Wesley Dunnagan

A native of Wabash, Indiana, tenor Wesley Dunnagan has been fortunate to perform across the United States and abroad. A specialist in oratorio and concert repertoire, he has been praised for his “unfailing eloquence” as the Evangelist in Bach’s St. Matthew Passion. He has also been heard in Mendelssohn’s Elijah with baritone Nathan Gunn in the title role, tenor soloist in Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, Handel’s Messiah, La resurrezione, and Ode for St. Cecilia’s Day, Mozart’s Vesperae solennes de confessore, Coronation Mass, and Große Messe, Haydn’s Creation and Nelsonmesse, Beethoven’s Mass in C, and Copland’s The Tender Land Opera Suite. His opera roles include Hansel and Gretel (the Witch), Lucia di Lammermoor (Arturo), Falstaff (Dr. Caius), Così fan tutte (Ferrando), Don Giovanni (Don Ottavio), Der Schauspieldirektor (Vogelsang), Gianni Schicchi (Rinuccio), Henry Cowell’s The Commission (Jonathan), and the world premiere of Giancarlo Aquilanti’s First Night at the Opera (Jonathan).

He has appeared with the San Juan Symphony, South Bend Lyric Opera, South Bend Symphony, Kettle Moraine Symphony, Madison’s monthly series Just Bach, the Wisconsin Chamber Choir (Bach’s Christmas Oratorio), Madison Bach Musicians (St. John Passion, Dido and Aeneas), the University of Wisconsin’s annual Schubertiade, Schola Cantorum in Mountain View, California, and Bach Collegium in Fort Wayne, Indiana. A passionate recitalist, he has presented diverse art song repertoire and chamber music from Medieval to contemporary works. As a conductor, he has led the Fort Lewis Baroque Ensemble and Durango’s Colla Voce Singers. He also served as Music Director for musical theatre productions and guest conductor of the Fort Lewis Chamber Orchestra. Recent conducting highlights include Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd, Dave Malloy’s Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812, Handel’s complete Messiah, and diverse choral works.

Dr. Dunnagan serves as Assistant Professor of Music at St. Olaf College, where he teaches Voice and Lyric Diction. Prior to St. Olaf, he served as Assistant Professor of Music and Coordinator of Voice Studies at Fort Lewis College and Lecturer of Lyric Diction at the University of California, Irvine.

Wesley received a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Voice and Opera from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he was also a Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellow in Italian. He holds a Bachelor of the Arts with Distinction in German Studies and Music from Stanford University and a Master of Sacred Music from the University of Notre Dame. In addition, he spent a year as a DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service) Scholar at the Berlin University of the Arts, where he studied under Berliner Kammersänger Peter Maus of the Deutsche Oper Berlin. An SVI trained Vocologist, Dr. Dunnagan is a strong advocate for vocal health and science-based pedagogy in the music studio.

Sarah Reich

Sarah Reich is a performer, choreographer, instructor, and composer who is a trailblazer in the world of tap dance, captivating audiences with her innovative, music-driven approach. A Los Angeles native, Sarah has performed, choreographed, and taught in over 40 countries, shaping and inspiring the next generation of tap dancers worldwide.

In 2015, she skyrocketed to international fame while touring with Scott Bradlee’s Postmodern Jukebox, earning millions of YouTube views and widespread critical acclaim. Her work has graced iconic stages including Radio City Music Hall, Walt Disney Concert Hall, and the Sydney Opera House.

Celebrating the 12th anniversary of her Tap Music Project, Sarah continues to champion musicality in tap dance, encouraging dancers to collaborate deeply with musicians. Her 2018 debut album, New Change, features original compositions that fuse percussive tap rhythms with live instrumentation, creating a distinctive and genre-blending sound. Her ambition is clear: “I want to be the first tap dancer to win a Grammy Award.”

Sarah expanded her creative reach by launching It’s Tappening, a TV series spotlighting tap dance culture across the globe—now streaming on Amazon Prime. She is currently faculty with NUVO Dance Convention, traveling nationwide and sparking a love for tap among young dancers.

Laurie Melting Stegner

Laurie Melting Stegner began the violin at age 9 when her father (who was a band teacher) suggested that she play the instrument.  Since she really wanted to play the clarinet, Laurie was surprised when her parents purchased a violin and scheduled the first lesson..  After growing up playing in the Anoka school system, All-State Orchestra and GTCYS, Laurie went on to earn music degrees from Northwestern University (B.M.E.) and DePaul University (M.M.), studying classically at both schools with highly acclaimed teachers. Later, she was inspired to study jazz violin and now plays music of many genres.  Laurie loves teaching her private students at Hot Spot Music and plays in groups in Northfield and the Twin Cities.  She has a wonderful husband who also plays the violin, a daughter, son-in-law and two granddaughters.

Laurie and Friends will be showcased in two performances, one with a string quartet from the Northfield adult string orchestra called “Bows, Strings and Contentment”.  The second concert will be with the jazz group “Spare Niche” and a string quartet, both groups made up of regulars in the Northfield music scene.

Artaria String Quartet

A warm, rich sound is the hallmark of the Artaria String Quartet. Named after the Italian family that published the premier issues of many of the Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven quartets, Artaria’s refined and thoughtful playing has brought them critical acclaim in Europe and throughout the United States. The Boston Globe has described Artaria as “exquisitely balanced and sonorous” and that “their musical understanding is first-rate”.

