15th Annual SPHINX COMPETITION for young Black and Latino string players

Presented by

Sphinx Symphony Orchestra YEARBOOK 2012

BUILDING DIVERSITY IN CLASSICAL MUSIC SINCE Additional Support Provided by 1997 Pickard Family Fund GET IN TUNE!

SPHINX 15 Sphinx Symphony Orchestra 2012

Maestro Michael Morgan The Bauder Conductor’s Chair

Sphinx Symphony Orchestra is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Musical Chairs Listings as of February 3, 2012 Leslie DeShazor Adams Viola New Detroit, Inc. Chair

Happy Birthday to my wonderful Davin and Happy Birthyear to my beautiful Elora!

Beverly Baker Viola, Principal Melanye K. Johnson Chair

In 1963 when I started taking violin lessons, I did not see anybody that looked like me. Was this something a little black girl from Virginia was supposed to do? It warms my heart to see what has transpired in the music world since then. I would encourage all Sphinx musicians to follow your dreams and stay the course. Realize that the impact you have in the classical music world will be felt for years to come. Even though I did not see them, there were musicians who paved the way for me to accomplish the things I have in my career. You have the same responsibility now for those little upcoming musicians in the future!

Maurice Belle Bass

Akilah Bryant Flute In Honor of Penny Fischer Chair

“Music is nothing separate from me. It is me. You’d have to remove the music surgically.” - Ray Charles

Landres Bryant Tuba David Burnett Violin II In Honor of Joia Merriweather in memory of Joe Merriweather, Jr. Chair

“After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music.” - Aldous Huxley

Thank you Sphinx, for allowing us to express the inexpressible!

Douglas Cardwell Timpani, Principal The SSO, an orchestra unlike any other in the world; I am proud to “belong”. It is a pleasure to create music with these fi ne musicians. It’s also a privilege to bring new depth to the symphonic world, unity enhanced by diversity. Like the energy of the universe always expanding, it is benefi cial when orchestral music does the same in rich assortment. I’m grateful to be included in such an organization.

Dennis Carter Flute, Principal Deidre Bounds Chair

Leah Lucas Celebi Viola

Let’s Hear It For My Boys

Lydia Cleaver Harp

“To music noble art, we bow in adoration...for thy excelling gifts.” All of the talent, skill and knowledge that I may possess as a musician and educator, are dedicated to the beautiful students of Detroit’s Cass Technical High School Music Department. They are truly deserving of the enlightenment that comes through exposure to the art of music. Jonathan Colbert Bass

Damon Coleman Cello Duane, Juliana & Drake Brown Chair

“You know what’s the loudest noise in the world, man? The loudest noise in the world is silence.” ~Thelonious Monk

Valeria Cortes Violin II

“The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short; but in setting our aim too low, and achieving our mark.’’ - Michelangelo

Maureen Conlon Dorosh Violin II Patricia M. Garcia & Dennis A. Dahlmann Chair

“It’s easy to play any musical instrument: all you have to do is touch the right key at the right time and the instrument will play itself.” - J.S. Bach “I’ve never known a musician who regretted being one. Whatever deceptions life may have in store for you, music itself is not going to let you down.” - Virgil Thompson (American composer) “Nothing is as important as passion. No matter what you want to do with your life, be passionate.” - Jon Bon Jovi “Walk with purpose” - Andre Dowell (Sphinx Artistic Administrator

Shawn Edmonds Trumpet Isabel Escalante Violin II Gary M. Giardina & Dr. Eric Ayers Chair

“A man is not old until regrets take the place of dreams” Nothing is closer to the truth than this. SO, don’t spend your life thinking of what you could or should have done; enjoy living each moment to the fullest since today, is tomorrow’s yesterday

Jim Ferraiuolo Oboe Kudos to Aaron Dworkin, Afa Sadykhly Dworkin and the staff of The Sphinx Organization for your tireless efforts in changing the complexion of classical music, not only here in The United States but also abroad. It has been a joy to take part in this venture the last few seasons. I have had the pleasure of playing alongside so many fi ne players and conductors such as Paul Freeman, Chelsea Tipton, Kay George Roberts,Tito Munoz, Damon Gupton,Anthony Elliott and Michael Morgan. I have developed some wonderful and long lasting friendships during my time with Sphinx. I look forward to seeing old colleagues and sharing the stage and meals with them this year. I wish you continued success in promoting cultural diversity in classical music.

Langston Fitzgerald Trumpet, Principal

Tamara Gonzalez Violin II

This is my second year playing with the Sphinx Festival Orchestra and I look forward to many more years with the ensemble. Last year I experienced camaraderie and inspiration from all of those involved in this wonderful organization. I really appreciate the opportunity for both music-making and fellowship.

Sheena Gutierrez Violin II Keith & Renata Ward Family Fund Chair “Passion, confi dence, and vulnerability are evidence of musical talent. If music were not in our blood, we wouldn’t have such strong feelings...Each person’s talent is unique, and some are more gifted than others, but an intense desire to play well indicates that music is already inside the person, pressing toward the surface and needing to come out. Know this, and take heart from it as you make your particular journey with music.” -Madeline Bruser in The Art of Practicing Bryan Hernandez-Luch Violin, Concertmaster Maxine & Stuart Frankel Foundation for Art Chair My thanks to Aaron and Afa for helping my experience with Sphinx be so positive and encouraging throughout the years. Not only have I met many friends and new colleagues since my fi rst year in the competition, I feel that my musical voice has been heard and continues to be heard as a direct result of my own involvement in the organization. Thank you to all who continue to be of support, not only to me, but to each other. Cheers to the beginnings of SPA and the many other programs that I’ve had the chance to be a part of. Here’s to CJenk, J-rod, Gareth, Carl, Shelby, Karlos, Karla, SPA faculties and the Virtuosi.

Mariana Green-Hill Violin I In Honor of Sam Ash Chair I am so humbled to know where I came from…I am not yet where I wish to be But I thank God that I am not where I once was. I am happy to say that now I am a woman striving to seek God’s face in all that I do. After years of trying to fi gure out who I am, I have come to understand that who I am is not married to what I do. I have come to understand that I cannot please everyone all the time and that I can do nothing without God, for he alone gives me comfort, joy and peace beyond understanding. I also know that giving of one’s self requires time to surrender and rest in one that is greater than you for renewal and strength. I am so glad to know that God holds my world in his hands.

Tami Lee Hughes Violin I In Honor of Reggie Van Lee Chair

David Jackson Trombone, Principal

Geoffrey Johnson Oboe, Principal Gilbert S. Omenn & Martha Darling Chair Charles Larkins Trumpet Carl & Charlene Herstein Chair A note to let each of you know that you have helped to make the Sphinx experience one of the most important and meaningful in my fi fty-year music career. Thanks for the wonderful music and camaraderie. “Work like you don’t need the money, love like you’ve never been hurt, and dance like no one is watching.” ~ Satchel Paige

Gwen Laster Violin I In honor of Kathleen McCree Lewis Chair

“Let yourself be silently drawn by the stronger pull of what you truly love.” - Rumi

Otis Lockhart Trombone Marta Manildi & Paul Courant Chair

Bass/ Tenor Trombonist for the SSO for eight or more seasons so far. My quote of encouragement is; Always strive for the highest in all that you do. The time spent working with the Sphinx Organization, has been some of the most rewarding and unique experiences that I have ever had. Meeting and working with some of the best Black and Latino orchestral musicians in the country, has been a great joy in my life. I look forward to doing whatever I can to make it better in the future.

Lori Lovato Clarinet, Principal In Honor of Ricardo Morales Chair

John Madison Viola Glenda D. Price Chair Burt Mason Trombone Dear Sphinx family, continue to make music breathe and full of life. I wish you all the continued success for the future.

Robin Massie Viola I am honored to join the Sphinx Symphony Orchestra, celebrating diversity in musical performance. Congratulations to this year’s fi nalists! In the words of Kayne West: “I get my hymns from Him, so it’s not me, it’s He that’s lyrical ... My rhythmatic regimen navigates melodic notes for your soul and your mental / That’s why I’m instrumental...”

Derek Menchan Cello Robin H. Sowell, In Memory of Myzell Sowell Chair

Nermis Mieses English Horn

Jessie Montgomery Violin I Malesa & Charles Plater Chair Lisa Muci Violin II Janice C. Snow Chair “You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have. Sadly, too often creativity is smothered rather than nurtured. There has to be a climate in which new ways of thinking, perceiving, questioning are encouraged.” - Maya Angelou

Congratulations and thank you, SPHINX, for cultivating an environment of creativity for the last 15 years!

Jannina Norpoth Violin I Pickard Family Fund Chair

Terrance Patterson Clarinet Dr. Herman B. Gray Chair Congratulation to the Sphinx Origination for 15 years of identifying and training of African-American and Latino Musicians! I wish you the very best as you continue to celebrate and advocate of behalf of all minority musicians worldwide!

Karla Donehew Perez Violin II, Principal Aaron Dworkin & Afa Sadykhly Dworkin Chair

Bernard Phillips Piccolo Dennis & Ellie Serras Chair Bravo Sphinx! You have changed and continue to change the face of classical music as I have known and experienced it. This powerful vision, so movingly declared by the founder and eloquently executed by the staff, provides a path through which African American and Latino musicians and audiences exceed the rigid boundaries of hegemony exhibited in classical music. Sphinx’s goals increase the numbers of acclaimed musicians performing as soloists, orchestra players, administrators and audiences in attendance thereby confi dently negating the old adage “the only one.” Today, this lonely moniker can no longer describe the careers of a group of super talented musicians who collectively represent only about 5% of all musicians in symphony orchestras of the U.S. As we think back about the past fi fteen years, let the revolution that has begun continue to expand the awareness, advocacy and excellence of artistry through the maintenance of artistic criteria held to the absolute highest. Olman Piedra Percussion, Principal In Honor of Tom Stegeman Chair

Manuel Ramos Violin I Mark C. Wallace Chair

“If music be the food of love, play on.”

Mary Ann Ramos Cello Lynn & Bharat Gandhi Chair

Rick Robinson Bass, Principal The Braylon Edwards Foundation Chair Look for Mr. CutTime (cuttime.com) to pop up across the country in 2012, sharing Classical Soul with everyone who thought they couldn’t enjoy classical. Mighty Love, Highland Park, MI: City of Trees and Pork ‘n Beans are a continuation of the revolution that started with Sphinx. I thank my earthy father for showing me the courage to accept things I cannot change and wisdom to recognize what I can change! Absolutely everyone deserves to enjoy such beautiful music... and we will show you WHY! Look for the Classical Revolution (.org) nearest you!

Karlos Rodriguez Cello, Principal MGM Grand Detroit Chair James Rose French Horn Jenice C. Mitchell Ford & Charlene Jones Mitchell Chair

Chauntee Ross Violin II Pickard Family Fund Chair

Marshall Sealy French Horn Ruby & Peter Floyd Daniels, Sr. of Pine Bluff, Arkansas Chair

This year marks my thirteenth year as a member of the Horn Section of the Sphinx Symphony Orchestra. I must say that the orchestra, administration and contestants have over the years, continued to excel in overall quality and scope. I can honestly say that I am proud to be associated with the Sphinx Organization.

