Performers

Known for being "...deeply connected to the moment of creation both with their own instruments and each other," (The Minnedosa Tribune) COULOIR is bringing transcendent Art Music into the 21st Century. With a palpable chemistry in their music making, they share their passion for creating fresh music with contemporary composers using the exquisite sound world of cello and harp. "...the body language of (cellist, Ariel) Barnes and harpist Heidi Krutzen drew the assemblage into their shared artistic vision so convincingly, (with) many welcome moments of emotional/intellectual bliss." JWR

Richard Crosby was born in Ashland, Ohio and raised in Largo, Florida. He holds the Bachelor of Music degree in Music Education, the Master of Music in Piano and I, Wind Conducting, and the Doctor of Musical Arts in Piano from the University of Cincinnati College­Conservatory of Music. His principal piano teachers at CCM were John Meretta and Richard Morris, and his conducting training was with Glenn Richter, John Leman and Terry Milligan. For five years Dr. Crosby held a graduate assistantship at CCM and taught class piano under the guidance of the nation­ally renowned pedagogue Dr. Cleveland Page, and from 1981-1986 he maintained a private studio in the Conservatory's Preparatory Department. Awards include the Cincinnati Clef Music Club Award in 1978, and Dr. Crosby was the winner of the Ohio Music Teachers Association Collegiate Piano Competition in 1984. 

The 2022 winner of Music NB’s “Innovator of the Year” award, Martin Daigle is an interdisciplinary performer, composer, researcher, and producer from New Brunswick, Canada. Flourishing from creative foundations as a drummer and percussionist, his diverse work as a performer, composer, and researcher pushes the boundaries between audio-visual and electro-acoustic art. Daigle’s innovative approach to percussion music utilizes electronic devices; notably, ongoing research in the development of an “augmented drum kit,” which combines acoustic drum sounds, digital samples, and visual manipulations for a truly unique result.

Jessica Dodge-Overstreet is a classical saxophonist and music theorist from Nevada. She has performed as a soloist across the United States as well as internationally in Canada, France, and Russia. Dodge passionately performs both works by living composers and transcriptions of works from before the saxophone was a standard solo voice. She has had a part in commissioning or premiering works by David Biedenbender, Viet Cuong, Mark Ford, Jenni Watson, and many others.

Formed in 2014, DRAX is a faculty ensemble-in-residence at the University of Missouri School of Music with Leo Saguiguit (saxophone) and Megan Arns (percussion). Dedicated to performing and creating new repertoire for this unique combination of instruments, the duo made its international debut at the World Saxophone Congress in Strasbourg, France. DRAX has performed at the Mizzou International Composers Festival, the Percussive Arts Society International Convention, conferences of the North American Saxophone Alliance, Odyssey Chamber Music Series of Columbia, Mareck Center for Dance, and residencies at universities including Virginia Tech University, Sam Houston State University, Colorado State University, and the Eastman School of Music.

Aidan Andrew Dun spent a fantastical childhood in the West Indies and knew his calling for poetry from an early age. Returning to London as a teenager to live with his inspirational grandmother, dancer Marie Rambert, founder of the Ballet Rambert, he briefly attended Highgate School but left without academic qualifications after taking (perhaps too seriously) the role of the rebel-chieftan Aufidius in Coriolanus. After three years travelling the world with a guitar AAD was drawn back to London to explore the psychogeography of Kings Cross, magnet to other visionaries before him. Vale Royal, gestated over twenty-three years, dreams of transforming an urban wasteland into a transcultural zone of canals at the heart of London. When Goldmark published the epic poem in 1995, Allen Ginsberg flew in from New York to perform - with Paul McCartney - at the launch of Vale Royal at the Royal Albert Hall (in a reprise of the Wholly Communion event of thirty years earlier).

Tower Duo is a flute and saxophone ensemble based in Columbus, Ohio that specializes in creating engaging musical experiences with a particular interest in performing and premiering contemporary works by living composers. Tower Duo, whose members are flutist, Erin Helgeson Torres and saxophonist, Michael Rene Torres, has been performing together since 2007 and gave its inaugural recital at the Brevard Music Center Festival and Institute in North Carolina. The duo has since performed all across the United States at universities, conferences, and festivals. Highlights include the Omaha Chamber Music Society’s Eko Nova series, the Cleveland Uncommon Sound Project’s Re:Sound New Music Festival, and multiple North American Saxophone Alliance Biennial conferences. Tower Duo recently recorded their debut album, Crosswind, which features the duo’s favorite collaborations with composers from the first decade of their artistic work. Crosswind was released under the PARMA Recordings label in January of 2019.

Canadian musicians Allen Harrington, saxophone and Laura Loewen, piano, established the Harrington/Loewen Duo in 2002. Praised for their musicality, tight ensemble, and virtuosic performances, the Harrington/Loewen Duo has performed throughout North America, and in Europe, Asia, and South America. Recipients of grants from the Canada Council for the Arts and the Manitoba Arts Council, they are committed to exploring the standard repertoire and actively commissioning new works. Allen is in high demand as a soloist, adjudicator, chamber and orchestra musician on both saxophone and bassoon.

The McCormick Duo is a classical duo of flute and percussion music consisting of flutist Kim McCormick and percussionist Robert McCormick. They have worked together for nearly 25 years performing concerts on recital series university venues and scholarly music conferences.

Praised by The Strad magazine for their "wit and imagination", the trailblazing Patterson/Sutton cello and guitar duo continue to be in demand as they bring the rich cello and guitar repertoire to audiences around the world. The Patterson/Sutton duo were featured artists at the 2016 Guitar Foundation of America Convention and have an ongoing relationship with The Juilliard School as Juilliard Global Visiting Artists. The duo have been featured on Performance Today/American Public Media, Radio New Zealand, Fine Music Radio South Africa, among many others.