Originally founded in Boston, the quartet was mentored by members of the Budapest, La Salle, Kolisch, Juilliard, and Cleveland Quartets. They have had numerous appearances on television and live radio, and have performed at major venues in New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., Atlanta, Cleveland, and Boston. They have been featured at the Banff Centre in Canada, Festival de L’Epau in France, and the Tanglewood Music Center. Artaria has also served as MPR Artists-in-Residence and was featured on Twin Cities Public Television as part of the MN-Originals television series.

Nationally recognized as dynamic teachers and for their commitment to education, the quartet has appeared at major summer festivals including the Banff Centre in Canada, Festival de L’Epau in France, and the Tanglewood Music Center in Lenox, Massachusetts. Artaria is the recipient of a highly coveted McKnight Fellowship for Performing Musicians and has received Teaching Artist grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, Chamber Music America, Midori’s Partners in Performance, and the Heartland Fund for performance and educational outreach. They possess the rare ability to offer outstanding performances in both concert and educational outreach settings and have performed hundreds of programs to thousands of students throughout the United States.

Honored as recipients of the inaugural Rural Residency Grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, the quartet has continued to establish and enhance string programs for communities across the Midwest. Artaria has held residencies at Boston College and Viterbo College and now resides in Saint Paul, Minnesota, where members of the quartet are founders and directors of the Artaria Chamber Music School, a weekly chamber music program for young string players, Stringwood, a two-week summer festival held in Lanesboro, Minnesota each summer, and the Saint Paul String Quartet Competition, a national event that showcases America’s finest young high school and college string quartets from around the country.

Firmly rooted in the traditional canon of chamber music masterpieces, since 2020 Artaria includes a BIPOC composition on every performance. The quartet has given well received performances of the complete Beethoven and Shostakovich quartets. In January 2024 Artaria will present the complete Bartók string quartets (a Minnesota first) for the Schubert Club. They are also staunch advocates of contemporary music, having premiered and commissioned a wide array of new works.

Aileen Razey

Aileen Razey, described by The Clarinet as having “a truly beautiful sound which she displayed with an emotionally colorful performance,” bridges various musical and artistic genres and atmospheres. Her artistry is deeply intertwined with her commitment to education, aiming to help audiences and students better connect with themselves and the world around them through music.

Currently Assistant Professor at St. Olaf College in Minnesota, Dr. Razey’s pedagogical approach is deeply informed by her performance experience. She finds immense joy in guiding students to achieve and exceed their goals. Her previous academic positions include Lecturer at Ithaca College and Assistant Professor at Kutztown University. Her former students are now music educators and professional performers. Bringing together her passion for performance and academic teaching, Razey served as Performance Chair for the College Music Society Northeast Chapter, hosted their 2024 conference, and is currently serves as Chapter President.

The collaborative spirit of music drives Aileen’s performance career and allows her to connect with musicians and audiences around the world. She often performs with the Paragon Ragtime Orchestra and has previously performed with the Aspen Music Festival and School, Syracuse Orchestra (NY) Allentown Symphony (PA), Cayuga Chamber Orchestra (PA), Szavaria Symphony Orchestra (Hungary). Razey can be heard as principal and e-flat clarinetist on five GIA records with the North Texas Wind Symphony. She was first prize winner of the inaugural Henri Selmer Summer Clarinet Academy Solo Competition, semi-finalist in the Lisbon International Clarinet Competition, and finalist recognitions at both the International Clarinet Association Young Artist Competition and Orchestra Audition Competition.

A passionate advocate for contemporary music, Razey collaborates with emerging composers around the world. As clarinetist and movement artist with The International Collective, she is dedicated to being a member of an ensemble that merges responsibilities on stage, removing boundaries between music, dance, and staging. She previously performed with the Lucerne Festival Academy, Klangspuren Schwaz International Ensemble Modern Academy, and the Institute and Festival of Contemporary Performance at Mannes.

Razey holds dearly onto the legacy of clarinet playing passed on to her from her own clarinet teachers, all of whom have influenced her performance and pedagogy tremendously. She earned a Doctorate of Musical Arts in Clarinet Performance from the University of North Texas with a related field in music education, where she also served as Teaching Fellow in Clarinet. She earned a Master of Music in Clarinet Performance from University of Denver, where she served as Graduate Teaching Assistant in Clarinet and Musicology, and she earned a Bachelor of Music in Music Education from Ithaca College. Her studies include mentorship from notable teachers such as Kimberly Cole Luevano, Jeremy Reynolds, Michael Galvan, Pavel Vinnitsky, and Michael Rusinek.

Dr. Razey believes in maintaining physical and mental health to sustain her career as a musician and educator. She practices yoga, runs, dances, and hikes. Dedicated to promoting healthy lifestyle practices within the clarinet community, she is a member of the International Clarinet Association’s Health and Wellness Committee. Aileen resides in Minnesota with her husband, where they nurture a growing plant collection and enjoy traveling often.

Charles Gorczynski Tango Quartet

CHARLES GORCZYNSKI - BANDONEON
DEVAN MORAN - VIOLIN
ALEX WOODS - PIANO
SARAH LAHASKY - CONTRABASS

Charles Gorczynski Tango Quartet is a Minneapolis-based ensemble dedicated to contemporary and traditional tango music.

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Bandoneonist and composer Charles Gorczynski works in contemporary tango and music production. He is the director of Minneapolis-based Twin Cities Tango Collective, the bandleader of Redwood Tango Ensemble and Charles Gorczynski Tango Quartet, and has worked as bandoneonist for dozens of tango projects including Mariano Barreiro Tango Trio, Alejandro Ziegler Cuarteto, Maldito Tango Duo, Maxi Larrea Trio, and Los Tangueros Del Oeste. He has toured North America and Europe extensively to support original tango music releases, most recently releasing the album “We Become The Night Sky” recorded by 12-piece tango ensemble based in San Francisco. As a life-long producer, Charles is a Latin Grammy-nominated mixing engineer and owner of the Minneapolis-based studio/label Caverns, focused on producing and releasing high quality and future-driven new tango work.

