Cheryse McLeod Lewis, mezzo-soprano
Greensboro, NC, native mezzo-soprano Cheryse McLeod Lewis enjoys a diverse career in opera, musical theater, concert, commercial, print, and voiceover. Lewis made her Spoleto Festival USA debut as The Mother (Fatima) in the world premiere production of Omar in 2022. She also recently reprised her world premiere role at Carolina Performing Arts in February 2023. …
Limmie Pulliam, tenor
Rising tenor Limmie Pulliam thrills audiences with his captivating stage presence and his “stentorian, yet beautiful,” sound. Pulliam was praised by the San Francisco Chronicle for his “full-throated vocal power, and intimate lyricism” in his debut at Livermore Valley Opera in Verdi’s Otello. On December 17, 2022, Pulliam made his Metropolitan Opera debut as Radamès …
PeiJu Chien-Pott, dancer, choreographer
PeiJu Chien-Pott is an internationally acclaimed award-winning contemporary dance artist and choreographer from Taiwan, celebrated particularly for her work as a principal dancer for the Martha Graham Dance Company. Described as “one of the greatest living modern dancers” and “the most dramatically daring and physically chameleon-esque Graham dancer of her generation,” Chien-Pott has interpreted the iconic lead roles …
Chou Wen-Chung, composer
Chou Wen-Chung was born in Yantai, China, in 1923, and moved to the United States in 1946. His earliest work, Landscapes, written in 1949, is often cited as the first composition in music history that is independent of either Western or Eastern musical grammar. The piece premiered in 1953 with the San Francisco Symphony, conducted …
Nina Barzegar, composer
Nina Barzegar is an Iranian composer and actress and is currently a DMA student in Composition at the University of California, Santa Cruz. She also has a Bachelor of Piano Performance and a Master of Composition from the University of Tehran in Iran. As a composer, Barzegar writes music for various mediums, from concert music, …
Michi Wiancko, violin, composer
Michi Wiancko is a versatile and highly imaginative composer, violinist, and collaborator, whose multifaceted creative projects and organizational work prioritize artistic discovery, as well as community resilience and social change. Recent chamber music commissions include works for Boston Chamber Music Society, Carnegie Hall’s Ensemble Connect, Schubert Club, Accordo, The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, East Coast Chamber Orchestra, …
Jon Reimer, director
Jon Reimer is a freelance theatre artist and educator. He holds a doctorate from the Joint Ph.D. program in Theatre and Drama at the University of California, San Diego and UC Irvine, and an M.F.A. in Directing from UC San Diego. Born, raised, and educated in eastern Pennsylvania, U.S.A., Jon also earned a B.A. in …
Gloria Cheng, piano
An invaluable new-music advocate and a preferred collaborator of composers like Pierre Boulez and Esa-Pekka Salonen” (New York Times), Grammy- and Emmy-winning pianist Gloria Cheng has long been devoted to creative collaborations with composers of our time. She has been a concerto soloist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic under Zubin Mehta and Pierre Boulez, and …
Niloufar Shiri, kamancheh
Niloufar Shiri is a kamancheh player, composer, and improviser from Tehran, Iran. Her music weaves Iranian musical structure from the Radif with timbres, textures, noise, techniques, and perspectives of contemporary music. She focuses particularly on the investigation of timbral and textural components, as well as the sonic capabilities of the kamancheh, a bowed string instrument. Her …
Aida Shirazi, composer
Born and raised in Tehran, Iran, Aida Shirazi is a composer of acoustic and electroacoustic music. In her works for solo instruments, voice, ensemble, orchestra, and electronics, Shirazi mainly focuses on timbre for organizing structures inspired by language and literature. Shirazi’s music has been featured at festivals and concert series, including Manifeste, Wien Modern, Huddersfield …
Leonard Hayes, piano
Leonard Hayes is a doctoral student at the University of Southern California, where he studies under the tutelage of concert pianist Bernadene Blaha. He serves as the graduate teaching assistant in the Keyboard Studies department. Previously, Hayes served as head of piano studies and assistant director in the Music Conservatory at the Booker T. Washington …
Lei Liang, composer
