Jason Charney (CO-FOUNDER) is a composer and performer of music for instruments, voices, and electronics. His compositions are born from direct collaboration with performers, and often includes electronic/acoustic interactions. As an electroacoustic performer, Jason is interested in connecting to audiences through embodied gesture, novel interfaces, and improvisation, using hardware synthesizers and computer code.
https://www.jasoncharney.com
Allison Clendaniel (CO-FOUNDER) is an interdisciplinary artist in Baltimore, MD. Her work encompasses sound, classical & extended vocal technique, performance art, movement, technology, and theatre.
A versatile performer and improviser, Allison has composed and played music for voice, synthesizer, piano, computer, cello, and theremin in both solo and collaborative environments. She has studied voice and movement with legendary performer and composer, Meredith Monk at the House Foundation, clowning with Globus Hystericus, and has toured extensively through North America as a teacher and performing artist.
She tries to build beautiful things around her, crafting songs, making theatre, and working permanently as a solo artist and with her collaborative projects: Nudie Suits, The Flowery, In the Womb of the Everywhere Room, Feral Woman, and Mind On Fire.
https://www.allisonisonline.com
Danah Bella
Mom, Choreographer, dancer, and educator. danah is the Chair of the BFA dance program at Peabody Conservatory & Artistic Director of d a n a h b e l l a DanceWorks.
Rahne Alexander is an intermedia artist and musician based in Baltimore MD. Working in diverse media, including performance, video, collage, painting, and music, her work has been exhibited at Baltimore Museum of Art, Tephra Institute of Contemporary Art, MIX NYC Queer Experimental Film Festival, and more. Rahne is a 2021 graduate of the IMDA MFA program at UMBC.
More info at rahne.com
Katelyn Aungst
Hailed by the Washington Post for her “supple, haunting soprano,” Katelyn G. Aungst performs as a featured soloist and chorister with intelligence, “particular purity of tone” (San Francisco Classical Voice), and grace.
Her choral and chamber experiences boast recording Dame Ethel Smyth's The Prison with the Experiential Orchestra & Chorus (2021 GRAMMY Award for Best Classical Solo Vocal Album), and performances with The Thirteen, Clarion Music Society, and Third Practice.
She has soloed with the American Bach Soloists (St. Matthew Passion), Washington Bach Consort (St. John Passion), the Washington Master Chorale (Out of the Ashes of Holocaust - premiere), and the Peabody Symphony Orchestra (Harmoniemesse, Great Mass in C Minor).
Theatrical highlights include the titular role in Purcell’s Fairy Queen and Norina in Don Pasquale. She currently serves on the artistic committee for Third Practice.
Samuel Burt is a composer, improvisor, electronic musician, and instrument builder in Baltimore, Maryland. Since 2005, he has been a curator of experimental, improvised, and composed music and other eclectic performance practices at the High Zero Festival, Red Room Series, and Worlds in Collusion.
Inspired initially by John Cage, Burt pursues experiences that are unfamiliar, even uncomfortable. He experiments with processes and concepts that might fail, allowing him to discover moments of bewilderment. He has written for chamber ensembles of all sizes, composed songs for the Baltimore Rock Opera Society, and programmed complex routines for generative music. His performance practice includes clarinets, synthesizers, and the daxophone, an instrument he builds and sells. His electronic music projects focus on performer-interactivity, stochastics, and sound design.
Kevin Blackistone is a Baltimore-based digital intermedia artist whose work conceptualizes the collection and handling of data, information and memory through the lenses of hierarchy and complexity in the domains of personal, social, scientific and political dynamics. He is currently persuing a Masters in Interface Cultures at Kunstuniversität Linz.
Kassie Ferrero has been playing the double bass for over 20 years and teaching low strings since 2010. As a performer, she currently holds a section position with the Springfield Symphony Orchestra and regularly performs with the Symphony of Northwest Arkansas, Tulsa Symphony Orchestra, and the Kansas City Symphony. She is also a founding member of Mind on Fire, a contemporary music collective in Baltimore, and loves to explore all types of music on the electric and upright bass. As an educator, Kassie maintains an active private studio in Kansas City and serves as a guest clinician and adjudicator throughout the state of Missouri. She received her BM from the Manhattan School of Music and her MM from the Peabody Conservatory, both with a focus on double bass performance. Kassie is also an alumna of the Brevard Music Center, Chautauqua Institution Music School, and the National Repertory Orchestra.
