Performers

Jeff Siegfried is an artist who takes joy in the wild diversity of the saxophone’s flexible voice. From classical to jazz to klezmer to free improvisation, there are few styles or settings where he doesn’t feel comfortable. He combines a “rich, vibrant tone” (South Florida Classical Review) with “beautiful and delicate playing” (Michael Tilson Thomas) to deliver “showstopper performances” (Peninsula Reviews).

Fared Shafinury is an internationally acclaimed artist, Persian setârist, composer, vocalist, activist, and educator. Beyond the singer songwriter, he is a disciple of the many prominent masters of Radif, setâr, and âvâz (Lotfi, Shâri, Zolghadr, and Mozafari). Shafinury has dedicated his life to both the preservation and evolution of classical Persian music.

Stephen Ruppenthal San Francisco Bay Area Composer/performer Stephen Ruppenthal is co-Principal trumpet and Contemporary Music Advisor for Redwood Symphony. He studied trumpet with Chris Bogios of the San Francisco Symphony and Opera. Ruppenthal holds a Performance Degree and a Master of Arts Degree in Contemporary Musicology from San Jose State University, studying composition and electro-acoustics with Allen Strange and ethnomusicology with Lou Harrison.

David Rosenboom is a post-genre composer-performer, interdisciplinary artist, author, and educator known as a pioneer in American experimental music. Since the 1960s, his multi-disciplinary work has traversed ideas about spontaneously evolving musical forms, languages for improvisation, new techniques in scoring, cross-cultural and large-form collaborations, performance art and literature, interactive multimedia and new instrument technologies, generative algorithmic systems, art-science research and philosophy, and extended musical interface with the human nervous system. He was Dean of The Herb Alpert School of Music at California Institute of the Arts from 1990 through 2020, where he now holds the Roy E. Disney Family Chair in Musical Composition.

One of the most decorated saxophonists of her generation, Nicki Roman has won prizes at prestigious competitions such as the North American Saxophone Alliance (NASA) Solo Competition, Music Teachers National Association Young Artist Solo Competition, William C. Byrd International Competition, Fischoff, and the Kate Neal Kinley Memorial Fellowship. She has been a featured concerto soloist with the Eastman Symphony Orchestra, Eastman Wind Ensemble, UW-Milwaukee Wind Ensemble, Illinois Wind Symphony, University of North Florida Orchestra, and the Northwest Florida Symphony Orchestra. Across North America, Europe, and Asia, Nicki has shared solo and chamber music performances at venues such as the China National Centre for the Performing Arts, Shandong University of the Arts, Zagreb Academy of Music, Krannert Center for Performing Arts, Rio All-Suite Casino in Las Vegas, Brevard Summer Music Festival, and the Zelazo Performing Arts Center.

Karolina Rojahn is a Los Angeles based pianist who has dedicated the last decade of her career to premiering and recording contemporary music repertoire. She has premiered over a hundred new works and collaborated with various classical music labels, most notably Naxos, having released over 43 recordings of chamber and solo piano music, including 5 piano concertos written specifically for her.

Holly Roadfeldt is a versatile performer whose concerts regularly mix newly composed music with established masterpieces. Equally adept at both languages, Roadfeldt’s mission is to inspire and advocate for piano music of the highest caliber. Her most recent project celebrates the piano prelude. The goal for this endeavor is to commission new preludes to be performed alongside works from the standard repertoire. As part of her Preludes Project, new preludes were premiered by Roadfeldt at Oklahoma State University, Wichita State University; the Peabody Institute; University of Nebraska-Kearney; Mars Hill University; Western Carolina University; Carson-Newman University; the College of Southern Maryland; Westminster College; the University at Albany; and Manchester University.

Alan Rinehart has over 45 years experience as a professional classical guitarist with many contributions to the guitar world as a performer, teacher, and music editor. Upon completing university he studied lute repertoire and technique in London, England at the Early Music Centre.

Lucie Rejchrtová is a pianist and keyboard player from Prague. Classically trained and influenced by her minister-father's love of jazz and gospel music, she enjoys playing different styles including jazz, blues, rock, ambient/electronic and her own compositions. She has gigged and recorded with a number of Czech and UK bands and musicians, e.g. Joe Carnation Band and The Crazy World of Arthur Brown.