Jared Snyder Cello Mylene Alexis-Garel Chair

Travel. Do it. Get on a plane because fl ights can be cheap. If you can’t fi nd a cheap fl ight, get in your car. Is your car a piece of trash and fl ights aren’t your thing? Ok, then get on a train. Well, if you don’t have a bunch of money since the train costs more than a plane ticket, then get on the bus...if you really have to. Just get out and go somewhere you haven’t gone to yet. It’s awesome. Believe me. I won’t lie to you. It’s awesome. Just totally awesome. If you don’t have the money for it, quit smoking. If you don’t smoke, then congratulations, and stop drinking for two weeks. If that’s not an option, then give up your latte or sushi for the month. Can’t do it? Then put ten dollars a day under the mattress for three weeks. It’ll totally be worth it when you explore a new place. Do it. Got it? Hope so. If you don’t then let me tell you again. Travel. You will love it and your life won’t be the same after it. Trust me because I said it before and I’ll say it again that I won’t lie to you. Travel. Do it. Maya Stone Bassoon

Rosalyn Story Violin I

Adrienne Taylor Cello Norman & Debbie Herbert, in honor of our granddaughter, Sarah Lind Goetzke, Chair

Xavier Verna Percussion Alexander-Redding Chair

Good luck to, “Identity Cubed”, my newly formed percussion trio as they embark on a journey to Luxembourg to compete in an international percussion trio competition. Dam-du-gu-Dam-du-gu-Dam!!!!

Lecolion Washington Bassoon, Principal

Roger Whitworth French Horn

“It doesn’t matter how many say it cannot be done or how many people have tried it before; it’s important to realize that whatever you’re doing, it’s your fi rst attempt at it.” Alycia Wilder Viola Pickard Family Fund Chair

Larry Williams French Horn, Principal I have been a proud member of the Sphinx Symphony Orchestra since 2004. I have enjoyed performing with the brilliant musicians in the orchestra and have been absolutely amazed at the outstanding performances by the competitors each year. To all Sphinx competitors past, present and future: I sincerely wish you all the best in your studies, careers and lives. You truly are the future! To my great friends in the SSO: I have enjoyed every minute that we have spent together and look forward to many more years of friendship and music making with you! To the Sphinx Staff: thank you guys so much for your friendship, and support! You are absolutely fantastic! To Aaron and Afa: Thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to be a part of this special organization. Thank you for your vision and leadership. I am honored to call you friends and proud to be a member of the Sphinx family!

Edith Yokley Violin I Cynthia M. Sargent Chair Sphinx has made an indelible impression on my life, not only as a musician, and one of color, but as a human being. Year after year I am always inspired and motivated by the superlative level of music making and artistry by each symphony member and laureate. However what has always amazed me is the intelligence, humanity, and constant strive for ever higher levels of musicianship exhibited by all who participate. I have played with many ensembles composed of extremely talented musicians in my life and not one has encompassed as much achievement by its members off the stage, as well as on, in community building efforts and betterment of life projects as the Sphinx. Happy 15th!

Brian Young Percussion BIOS

Michael Morgan was born in Washington, DC, where he att ended public schools and began conducti ng at the age of 12. While a student at Oberlin College Conservatory of Music, he spent a summer at the Berkshire Music Center at Tanglewood, studying with Gunther Schuller and Seiji Ozawa. It was during this summer that he fi rst worked with Leonard Bernstein.

His operati c debut was in 1982 at the Vienna State Opera conducti ng Mozart’s The Abducti on from the Seraglio. In 1986, Sir Georg Solti chose him to become the Assistant Conductor of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, a positi on he held for fi ve years under both Solti and Daniel Barenboim. In 1986 he was invited by Leonard Bernstein to make his debut with the New York Philharmonic. As a guest conductor he has appeared with most of America’s major orchestras as well as the New York City Opera, St. Louis Opera Theater and Washington Nati onal Opera.

In additi on to his duti es with Oakland East Bay Symphony, Maestro Morgan serves as Arti sti c Director of Oakland Youth Orchestra, Music Director of Sacramento Philharmonic, Arti sti c Director of Festi val Opera in Walnut Creek, Arti sti c Advisor to the Peoria Symphony in Illinois and teaches the graduate conducti ng course at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. As Stage Director he has led producti ons of the Bernstein Mass at the Oakland East Bay Symphony and stagings of Mozart’s Don Giovanni and Benjamin Britt en’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Gounod’s Faust at Festi val Opera. As a chamber musician (piano) he has appeared on the Chamber Music Alive series in Sacramento as well as the occasional appearance in the Bay Area.

He was honored by the San Francisco Chapter of The Recording Academy with the 2005 Governor’s Award for Community Service. On the opposite coast, the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) chose Morgan as one of its fi ve 2005 Concert Music Award recipients. ASCAP further honored Oakland East Bay Symphony in 2006 with its Award for Adventurous Programming. The San Francisco Foundati on has honored him with one of its Community Leadership Awards and he received an Honorary Doctorate from Holy Names University.

He makes many appearances in the nati on’s schools each year, parti cularly in the East Bay, and is highly regarded as a champion of arts educati on and minority access to the arts. He serves on the Board of the Purple Silk Music Educati on Foundati on as well as the Internati onal House at the University of California at Berkeley. He makes his home in Oakland with his mother and sister. Violist Leslie DeShazor is in demand as a soloist, teacher and recording arti st. Though classically trained, Mrs. DeShazor is a talented and diverse musician. As a soloist, she has performed with the Toledo Symphony. She regularly performs with the Ann Arbor, Saginaw, Flint and Sphinx Symphony Orchestras as well as jazz ensembles, Leigh Daniels Ensemble and the Detroit-based, Musique Noire. She has been featured on recordings by internati onal, Grammy award winning R&B stars, Smokey Robinson and Aretha Franklin and Grammy award winning gospel arti sts Fred Hammond and Donnie McClurkin. An experienced instructor, she currently teaches students of Detroit with instructi onal music programs off ered through the Arts League of Michigan and the Sphinx Organizati on. In additi on to her instru- mental performance, Mrs. DeShazor has performed with the West African dance troupe Batu Askan Wi, Bichini Bia Congo, a group for which she has parti cipated as a musician and served as choreographer. A nati ve of Michigan, Mrs. DeShazor holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan.

Beverly Kane Baker, viola, began violin lessons at the age of six with Margaret Davis. While under Ms. Davis’s instructi on, she traveled to Balti more to parti cipate in the Suzuki Violin workshop and met the acclaimed Japanese teacher. Aft er two years of study, she advanced to Elizabeth Chapman’s studio. As a member of the Chapman Youth Ensemble, Ms. Baker performed at the Smithsonian Insti tute in Washington, D.C. and at the capital building in Richmond, Virginia. She traveled for two summers to England to parti cipate in the Purbeck Music Festi val with the noted Hungarian teacher Kato Havas. During this festi val, Ms. Baker performed the Tele- mann Viola Concerto at the Royal College of Music in London. The following summer, she was voted “Most Outstanding Musicician” and won the concerto competi ti on at the Eastern Music Festi val in Greensboro, North Carolina. During her senior year in highschool, she att ended the Juilliard School of Music’s pre-college division study- ing viola with Christi ne Dethier. In 1979, she received a Bachelor of Music degree in performance from the University of Missouri-Columbia, having studied with Carolyn Kenneson. Ms. Baker performed in master classes with the Beaux Arts Trio, the Tokyo String Quartet and Lillian Fuchs. She also received numerous coachings with Wayne Crouse, former principal violist with the Houston Symphony.

In 1983, Ms. Baker joined the Virginia Symphony as a secti on player. In 1987, she was appointed assistant principal viola. She won the principal positi on in 1994 and cur- rently holds that positi on with the symphony as well as Virginia Opera. The Virginia Symphony made its Carnegie Hall debut in 1997, and Ms. Baker performed with her colleagues on NBC’s Today Show. She has performed with the Gateways Music Festi - val, a festi val featuring African-American arti sts. She performs regularly with Norfolk Chamber Consort and Virginia Chamber Players. Ms. Baker is a featured arti st in solo and chamber music performances with the Virginia Arts Festi val. Many of these performances have been broadcast on NPR’s Performance Today. She has also per- formed chamber music with the Miami String Quartet and members of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. She performed Brandenburg no.6 with Jamie Laredo and the Mozart Duo with renowned violinist Nadja-Salerno-Sonnenburg. Ms. Baker has been featured in many solo performances with the Virginia Symphony Orchestra.

Ms. Baker is featured on Bruce Hornsby’s album “Harbor Lights” and her musical studies have been documented in the book “Black Women in American Orchestras” by D. Antoinett e Handy.

Beverly and her husband Norman have raised three grown children Stephanie, Kelly and Jason and are enjoying being grandparents to Jordan. In her spare ti me, she enjoys working out and playing with her worship band.

Double Bassist Maurice Belle is an accomplished, versati le musician who has honed his craft for 15 years and has performed at major venues throughout the United States and abroad. A frequent contributor to several New York- based orchestras, he regularly performs at Carnegie Hall, all 5 boroughs and the tri-state area.

In October 2010, he toured across the Midwest as the principal bassist of the Sphinx Chamber Orchestra. During the summer of 2010, he att ended both Spoleto USA in Charleston, South Carolina and the Nati onal Repertory Orchestra as co-principal bassist in Breckenridge, Colorado.

Maurice traveled to the Pacifi c Music Festi val in Japan in the summer of 2009, where he performed in Sapporo, Osaka and Tokyo. While in Japan, he worked with the major conductors Christoph Eshenbach, Michael Tilson Thomas, played with members of the Vienna Philharmonic and renowned pianist Andre Watt s.

As the principal bassist for many groups, he performs with the One World Sym- phony in Brooklyn, Harlem Symphony Orchestra, New Amsterdam Symphony, Bronx Opera, and the Orchestra of the Bronx. He has also parti cipated in various music festi vals, including the Nati onal Orchestral Insti tute for two summers at University of Maryland and the Brevard Music Center in North Carolina.

A nati ve of Atlanta, Georgia, Maurice earned his undergraduate degree in double bass performance from The Manhatt an School of Music and a graduate diploma from The Juilliard School where he studied under Tim Cobb, principal bassist of the Metropolitan Opera. He also studied with the late Homer Mensch of the NBC Orchestra and Ralph Jones, principal bassist of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.

Akilah Bryant is currently pursuing a MM in Music Performance at the University of Michigan, where she studies with Amy Porter. Akilah graduated magna cum laude, with a BM in Music Performance, from the University of Alabama in 2010. At the University of Alabama, she studied with Diane Boyd Schultz, and frequently per- formed as a soloist throughout the state of Alabama. Miss Bryant is a 2006 graduate of the Alabama School of Fine Arts, where she studied with Kimberly Felder Scott . Upon graduati ng from the U of M in 2012, Akilah hopes to conti nue her educati on by completi ng a DMA in Flute Performance and Pedagogy.

Miss Bryant is currently a member of the Nati onal Federati on of Music Clubs, and received the 1st Place Award of the Clubs’ Nati onal Scholarship Competi ti on in 2011. She serves as a volunteer mentor for the Ypsilanti Youth Orchestra. Ak ilah cur- rently holds the Nelson Hauenstein Memorial Fellowship at the University of Michi- gan. In 2011, she won the Tuesday Musicale Scholarship, which supports musicians at the University of Michigan. Akilah is a three-ti me recipient of the 1st Place Award for the Alabama Federati on of Music Clubs’ Scholarship Competi ti on (2009-2011), and recipient of the 2nd Place Award in 2008. In 2009, she won the 1st Place Award for the Birmingham Music Club Guild’s Annual Scholarship Competi ti on and the 2nd Place Award in 2007. Akilah is a 2009 initi ate of the Lambda Zeta Chapter of the public service sorority: Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated. She is currently a member of the Ann Arbor Alumnae Chapter of the sorority.