Zoe Fried is a performer, administrator, and arts advocate with an aim to inspire audiences in unconventional ways. A Native of Miami, Florida, she began her musical studies at the age of 12 and has been an active member in the music community both on the stage and behind the scenes ever since. Zoe is an active member on the Executive committee of the Society of Peabody Alumni and she also serves on the Board of the Occasional Symphony and in Baltimore, an orchestra that creates innovative concert celebrations to engage the Baltimore community and illuminate the unparalleled experience of hearing live music curated for living spaces.
In addition to playing oboe with Mind on Fire, she is also the Secretary for the board and a member of the Marketing Committee. Zoe is currently the Operations Manager with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. Previously she has held positions with cultural organizations such as the Baltimore Choral Arts Society and the New York Philharmonic. She graduated from the Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University with her Masters in Oboe Performance . She additionally holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Music Performance as well as a Teaching Certificate from the Peabody Conservatory. During her time at Peabody, she studied under Jane Marvine, English Horn of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. Outside of music she enjoys painting, yoga, and Cuban food.
Liz Hill
A recognized leader in contemporary music advocacy, pianist Elizabeth G. Hill has performed across the US and Europe in service of her life’s work: joining cultures together through music. Elizabeth is a co-founder of the chamber ensemble Meraki, dedicated to awakening cultural compassion through music. She is also pianist for Balance Campaign, a chamber group whose focus lies exclusively on commissioning and performing works by underrepresented composers. She currently performs in numerous ensembles within the Washington, D.C. area, including the National Philharmonic and the American Pops Orchestra. Also known for her work as a solo performer, educator, and lecturer, Elizabeth is a private piano teacher in the DC metro-area, and serves on the Collaborative Piano Faculty at the Heifetz International Music Institute. She has given numerous lecture recitals and presentations across the United States. Originally raised in Anchorage, Alaska, Elizabeth holds degrees from Mary Baldwin College (B.A.), James Madison University (M.M.), and The Catholic University of America (D.M.A. with a specialization in Chamber Music).
David Crandall (Lighting Design, Infinity Knives Live) has been active as a musician and award-winning designer in the Washington-Baltimore theater scene since the 1980s. Other recent credits include lights for 2021’s High Zero festival, lights and technical direction for Le Mondo’s In Plain Site (Sight) series (2020-21) and sound, original music and video work for Spooky Action Theater’s Impossible Plays virtual performance series (2020-2021).
Ledah Finck is a violinist, violist, improviser, and composer who currently resides in NYC. A passionate creator, performer, and curator of contemporary classical music, she is a member of the contemporary-music string quartet Bergamot Quartet, currently the Graduate String Quartet in Residence at the New School where the group is mentored by the JACK Quartet. Her pursuit of contemporary music is strongly supplemented by performing and collaborating in other genres such as jazz manouche, Appalachian and Celtic folk, and experimental music.She released her first solo album, Mayfly, in 2020 and is at work on her second, to be released in 2021.
Clarinetist Jennifer Hughson is a vibrant musician who has performed throughout the US, Ireland and Italy. She has played with the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra, The American Pops Orchestra, the Mid-Atlantic Symphony Liberty Wind Symphony, and is a member of the Mind on Fire New Music Ensemble. She also teaches a studio privately throughout the Baltimore-DC area whose students have earned awards and honors at the county and state level. Ms. Hughson received her BM from Indiana University and her MM from the Peabody Conservatory studying under Howard Klug and Steven Barta. Ms. Hughson can be found on Instagram and YouTube as CharmCityClarinet!
Orlando Johnson
Feeling what I feel, releasing as therapy. Hopefully others enjoy and appreciate my meditation.
Adam Holofcener, Esq. is a sound artist, composer, performer, attorney, educator, and dad. When not creating interactive electroacoustic sound installations or thrashing about on stage with a stringed instrument, he can be found providing pro bono legal services to artists with Maryland Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts. Adam also teaches a course on Art and Media Law at the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law. He lives in Baltimore City, USA. For more info, please visit www.adamgholofcener.com.
