Artists

Born in Long Beach CA, Mark Edwards Wilson is a composer of remarkable artistic range and diversity. His earliest influence was undoubtedly his mother, Rosalie Brashears Wilson, a talented pianist, who, as a teenager, was among the last generation to work as an organist for silent film theaters in the Los Angeles area. In a recent interview, Wilson commented on his earliest memories of her playing. “I can remember her thundering away at the family piano. Given a melody, she could improvise on the spot, filling the house with cascades of show arpeggios and runs.” Wilson began his musical training in earnest with violin studies starting at the age of six and he played in various chamber music groups and orchestras throughout his youth and early twenties.

Mark Winges was born in Louisville, Kentucky, and currently resides in San Francisco, where he has been resident composer/advisor for the chamber choir Volti since 1990. He was also composer-in-residence for the San Francisco Choral Artists in the 2012–13 season. He is a graduate of both the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and San Francisco State University, and has studied at the Musikhögskolan in Stockholm, Sweden, with composer Arne Mellnäs.

Betty R. Wishart and music are synonymous. Her earliest memories involve singing in church choirs and playing the piano. She was introduced to contemporary music while studying with Richard Bunger at Queens University. At the end of her junior year, she wrote her first composition, submitted it to a music fraternity and was invited to perform a mini-recital of her music at their international conference. That event inspired her to continue composing while earning an M.M. degree in piano performance at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. While pursuing further study in piano and composition in New York City, she accepted and won a challenge from a writer to see who could get published first.

Michael Wittgraff (b. 1962) is an electronic music composer whose recent work explores live manipulation of feedback, interactive improvisation, and time as data. His music has been performed in North America, Europe, Asia, South America, and Australia, and appears on the Eroica, New Ariel Recordings, and SEAMUS labels. He has awards, commissions, and recognition from ASCAP, Modern Chamber Players, National Symphony Orchestra, Tempus Fugit, Louisiana State University, University of Minnesota, University of North Dakota, Florida State University, PiKappa Lambda, Zeitgeist, Chiara String Quartet, Bush Foundation, North Dakota Council on the Arts, and more.

Dr. James Zingara has performed throughout the United States as well as England, Germany, the Czech Republic, Denmark, China, and Singapore. Currently he serves as Assistant Professor of Trumpet at the University of Alabama at Birmingham where his responsibilities include applied trumpet and brass methods, coaching and conducting brass ensembles, performing with the UAB Faculty Brass Quintet and UAB Chamber Trio, and coordinating the annual Brass Symposium. Former positions include Associate Professor of Trumpet at Troy University, and principal cornet/trumpet soloist with the US Air Force Heritage of America Band. He has held positions with the Northwest Florida Symphony, National Symphonic Winds, Sinfonia da Camera, Illinois Symphony, Virginia Symphony, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, Pensacola Symphony, and the Cheyenne Symphony. He has recorded on the Telarc, Zephyr, Capstone, and Mark labels, including performing on a Grammy® Award-winning album in 1994.

The music of Mexican-born composer Ricardo Zohn-Muldoon is characterized by its detailed sculpting of musical ideas and "kaleidoscopic" contrapuntal design. Mexican literature has provided the point of departure for many of his compositions, such as Pluck. Pound. Peel., on aphorisms by Raul Aceves, the miniature opera NinoPolilla, on a libretto by Juan Trigos Sr., and the scenic cantata Comala, based on the novel Pedro Paramo, by the noted Mexican writer Juan Rulfo. Comala was selected as a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 2011. Other professional honors include the 2011 Lillian Fairchild Award and fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, Camargo Foundation, and Mexico's Sistema Nacional de Creadores de Artes. Ricardo Zohn-Muldoon joined the composition faculty of the Eastman School in 2002.