Tubaist Landres Bryant hails from West Palm Beach Florida. A graduate of the University of Michigan he has played under conductors Michael Tilson Thomas, Herbert Blomstedt, Christoph Eschenbach, Robert Spano Leonard Slatkin, and Peter Oundjian. A diverse musician, Landres has also performed and worked with jazz trombonist Jiggs Whigham, drummer Steve Houghton, the Army Blues Jazz En- semble, current and former members of The Count Basie Orchestra, Tower of Power and the Buddy Rich and Maynard Ferguson big bands. He has been a fellow at the Tanglewood Music Festi val, Das Schleswig Holstein Musik Festi val and the Music Academy of the West.

David Burnett , is a Harlem born violinist of Anti guan and Kitti ti an parents. He began violin lessons with Galina Heifetz (Jasha Heifetz cousin) at The Third Street Music School Sett lement, while a student at LaGuardia’s High School of Music and Art. David conti nued his studies at Oberlin Conservatory with Marilyn McDonald, then Boston Conservatory with Lynn Chang. Upon returning to New York, David conti nued his studies with Daniel Phillips. Mr. Burnett has enjoyed teaching at The Harlem School of the Arts (22 years), Langston Hughes Middle School (12 years), Garvey School (6 years), Assar Auset Charter School (5 years) and Juilliard’s MAP Program (2 years). In additi on to teaching, Mr. Burnett performs with several groups, including but not limited to, The Harlem Symphony, Harlem Chamber Players, New York Housing Authority Orchestra, Soulful Symphony (which had a 5 year residency with the Balti more Symphony), New York Youth Symphony and The West Village String Quartet (an African- American quartet, which he founded in 1987). Douglas Cardwell currently holds the Principal Timpani Chair with the New Mexico Philharmonic. He joined the Philharmonic aft er being affi liated with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. He was also been appointed Principal Timpanist of the Nati onal Sphinx Orchestra.

Mr. Cardwell was a Fellowship recipient with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, and performed with DSO including recording and touring Eastern and Western Europe. Cardwell received a Bachelor of Music Educati on degree from James Madison University. He performed with the Houston Symphony Orchestra on an Orchestral Internship earning him a full tuiti on scholarship to Rice University where he received a Master of Music Performance degree from the Shepherd School of Music. Other credits include the Houston Grand Opera, the Spoleto Festi val Orchestra in Italy and an internati onal tour with the American-Russian Orchestra.

While living in the Detroit area he was a member of “Embaire” which performs West African and Western percussion ensemble music. Their work focused on the drum- ming of Ghana and Uganda, as well as, compositi ons for the Ugandan xylophone, from which the ensemble takes its name.

Founder of the jazz quartet, Aft er Five, Cardwell performs Jazz, R&B, & Funk with several groups at local venues when not teaching privately at his percussion studio in Albuquerque.

Visit htt p://www.DCPercussion.com/ to view new ti mpani mallets - The DC Series.

Dennis Carter has a Bachelor of Music in Flute Performance from Wayne State University. His teachers were Ervin Monroe and Clement Barone. He conti nued his studies by winning an Orchestral Apprenti ceship with Operalaboratorio in Palermo, Sicily and by invitati on to att end Julius Baker’s Masterclass as a Performer.

He is well known as a soloist in the area having performed with the Wayne State University, Warren Symphony, Emerald Sinfoniett a, Nati onal Associati on of Negro Musician Associati on-Collegiate Young Arti st Concert, African American Composers Concert at Wayne State and with the Brazael Dennard Community Chorus.

He has toured the US with the NY Gilbert and Sullivan Players, The New Sigmund Romberg Orchestra and Carl Rosa Opera Company.

Currently Principal Fluti st with the Dearborn Symphony, he also holds that posi- ti on with the Fisher/Masonic Theater Orchestra of Detroit, Warren Symphony and Orchestra Canton. A busy Free-lancer, he has performed with the all of the area orchestras including Detroit Symphony, Ann Arbor Symphony and most recently the Michigan Opera Theater Orchestra.

In additi on to performing, Dennis taught fl ute for Henry Ford Community College, is an Assistant Teacher with the Southfi eld Public Schools Elementary Band and Orchestra and is a Performance Coach/ Theory Instructor for the Sphinx Preparatory Insti tute. Leah Lucas Celebi, a nati ve of Peoria, Illinois, studied viola and piano at the Chi- cago College of the Performing Arts and received a Bachelors in Viola Performance in 2003. In 2006, she received a Masters in Viola Performance from the University of California Santa Barbara studying with internati onally-renowned soloist Helen Callus. While in Santa Barbara she performed with the Santa Barbara Symphony, Santa Barbara Chamber Orchestra and the Irish band Danssair.

Now a sought-aft er performer and teacher, Leah performs with many local groups in the Detroit area and is an instructor for the Detroit Symphony Orchestra’s Power of Dreams String Project. As a certi fi ed Suzuki teacher, she joined the faculty at Suzuki Royal Oak Insti tute of Music in 2008 where she teaches both viola and violin. Although a classically trained musician, Leah can be heard performing live and in the studio in a variety of genres as a member of the criti cally acclaimed World Jazz ensemble Musique Noire. She has also performed behind nati onally renowned performers such as Aretha Franklin, Three Mo’ Tenors, Marcus Belgrave and many more.

Leah resides in Harper Woods, Michigan with her jazz drummer, pianist and com- poser husband John Celebi and their two sons, Evren and Milo.

Lydia Cleaver, a graduate of Cass Technical High School in Detroit, received her Bachelor of Music in Music Educati on, and graduate degrees in Harp Perfor- mance from the University of Michigan. She has been a featured performer for the American Harp Society on several occasions. Lydia maintains an acti ve performance schedule in additi on to conti nuing to train the next generati on of harpists as direc- tor of the Cass Technical High School Harp department.

Born in 1985 in Atlanta Georgia, Jonathan Colbert is a product of the Atlanta Public School System and started playing the double bass in his mother’s middle school orchestra. At the age of 15, Jonathan’s family encouraged him to study with the Principal Bass of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Mr. Ralph Jones. Through this relati onship of guidance, counseling, and professional advisement, his true musical journey began.

Jonathan was a member of the Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra and att ended the Interlochen Arts Camp as a recipient of the Emerson Scholarship. Aft er graduati ng from high school, Jonathan moved to New York to study at the Manhatt an School of Music and The Juilliard School.

As a college student, Mr. Colbert was invited to play with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra as a substi tute; in 2009 Jonathan was invited to play one year with the Kansas City Symphony. He has won positi ons in the Hartf ord Symphony, and the Verbier Festi val Orchestra in Verbier, Switzerland. Colbert has toured Europe, Asia, South America, Australia and the USA.

His primary teachers have included Ralph Jones, Principal Bass of the Atlanta Sym- phony), Timothy Cobb, Principal Bass of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Leigh Mesh, Associate Principal Bass of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Albert Laszlo.

Mr. Colbert is very acti ve in his hometown and plans to conti nue to help kids from his parents school achieve their goals in music and conti nue their educati on.

Cellist Damon Coleman began his cello studies through the Suzuki method in his hometown of Detroit, Michigan. During high school, Damon studied cello with members of the Detroit Symphony and University of Michigan faculty. He did his un- dergraduate work at the Eastman School of Music, and was a student of Paul Katz, cellist of the Cleveland Quartet. Damon was a member of the New World Symphony in Miami Beach for four years, serving as a principal cellist his last two seasons. He has appeared in masterclasses with cellists including Janos Starker, Lynn Harrell, and Msti slav Rostropovich. He has also studied independently with Steven Geber, Ron Leonard, Anthony Elliott , and Steven Doane. Damon has been the principal cellist of the Kalamazoo Symphony, the Flint Symphony, and the Michigan Chamber Orchestra. He has served as a faculty member of the Miami School for the Arts, the Ann Arbor School for the Arts, the New England Music Camp, The PRIZM Music Festi val, and the University of Toledo. In 2006 and 2009, he was the recipient of the King-Chávez-Parks Visiti ng Professorship from the University of Michigan. In February of 2011, he taught and performed as a visiti ng arti st at the Sphinx Prepa- ratory Music Insti tute in Detroit. Damon has performed concerts of the solo Bach suites on internati onal tours, and has been heard throughout the concert halls of North America, South America, and Europe. He has been featured on PBS specials and Nati onal Public Radio, as well as the television show ‘Sunday Morning’. Damon currently maintains a private teaching studio in the Sylvania area. He is a member of Toledo Symphony and performs chamber music as the cellist of the Bezonian Trio. He is also a regular parti cipant in the Sphinx Music Festi val, where he has served as a principal cellist for the past three years. Damon’s upcoming appearances include chamber series performances of the Shostakovich Trio, the Kodály Duo, and a solo recital series in the spring of 2012. He will also be performing Penderecki’s Triple Concerto with the Toledo Symphony in the 2012-2013 season. In his spare ti me, Damon enjoys literature, meditati on, chess, and philosophy.

Valeria Cortés is a violinist originated in Villalba, Puerto Rico. She began her studies at the age of ten at the Juan Morel Campos School of Music in Ponce, Puerto Rico. She then went on to obtain her bachelor’s degree from the Conservatory of Music of Puerto Rico, where she graduated with honors. She has att ended various music festi vals and workshops around the United States, including the Festi val of the Youth Symphony Orchestra of the Americas and the New York Summer Music Festi val.

She has also had the oportunity to play with diff erent orchestras around the Carib- bean and the United States, including the Santo Domingo Nati onal Orchestra and the Illinois Symphony Orchestra. She currently resides in Chicago, Illinois, where she studies under the tutelage of renowned violinist Rachel Barton Pine. A nati ve of Mexico,Maureen Conlon has performed to much acclaim on many stages throughout Lati n America, Europe, and the U.S. Her appearances as soloist with the Orchestra of the State of Mexico (OSEM) playing Dvorak’s Violin Concerto in 2005 and Mozart’s Fourth Violin Concerto in 2009 were televised nati onally and internati onally and aired on nati onal radio.

Being a prize winner at various competi ti ons has led to solo appearances and recitals as well as scholarships to further her musical studies. She has collaborated with bands and various recording arti sts on their CD releases. In additi on to being a concert violinist, Miss Conlon is a member of tango band, Aquitango, and plays with cross-genre ensemble Forest of the Americas.

Miss Conlon began her musical studies at age six in the Centro Cultural El Nigro- mante in San Miguel de Allende, Gto. She earned her Bachelors in Music at the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University in Houston, Texas and she earned her Masters Degree in Violin Performance as a graduate assistant to Jim Lyon at Penn State University where she was concertmaster of the Penn State Orchestras and Baroque Ensemble, in additi on to playing fi rst violin of the graduate string quartet and member of the Pennsylvania Centre Orchestra.

Teaching young students has played an important part in her career. She began teaching private violin lessons at the age of 13 and currently has a private studio at Musik Innovati ons in Pitt sburgh, PA

Miss Conlon conti nues to acti vely perform as soloist and with the Trio Nova Mundi and is a member of the Erie Philharmonic. She recently completed a Performance Residency Program at Carnegie-Mellon University studying under Pitt sburgh Sym- phony Orchestra concertmaster, Andres Cárdenes.

www.maureenconlon.com

Shawn Edmonds made his solo debut with the Chicago Symphony at age 17 aft er winning their Young Arti st Solo Competi ti on. Aft er Graduati ng the Eastman School of Music with a degree in classical trumpet he did a sti nt with the American Wind Symphony and on cruise ships before moving to New York City. 6 months later he landed a job with the Count Basie Orchestra where he remained for 10 years.