Sarah Belle Reid is a performer-composer who plays trumpet, modular synthesizer, and an ever-growing collection of handcrafted electroacoustic instruments. Her unique musical voice explores the intersections between contemporary classical music, experimental and interactive electronics, sound installation, visual arts, noise music, and improvisation. Often praised for her ability to transport audience members through vivid sonic adventures, Reid’s sonic palette has been described as ranging from “graceful” and “danceable” all the way to “silk-falling-through-space,” and “pit-full-of-centipedes” (San Francisco Classical Voice).

audiences across the United States, they have quickly become known as one of today’s most exciting wind quintets. Exploring the fringes of the quintet repertoire ­— new music, forgotten gems, original arrangements and music for children — Madera also engages audiences with the classic repertoire and beauty of the wind quintet sound.

Internationally acclaimed veterans of contemporary music, Sirius Quartet combines exhilarating repertoire with unequaled improvisational fire. These conservatory-trained performer-composers shine with precision, soul and a raw energy rarely witnessed on stage, championing a forward-thinking, genre-defying approach that makes labels like ‘New Music’ sound tame.

Renowned for their award-winning performances, the Fuego Quartet is devoted to the performance of both standard and contemporary works for all audiences. Founded in 2015 at the Eastman School of Music, Fuego is passionate about community engagement and education, striving to bring new sounds into familiar spaces and introduce music of all types to audiences through friendly, creative, and informative performances. They have been successful in numerous competitions, including winning the 2017 Fischoff Gold Medal and prizes in the 2017 Plowman Chamber Music Competition and the MTNA National Chamber Music Competition.

The New Hudson Saxophone Quartet possesses a rare combination: a dedication to playing accessible new American music, combined with a beautiful, blending saxophone sound. Their repertoire can range from newly commissioned works by Robert Kyr, David Noon, Elias Tanenbaum, Dexter Morrill, Steve Rosenhaus and Ron Mazurek, to original repertoire by 19th-century American composer Caryl Florio and Russian Romantic Alexander Glazounov, to classic Hollywood Sax Quartet versions of popular song standards.

Polevaya’s journey as a musician began with classical training on several instruments. She then became immersed in more experimental forms of performance, in particular electroacoustic improvisation with effect pedals. Polevaya’s performance background ties closely with her compositional work, which is often infused with electronics, found objects, and theatrical elements.

Founded in 2001 by pianist Idith Meshulam, Ensemble Pi is a new music ensemble dedicated to performing the music of living composers, undiscovered composers of the past, and masterpieces of chamber music. Through innovative programming and collaborations with visual artists, writers and dancers, Ensemble Pi bridges the gap between new music and new audiences while engaging with political and social issues.

Bryan Pezzone is the consummate cross-over pianist of his generation. He excels in classical, contemporary, jazz, and experimental genres and is well known for his versatility and virtuosity as a recording and performing artist, improviser, and composer.

Violinist Mikylah Myers' performances have been called “energetic and virtuosic” by the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, and “captivating” by Boulder, Colorado’s Daily Camera. An award-winning chamber musician, Myers is the violin professor at West Virginia University and Coordinator of the String Area. She was formerly concertmaster of the San Juan Symphony in Durango, Colorado, and a member of the Moores Piano Trio in Houston, Texas, which was the silver prize winner at the 2000 Carmel Chamber Music Competition. During her time in Houston, Myers regularly performed with the Houston Symphony and the Houston Grand Opera. She was also a violinist with the New World Symphony in Miami Beach, Florida.  She has performed internationally as a soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral player in Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Italy, Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, and Spain, and was a 19-year member of the Britt Festival Orchestra in Jacksonville, Oregon.

Lisa Miles is a creative artist of 25+ years from Pittsburgh PA. Uniquely blending the arts and humanities, she composes and performs, is the author of two books and a personal and professional development consultant. She has a B.A. in English and Applied Music minor (Youngstown State). Grants have included Meet the Composer and PA Arts & Humanities Initiative; recent recognition has been inclusion in John Shelton Ivany's "Top 21" (Natl. News Bureau).

Having been taught and mentored by Henry Cowell and having developed his electronic music techniques in the studios under the direction of Ianis Xenakis, Barton McLean has had a 20-year teaching career in which, as director of the electronic music/music technology programs at Indiana University-South bend and the University of Texas-Austin he pioneered the first large-scale commercially-available digital sequencer (Synthi 100) and sampler (Fairlight CMI), and with his wife Priscilla produced 14 LP recordings and ten CDs, some of which have become staples in electronic music courses. In 1983 he and Priscilla McLean left academia to develop their electroacoustic duo The McLean Mix, which has proven itself in hundreds of concerts and installations throughout the U.S., Canada, Europe, and the Pacific Rim, as a full-time career.