Source: https://www.charlesgorczynski.com/cgtq

Artaria String Quartet

A warm, rich sound is the hallmark of the Artaria String Quartet. Named after the Italian family that published the premier issues of many of the Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven quartets, Artaria’s refined and thoughtful playing has brought them critical acclaim in Europe and throughout the United States. The Boston Globe has described Artaria as “exquisitely balanced and sonorous” and that “their musical understanding is first-rate”.

Originally founded in Boston, the quartet was mentored by members of the Budapest, La Salle, Kolisch, Juilliard, and Cleveland Quartets. They have had numerous appearances on television and live radio, and have performed at major venues in New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., Atlanta, Cleveland, and Boston. They have been featured at the Banff Centre in Canada, Festival de L’Epau in France, and the Tanglewood Music Center. Artaria has also served as MPR Artists-in-Residence and was featured on Twin Cities Public Television as part of the MN-Originals television series.

Nationally recognized as dynamic teachers and for their commitment to education, the quartet has appeared at major summer festivals including the Banff Centre in Canada, Festival de L’Epau in France, and the Tanglewood Music Center in Lenox, Massachusetts. Artaria is the recipient of a highly coveted McKnight Fellowship for Performing Musicians and has received Teaching Artist grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, Chamber Music America, Midori’s Partners in Performance, and the Heartland Fund for performance and educational outreach. They possess the rare ability to offer outstanding performances in both concert and educational outreach settings and have performed hundreds of programs to thousands of students throughout the United States.

Honored as recipients of the inaugural Rural Residency Grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, the quartet has continued to establish and enhance string programs for communities across the Midwest. Artaria has held residencies at Boston College and Viterbo College and now resides in Saint Paul, Minnesota, where members of the quartet are founders and directors of the Artaria Chamber Music School, a weekly chamber music program for young string players, Stringwood, a two-week summer festival held in Lanesboro, Minnesota each summer, and the Saint Paul String Quartet Competition, a national event that showcases America’s finest young high school and college string quartets from around the country.

Firmly rooted in the traditional canon of chamber music masterpieces, since 2020 Artaria includes a BIPOC composition on every performance. The quartet has given well received performances of the complete Beethoven and Shostakovich quartets. In January 2024 Artaria will present the complete Bartók string quartets (a Minnesota first) for the Schubert Club. They are also staunch advocates of contemporary music, having premiered and commissioned a wide array of new works.

Stone Arch Brass

Dan Fretland is an active freelance trumpet player and instructor in the Twin Cities area. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in trumpet performance and music education from the University of Minnesota and a Master of Arts degree in music education along with an administrative degree from the University of St. Thomas. Dan has performed with The St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Minnesota Orchestra, the Minnesota Opera, the Minneapolis Pops Orchestra, the San Francisco Ballet, ICE Ensemble, and Music St. Croix, as well as with Garrison Keilor, Doc Severinsen, Ben Folds, Josh Groban, Johnny Mathis, Michael W. Smith, and Amy Grant, as well as at the Los Angeles Contemporary Music Festival, and the London Jazz Festival.

Martin Hodel, trumpet, is Professor of Music at St. Olaf College and principal trumpet of the International Chamber Orchestra of Puerto Rico.  He made his Carnegie Hall solo debut in 2016. Hodel played full time in the trumpet section of the Minnesota Orchestra and is heard on three commercial recordings with that group. Hodel frequently performs and tours with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra and substitutes with the Pittsburgh Symphony. As Principal Trumpet with the Eastman Wind Ensemble, Hodel toured the U.S. and Japan, and he has toured coast to coast with the Dallas Brass, and China with Rodney Marsalis. He holds a doctorate in trumpet performance and a Performer’s Certificate from the Eastman School of Music.  He has worked as a soloist with conductor Helmuth Rilling and has shared the stage as a soloist with jazz artists Joe Henderson, Maria Schneider, Slide Hampton, Claudio Roditi, David Murray, and Jimmy Heath.  Hodel’s first solo CD—with organist Bradley Lehman—is titled In Thee is Gladness. A forthcoming solo recording with St. Olaf faculty, First Light, will be released soon.  

Mike Alexander is the Principal Horn of the Minnesota Opera Orchestra and a regular performer with the Minnesota Orchestra and Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. For the 2024-2025 season, he will be joining the Baltimore Symphony as acting 3rd horn. In addition to his role as principal horn for almost every ballet and operatic production in Minnesota, Mike regularly plays in Broadway productions such as West Side Story and Wicked. He has also performed with a range of notable acts including The Who, Evanescence, Ben Folds, Kristen Chenoweth, and Weird Al Yankovic. Mike holds a Master’s degree in Horn Performance from the New England Conservatory and a Bachelor’s degree with Artist Diploma from the Eastman School of Music. A passionate educator, Alexander currently teaches horn at the College of Saint Benedict & Saint John’s University, Gustavus Adolphus College, and the MacPhail Center for Music.

Trombonist Larry Zimmerman is a member of the Grammy winning Chestnut Brass Company, and is Principal Trombonist of the Duluth-Superior Symphony Orchestra and the Minneapolis Pops Orchestra. He has performed around Minnesota with many ensembles, including the Minnesota Orchestra and St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. Larry is also active in the performance of period brass instruments, including Renaissance sackbuts and 19th Century saxhorns. He enjoys working as a soloist & chamber musician including frequent performances with Music St. Croix, his chamber music group based in Stillwater, MN.