Shawn is currently Principal Trumpet in the Chelsea Opera Orchestra, Principal Trumpet for the last 3 seasons in the Sphinx Festi val Orchestra as well as a freelance musician in New York City. Recent projects include a Cd with Joe Piscopo, record- ing for the Moti on Picture Soundtrack “Louis” The story of Louis Armstrong with Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra and a concert with the Utah Symphony Orchestra with the Duke Ellington Band. In February of 2011 he played “Elegy For Miles Davis” (part of Richard Bennett ’s Trumpet Concerto) with the New England Conservatory Wind Ensemble.

He can be heard playing jazz on the Count Basie Orchestra release “Count Plays Duke” which also won a Grammy Award. Violinist Isabel Escalante started her musical training at the age of 6 at El Con- servatorio de Carabobo in Venezuela. In 2003, she was granted a full scholarship to conti nue her studies at the University of Southern Mississippi where she obtained her Bachelor’s degree in music. She has received honors in several competi ti ons in- cluding 3rd place in the Emil Friedman Violin Competi ti on and 1st place in the 2007 William T. Gower Competi ti on. She has been a semifi nalist in the Sphinx Competi - ti on and the Lennox Internati onal Young Arti st Competi ti on. Ms. Escalante made her solo debut at age 9 with the Carabobo Youth Symphony Orchestra and has appeared as a soloist with the University of Southern Mississippi Orchestra.

As an orchestra musician, Ms. Escalante has been a member of numerous Gulf Coast’s orchestras such as Mobile Symphony Orchestra, Baton Rouge Symphony Or- chestra, Tuscaloosa Symphony Orchestra and Pensacola Symphony Orchestra. This year, she joined the Mississippi Symphony Orchestra for their 2010-2011 season. She was a member of the Sphinx Chamber Orchestra in their Inaugural Nati onal Tour in 2008 and their second tour in 2009.

As a music educator; Ms. Escalante was one of the founding teachers of the Ba- ton Rouge Children’s Charter School string program in 2009. She has also been an ongoing member of the Insti tute of Musicianship and Public Service since its inaugurati on as well as a member of the 2010 Nati onal Dalcroze Conference held in Cambridge, MA. She has taught violin at the Gulf Port High School in Biloxi, MS and privately. Currently, Ms. Escalante is teaching strings in the JPS elementary schools as part of the Mississippi Symphony Educati onal Program.

Jim Ferraiuolo is a nati ve New Yorker. He holds a Masters Degree and a Post Graduate Diploma in Oboe Performance from the Mannes College of Music and a Bachelors Degree from The Manhatt an School of Music. Jim has also studied at The Ecole D’Art, in Fontainebleau, France. He has appeared with many orchestras including: The Brooklyn Philharmonic, The Sphinx Symphony Orchestra, The Black Pearl Chamber Orchestra, The Garden State Philharmonic, and The Orchestra of St. Peter by the Sea.

Jim has also appeared on Broadway in the producti ons of The Producers, Gypsy, The Wedding Singer, A Class Act, The Life, Seussical, Avenue Q and at Radio City Music Hall.

In additi on to oboe, Jim also plays fl ute, clarinet and saxophone. In his spare ti me, Jim enjoys playing chess and regularly plays tournaments.

D r. Langston J. Fitzgerald III, professor of trumpet at Penn State, played trumpet with the Balti more Symphony Orchestra from 1970 to 2003. Fitzgerald has played extra with the Nati onal Symphony, in Washington, D.C., and has performed as assistant principal trumpet with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. For the past twenty-seven years, he has been principal trumpet and musical contractor of the Emmy and Grammy Award Winning Balti more Choral Arts Society Orchestra (www. balti morechoralarts.org). Professor Fitzgerald performed as principal trumpet of the Balti more Opera Orchestra from 2003 unti l the company closed its doors in 2009, leaving Balti more without a grand opera company. Fitzgerald recently performed the Franz Joseph Haydn Trumpet Concerto on the Balti more Choral Arts Society’s TOUR de France in Paris and Southern France (July 2007). Dr. Fitzgerald’s appear- ance in 2005 at the Internati onal Trumpet Guild Conference in Bangkok, Thailand, not only featured him as trumpet soloist and chamber performer, but also as conductor of the trumpet ensemble “en masse” to signal the end of the confer- ence—a traditi on that has conti nued to prevail. Most recently, Professor Fitzgerald performed the world premiere work by Eric Ewazen, “Down a River of Time,” at the 35th Internati onal Trumpet Guild Conference in Sydney, Australia (July 2010). This world premiere received its U.S. premiere in Fitzgerald’s faculty recital in September 2010 at Penn State, with the composer as his guest accompanist. Dr. Fitzgerald also occasionally performs with the Penn State faculty brass quintet, The Pennsylvania BrassWorks (WPSU TV/FM). In additi on, he is fi rst trumpet and founder of both the Giovanni and the Potomac brass quintets. His freelancing in Balti more and Washington has included performing at three presidenti al inaugurati ons and three “Christmas in Washington” nati onally televised specials. He helped to contract and played co-principal trumpet at the nati onally televised Millennium celebrati on at the Jeff erson Memorial in Washington, D.C.

It is noteworthy to menti on that Professor Fitzgerald has several former students who have won positi ons in major symphony orchestras, including Tage Larsen, fourth trumpet, Chicago Symphony Orchestra; Billy Hunter, principal trumpet, Met- ropolitan Opera Orchestra in New York City; Thomas Hooten, principal trumpet, At- lanta Symphony; and Andrew Wilson, solo cornet/trumpet, United States Air Force Band, Washington, D.C. In additi on to preparing many of his students for performing careers, Fitzgerald has had numerous students pursue the degrees of Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts in Performance.

Dr. Fitzgerald is a graduate of Howard University (B.M.E.) and Catholic University of America (M.M. and D.M.A). He is a member of the Internati onal Trumpet Guild, and is a founding and honorary member of the Board of Directors of the Internati onal Women’s Brass Conference. Fitzgerald is also a member of the American Federati on of Musicians in both Washington, D.C., and Balti more.

Tamara Gonzalez began her musical studies at the age of four in the Washington DC area. She was enrolled in her local Suzuki violin program as well as in the DC Youth Orchestra Program. At age nine, Tamara moved to Puerto Rico with her family and began studying at the Puerto Rico Conservatory of Music Preparatory Program, and was placed in the Advanced Orchestra. At age 11, Tamara was admitt ed into the FOSJA summer festi val and conti nued parti cipati ng for the following six summers. During her ti me living in Puerto Rico, Tamara studied with Jaime Medina, and served as Concertmaster for the Advanced Orchestra for two years. In 1999, at the age of 15, Tamara graduated early from the Preparatory Program and began studying in the P.R. Conservatory of Music ,with Henry Hutchinson. In the summer of 1999, Ta- mara att ended Interlochen Arts Camp for the fi rst ti me and was a member of WYSO. She also began her viola studies at Interlochen that summer and conti nued to at- tend Interlochen through the summer of 2001, when she was awarded the Emerson Scholar for Puerto Rico. Also in 2001, Mrs. Gonzalez won fi rst place at the Puerto Rico Conservatory Concerto Competi ti on and fi rst place at the FOSJA Concerto Competi ti on. In the fall of 2001, Tamara began her studies at DePaul University with Joseph Genualdi and later with Robert Waters. She served as Concertmaster for the DePaul Chamber Orchestra through-out her ti me at DePaul and graduated in 2005 with a BM in Violin Performance. Tamara returned to DePaul and in 2010 obtained an M.M with Honors in Violin Performance, studying with Olga Kaler.

Tamara Gonzalez enjoys an acti ve career as a free-lance violinist and violin/viola instructor in the Chicago area. She has taught at DePaul Community Music, Smiling Strings, Music Insti tute of Chicago and in the fall of 2011 will serve as Coordina- tor and Department Head of the Suzuki Department for Sherwood Conservatory. She has received Suzuki Teacher Training through Suzuki Book 5, and will conti nue her training in the fall of 2011. She has had success instructi ng Suzuki students as young three years old, as well as working on advanced concerti with her high school students at Lane Technical High School, and Vernon Hills High School. Tamara is an acti ve performer, and has played as a member of the Sphinx Festi val Orchestra, Chi- cago Classical Symphony, Rockford Symphony and the Chicago Sinfoniett a. She looks forward to performing various solo and chamber recitals in the 2011-2012 season.

Mrs. Gonzalez resides in the Ravenswood neighborhood in Chicago, with her hus- band Joseph Kosowski, whom she married in September of 2010.

Of Bolivian parentage, Sheena Guti errez began her violin self-studies at the age of twelve. As a promising young talent, she parti cipated consecuti vely at the Annual Superintendent’s Honors Music Festi val from 2003 to 2008. It was at New World School of the Arts in Miami, Florida where she began her intensive studies under guidance of disti nguished faculty of: Alfred Gershfeld, Richard Fleischman, and Thomas Moore.

Sheena made her debut at the age of 15 playing Vivaldi’s Four Season: Spring with the Coral Gables Conservatory for the Art’s Young Musician’s Orchestra in Vizcaya, Biltmore Hotel, Coral Gables Congregati onal Church, Miami Botanical Garden, and Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County. She was also fortunate to obtain master classes with the Eroica Trio, Ellis Marsalis, Anne-Akiko Meyers, James Buswell, and Charles Castleman.

As disti nguished fi nalist at the fi rst Walenstein Concerto Competi ti on in 2008, Sheena has traveled to study violin as a parti cipant in the Eastman School of Music: Music Horizons Program, Stringendo School for Strings, Miami’s Classical Virtuosi Music Festi val, Boston’s Rictor Noren Intensive String Program, and in Bowdoin Internati onal Music Festi val 2011 as a full scholarship student. She also became the semi-fi nalist of the 2011 Sphinx Competi ti on in Michigan for young Black and Lati no players. She will be joining the Sphinx Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra on their Fall 2011 tour celebrati ng Sphinx Organizati on’s 15th anniversary. She will be presented in 15 concerts which include performances at Carnegie Hall, Chicago, New World Center, Interlochen, and others.

She currently studies at The Boston Conservatory with Rictor Noren pursuing her Bachelors of Music in Violin Performance. As a Utah nati ve of Peruvian descent,Bryan Hernandez-Luch began his violin studies at the age of six. At the age of fi ft een he made his solo debut with the Utah Symphony Orchestra. Hailed by the press for his compelling performance at the 2003 Sphinx Competi ti on, Bryan Hernandez-Luch won fi rst place in the senior divi- sion while performing with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. As a Sphinx Laureate, Bryan has appeared with the Cleveland, Atlanta, New Jersey, Utah, Chautauqua, New World, Colorado, Nashville, Grand Rapids, Prince George Philharmonic and Batt le Creek symphony orchestras as well as Canada’s Nati onal Arts Center Orches- tra. As a soloist he has worked with such conductors as Franz Welser-Möst, Robert Spano, Keith Lockhart, David Cho, Arthur Fagan and Thomas Wilkins.

An avid chamber musician, Bryan is a founding member of the Catalyst Quartet. Their performances have been featured in New York City’s Carnegie Hall - Stern Au- ditorium and Weill Hall – South Africa, London, and major citi es throughout the U.S. In the fall of 2011, he was the concertmaster of the Sphinx Virtuosi, a conductor-less chamber orchestra, in their inaugural U.S. tour.