Cellist Peter Kibbe, son of Los Angeles and proud citizen of Baltimore, was raised in a family of musicians and composers, and in addition to having had the pleasure of studying and playing with some of the finest teachers and performers on both coasts of the US, he currently enjoys a career as an orchestral and chamber musician in and around Baltimore. Owing to his start in the west, and the training given him by his teachers Rachael Lonergan, John Walz, and Andrew Cook, Mr. Kibbe has had the privilege of working with several of today's respected performers and conductors, including Michael Tilson Thomas, Kent Nagano, Grant Gershon, Stevie Wonder, Patti LaBelle and John Legend, to name a few. He has performed orchestrally for capacity audiences across the United States and parts of Europe, including acclaimed concerts at Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles and Carnegie Hall in New York. Having completed his studies with premier cellist Alan Stepansky at The Peabody Institute, Peter is currently a member of several ensembles in Baltimore, including The Baltimore Chamber Orchestra, which performs a diverse range of classical and romantic era pieces, and is a founding member of Mind on Fire, an acclaimed chamber group dedicated to new and cutting edge works, involving themselves with commissions, premiers, and challenging and engaging repertoire. He has enjoyed finding himself in many varied and eclectic performance settings during his career, including symphony halls, historic cathedrals, coffee houses, summer festivals, recording studios, night clubs, libraries, grassy fields, cruise ships, kindergartens and amphitheaters, and is always glad to play for open ears. Peter happily plays on a 2004 Cremonese instrument made by Roberto Collini.
Sean McFarland (b. 1991) is a guitarist and composer from Baltimore, MD.
As a guitarist, Sean’s work is exceedingly broad. While his primary focus is on contemporary chamber works, on any given week, Sean can be found performing African Praise and Worship, free improvisation, and an assortment of rock music. This year, Sean released his first solo record for electric guitar, titled 1006 and Resonance.
In his compositions, Sean often creates music relating to the human condition. He has studied under a wide variety of composers including Stuart Saunders Smith, Linda Dusman, Roger Reynolds, Ian Power, and Michael Hersch. In 2019, Sean completed his Master of Music in Music Composition at the Peabody Conservatory, where he won the Gustav Klemm Award for his work. Most recently, he completed Bushwick Sonnet for singer-soloist and vocal ensemble, commissioned by Rhymes with Opera
Trombonist Sarah Manley has been studying and performing in Baltimore for the last seven years. She obtained her Bachelors Degree in Trombone Performance at The Peabody Institute, and her Instrumental Teaching Certification there as well. Sarah has performed with local groups such as The Washington Chamber Orchestra, Sonar Ensemble, Mind On Fire, Bedlam Brass, Londontowne Symphony, Occasional Symphony and more. She performed as a soloist and in an ensemble during the last two Baltimore Symphony New Music Festivals. She is always eager to perform new music and collaborate with local musicians and composers.
Meg Kemp is an artist, musician, and technologist based in Baltimore, Maryland. She is a graduate of the Tyler School of Art at Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. During her time in Philadelphia, she acted as curatorial assitant at the Slought Foundation, a a non-profit organization on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania that engages publics in dialogue about cultural and socio-political change via contemporary art. During this time, she helped to organize shows for Vito Acconci, Werner Herzog, Fred Forest, and many others.
By day, Meg acts as digital marketing strategist and UX architect for an international NGO based in downtown Baltimore. By moonlight, and by the support of Baltimore's ever-expanding DIY art scene, she continues to paint, design and make music.
Dr. Bonnie Lander is an adventurous, virtuosic soprano, composer, and improviser specializing in classical and avant-garde music performance. With a "signature ability to embody a seemingly endless supply of vocal timbres and personalties,” Bonnie is frequently featured in collaborative performance with Rhymes With Opera, The High Zero Foundation, Performing Arts Services NYC, and with Love Love Love.
Ada Pinkston is an artist, educator, and cultural organizer living and working in Baltimore, MD, where she is a lecturer in Art Education at Towson University. Her work explores the intersection of imagined histories and sociopolitical realities on our bodies using performance, digital media, and mixed-media sculptures and installations.
Christina Manceor is a percussionist, educator, and arts administrator with diverse musical interests. As a freelance musician in the Baltimore area, she pursues opportunities for artistic collaboration in a variety of forms, including chamber music, orchestra, and improvisation. An active chamber musician, Christina co-founded the flute and percussion ensemble Duo Sila and is a member of The Kris Johnson Group, a jazz/funk/soul fusionensemble based in Detroit. She has also performed with groups such as arts cooperative Mind on Fire, samba band Bateria Terra Maria, percussion duo Sticks & Steens, and avant-garde music Ensemble 4-33.
http://www.christinamanceor.com/
James Peterson, a Virginia native, grew up just outside Washington DC and was a National Symphony Youth Fellow, where he studied with Paul DeNola. James then received his Bachelors of Music from the Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University where he studied with Ira Gold, also of the NSO. While in Baltimore, James was also the Assistant Conductor for the Chesapeake Youth Orchestras. Recently, James has completed a Performance Diploma in Orchestral Studies at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, where he studied with Kurt Muroki.