Dr. Paul J. Budde, tuba, is Professor of Music at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls, where he chairs the school of music, teaches tuba, music education and world music.  An active performer and clinician, he has performed in numberous ensembles, including the Minnesota Orchestra, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, National Lutheran Chorale, Lake Wobegon Brass Band, and VocalEssence.  Buddes’ tuba quartet, The Pistons, was the first-place winner of the first-ever International Tuba/Euphonium Quartet Competition.  Dr. Budde’s current research centers on the use of the National Music Standards by music educators in Wisconsin and Minnesota. He has released an album titled Practice Room Grooves, which is made up of accompaniment tracks that serve as a means to improve fundamentals during independent practice.  

Kevin Clements

Kevin Clements has been performing as a jazz bassist for over 50 years. From an early age he found jazz as his music of choice. Growing up in Kansas City he was exposed early on to that city’s fertile jazz heritage. After graduating from the Conservatory of Music in Kansas City, Kevin played and toured for several years. He had the good fortune to have performed with many great artists, including Billy Eckstine, Rosemary Clooney, Robert Goulet and Rita Moreno. In 1989, after a ten year stint as an Air Force pilot, he settled in Minneapolis/St Paul where he has become a staple in the Twin Cities jazz scene. Shortly after moving to Northfield in 1996, he met Dave Hagedorn and they have been playing together regularly ever since. Kevin taught jazz bass at Carleton College in Northfield for several years and flew airplanes for Northwest Airlines and Delta Airlines. He is currently enjoying retirement by playing more music, brewing beer and working in his woodshop.

Balkanicus Ensemble

Bulgarian born cellist Nickolai Kolarov is the founder of the Balkanicus series in 2003 in the Twin Cities, MN. The series has featured music written especially for him. He is the President of the Balkanicus Institute for Balkan Art, Culture and History, a non-for-profit organization that promote the cultures from the Balkans and the Artistic Director of Balkanicus Ensemble. Dr. Kolarov performs actively both classical and contemporary repertoire throughout the country and appears as a soloist with orchestras from the Midwest. The Bulgarian National Radio and TV, as well as various radio and TV stations in Minnesota and Kansas featured some of his performances. Nickolai Kolarov has taught cello at the University of St. Thomas and has delivered lectures and master classes in several universities and colleges. In 2011 he was invited for a performance-lecture in the Juilliard School. Kolarov holds DMA from the University of Minnesota and he studied with Igor Gavrish from the Moscow Conservatory of Music.

Pianist Jill Dawe plays a wide range of chamber music, solo, and concerto repertoire and has a particular affinity for new music and interdisciplinary collaboration. Her recent performances include concerto engagements with the Minnesota Philharmonic, Heartland Symphony and St. Paul Jewish Community Orchestra; solo recitals at the Chautauqua Institution, and Piano By Nature Series. Dr. Dawe is a native of Newfoundland, Canada and a graduate of Memorial University of Newfoundland and Eastman School of Music, Rochester, New York. She is currently an associate professor of music at Augsburg University in Minneapolis, and she has also taught on the faculties of Lenoir-Rhyne College in North Carolina; Oberlin Conservatory in Ohio; Chautauqua Institution, New York. Jill Dawe has been the pianist performer in Balkanicus Ensemble since 2010.

Clarinetist Patrick O’Keefe has been performing the clarinet in Balkanicus ensemble since the first Balkanicus concert in 2003. Pat is active in a variety of musical genres. He has performed as a soloist with symphony orchestras, wailed away for belly dancers, and rocked samba in the streets. He is the woodwind player for the ensemble Zeitgeist, and also performs with Batucada do Norte, Choro Borealis, No Territories, Balkanicus, and The Maithree Ensemble. O’Keefe holds a BM from Indiana University, an MM from New England Conservatory, and a DMA from the University of California, San Diego. In 2015 he was awarded a Performing Musician Fellowship from the McKnight Foundation. He teaches at the University of Wisconsin, River Falls.

Native from Costa Rica Fernando Meza is Professor of Music at the University of Minnesota School of Music, where he has been Director of Percussion Studies since 1993. Over this time period, he has built and established in Minneapolis what is considered by many to be one of the most comprehensive centers of percussion studies in the United States. Meza has also performed as soloist, chamber, or orchestral musician in such places as Alice Tully Hall in Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, the Philharmonie in Berlin, and the Musikverein in Vienna among others, and is in demand locally as a performer with the Minnesota Orchestra, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Chamber Music Society of Minnesota, Bakken Trio and others. Meza has been performing on the Balkanicus concerts since 2010.

Angel Dobrev

Angel Dobrev was born in the town of Omurtag in Bulgaria. He plays the gudulka (Bulgarian: гъдулка), which is a traditional Bulgarian bowed stringed instrument. He expressed an interest in Bulgarian folk music from an early age, and started taking private gudulka lessons at age 8. His interest and love for Bulgarian folk music deepened even more and led him to pursue a musical education. Angel graduated from of the famous Folk-Art Music School “Philip Kutev” in Kotel, and later earned his Masters Degree specializing in gudulka and folk ensemble conducting from the Academy for Music and Dance Arts in Plovdiv. Angel was a soloist and performer with the of the Academy Folk Orchestra during his studies. He also earned first place at a gudulka playing competition. Angel has performed with ensembles and groups at various international folk Festivals in Greece, Italy, Moldova, Macedonia, Turkey, and at the International Folk Festival in Branson, MO.