Bryan has also toured extensively across the U.S., Japan and Korea, as a guest arti st with the piano chamber ensemble, The 5 Browns. In 2007, Bryan wrote an arrange- ment for violinist Gil Shaham and The 5 Browns which can be found on the album, Browns in Blue (RCA Red Seal/Sony). A highly sought aft er studio musician, Bryan has recorded numerous soundtracks and solos for major moti on fi lms, including the 2010 World Cup soundtrack and music for the 2011 NBA Finals. He is also in fre- quent demand as a freelance arti st, having performed alongside Josh Groban, Sarah Brightman, Rod Stewart, Il Divo, and other popular arti sts.

Bryan is currently pursuing a master’s degree at The Juilliard School, studying with Joseph Lin, fi rst violinist of the Juilliard String Quartet. Bryan has studied at the Manhatt an School of Music, University of Utah and Brigham Young University. He resides in New York City with his wife, concert pianist, Desirae Brown.

Mariana Green-Hill is the Arti sti c Director of Project STEP (www.projectstep. org) located at Symphony Hall in Boston Massachusett s, where she teaches, coaches and advises students and parents grades K-12. Project STEP provides comprehensive music educati on to students from the Black and Lati no communiti es with the goal of giving these students an opportunity to compete and succeed in the world of clas- sical music. She also performs in various venues as a soloist and chamber musician and teaches privately and as a member of the New England Conservatory’s Prepara- tory Division. In August of 2011, Ms. Green-Hill became the Strings Director at Bos- ton Arts Academy under the leadership of Gregory Holt, directi ng both technique and orchestral classes for the school’s string students.

In 2009, Mariana Green-Hill was honored by the Sphinx Competi ti on as the winner of the Sanford Allen Award in recogniti on of her “arti sti c merit, persistence, and extraordinary achievement. ” This year marks the fi ft h anniversary as Founder and Director of “Four Strings Academy,” an intensive string program held during the summer geared to children, ages 4-18, demonstrati ng the potenti al to become pro- fessional musicians. This school year, Ms. Green-Hill joins the faculty of Boston Arts Academy in their string department as a music teacher.

Mariana Green-Hill is a Second Prize Winner of The Sphinx Competi ti on. She has also won fi rst place in the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Harry and Marion Dubbs Competi ti ons. Mrs. Green-Hill has been a featured guest soloist with the New Jersey, Memphis, Detroit, and Boston Symphony Orchestras and The Boston Pops. In additi on to her solo performances, she is an experienced chamber and orchestral musician. The Amaryllis String Quartet, of which she was a member, was awarded First Prize in the presti gious Fischoff Chamber Music Competi ti on (Jr. Division). Ms. Green-Hill has performed with YoYo Ma, Pamela Frank, Lynn Chang, Marcus Thom- son, and with members of the Houston and Pitt sburgh Symphony Orchestras. She was also a member of the Young Eight String Octet for six seasons.

Mariana Green-Hill is co-concertmaster of the Soulful Symphony that performs in collaborati on with the Balti more Symphony and whose performance of “Song in a Strange Land” composed and directed by Darrin Atwater earned an Emmy. Ms. Green-Hill is the one of the violinists of the MarNi Duo that performed for a benefi t concert for the now President Barak Obama in Boston’s Jordan Hall. She enjoys per- forming with non-classical musicians, and has recorded with gospel arti sts Donnie McClurkin and Richard Smallwood. She has also performed with the “Gorillaz,” and with Joss Stone and Alicia Keys. Ms. Green-Hill studied violin under the auspices of Project STEP and att ended Walnut Hill School for the Arts. She received her Bachelor and Masters Degrees from The Juilliard School and a Professional Studies Diploma from the Mannes College of Music under the respecti ve tutelage of Dean Stephen Clapp, Ann Setzer and Ida Kavafi an.

The passion and expressive qualiti es of violinistTami Lee Hughes are marked by her success as a premier arti st. As soloist, she has appeared with a number of sym- phony orchestras across the United States, including the Nati onal, Monroe, Missis- sippi, and Ponti ac-Oakland Symphony Orchestras among others. She has extensively appeared as recitalist in universiti es and concert venues in the United States, Costa Rica, Bermuda, Austria and Russia and has performed as solo or chamber arti st in the Ann Arbor Chamber Fest, Natchez Festi val of Music, Silver Anniversary Celebra- ti on of the New Arts Cultural Society, and a tribute concert to composer Judith Zaimont, broadcast on Nati onal Public Radio. Other notable appointments include appearances with the Rocky Mountain Orchestra, Aspen Music Festi val Opera Or- chestra, Emerald Sinfoniett a, Sphinx Symphony Orchestra, and Pro Consorde Cham- ber Consort. In August of 2011, Albany Records released Hughes’ debut solo album Legacy: Violin Music of African-American Composers. She has also performed on recordings for Profi l and Verity Records. She is Assistant Professor of Violin at the University of Kansas. A nati ve of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Hughes received a Bach- elor of Music degree from the University of Minnesota, and Master’s and Doctorate degrees from the University of Michigan. Teachers include Nancy Langham, Jana Burton, Sally O’Reilly, Camilla Wicks, and Paul Kantor. David Jackson, a recognized and ardent supporter of new music, has commis- sioned and premiered numerous compositi ons for the trombone. He most recently commissioned and debuted Adolphus Hailstork’s John Henry’s Big at the 2011 East- ern Trombone Workshop. His upcoming CD, Inner Rebellion, includes debut record- ings of Eric Ewazen, Adolphus Hailstork, Paul Richards, Steve Rush, and Matt hew Tommasini.

A nati ve of Houston, Texas,Geoff rey Johnson currently is in his third season as an oboe fellow with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. Prior to being a fellow with DSO, Geoff rey played with Pitt sburgh Symphony as a fellow for one season, and has also played with several other orchestras, including Honolulu Symphony, Nati onal Arts Centre Orchestra (Ott awa, Canada), Sarasota Symphony, Pitt sburgh Opera, Michigan Opera Theatre, and plays regularly with baroque orchestra, Seraphic Fire in Miami, Florida. He holds Master of Music from the Cleveland Insti tute of Music, where he studied with John Mack, and a Bachelor of Music from Baylor University.

Music has been at the center of Charles Larkins’ life since he fi rst picked up a trumpet as a child in the 1950s. Mr. Larkins was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan and was a student in the Ann Arbor Public Schools music program from elementary through high school. He att ended Eastern Michigan University and the University of Michigan, graduati ng with music degrees from both schools. In additi on to having a full-ti me teaching studio, Mr. Larkins is in demand as a soloist and maintains an ac- ti ve schedule as a performer. Throughout his career he has played with many of the community orchestras in Michigan and Ohio, and has been a soloist with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and the Ann Arbor Symphony. iiIn 1970 Mr. Larkins was invited to become a member of the Galliard Brass En- semble, a brass quintet which performs concerts throughout in the eastern and southern United States. Over ti me he assumed the responsibiliti es of music director and business manager of the GBE, and his leadership brought the group to nati onal att enti on with their recordings on the Musical Heritage Society label in 1980, 1982, and 1988. In 1992 the Galliard Brass toured to the south of France, and in 2004 they represented the United States at the Harbin Internati onal Music Festi val in Harbin, China. Mr. Larkins is also the director of Brassworks, a music contracti ng service providing skilled, professional musicians to churches, schools, and businesses for special events throughout the metropolitan Detroit area. Gwen Laster’s upbringing in urban and classical music was inspired by her moth- er’s love for blues and Jazz. Her moti vati on blossomed from her Detroit high school orchestra teacher Anderson White who introduced Gwen to playing classical music on electric violin, professional recording sessions and her fi rst experiences of sum- mer music camps. Aft er earning her BM and MM from the University of Michigan School of Music, Gwen relocated to New York City. She emerged herself in record- ing her own music, recording, touring and collaborati ng with other arti sts, playing Broadway shows, Jazz clubs, traditi onal and non traditi onal chamber ensembles and teaching improvisati on to string players. She has recorded two original music proj- ects; “Sneak Preview” and “I Hear You Smiling”. Her next recording “Gameboard” to be released in September 2012 is a Global Music fusion of Western and non Western instruments inspired by her love for yoga and Eastern philosophy. Gwen has published a violin method book “Music for the Creati ve String Player”, several string orchestra arrangements for improvising players and leads “Creati ve Strings Workshops” for young musicians. She has traveled internati onally sharing her mu- sic. Gwen is a certi fi ed yoga instructor and member of the Sphinx Symphony since it’s incepti on. www.gwenlaster.com

Oti s Lockhart Bass Trombonist/ Tenor Trombonist

Graduated from Interlochen Arts Academy 1986

Studied at Florida A&M University for Music Educati on 1986 -1987

Studied at Wayne State University for Music Performance 1989 -1992

Freelance Musician in the Detroit Area for Twenty Five years

Played in numerous orchestras, jazz, pop, salsa groups.

Warren Symphony Orchestra, Ponti ac-Oakland Symphony, St. Clair Symphony, Assumpti on Grott o Orchestra, Sphinx Symphony Orchestra, Dearborn Symphony Orchestra, Southfi eld Symphony Orchestra.

Att ended Interlochen Music Camp 1985, Tanglewood Music Camp “Empire Brass Seminar” 1991

Trombone Mentor for Detroit Civic Symphony Orchestra and Jazz Trombone Mentor for Civic Jazz Orchestra at Orchestra Hall

Brass Teacher for the Sphinx Prep Program 2004 - present

Teachers I have studied with; Maury Okun, Principal Trombonist, Michigan Opera Orchestra, Joseph Skrzynski, Second Trombonist, Detroit Symphony Orchestra (De- ceased), Nathaniel Gurin, Second Trombonist, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Randall Hawes, Bass Trombonist, Detroit Symphony, Scott Hartman, Trombonist, Empire Brass. Lori Lovato is clarineti st for the Santa Fe Symphony, New Mexico Philharmonic (NM Phil), Música de Cámara Orchestra, Santa Fe New Music, Chamisa Chamber Players, arti st-clinician for Backun Musical Services in Canada, and founding member of the New Mexico Woodwind Quintet (NMWQ.org). She has also appeared with the Albuquerque Chamber Soloists, Music at Angel Fire, Chamber Music Albuquer- que (CMA), Chatt er New Music, Santa Fe Opera Orchestra, Sphinx Symphony in Detroit, and the Orquesta Sinfónica de Monterrey, Mexico.

Lori is a graduate of Northwestern University and the University of New Mexico. Re- cently, she was a featured soloist with the Santa Fe Symphony in a performance of the W.A. Mozart Sinfonia Concertante for Winds. This season she will be a part ti me substi tute professor at the University of New Mexico teaching private clarinet les- sons second semester.

Prior to her orchestral career, Lori was the Band & Orchestra Director at West Mesa and Cibola High Schools in Albuquerque for ten years and conti nues to parti cipate in the planning and implementati on of educati onal-outreach projects and grants in partnership with Albuquerque Public Schools, NM Phil and NMWQ.

John Madison received Bachelor and Masters Degrees in Viola Performance from the University of Michigan and is currently the Principal violist of the Michigan Opera Theater Orchestra, plays regularly with the Detroit Symphony, is a member of the Sphinx Symphony, and Co founder and coordinator of The Cassini Ensemble, an award winning Ann Arbor based chamber group that has performed extensively throughout the United States. Mr. Madison recently toured as a guest with the Chamber Orchestra of France and has performed with the New York City Opera Company, the Toledo Symphony and Toledo Opera Orchestra, and has appeared as soloist with The Toledo Symphony, The Southfi eld Philharmonic, The Jackson Sym- phony, The Adrian Symphony and The Cassini Ensemble.