CIRCA Director Timothy Nohe is an artist, composer and educator engaging traditional and electronic media in civic life and public places. His work has been focused upon sustainability and place, and musical and video works for dance and live performance.
Nohe has exhibited and performed his work in a range of national and international venues: Rencontres Internationales Paris/Berlin, Louvre Museum, Centre Pompidou; ISEA: Paris and the Baltic Sea; Ars Electronica, Linz; the Danish Institute of Electro-Acoustic Music, Århus; Museu da Imagem e do Som, São Paulo; the Centre for Contemporary Arts, Glasgow; the Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney; the Oxfringe Festival, Oxford; Fed Square, Melbourne; the Baltimore Museum of Art; the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.; The National Aquarium, Baltimore; Eastern State Penitentiary, Philadelphia; and the Museum of Jewish Heritage, New York.
Stephanie Ray is a versatile performer and curator of musical projects in Baltimore City. Since 2010 Stephanie has co-organized the Classical Revolution Baltimore Chapter which has curated over 100 free performances in Baltimore City and collaborated with a diverse range of artists including the Baltimore Boom Bap Society, EMBODY, OrchKids, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Eze Jackson, and the Tuvan throat-singing group, ALASH. As the Artistic Director for Baltimore’s Lunar Ensemble, Stephanie curated the Pitcher-Perfect Happy Hour series, which showcased performances of local composer’s works in varying non-traditional concert formats. Furthering her love and exploration of contemporary music, Stephanie is a founding member of Baltimore’s Mind on Fire and serves as an Artistic Director for the ensemble Pique Collective. In 2016, Stephanie became the Adjunct Professor of Flute at Frostburg University. Stephanie regularly performs with the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra, Maryland Symphony Orchestra, and the Mid-Atlantic Symphony Orchestra. Stephanie received her Bachelor of Music degree at the University of Texas at Austin under the guidance of Marianne Gedigian. She went on to earn her Master of Music degree at The Peabody Conservatory, studying under world-renowned soloist, Marina Piccinini.
Ken Quam is a drummer, percussionist, and composer living in Baltimore, Maryland. He was a founding member of the electronic rock group Ra Ra Rasputin. In 2020, he released "The Whole Earth" by Carillon, a collection of meditative instrumental pieces for synthesizers and percussion. Ken is a graduate of Berklee College of Music.
SHELLY PURDY is a contemporary percussionist and teaching artist from Maryland, where she has for the past decade been committed to presenting new and experimental music. Her sonic explorations tend to favor the mingling of found objects with more traditional instruments and an affinity for chance and silence whenever possible. Purdy’s adventurous nature connects her with exceptional project partners, such as powerhouse Baltimore improvisers’ Tom Goldstein, Paul Neidhart, and Will Redman in their percussion quartet; Umbilicus. She is also a founding member of the science/music ensemble The Inverse Square Trio with boisterous edu-tainer Bill Louden where they demonstrate acoustic properties and aural illusions through the works of Alvin Lucier, Steve Reich, Diana Deutsch, Richard Feynman and others.Both groups inspire sonic discovery by commissioning new works, often composing for ourselves, and genuinely ‘experimenting’ in the processes and phenomenon of perpetuating sound. Purdy also has been studying Javanese & Balinese Gamelan under the tutelage of Prof Gina Beck and has been a member of The High Zero Foundation and Red Room Collective since 2016. Check out her forthcoming release of the duo tape “Six Improvisations for Two Vibraphones” with Will Redman on 20/20 Records.
https://soundcloud.com/shelly-purdy-1
http://www.inversesquaretrio.com/
https://2020records.bandcamp.com/
Lisa Perry is a contemporary chamber music specialist hailing from Baltimore, Maryland. She is a founding member of the Pique Collective and REXDuo, a contemporary voice duo with fellow soprano Danielle Buonaiuto. She has held fellowships with Bang on a Can “Banglewood” (2016), Opera from Scratch (2015-16), SongFest (2014), and the Thompson Street Opera Company (2014). Recent guest artist performances include Bowling Green State University (2016), SALT New Music Festival (2015), Parma Festival (2015), and SUNY Fredonia (2013). Recent solo performances of note include Gyorgi Ligeti’s “Mysteries of the Macabre” with the SUNY Stony Brook Contemporary Chamber Players in Stony Brook, NY, and “NO one To kNOW one” by Andy Akiho, performed with the Atlantic Reed Consort at the National Gallery of Art and Carnegie Hall.