Since 2001 Angel has lived in Chicago, where he is very happy to help keep the heritage of Bulgarian folk music alive. In the United States, he plays at various Bulgarian cultural events, Bulgarian schools, Balkan music festivals, restaurants, and private events. He performs with the “Balkanski Ritmi” band, and participates annually in the Chicago Spring Festival organized by Balkanski Igri. There he performs and also teaches gudulka to people who are interested in and enthusiastic about learning to play this distinctive stringed instrument.

Dave Hagedorn

Dave Hagedorn is a retired Artist in Residence at St. Olaf College in Northfield, MN, where he taught percussion, jazz studies, and world music. St. Olaf Jazz I won the DownBeat magazine award for best undergraduate college large jazz ensemble in 2011.

Hagedorn holds degrees from the Eastman School of Music, the New England Conservatory, and the University of Minnesota. He has a duo album, Horizons, with pianist Dan Cavanagh, released in 2010, and a trio recording, Solid/Liquid on the artegra label in SACD format released in October of 2003. He has recorded with Brian Setzer, on the 2009 release Songs from the Lonely Avenue, the George Russell Living Time Orchestra on Blue Note Recordings (“The African Game,” nominated for a Grammy® award), jazz singer Debbie Duncan on Igmod Recordings, and also with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra on Teldec Recordings.

Hagedorn regularly performs in the Twin Cities with groups such as the Phil Hey Quartet, Pete Whitman’s X-tet, Spiral Visions (a Bobby Hutcherson tribute band), and the Chris Bates Good Vibes Trio.

JC Sanford

Trombonist/composer/conductor JC Sanford is a musician of wide breadth, deeply rooted in the traditions of Jazz and Classical music, yet constantly pushing at their boundaries. Equally at home in many roles, Sanford works regularly as a composer, performer, arranger and conductor.

A protégé of legendary composer and trombonist Bob Brookmeyer, he has performed with the likes of Danilo Pérez, Matt Wilson, John McNeil, and George Schuller. He is a member of several diverse NYC-based ensembles including the Andrew Rathbun Large Ensemble, Nathan Parker Smith’s prog-rock big band, Andrew Green’s film noir tribute Narrow Margin, singer-songwriter Joy Askew’s New York Brass, and Joseph C. Phillips, Jr.’s jazz/new music hybrid Numinous.

JC's original works often defy labels such as 'Jazz' or 'Classical'. While he originally built a reputation through big band writing, JC has forayed into many other areas - composing for solo piano, wind and brass formations and various mixed chamber ensembles. A founding member of the composers' federation Pulse (with Darcy James Argue & Joseph C. Phillips, Jr.), JC was a member of the BMI Jazz Composers' Workshop led by Jim McNeely and Mike Abene for 5 years. His works have been performed by John Abercrombie, Lew Soloff, Dave Liebman, Danilo Perez, and a number of universities and high schools across the United States.

His 2014 debut CD with the JC Sanford Orchestra entitled Views from the Inside yielded international acclaim and was awarded a 2014 Aaron Copland Fund Recording Grant alongside organizations and ensembles such as the Seattle Symphony, Nonesuch Records, and American Composers Forum. He is also the leader of several small groups: his the JC Sanford Quartet, the Imminent Standards Trio, the chamber jazz trio Triocracy, and a new trio with pianist Michael Cain and bassist Anthony Cox.

JC is in high demand as a conductor of new original music. He conducts the Grammy-nominated John Hollenbeck Large Ensemble, the Alan Ferber Nonet with Strings, the Frank Carlberg Large Ensemble, and the Alice Coltrane Orchestra featuring Ravi Coltrane, Jack DeJohnette, and Charlie Haden. He recently was guest conductor for the North German Radio Big Band (NDR) and Quinsin Nachoff’s new “Patterns in Nature” multimedia project. He was the curator of the "Size Matters" large ensemble series Brooklyn for 4 1/2 years.

JC is the recipient of a D.M.A. in Jazz Studies from New England Conservatory of Music. At NEC, he studied with Bob Brookmeyer and conducted the NEC Little Big Band. A Minnesota native, Sanford's undergraduate years were spent at the University of Northern Iowa where he was mentored by reputed jazz pedagogue Bob Washut.

Since returning to MN with his family in 2016, JC has performed as a trombonist in the Twin Cities area with JT and Chris Bates, Davu Seru, Anthony Cox, Babatunde Lea, Zacc Harris, Dave Hagedorn, and Laura Caviani. He recently co-founded the Twin Cities Jazz Composers' Workshop alongside his wife Asuka Kakitani, trumpeter Adam Meckler, and saxophonist Aaron Hedenstrom. He received a 2018 McKnight Composer Fellowship, a 2019 MN State Arts Board Artist Initiative Grant to record his quartet, 2021 and 2022 Creative Support Grants to record his  Imminent Standards trio, as well as a new project with Michael Cain and Anthony Cox in 2023. He also is the monthly blog curator for the International Society of Jazz Arrangers and Composers (ISJAC).

Laura Caviani

Laura Caviani has performed and recorded for over 15 years. As leader, she has recorded four albums. The Minneapolis Star Tribune proclaims Laura Caviani’s debut CD, Dreamlife to be: “...in a word, outstanding”. Marian McPartland called it “...sparkling and inventive...”. Her second release, As One, is touted as “stunningly fresh” by Jazz Times. Her holiday album, Angels We Haven’t Heard features a stellar Minneapolis based band, and is considered “this season’s finest new jazz cd of holiday music” by the St. Paul Pioneer Press. The Star Tribune says her latest solo release, “In Your Own Sweet Way” is, “...poised right where the salon meets the saloon, with as much spunk as serenity.”