Cellist Derek Menchan is currently professor of the Humaniti es and of Music at Florida’s Polk State College, and also the advisor for the college’s Philosophy Club. A former student of Olga Rostropovich, Harvey Shapiro, and Laszlo Varga, Menchan has been principal cellist in numerous orchestras, including the Orlando Symphony, New York Pro Arte Ensemble, and Houston’s avant garde OrchestraX. Menchan has also been heard in recital throughout the U.S., and in Europe and Canada. Additi on- ally, Menchan has collaborated in multi media presentati ons with videographers, dancers, poets and painters, and is a main parti cipant in Houston’s vibrant con- sorti um of young aritsts. These include the late Andy Mann, and Kristi na Spritzer, videographers; and David McGee and Tierney Malone, sensati onal African-American painters. In additi on to his musical acti viti es, Menchan has also enjoyed giving talks and lecture presentati ons at various insti tuti ons and schools on various topics from the realm of the esoteric. Burt Mason currently serves as Principal Trombone of both the Chamber Orches- tra of New York and the Greenwich Village Orchestra. Recent appointments have included solo trombone for the Miami Music Project and Principal Trombone and soloist of the New York Staff Band of The Salvati on Army. He has performed several ti mes with the New York Philharmonic in additi on to numerous ensembles and orchestras. He has also appeared as soloist with numerous ensembles, performing throughout North America, The United Kingdom, Europe and Australia. Mr. Mason has performed under the baton of notable conductors such as Msti slav Rostropo- vich, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Skitch Henderson, Kenneth Kiesler and Sidney Harth amongst others in world-renowned venues such as Royal Albert Hall, Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center and the Apollo Theater.

Mr. Mason began playing trombone at age 12 but did not receive any formal lessons unti l he entered college at the Crane School of Music (SUNY Potsdam). Despite this lack of formal training, his natural skills as a trombonist placed him as a fi nalist in the fi rst annual New York Philharmonic Young Performers Auditi on, selecti on for the esteemed MENC All-Eastern Band, the NYSSMA All-State Band and Orchestra, as well as winning several local music contests. While in college at the Crane School of Music, Mr. Mason won the Crane School of Music’s most presti gious performing contest, the annual Crane Concerto Competi ti on as a sophomore.

As a recording arti st, Mr. Mason has been featured as a soloist on a variety of recordings with the New York Staff Band on the Triumphonic label. He has also completed the premier recording with Chamber Orchestra of New York, which was released on the Naxos label in July 2011.

Mr. Mason has completed his Masters of Music in Orchestral Performance at the Manhatt an School of Music studying with David Finlayson of the New York Philhar- monic. He has had additi onal studies with Joseph Alessi of the New York Philhar- monic, Weston Sprott of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Mark Hartman at the Crane School of Music. Outside of performing, he acti vely composes and arranges. For more informati on visit www.burtmason.com (Re-launch spring 2012)

Robin Fay Massie is a professional violist in the Balti more/D.C. area. She com- pleted her educati on in Viola Performance aft er att ending the following schools: The University of Maryland, College Park (2003); New England Conservatory (2004); and The Peabody Insti tute of The Johns Hopkins University (2006).

Ms. Massie has culti vated a multi -faceted career as an orchestral violist, chamber musician, soloist, recording arti st and private instructor. She has performed with The Philadelphia Orchestra and Nati onal Symphony Orchestra among other major ensembles. She is Assistant Principal Viola with the Delaware Symphony Orchestra and Co-Principal Viola with the Black Pearl Chamber Orchestra (Philadelphia). She was featured on a recent episode of BET’s Bobby Jones Gospel show as part of gos- pel singer Tye Tribbett ’s backup ensemble.

With a heart for service, Ms. Massie is Founder and Executi ve Director of Musi- cians of Mercy (MOM) – a collecti ve of over seventy musicians and arti sts in the Metropolitan D.C. area. MOM raises funds for humanitarian causes through the producti on of benefi t concerts. MOM was recently recognized in a feature arti cle for The Internati onal Musician, offi cial publicati on of the American Federati on of Musicians. For more informati on, please visit: www.musiciansofmercy.orgw

As an educator, Ms. Massie has taught viola on the collegiate level as a Guest Viola Professor at The University of Delaware, Newark, DE. Today, she maintains a private studio for area middle and high school students. She resides in Columbia, MD.

Nermis Mieses, oboist, is the fi rst prize winner of the First Internati onal Oboe Competi ti on of Santa Catarina, Brazil. She was born and raised in Puerto Rico where she started her solo career at age 15 with a solo performance with the Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra. Also in her nati ve country she att ended the Conservatory of Music and was awarded the Winds and Percussion Department Medal among other awards.

Ms. Mieses is a doctoral student at the University of Michigan studying under Dr. Nancy Ambrose King, with whom she also pursued a Masters degree. She has been awarded for her academic merits and was selected to perform a recital as part of the Cranbrook Music Guild Series in Bloomfi eld Hills, Michigan. Ms. Mieses cur- rently holds a faculty positi on at Hillsdale College as oboe instructor and performs frequently with the Michigan Philharmonic, Dearborn Symphony Orchestra and the Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra.

Jessie Montgomery is a New York nati ve violinist, composer and music educa- tor. She is a composer and performer of fi lm, theater and concert music, perform- ing regularly among New York’s classical and new music scenes.

Jessie is a co-founding member of PUBLIQuartet, an ensemble made up of compos- ers and arrangers, featuring their own music as well as that of other New York based composers.

For the 2011-2012 season, Jessie will be the Van Lier Composer Fellow at the American Composers Orchestra, with performances of her works for small ensemble showcased throughout New York City. Bachelor’s degree from The Juilliard School in violin performance. Compositi on teachers and mentors include Joan Tower, Derek Bermel, Mark Suozzo and Ira Newborn.

Violinist Lisa Muci is a full-ti me, core member of the Knoxville Symphony & Cham- ber Orchestra. Her service to the orchestra includes the positi on of Acti ng Co-Asso- ciate Concertmaster during the 2010 – 2011 season, and the role of Concertmaster for the 2010 Independence Day Concert and the 2009 Festi val of the Arts Concert. A frequent soloist with the orchestra, Ms. Muci was most recently heard in 2009 as the 1st Violin Soloist in the Concerto for 4 Violins in A Minor by Antonio Vivaldi, and in 2008 in the Concerto for Oboe & Violin by J. S. Bach, with KSO Principal Oboist Phylis Secrist. An arts access advocate, Ms. Muci’s solo and chamber music repertoire is as diverse as her performance venues, which include medical centers, community and cultural centers, rural and urban educati onal faciliti es (preK – community college), and pub- lic radio and television. In October of 2011, sponsored by the Friends of the Knox County Library and American Piano Gallery, she presented a recital celebrati ng the music of Hispanic composers. Also in 2011, Ms. Muci was named a Grant Panelist for the 2011 – 2012 Tennessee Arts Commission’s Arts Educati on Community Learn- ing Peer Advisory Grant Panel.

Ms. Muci is also an arts integrati on specialist, and received a professional develop- ment award to att end the Tennessee Arts Commission’s Create2011 Conference. Recently named Program Director of Arts Partners Wichita, Ms. Muci has att ended several professional development sessions of the Wolf Trap Early Childhood STEM Learning Through the Arts Summer Insti tute, observing the creati ve interacti on between Wolf Trap Teaching Arti sts and classroom teachers.

A respected coach, teacher, and adjudicator, Ms. Muci is a former member of the Wichita Symphony, the Des Moines Metro Opera Orchestra, and the acclaimed Chicago Sinfoniett a. Her training included a three-year fellowship with the Nati onal Repertory Orchestra and studies at the Tafelmusik Baroque Summer Insti tute. Ms. Muci is a Magna Cum Laude graduate of Wichita State University, and she received her Master of Music degree in Violin Performance from Northwestern University. Her teachers and coaches included Dr. Elisabeth Adkins, Ms. Linda Melsted, Mr. Milton Thomas, Mr. Thomas Georgi, and Professors Blair Milton, Gerardo Ribeiro, Andrzej Grabiec, James Ceaser, and Nancy Lutt rell.

Jannina Norpoth made her solo debut at the age of 13 performing Wieniaski’s Second Violin Concerto with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. Since then she has performed internati onally including appearances at the Montreux Detroit Jazz Festi - val, Steamboat Springs Chamber Music Festi val, Mostly Mozart Festi val, Great Lakes Chamber Music Festi val, VH1’s Save the Music, and IFC›s Dinner with the Band, alongside musicians as diverse as Regina Carter, Itzhak Perlman, Marcus Belgrave, Jay - Z, Beyonce, and My Brightest Diamond. Also a talented arranger, she frequently writes and records strings for grammy winning producer Jerry ‹Wonda› Duplessis at Plati num Sound in New York City.

A Jacksonville, Florida, nati ve, clarineti stTerrance L. Patt erson is Founder and Executi ve Director of the Ritz Chamber Players and has performed in Paris, London, Milan, Brussels, Belgrade, Munich, Amsterdam, Moscow, Washington, D.C., Balti - more, Miami, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and New York. He has performed with the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra, the Sphinx Symphony of Detroit and the Nashville, Florida West Coast, Huntsville, Festi val, and Las Vegas Symphonies. He att ended the Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University where he studied with clari- neti st Lorin Kitt , principal clarineti st of the Nati onal Symphony Orchestra. Born in Puerto Rico, Karla Donehew Perez began playing the violin at age three. By age nine she had performed as a soloist with the Puerto Rico Symphony Orches- tra, and shortly aft er that was featured on a nati onal television show about young gift ed Lati n American children. She was the youngest member of Festi val Orches- tra Juvenil de Las Americas during the Casals Festi val. At age twelve, Karla moved to California and entered The Crowden School, a middle school with a focus on string chamber music. She conti nued her studies with Anne Crowden, Director and founder of The Crowden School.

Karla completed her Bachelors and Masters degrees at the Cleveland Insti tute of Music, studying performance with the heralded violin teachers Paul Kantor, David Cerone, and William Preucil. As a student at CIM, Karla parti cipated in numerous Master Classes with disti nguished arti sts, and served as the CIM Orchestra’s con- certmaster. As a member of the WO-MEN String Quartet, she was awarded 1st place at the Ohio String Teachers Associati on Competi ti on, and Honorable Menti on at the Plowman Chamber Music Competi ti on. The quartet was also chosen to represent CIM for the Conservatory Project at the Kennedy Center for the Arts and was se- lected to play a recital for the Cleveland Chamber Music Society. In her junior year, Karla was a recipient of the presti gious Dr. Jerome Gross Award in violin. Karla was also awarded second place at the Sphinx Competi ti on. Karla was featured on the Young Arti st Series for the Festi val del Sole, in Napa Valley, California, and was guest concertmaster of the Tucson Symphony Orchestra. Recently, Karla was a fellow at the New World Symphony, where she oft en sat concertmaster or principal second violin and performed as a soloist.

Karla performs on a fi ne violin by Charles and Samuel Thompson, London 1774, on generous loan from Patricia Press Nissen in memory of Alvera and Dudley Warner- Press, and a fi ne violin bow by Victor Feti que, from the Rachel Elizabeth Barton Foundati on.