For upcoming engagements, visit lisaperrysoprano.com.
Emily Riehl is an Associate Professor of Mathematics at Johns Hopkins University and the former bassist of Unstraight, a Boston-based band. She met wife while playing in the rhythm section accompanying Ami Dang on a tour promoting her Uni Sun album. She plays viola (and on one occasion violin) for Mind on Fire, which she was introduced to thanks to a Suzuki method program in the Wayzata Public Schools.
Peter Redgrave is a cultural worker. Peter aspires to be the fool, the clown, the bumbler riddling at the feet of authority. He facilitates experiences for people using performance, recordings, and text-based pieces that refract our complicated contaminated world. May we find wonder and humor in the patterns that appear.
Tariq Ravelomanana
A friend, A foe, A fool.
Unrelenting lover,
Passionate warrior
David Sexton is an audio engineer and performer currently based in Boston, MA. He is from the Rio Grande Valley (TX) and studied in the renowned Recording Arts & Sciences and Voice programs at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, MD.
As an engineer, David has worked in studio recording, live concert recording, live sound reinforcement, and film post-production. In 2021, he returned to the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s summer home, the Tanglewood Music Center, as an Associate Audio Engineer where he has worked under Grammy winning and nominated producers Tim Martyn, Nick Squire, Carl Talbot, and Antonio Oliart Ros. In Spring 2020, he launched An die Musik Live!’s livestream series, working with some of Baltimore’s leading jazz and classical artists.
An avid performer, David has appeared as a soloist with the Peabody Symphony Orchestra under Edward Polochick. He has also performed roles for Peabody Opera Theatre and Opera Alchemy as well as appeared in choruses for the Baltimore Lyric Opera and Baltimore Concert Opera. David is one of the staff singers at the historic Trinity Church in Boston, MA. In May 2019, David was awarded a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance, studying under Dr. Steven Rainbolt.
Horn player Kelsey Ross is a performer and educator currently based in Florida as fourth horn of the Sarasota Orchestra. Originally from Central Pennsylvania, Kelsey earned both her Master of Music and Bachelor of Music degrees from the Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore as a student of Denise Tryon. An advocate for using music to effect social change, Kelsey has worked with the Baltimore Symphony’s OrchKids program and held teaching positions with the Peabody Preparatory and Baltimore School for the Arts.
Kelsey has spent summers at the Aspen Music Festival and Domaine Forget and made her Carnegie Hall debut performing with the New York String Orchestra under conductor Jaime Laredo. She has performed with ensembles such as The Florida Orchestra, Mid-Atlantic Symphony, and Washington Chamber Orchestra.
Born into a musical family in Baltimore, Anthony C. Shields started playing the Violin at the age of eight. Throughout the early years of developing his craft, he began studying with a number of noted teachers in Maryland such as Rhadi Santos, Linda Molina, and Matthew Horowitz-Lee at the Peabody Conservatory. Anthony Shields went on to receive his Bachelors in Music Performance at the Shenandoah Conservatory where he studied with Akemi Takayama, Concertmaster of the Roanoke Symphony, and Oleg Rylatko, Concertmaster of the Washington Opera.
After graduating from the Shenandoah Conservatory in 2014, Anthony went on to serve as a Section Violinist for the National String Symphonia, a fully professional symphonic string orchestra under the baton of David A. Fanning. He would later perform along with the Mid-Atlantic Symphony in 2015 as a Section Violinist under the baton of Maestro Julien Benichou.
Will Ryerson writes, composes, records and performs music of all kinds and lives in Baltimore, MD. His current projects include ambient instrumentals and multi-genre explorations (Giant Wave), original music for children (Mr. Will and Friends) and playing bass and singing in the band Chiffon. Recent collaborations include recordings with Chiffon and performances with Infinity Knives Orchestra and Mind on Fire. He was the guitarist and primary singer and songwriter in the indie-pop band Other Colors, which was active from 2011-2017. Also in the recent past, he performed in and toured nationally with Outer Spaces, Small Sur, and Flock of Dimes, among other bands.