As a sideman, Ms. Caviani has recorded and toured with the 2002 Grammy nominee Karrin Allyson (Concord Records) whose band, according to the Wall Street Journal, “...could waltz into any New York nightclub and tear up the joint...”. Ms. Caviani has shared the stage with other greats as Toots Theilemans, Bob Mintzer, and Dave Liebman. Locally, she performs and records with the Pete Whitman Quintet and the jazz orchestra JazzMN, both on the new Artegra label.

In ‘97, Caviani received a grant from the Atlantic Center for the Arts to study with renowned pianist and composer JoAnne Brackeen. The following year, she was one of four American musicians selected to study in Japan at the Akiyoshidai International Art Village.

As a composer, her commissions include numerous works for jazz ensembles, (some of which are currently available through Increase Music Publishing) as well as orchestral works for both the Central Wisconsin Symphony Orchestra and the Kansas City Symphony Orchestra.

Caviani has both a bachelor’s of music in Composition from Lawrence University, and a masters of music in Improvisation from The University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. She has taught at a number of schools, including St. John's University, the University of Wisconsin at Eau Claire, The University of St. Thomas, and many middle schools in Minneapolis through the "Harman How to Listen Program", an outreach program co-founded by Wynton Marsalis.

David Milne

Saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist David Milne is an accomplished and versatile performer, composer, and arranger in musical settings ranging from creative jazz, modern big band, and progressive popular styles to symphonic/orchestral, chamber music, and contemporary classical styles. Originally from Rochester NY, he earned a DMA in Saxophone Performance at the Eastman School of Music, an MM in Woodwind Performance and a BA in Music from the Indiana University School of Music.  He serves as Professor of Music and Chair of the Music Programs at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls, where he teaches applied saxophone, directs the UW-River Falls Jazz Ensembles, and teaches jazz-related courses. David Milne is a Conn-Selmer Saxophone Artist-Clinician.

David Milne has performed with the Minnesota Orchestra, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Minnesota Opera, Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, JazzMN Big Band, Phil Woods, Doc Severinsen, Gordon Goodwin, Bob Florence, Rob McConnell, Bob Mintzer, Bobby McFerrin, Ray Charles, Jack McDuff, Lou Rawls, Ernestine Anderson, Terry Gibbs, Smokey Robinson, and the Nelson Riddle Orchestra, among others.  Dedicated to the performance of new music, he has fostered, commissioned, and premiered dozens of works for saxophone quartet and chamber music ensembles with The Ancia Saxophone Quartet, The JAZZAX Saxophone Quartet, and the contemporary music ensemble Zeitgeist.  As a performer, he has received awards, grants, and commissions for new works from The American Composers Forum, The Jerome Foundation, THE Commission Project, and Downbeat jazz journal.  His compositions for saxophone ensembles have been performed at the North American Saxophone Alliance and World Saxophone Congress conventions.  David’s compositions for saxophone ensemble and jazz ensemble are published by Really Good Music LLC and BIT Musikverlag, Berlin, Germany. 

At UW-River Falls, David Milne teaches Applied Saxophone, directs the UW-River Falls Jazz Ensembles, and teaches jazz-related courses.  In addition, he has taught master classes and workshops at the Eastman School of Music, Indiana University School of Music, MacPhail Center for Music, McNally Smith College of Music, Shell Lake Arts Center, Norwich Center for Arts and Education (UK), Minnesota All-State Jazz Ensemble, and at high schools and colleges throughout the US.  He was an artist teacher from 1996-2002 at the Frei Kunst Schule Summer Jazz Workshop in Berlin, Germany.  David is a Selmer Saxophone Artist-Clinician, and his performances and educational appearances are supported in part by the Conn-Selmer Company. 

The Arianna String Quartet

Hailed for their outstanding musicianship, the Arianna String Quartet has established itself as one of America's finest chamber ensembles. Their performances have been praised for “tonal warmth, fastidious balance and expressive vitality” (Chicago Tribune) and “emotional commitment and fluent virtuosity,” (Pretoria News, South Africa).  Formed in 1992, the ASQ garnered national attention by winning the Grand Prize in the Fischoff Chamber Music Competition, First Prize in both the Coleman and Carmel Chamber Music Competitions, and were Laureates in the Bordeaux International String Quartet Competition.

The Arianna Quartet has appeared throughout North America, in South America, Europe, Asia, and South Africa. They have collaborated with many of the world’s most celebrated musicians, including members of the Vermeer, Tokyo, Cleveland and Juilliard Quartets, and their live performances have been heard on National Public Radio’s “Performance Today,” and “Live from Music Mountain”, which broadcasts to 125 stations in the U.S. and to 35 countries. The ASQ has recorded for Albany Records and Urtext Digital Classics, and extensively with Centaur Records.  In addition to their critically acclaimed recording of the two string quartets of Janácek (“These performances of the Arianna String Quartet demonstrate how technical excellence, in alliance with imagination and the human heart, can come to create something truly transcendent.”-Fanfare), the ASQ has also recently completed their recordings of the Complete String Quartets of Beethoven (“I can’t stop listening to these performances. They thrill me, enthrall me, and arouse emotional responses in me of an intensity that can’t be described.”-Fanfare).