Fluti st, Bernard Phillips is a lecturer in ethnomusicology and music theory at Medgar Evers College, City University of New York. He was Director of Music at the Harlem School of the Arts, Inc. from 1999 through 2004 and before that appoint- ment he was principal fl ute of the Houston Grand Opera Orchestra for fourteen seasons. He now maintains the advanced fl ute studies studio and conducts the Harlem School of the Arts Flute Choir. He played solo fl ute in the Broadway pro- ducti on of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Sunset Boulevard” and substi tuted in many long running shows. He has performed fl ute and piccolo with the New York City Opera Orchestra, in the Stage Band at the Metropolitan Opera and the Brooklyn Philharmonic’s Educati onal Concert series. Recently, a music criti c for New Jersey’s Star Ledger wrote, “Phillips possessed this vivacity, along with brilliant tone and fl awless technique”. He holds a Master of Music degree in orchestral studies from Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music and a Bachelor of Music degree in fl ute performance from Florida State University in the studio of Albert Tipton. He earned a certi fi cate for advanced study at the Banff Centre’s School of Fine Arts in Banff , Alberta. He is currently pursuing a Ph., D., in ethnomusicology focusing on African Americans in symphonic music at Hunter College/CUNY. He was the 2005 and 2007 Marti n Luther King-Cesar Chavez-Rosa Parks Visiti ng Professor at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Olman E Piedra is the newly appointed assistant professor of Percussion and Jazz studies at the University of Toledo. Mr. Piedra left Costa Rica in 1998 to further his music studies and pursue a musical career in the United States. He has performed with a variety of ensembles, including the Sphinx Orchestra (Detroit, MI), the Na- ti onal Symphony Orchestra of Costa Rica, the Waco Symphony Orchestra (principal percussion), the American Wind Symphony Orchestra, the Toledo Jazz Orchestra, the Ensamble de Percusión Costa Rica, the Detroit Chamber Winds and Strings, the Toledo Symphony Percussion Trio, Italian pop arti st Patrizio Buanne, NOMO afrofunk band (toured around the United States, Canada, and Europe) and Roland Vazquez’ Lati n Jazz Combo (Percussive Arts Society Internati onal Conventi on, Louisville, KY). Olman has also been performing alongside Grammy Award winning arti sts The New York Voices at Bowling Green State University’s vocal jazz camp since 2009.

As an acti ve and versati le jazz, contemporary, Lati n American, and concert musician, he can be heard on William Bolcom’s Grammy award winning album “Songs Of In- nocence And Of Experience” with Leonard Slatkin, conductor, on His Name Is Alive’s “Detrola”, and “Sweet Earth Flower, a tribute to Marion Brown”, NOMO’s “New Tones”, and upcoming CD releases with jazz guitarist/composer Paul Cohn and with the University of Toledo Jazz Faculty ensemble.

A recipient of the Avedis Zildjian Percussion Scholars Scholarship (2003-2004), Ol- man E Piedra has studied under Fernando Meza, Bismarck Fernández, Manrique Méndez, Larry Vanlandingham, Michael Udow, Michael Gould, Ellen Rowe, and Roger Schupp. He holds two Master’s in Music degrees, in Percussion Performance and in Improvisati on from the University of Michigan, and a BM from Baylor Univer- sity. He is currently a DMA candidate in Contemporary Music at Bowling Green State University.

Manuel Ramos, born in Reynosa, Mexico, sixty years ago, is celebrati ng this milestone by taking a leave of absence from the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. As one of his nati ve country’s Concerti stas de Bellas Artes, Mr. Ramos is performing a year of solo concerts featuring all 10 Beethoven sonatas, the 6 sonatas and parti tas of J. S. Bach, and Paganini’s 24 caprices. This is Mr. Ramos second appearance as a member of the Sphinx Symphony Orchestra.

Dr. Mary Ann Ramos has been on cello faculty at Northern Arizona University since the Fall of 2010. She holds prizes in various competi ti ons, among them the Mexican Nati onal Cello Competi ti on and the Music Teachers Nati onal Associati on. Solo concerto appearances include the Gateway Festi val Orchestra, the University City Symphony, the Alton Symphony, and the Kirkwood Symphony. On May 19, 2010, Dr. Ramos was invited to be the featured soloist at the Offi cial State Luncheon hosted by Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton in honor of the President of Mexico’s visit to Washington D.C. Dr. Ramos completed her Bachelor’s degree at New England Conservatory as a student of Laurence Lesser, her Master’s degree at Cleveland Insti tute of Music as a student of Richard Aaron, and her Doctorate at University of Michigan as a student of Anthony Elliott . Rick Robinson has played double bass for the Detroit Symphony Orchestra since 1989. This came aft er undergraduate studies at the Cleveland Insti tute of Music with Larry Angell and graduate studies at the New England Conservatory of Mu- sic with Larry Wolfe. Rick held several principal positi ons with regional orchestras throughout his studies and freelancing career, most notably including the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra with John Williams.

Aft er a few years with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Rick began transcribing music by computer for solo bass and then a mixed octet from the orchestra called CutTime Players. This proved to be an excellent vehicle for taking classical and symphonic music to new audiences. Eventually Rick began composing in 1999. Here too he began to create new works that introduce classical music in entertaining new ways with a string sextet called CutTime Simfonica.

Then in 2010 Rick began a Detroit chapter of a worldwide movement organizing chamber music readings in coff eehouses, restaurants and bars called Classical Revo- luti on. Here Rick honed his desire and an innovati ve paradigm for relaxing classical for a broader audience. Together, the two ensembles, his publicati ons and progres- sive atti tude form his arti sti c enterprise CutTime Producti ons, LLC (CutTime®) and may be found online at www.cutti me.com.

Cellist Karlos Rodriguez made his orchestral debut at the age of thirteen to great audience and criti cal acclaim. And has since been an avid soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician appearing at many of our important musical venues includ- ing Carnegie Hall (Isaac Stern Auditorium), Merkin concert hall, Avery Fisher Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Philadelphia’s Kimmel center, and Radio City Music Hall, to name a few. Mr. Rodriguez has also had the honor of working with disti nguished arti sts such as the Beaux Arts Trio, American, Cavani, Cleveland, Emerson, Guarneri, Juilliard, Miami, Orion, Tokyo, and Vermeer String Quartets; Janos Starker, Lynn Harrell, and Steven Isserlis. His teachers have included Richard Aaron, Peter Wiley, and David Soyer. A love of modern dance paired with live music has led to collaborati ons with the Thomas/Orti z Dance Company, Freefall, Mark Morris Dance Group, and Chita Rivera. Karlos has att ended and been a guest arti st at the ENCORE School for Strings, Sarasota, Aspen, and Kneisel Hall chamber music festi vals, Cleveland Chamber Music Society, and the Philadelphia Orchestra Chamber Music Society. As a teacher he is on the faculty at Summertrios and the Sphinx Performance Academy. Mr. Rodriguez has worked on various Broadway musicals and Pop albums, most recently with Shakira and Marc Anthony. In additi on to these musical acti viti es he is also the Principal Cellist of the Florida Grand Opera Orchestra in Miami and cellist of the Catalyst Quartet. Karlos plays on a cello by Gregg T. Alf on generous loan from the maker. www.alfstudios.com James Rose, Jr. is an accomplished French Hornist and has performed the stan- dard orchestral and solo horn literature over an enduring career. As an orchestral player, James has performed with several major symphony orchestras including the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. As well, he has performed with the Michigan Opera Theater Orchestra and most recently the Sphinx Symphony Orchestra as Principal Hornist.

As a horn soloist, James has performed all the Mozart Concertos over his career with many diff erent symphony orchestras. Most recently James performed the Mozart Second Horn Concerto with the Southfi eld Mi. Symphony. As well, James performed the Michigan Premier of Suite Rhapsodique for Horn and Organ by Naja Hakim at the 30th Annual Music and Arts Guild Concert Series.

Upon his move to the Akron/Cleveland area James has performed with the Cleve- land Philharmonic as Assistant Principal Horn and as a horn soloist on the Akron Tuesday Musicale Concert Series performing Strauss Second Horn Concerto. James also is an accomplished Baritone and sings many concerts annually. Of special note, James has been selected on three occasions to be the keynote speaker for the Mar- ti n Luther King Concerts for The Cleveland Orchestra.

James holds a B.M. French Horn Performance, New England Conservatory of Music and has parti cipated in Post Graduate Study in French Horn Performance, Julliard School of Music under the late Mr. Jerome Ashby.

Chauntee Ross is currently is a Junior at the University of Michigan School of Mu- sic Theatre and Dance where she studies with Aaron Berofsky. She is pursuing her Bachelors degree in Violin Performance with a minor in African and African-Ameri- can Studies. Chauntee studied with Kati e Brooks at the String Academy of Wisconsin for 12 years before she att ended the Music Insti tute of Chicago where she was a student of Almita Vamos. She is now a violinist in the University Symphony Orches- tra at the SMTD under the baton of Kenneth Kiesler .She also currently serves as Concertmaster of the University of Michigan Gilbert and Sullivan Society pit orches- tra. She will be att ending the New York String Orchestra Seminar this December.

A nati ve of New York City,Marshall Sealy began his French horn study at the age of 8 years. As a young musician, he performed with the Long Island Youth Orchestra and att ended Manhatt an School of Music and Ithaca College, where he received music and soccer scholarships. He then launched a successful second career as a master of brass instrument restorati on and modifi cati on. His musical career conti nued with many performing opportuniti es such as the show orchestras of Tony Bennett , Sammy Davis, Jr., Melba Moore, and the pit orchestras of The Dance The- atre of Harlem and Alvin Ailey Dance Company. In 1979, Marshall moved to Boston (MA), where he played with the orchestra of the Opera Company of Boston (seven seasons), Boston Pops Orchestra, Les Miserables Brass Band, Aardvark Jazz Orches- tra, Boston Jazz Composers Orchestra, and the Boston Lyric Opera Orchestra. He has been a soloist with the Plovdiv Symphony (Bulgaria) and U.S. Air Force Band and has performed with Peter Nero and the Philly Pops Orchestra, The Philadelphia Orches- tra, Brooklyn Philharmonic, and the Orchestra Filarmonica de Jalisco in Guadalajara, Mexico. Since his return to New York, Marshall has played on Broadway in the pit orchestras of Beauty and the Beast, Jekyll & Hyde, The Lion King and toured with the Nati onal Tour of Evita. He has also performed with such notable arti sts as Lester Bowie, J.J. Johnson, Max Roach, David Murray, Shirley Horn, Ray Charles, Paquito D’Rivera and Steve Coleman. Marshall has appeared with the live television studio orchestras of the Essence Awards, Emmy Awards, Grammy Awards, Christmas in Washington, and the Whitney Houston HBO Special. He can be heard on recordings with Les Miserables Brass Band, George Russell, J.J. Johnson, Max Roach, Oliver Lake, Taj Mahal, Michael Jackson, Jay-Z, Nos, Will Smith, and Isaac Hayes (in the fi lm score from the 1999 “Shaft ”). Marshall has been Executi ve Director, New York City Housing Authority Symphony Orchestra; Director of Music, Harlem School of the Arts; and Horn Instructor, Berklee College of Music. He has delivered horn master classes in the United States, Mexico, South Africa, Bulgaria, Serbia, the Dominican Republic, and Saint Lucia

Jared Snyder is a cellist who loves to play, listen to, and create music. Every member of his family is an instrumentalist or a singer, and music surrounded him from the fi rst day he appeared on this earth. If you want to fi nd Jared, you would need to search the recording studio, the teaching studio, seat 7A from Milwaukee to Los Angeles, or driving to a U.S. state that he hasn’t explored yet in his beauti ful car. Up unti l now, Mr. Snyder has appeared on CBS TV’s “60 Minutes”, in Washington D.C.’s Kennedy Center, on stage with singer Peter Gabriel, in New York City’s Carn- egie Hall, in concert with the Guarneri Quartet, and performing for greats such as the violinist Isaac Stern and cellist Yo-Yo Ma. Jared likes to smile, and if you need to laugh or tune in to some positi ve energy, Jared Snyder is the one you need to know.