Robert Dusek received his academic training at the Eastman School of Music, Southern Methodist University, and the University of Colorado – Boulder, where he received his Doctor of Musical Arts degree in 1990. He is the recipient of numerous awards and honors in the field of composition, including Columbia University's Bearns Prize, the ASCAP Raymond-Hubbard Award, an A.H.A.B – Neodata Fellowship for his Symphony No. 1, and several national and local awards and grants. His music has been performed worldwide and recorded by such groups as North-South Consonance and the Warsaw Philharmonic. Dusek is the Founder/Director of DaCapo LLC, an organization devoted to the pursuit and development of artistic and compositional endeavors.

The Sonic Arts Ensemble, founded by Marc Ainger and Ann Stimson (with Federico Cámara Halac as occasional co-director for this recording), is interested in sound and music as a multi-modal, embodied phenomenon. Their repertoire ranges from composed, notated scores to freely-structured co-improvisations. During the pandemic, the ensemble became a truly international group, leveraging the online environment to contribute to the emergent medium of networked performance, with members and guests joining together from the United States, Argentina, and Austria. Using software such as Jacktrip (Chris Chafe et al), and the elegantly titled Netty McNetFace (Puckette), the ensemble created audio networks using low-latency, high quality, uncompressed audio, facilitating real-time collaboration over “a long, thin wire” (hat tip to composer Alvin Lucier). The tracks here represent the ensemble’s live performances across the internet during this time.

On the verge of composed and improvised music, Whim Ensemble (Ofer Pelz, prepared piano, Preston Beebe, percussion and since 2021 Stéphane Diamantakiou, double bass) creates percussive landscapes by inventing instrument modifications and techniques to build an unusually rich sound world since 2015. They place found objects on their instruments to explore complex timbres, textures, and harmonies. Inspired by electroacoustic music, they generate sound through motion to create musical gestures which resonate to sound as one.

The Boston University Wind Ensemble is the premiere wind band of the Boston University School of Music. Under the baton of Professor David J. Martins, the Wind Ensemble is designed to prepare wind, brass, and percussion players for the professional world, and provide future teachers with concepts related to the study of band repertoire. The ensemble, made up of undergraduate and graduate level music majors, has participated in collaborations with composers and other universities, resulting in several world premieres.

Reigakusha was established in 1985 as an ensemble of professional gagaku instrumentalists dedicated to the study and performance of the classical gagaku repertoire and the creation of new music for ancient instruments. Led by the distinguished musician and composer Sukeyasu Shiba–a specialist in music for the ryuteki flute and biwa, and a former member of the Music Department of the Imperial Household Agency–Reigakusha has around thirty members.

Hailed by the Columbia Daily Tribune as adding a “fresh dimension” to the concert experience, Khemia Ensemble is dedicated to reflecting broader perspectives in contemporary classical chamber music. With its dynamic instrumentation (soprano, flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano, two percussion), Khemia’s unique sound world encompasses the presentation of new classical music with a mix of acoustic chamber works, multimedia, and multi-genre influences.

A long-time advocate of new music, F. Gerard Errante has enjoyed a performance and recording career spanning decades.  A native New Yorker (Brooklyn), he began his music career like so many do – in a public school music program.  His love for music and his aptitude for woodwinds drove his pursuit of music all the way to college.  Most of his family had advanced careers in medicine; Gerry’s calling was music.  He became a dedicated student and scholar of music first at Queens College (BA), then at Wisconsin, (MA).  He did his doctoral work at the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor), and completed his DMA there in 1970.

The Canadian-American duo of flutist Zara Lawler and marimbist Paul J. Fadoul, hailed as “a great treat” (Classical WETA, Washington DC), offers audiences an unexpected mélange of classical virtuosity, lively commentary, theatrical flair, and a dose of indie rock sensibility. The duo’s repertoire ranges from delightful arrangements of classics to newly written pieces for their unusual instrumentation. Their debut album, Prelude Cocktail, was called “collaborative artistry at its finest” by I Care If You Listen. Recent highlights include a residency in Western Massachusetts as part of Chamber Music America’s Residency Partnership Program, tours of West Virginia, Michigan, and Ohio, and a New York appearance at Mannes School of Music’s Glassbox Performance Space. In 2016, Lawler + Fadoul incubated and premiered their theatrical concert, Clickable: The Art of Persuasion, at the cell theatre in New York City. Clickable has been performed across the United States.

With a charismatic blend of technical flair, polish, and grace, Portuguese-Canadian clarinetist Wesley Ferreira is widely considered a gifted expressionist. Equally at ease performing masterworks and contemporary repertoire, he has been praised by critics for his “beautiful tone” and “technical prowess” (The Clarinet Journal) as well as his “remarkable sensitivity” (CAML Review), and Fanfare Magazine notes that he is “clearly a major talent.”

Avner Finberg is an Israeli-American composer and violinist. He studied composition with Ari Ben-Shabtai at The Jerusalem Academy of Music, with Robert Cuckson at The Mannes College, and with Susan Botti at Manhattan School of Music, where he earned a doctorate dfasin composition in 2015.

Finberg’s music has been described by Steven Stucky as “reined, mature work of impeccable technique, original voice, and considerable ambition.” His musical inspirations stem from his Israeli roots and his current life in the United States, combining without discrimination multiple world music traditions with contemporary and classical music techniques and modern technology.