of her generation. She has appeared as soloist with numerous orchestras, including the Juilliard Orchestra, the McGill Chamber Orchestra and the Orchestre Symphonique de Laval. She has performed at the Ravinia, Verbier, La Jolla Summerfest, Music@Menlo, and Aspen Music Festivals, and in New York's Carnegie and Alice Tully Halls, Montreal's Salle Bourgie and Maison Symphonique, Berlin's Philharmonie, and Tokyo's Suntory Hall.

American cellist Meta Weiss (pronounced MAY-ta) made her international debut at the age of seven in Utrecht, Holland, and has established herself as one of the leading cellists of her generation.

Mr. Wells attended the State University of New York at Purchase as a double major on violin and viola where his primary teachers were Yuval Waldman, and Emmanuel Vardi. He continued his studies at the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers in New Jersey in the studio of Michael Tree.