The members of the Arianna String Quartet serve on the faculty at the University of Missouri-St. Louis as professors of violin, viola, and cello.  On the UMSL campus, the Arianna Quartet presents their own concert series, and also enriches the academic experience of students outside of the Music Department by visiting classes in physics, business, history, philosophy, art, and language to actively demonstrate the interdisciplinary connections between music and these seemingly disparate disciplines.  The ASQ also presents an interdisciplinary performance and lecture series “First Mondays with the ASQ”, at KWMU, St. Louis Public Radio.  The Arianna Quartet were recipients of the 2022 University of Missouri-St. Louis Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Collaborative Research and Creativity.

For over ten years, the Arianna Quartet has directed the Intensive Quartet Program at the Festival of Music in Santa Catarina, Brazil, working every year with young professional quartets from throughout South America.  Additional highlights for 2022-23 have included concerts throughout the United States, returns to Madeline Island Chamber Music (WI), the Music Mountain Concert Series (CT), the Cedar Valley Chamber Music Festival (IA), and performances at the Jazz and Classics Music Festival in Juneau, as well as concerts in Anchorage and Sitka (AK). 

The Arianna String Quartet also hosts their own summer chamber music festival in St. Louis each June featuring young quartets and students from the US and abroad. More information about the Arianna Chamber Music Festival can be found at ariannacmf.org.

Kirsten Whitson

Cellist Kirsten Whitson performs extensively as a soloist, chamber, and orchestral musician. She has played throughout the US, Europe, Japan, and Cuba with Minnesota Orchestra, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Minnesota Opera, Milwaukee Symphony, Florida Orchestra, and Norway's Bergen Philharmonic. She has also performed at the Festival of the Lakes in Alexandria, MN, the Grand Teton Music Festival, the Lakes Area Music Festival in Brainerd, MN, and with Zeitgeist New Music.

Kirsten has presented solo cello concerts throughout the Twin Cities and greater Minnesota for over 20 years. She has been featured on programs broadcast by KFAI and Minnesota Public Radio. She is passionate about the extensive repertoire available for solo cello and has premiered several commissioned pieces. Composers Timothy C. Takach, David Evan Thomas, Carl Witt, and Jocelyn Hagen have written music for her. One of Jocelyn Hagen's pieces for her involved live digital looping. Kirsten recorded Louise Farrenc’s Sonata in Bb Major, Opus 46, with Mary Ellen Haupert for Centaur Records.

Kirsten received a B.M. and an Artist Diploma from Indiana University, where she studied with Fritz Magg and Janos Starker. While at Indiana University, Kirsten was Fritz Magg’s assistant and won a coveted Performer’s Certificate.

Kirsten received Artist Initiative Grants from the Minnesota State Arts Board in 2002 and 2018, a grant from the Metropolitan Consortium of Community Developers in 2020, a Creative Support Grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board in 2021, and is a 2020 McKnight Artist Fellow. She was selected as a 2022 Resident Artist at Ragdale, supported by the McKnight Foundation.

Maliheh Moradi

Trained by three of the most eminent Persian vocalists, Mohammad-Reza Shajarian, Fatemeh Vaezi (Parisa) and Ali Asghar Shahzeidi, Maliheh Moradi has attracted attention as a rising star in Persian classical music. Born to a musical family in 1984, Maliheh began playing tonbak at the age of seven and started singing lessons with her father. She attended the Tehran Conservatory of Music, where she also learned setar.

She has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Persian literature. Maliheh has received training in both vocal and instrumental music from renowned Persian musicians including Siamak Jahangiri, Hossein Alizadeh, Mozafar Shafiei, Hasan Pazouki, Mohammad Firouzi, Mohammad-Reza Ebrahimi and Masoud Shoari.

Maliheh has sung in the Mowlavi Opera (along with Homayoun Shajarian), Singing in Shadow (accompanied by Siamak Jahangiri) and Atash Sabz (film score composed by Mohammad-Reza Darvishi). She has performed at international music festivals in Australia, Spain, Germany and Poland.

Ivalas Quartet

The Ivalas Quartet has been changing the face of classical music since its inception at the University of Michigan in 2017. Dedicated to the celebration of BIPOC voices, Ivalas seeks to enhance the classical music world by consistently spotlighting past and present BIPOC composers such as Jessie Montgomery, Daniel Bernard Roumain, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, and Eleanor Alberga. 

The Ivalas Quartet had the pleasure of performing George Walker’s Lyric for Strings at Carnegie Hall in January of 2020. Later that year, they worked in collaboration with Walker’s son to program his String Quartet No. 1 with Friends of Chamber Music Denver and the Colorado Music Festival. In 2021, they created the first recording of Carlos Simon’s Warmth From Other Suns for string quartet under Lara Downes’ digital label Rising Sun Music.

Currently, The Ivalas Quartet is the Graduate Resident String Quartet at The Juilliard School in New York City, where they study under the Juilliard String Quartet. They were previously in residence at the University of Colorado-Boulder under the mentorship of the Takács Quartet. 

The Ivalas Quartet has been featured on various concert series, including Community Concerts at Second in Baltimore, Friends of Chamber Music Denver, Detroit’s WRCJ Classical Brunch, the inaugural Detroit Music Weekend, the Davidson College Concert Series in North Carolina, the Crested Butte Music Festival, the Walla Walla Chamber Music Festival, the Great Lakes Center for the Arts, the Blue Sage Center for the Arts, and CU Presents concert series where the quartet performed alongside the Takács Quartet in 2020 and 2022. Ivalas won the first prize at the 2019 WDAV Young Chamber Musicians Competition in Davidson, NC, as well as the grand prize at the 2022 Coltman Chamber Music Competition in Austin, TX.