Maya Stone is an advocate of interdisciplinary art, and one of the founding members of Cooperandi; a group organized with the composer Spencer Lambright that focuses on varied arti sti c collaborati on with contemporary musical ideas. As a champion of contemporary music, she has recently commissioned and premiered several works.

Stone has performed in Europe, South America and stays busy giving recital perfor- mances around the country. She performs at the Internati onal Double Reed Society Conventi on, holds the second bassoon positi on in the Huntsville Symphony Orches- tra and can be heard on the album Rocky Streams, with the Albany Records label.

At Bowling Green State University in Ohio, Dr. Stone mentors an acti ve studio of growing musicians. In additi on to her work at BGSU, she gives frequent guest master classes around the country. Stone is also on the board of the Meg Quigley Sympo- sium and Competi ti on for bassoonists.

Dr. Stone holds a D.M.A. in bassoon performance from the University of Texas at Austi n, a M.M. in bassoon performance and woodwind specialty from Michigan State University, and a B.M. in music educati on from the SUNY Potsdam Crane School of Music. Her teachers and mentors include Kristi n Wolfe Jensen, Barrick Stes, Frank Wangler and Michael Kroth.

Rosalyn Story is a professional classical violinist, journalist and author of both fi cti on and non-fi cti on. A member of the violin secti on of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra in Fort Worth, Texas, she divides her ti me between performing and writi ng magazine and journal arti cles on the visual and performing arts, and has penned three books. Her arti cles have appeared in Essence, The Washington Post, The Dallas Morning News, Stagebill (the magazine of Lincoln Center), The Crisis (the magazine of the NAACP), and she has been a frequent contributor to Opera News magazine, writi ng about black opera singers, since 1990. Her fi rst book, And So I Sing: African American Divas of Opera and Concert, the fi rst comprehensive book on the history of black women in opera, was the inspirati on for the PBS documentary Aida’s Brothers and Sisters: Black Voices in Opera (in which she appears as com- mentator and served as consultant), and has been broadcast in the United States, Europe, and New Zealand. Her fi rst novel, More Than You Know, set against the backdrop of the jazz worlds of Kansas City and New York, was an Essence magazine bestseller, and has been developed into a screenplay. Her second novel, Wading Home, set in post-Katrina New Orleans, was released in September 2010, and was an Essence magazine book club pick and ‘recommended read.’ Wading Home was also a 2011 nominee for the Hurston Wright Foundati on Legacy Award. A nati ve of Kansas City, Rosalyn Story now lives in Dallas, Texas. Formerly a member of the Kansas City and Tulsa Philharmonic orchestras, she has played in the violin secti on of the Fort Worth Symphony for 22 years.

Adrienne Taylor received her Bachelor of Music and Performer Diploma from In- diana University and her Master of Music from Northwestern University. Her teach- ers include Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi, Hans Jørgen Jensen, and Janos Starker. In additi on to performing in the U.S. and abroad, Adrienne has been working to share music with young people in the communiti es where she lives through her work with programs such as Community MusicWorks in Providence, RI and MusiConnects, in Boston, MA. Adrienne has recently returned from a trip to Venezuela as part of the New England Conservatory’s Abreu Fellows program, where she studied the world-renowned youth orchestra program, El Sistema. Adrienne plans to bring ideas from El Sistema to her work with students in the Providence community. Xavier Verna graduated with a dual Bachelor’s degree in Music Performance with Music Educati on Teacher Certi fi cati on from the University of Michigan (U of M). He has performed in a wide range of ensembles that have made him an outstanding diverse percussionist. Xavier is a founder and current member of a new percus- sion trio based out of Ann Arbor named, Identi ty Cubed. The trio is preparing for their fi rst internati onal appearance at the Internati onal Percussion Competi ti on in Luxembourg.

Xavier has also made his career as an educator in Ann Arbor, MI and Toledo, OH. He is currently the Drumline Director for the University of Toledo Rocket March- ing Band. He is an assistant band director at St. Francis of Assisi and also teaches private lessons at Dexter High School.

Lecolion Washington, Jr. is the Associate Professor of Bassoon at the University of Memphis, bassoonist in the Memphis Woodwind Quintet, principal bassoonist of the Eroica Ensemble, and founder and director of the PRIZM Chamber Music Festi - val. He has performed solo recitals and given master classes at colleges and univer- siti es around the country including the Eastman School of Music and the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music. As a member of the Internati onal Double Reed Society he has been invited to perform at conferences in Austi n (TX), Ithaca (NY), and Birmingham (UK). As a Fox Products arti st, he has been a featured performer at conferences at Arizona State University and the University of Okla- homa. He has performed as soloist with many groups including the Eroica Ensemble, the Meadows Symphony Orchestra at SMU, and the orchestra at the Internati onal Festi val Insti tute at Round Top. During the summers he teaches and performs at the Stellenbosch Internati onal Chamber Music Festi val in South Africa. His CD, Legacy: Music for Bassoon by African-American Composers was met with favorable reviews in several magazines including Fanfare Magazine and The American Record Guide.

Roger Whitworth, a nati ve of Chicago, IL, att ended Indiana University as a music performance and educati on major. Aft er leaving IU, Roger went back to Chicago to free lance. He has played extra with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, performed with Barry White’s “Love Unlimited Orchestra” and did numerous recording ses- sions. Roger toured 7 countries in Europe with the Milwaukee Touring Orchestra.

In July of 1977, Roger joined The President’s Own, U.S. Marine Band and was a member unti l July of 1988. In January of 1989, he joined the 257th Army Nati onal Guard Band, “The Band of The Nati on’s Capitol”. He served as the principal French Hornist in from July of 1989 unti l August of 2005. He served in the U. S. Armed Forces for 29 years unti l his reti rement in July of 2007. Roger was the fi rst African- American French Hornist in the history of the United States to become a member of one of the major service bands. He has played with Joff ery Ballet, the American Ballet, Cher, Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, Amy Grant, Linda Carter, Bob Hope and several other celebriti es.

Roger has recorded over 100 CD’s as principal French Hornist with, “The Washing- ton Winds.” He has recorded with Enya as the principal horn in the “Talesian Orches- tra”.

Roger has played numerous Broadway shows in DC and Chicago such as, “West Side Story”, “The Wiz”, “Stop the World, I Want to Get Off ”, “Guys and Dolls”, “Okla- homa” and others.

Roger is one of the founding members of The Internati onal Woodwind Quintet, The Georgetown Woodwind Quintet, The Whitworth Brass Quintet, The Roger Whit- worth Jazztet, and The Roger Whitworth French Horn Quintet. These are some of the ensembles he performs with. Roger is also one of the founding members of “The Quintetssenti al Winds”, the world’s newest professional woodwind quintet!

Roger conducts “The European Orchestra of Washington, DC”, is a French Horn so- loist with several area orchestras and is currently the principal French Hornist with the American University Symphony Orchestra.

Roger has 4 daughters, Natalie, 28 who is a professional cosmetologist, Kathleen and Jessica, both 26 and graduates of Northwestern University, and Jacquelyn 22 a graduate of the University of Chicago who also plays French Horn professionally in northern Illinois.

Alycia Wilder graduated from the Interlochen Arts Academy in 2006. She then went on to study with Victoria Chiang at the Peabody Conservatory of Music. Alycia currently lives in Royal Oak, MI and teaches violin in the Sphinx Organizati on’s Over- ture Program.

Larry Williams has disti nguished himself as a multi faceted musician whose arti stry led the late Philip Farkas, (former Principal Horn of the Chicago Symphony and master teacher), to describe him as “an outstanding arti st-soloist with fi ne tone, excellent intonati on, superb accuracy, and superior musicianship”. Ebony magazine listed Mr. Williams as one of the “50 Leaders of Tomorrow”, and The Maine Sunday Telegram described Larry as “a phenomenally good horn player, with the brilliance for solo work and the ear to blend perfectly with a string quartet that has been play- ing together for years”.

Williams is currently Arti sti c Director and /Principal Horn of The American Studio Orchestra, Principal Horn, The Black Pearl Chamber Orchestra and memebr of The Philadelphia Big Brass and Lyric Brass Quintet . Williams formerly served as Princi- pal Horn of The New World Symphony Orchestra under the directi on of Sir Michael Tilson Thomas, and has performed with the Balti more, Pitt sburgh, and San Francisco Symphony Orchestras. His wide range of musical styles include: solo & chamber repertoire, jazz, pop, contemporary, gospel, fi lm, and commercial music. Williams has toured and performed with Jazz and Popular music greats: Frank Sinatra, Ray Charles, and Arturo Sandoval.

Larry Williams is a Yamaha Performing Arti st, and performs exclusively on Yamaha Custom Horns.

Edith Yokley is a violinist from Chicago. Ms. Yokley is a member of the Chicago Sin- foniett a and Soulful Symphony in Balti more. She has performed with such arti sts as CeeLo Green, J.Lo, Common, Barry White, Mos Def, Nancy Wilson, Andrea Boccelli, Sheila E., Smokey Robinson, Aretha Franklin, Donnie McClurkin, Richard Smallwood, Shirley Ceaser, Dennis DeYoung of the Styxx, and Diana Ross and the Supremes. Ms. Yokley has appeared on the Oprah, Today, and Conan O’brien Shows as well as The Voice. Edith received her masters degree from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor where as a violin fellow, she studied with Professor Paul Kantor. While at the University of Michigan, Edith was a member of the University’s Mariach Troupe and subsequently began jazz improvisati on. She has been featured on several CDs includ- ing Alicia Keys, Faith Evans, Common, Donnie McClurkin, Joe, and does session work in both Chicago and New York. In 2009,Edith started DjViolin.com in which she and other musicians in her company improvise live with djs. MissEdith as she is known in this realm performs at Y, Cuvee, and other clubs and lounges in Chicago and the rest of the country. She is a member of the Covergirls Violin Show (a fi ve female electric violin band) and a violinist with the Steve Edwards Orchestra, High Society Orchestra and Good Times Society Bands in Chicago. Edith is a contractor in New York and Chicago having contracted ensembles for such notable venues as the Apollo Theater and Rose Hall at Jazz at Lincoln Center, as well as recording sessions in New York. Edith is the orchestral instructor for the Apostolic Church of God’s youth Orchestra, violin instructor at the Merit School of Music, and maintains her own private studio.

Brian Young, a nati ve of Ann Arbor, has been gaining recogniti on as a solo performer throughout his undergraduate career. Young has won four concerto competi ti ons (one with an original concerto), and three chamber competi ti ons (also one with an original piece) at Eastern Michigan University, where he did his undergraduate studies. As a composer, Young Is committ ed to bringing new works that “insist on new tonality” to his audiences. Brian

Young is currently pursuing a Master’s Degree at the University of Michigan where he studies compositi on with Michael Daugherty and percussion with Ian Ding, Joseph Gramley, and Jonathan Ovalle. His other teachers have in- cluded: Dan Bauch, Dan Desena, John Dorsey, Brian Jones, and Jacob Nissly. www.SphinxMusic.org