Rae Red (they/them) is a multimedia performer currently residing in Baltimore, Maryland. Rae recently debuted their play, Red is Real (Red Ballad) at Towson University. They have performed all over the continental US and their work has been featured at various film and stage festivals. They were a Performance Fellow at Elsewhere Museum, where they installed two permanent installations Red Zone and STUFFED A Puppet Porno. Rae has been an AIR at Art Farm Nebraska, and MacDowell Colony, is a recipient of a Kaplan Foundation Research grant, a Maryland State Arts Council grant, and MICA Faculty grant. Rae is working on a new performance, I am Ghost and So Are You, a multimedia play examining personal and inherited trauma. It examines secret, ignored and partially imagined queer history through a playful adaptation of Spiritualist ideas of the 1840s.
No stranger to low notes, bassoonist/contrabassoonist Jaquain Sloan enjoys making the ground rumble when in performance. He has performed with a number of orchestras including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, 2018 Video Game Award Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Southwest Symphony, Debut Symphony, and the American Youth Symphony. He can be heard playing with orchestras on Naxos under the batons of Marin Alsop and Carl St. Clair.
Sloan is currently the African American Orchestra Fellow with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and Instructor of bassoon at Oakland University in Rochester, MI. He holds a bachelor’s degree from The Peabody Institute, and a master’s and graduate certificate from the University of Southern California. When his instrument is not in hand, Jaquain can be found singing with various choral ensembles. He can be heard raising a voice for social justice through music with “Tonality” an ensemble based in Los Angeles, the L.A Choral Lab, and “Laude” at the first Congregational church of Los Angeles.
Instagram: @bassoontoons
Erin Snedecor is a cellist based in the DC area who specializes in contemporary chamber music, improvisation, songwriting, and collaborative art. Her interdisciplinary work has lead her to create many of her own ensembles, where in addition to performing she acts as co-founder, composer, songwriter, arranger, manager, and beyond.
Erin is a founding member, cellist, and music director of Balance Campaign, a contemporary sextet dedicated to the commission and performance of new works. She also performs with earspace, a North Carolina-based contemporary ensemble that curates multi-sensory programs in unexpected venues.
In addition to her classical projects, Erin is known for her ability to perform with a multitude of musicians and artists. In 2009, Erin joined forces with Annapolis indie rock band Pompeii Graffiti, appearing on 3 studio albums and performing in local and touring performances. She is also half of the indie/folk duo Black Rhinoceros, and a writer and performer of classical electronica quartet DoubleSpeak. Most recently, Erin released an album of original music under her solo moniker, Zooxanthellae, available on Off Latch Press.
Sam Torres (he/him) is a musician and audio engineer based in Troy, NY. He is also a founding director of Organ Colossal, a nonprofit presenting music in the New York Capital Region. He grew up in the Bronx listening to and playing salsa, jazz, and Bach, and then received degrees in jazz performance and computer music composition. All of these musical interests continue to live and evolve through his own work, which is itself striving to be as honest and simple as possible. His debut full length album of music for saxophone and live electronics will be released sometime in the next several years.
Learn more at samtorresmusic.com.
Cricket Arrison is a performer, writer, and producer. Her work explores the funny joke of having a body as a permanent home. Her work has appeared on Adult Swim and IFC.
Based in Troy, NY, musician Sophia Subbayya Vastek defies easy categorization. Moving between musical worlds, she has been described as “a wonder” and “audacious” (Inactuelles), and as performing with "passion and profound tenderness” (Second Inversion) and “serene strokes and lyrical beauty” (Brooklyn Rail). With the piano as her foundation, Sophia’s music-making and composing draws on her classical training to create what she calls “music for softies". Her first full-length album Histories was released on innova Recordings in 2017, produced by multiple Grammy-winning engineer Adam Abeshouse. She has since released the EP Lili, as well as several recordings spanning genres in collaboration with her partner Sam Torres. She is a co-founder of Organ Colossal, a nonprofit that produces and curates public, musical events with the aim of building a community for musicians and listeners in the New York Capital Region that is rooted in empathy, creative honesty, and vulnerability. Sophia has performed internationally across three continents, as well as extensively in the northeastern United States.
Joelle Arnhold has appeared as a featured young artist at the Kennedy Center, Amelia Island Chamber Music Festival, the Rome Chamber Music Festival, and frequently at the American Viola Society festival. She teaches viola at the Community College of Baltimore County and the Bryn Mawr School, and teaches violin, viola, chamber music, and music theory at the Levine Music School, where she also directs the Silver Spring String Orchestras. Along with her brother, developer Garrett Arnhold, Dr. Arnhold is co-creator of Cyborg Llama, a music ensemble app designed to help young musicians approach in-person rehearsals with confidence and excel in their ensembles. She loves playing with Mind on Fire every chance she gets.