The quartet also keeps a busy calendar in the summer, performing in past seasons at the Bowdoin International Music Festival, the Aspen Music Festival and School, the Colorado Music Festival, Music In the Vineyards, Madeline Island Chamber Music, and the Anchorage Chamber Music Festival. This summer Ivalas is excited to return to the University of Michigan in a mentorship role, coaching student groups at Center Stage Strings.

Ivalas was named Caramoor’s 2022-23 Ernst Stiefel String Quartet-in-Residence and has been presenting multiple concerts at the Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts. In the fall of 2022, Ivalas appeared at the Austin Chamber Music Center, Newport Classical in Rhode Island, CU Presents Takács Series, Schneider Concerts in NY, and the MacPhail Center for Music in MN. In May of 2023, they presented their first full program at Carnegie Hall, titled First Light.

The members of the Ivalas Quartet have a shared dedication to their roles as educators. Through the Sphinx Organization, Ivalas has presented educational programming in the Metro Detroit area, with an emphasis on community engagement in schools with Black and Latinx communities. In Colorado, they developed a partnership with El Sistema Colorado and were a part of the Aspen Music Festival Musical Connections program. In their new home of New York City, the quartet is enjoying working with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center on their Chamber Music Beginnings program.

The Ivalas Quartet has nurtured students from the early stages of their musical journey to the collegiate level, with coaching experience including residencies at the University of Northern Iowa, the University of Central Arkansas, Madeline Island Chamber Music, and the MacPhail Center for Music in Minneapolis. In New York City, they coach student groups at The Juilliard School.

Matthew McCright

American pianist Matthew McCright has performed extensively throughout the United States, Europe, Asia, and the South Pacific and on such prestigious stages as Carnegie Hall, Merkin Hall, St. Martin-in-the-Fields, and Ireland’s National Concert Hall. He has thrilled audiences and critics alike with imaginative programming that places the greatest piano repertoire alongside the music of today’s most innovative composers. A native of Pennsylvania, McCright now resides in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and is a member of the piano faculty of Carleton College. An accomplished recording artist, McCright has released eight solo recordings; his most recent Hanging by a Thread on the Proper Canary label, What is Left Behind also on the Proper Canary label, Endurance on the Vox Novus label, as well as three albums on innova Records (Second Childhood, A Waltz through the Vapor, and Blender), the piano works of Gene Gutchë on Centaur Records, and the piano music of Olivier Messiaen on Albany Records. His solo touring shows include Evening Preludes, The People’s Music, Contemplations: The Music of Olivier Messiaen, Connecting Flights, There and Back Again, Forward Looking Back, and Endurance.

A four-time winner of the Minnesota State Arts Board Artist Initiative, McCright’s affinity for contemporary music and curiosity in seeking new sound worlds has led him to premiere numerous pieces, and has collaborated with such composers as Pauline Oliveros, Augusta Read Thomas, Paul Dresher, Michael Gordon, Mary Ellen Childs, Julia Wolfe, Mark Anthony Turnage, Terry Riley, Alvin Lucier, Amy Williams, Kirsten Broberg, Daniel Nass, Laura Caviani, Andrea Mazzariello, Sean Friar, Justin Merritt, Dorothy Hindman, Robert Voisey, Christopher Coleman, Kyong Mee Choi, Ingrid Stölzel, Justin Rubin, Mike McFerron, Reinaldo Moya, Stephen Andrew Taylor, David Evan Thomas, Edie Hill, Linda Buckley, Garrett Sholdice, Razak Abdul-Aziz, Greg Hutter, and Judith Lang Zaimont among many others.

McCright’s festival participation includes Bang on a Can at MassMOCA, Printing House Festival of New Music (Dublin), Late Music Festival (UK), Vox Novus, SEAMUS, Hampden-Sydney Chamber Music Festival, Engelbach-Hart, Kodály Institute, Perilous Night, Fringe, Bridge, Spark Festival of Electronic Music, SPLICE, Festival of Lakes, Rayuela, Oh My Ears, Source Song, Seward Arts, Zeitgeist Early Music, Duquesne University’s Summer Music, Music 2000, CCM Village Opening, and Minnesota Composers Alliance, as well as programs for the American Composers Forum across the country. He has been featured in articles in the NewMusicBox, Tutti, and Voice magazines and in radio broadcasts across the globe. He has performed in collaboration with a variety of ensembles including Ensemble 61, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, dal niente, Mirandola Ensemble, Wild and Wulliman, La Bonne Chanson, Intersections, Gypsy Hocket, Renegade Ensemble, Zeitgeist, Taipei Trio, Balkanicus, New Sound, New Century Piano Duo, Dixie Five, Composer’s Ensemble, Westminster Triptych, WC Jazz Ensemble, and with countless other chamber music groups. He is currently the Director of Music at Saints Martha and Mary Episcopal Church. He tours regularly with violinist, Francesca Anderegg. Since 2009, he performs internationally with flutist Linda Chatterton as part of the Chatterton-McCright Duo. Their 2016 album French Connections was released on the Proper Canary label.

McCright completed his Doctor of Musical Arts Degree in Piano Performance from the University of Minnesota, Master of Music Degree in Piano from the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati and earned his Bachelor of Music Degree in Piano Performance, Magna Cum Laude, from Westminster College. His past teachers include Lydia Artymiw, Lisa Moore, Nancy Zipay DeSalvo, and Richard Morris. He is represented by Proper Canary Artist Services. For more information please visit: www.matthewmccright.org