Chinese-born American composer Lei Liang is the winner of the Rome Prize, the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Koussevitzky Foundation Commission, a Creative Capital Award, and the Goddard Lieberson Fellowship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. His concerto for saxophone and orchestra, Xiaoxiang, was named a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in …
Steven Schick, conductor & percussionist
Percussionist, conductor, and author Steven Schick was born in Iowa and raised in a farming family. Hailed by Alex Ross in the New Yorker as, “one of our supreme living virtuosos, not just of percussion but of any instrument,” he has championed contemporary percussion music for nearly 50 years, and in 2014 was inducted into …
Tan Dun, composer
The world-renowned artist and UNESCO Global Goodwill Ambassador Tan Dun has made an indelible mark on the world’s music scene with a creative repertoire that spans the boundaries of classical music, multimedia performance, and Eastern and Western traditions. A winner of today’s most prestigious honours including the Grammy Award, Oscar/Academy Award, Grawemeyer Award, Bach Prize, …
Justin Robinson, fiddler, vocalist
Justin Robinson is a Grammy-winning musician and vocalist, cultural preservationist, and historic foodways expert. Robinson has used his wide range of interests and talents to preserve North Carolina’s African American history and culture, connecting people to the past and to the world around them. Robinson grew up in Gastonia, NC. Influenced by the musical tastes …
Mazz Swift, violinist
Mazz Swift is a violinist, singer, composer, and conductor, weaving improvisation, classic African American musics, electronica, and mindfulness into their work. They have composed for the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Kronos Quartet, the International Contemporary Ensemble, Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, and the Blaffer Foundation. Aside from enjoying a robust career as a performer, …
Karen Ouzounian, cello
Described as “radiant” and “expressive” (New York Times) and “nothing less than gorgeous” (Memphis Commercial Appeal), cellist Karen Ouzounian leads a multifaceted career as a chamber musician, soloist, collaborator, and composer. Winner of the S&R Foundation’s Washington Award, she is drawn to unusual collaborations and the development of adventurous new works, and is sought-after for …
Shawn Conley, bass
Hawaiian-born bassist and composer Shawn Conley grew up loving all types of music. This love developed into a career that straddles many genres. He has been playing with the Silkroad Ensemble for six years and is a member of the Brooklyn-based chamber orchestra The Knights. Recent projects include Silkroad’s Grammy-winning album Sing Me Home, an upcoming …
Mario Gotoh, violin, viola
Born in Japan, Mario Gotoh (五藤 舞央) is recognized as a Grammy Award winner, sought for distinguished roles as an innovative and creative violinist, violist, passionate educator, and composer with a remarkably unique style of expression in all genres, performing worldwide. An avid interdisciplinary collaborator, Dr. Gotoh performs worldwide as a member of the Silkroad Ensemble …
Wu Man, pipa
Wu Man belongs to a rare group of musicians who have redefined the role of their instruments, in her case, the pipa — a pear-shaped, four-stringed Chinese lute with a rich history spanning centuries. She is celebrated as one of the most prominent instrumentalists of traditional Chinese music, as well as a composer and educator. …
Kayhan Kalhor, kamancheh
Three-time Grammy nominee Kayhan Kalhor is an internationally acclaimed virtuoso on the kamancheh, who through his many musical collaborations has been instrumental in popularizing Persian music in the West and is a creative force in today’s music scene. His performances of traditional Persian music and multiple collaborations have attracted audiences around the globe. He has …
Francesco Turrisi, multi-instrumentalist
Grammy-winning multi-instrumentalist Francesco Turrisi has been described as a “musical alchemist” and a “musical polyglot” by the press. He left his native Italy to study jazz piano and early music at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague, where he obtained bachelor’s and master’s degrees. He moved to Ireland in 2004, where he’s currently based and …
Michael Abels, composer
Michael Abels is best-known for his scores for the Oscar-winning film Get Out, and for Jordan Peele’s Us, for which Abels won the World Soundtrack Award, the Jerry Goldsmith Award, a Critics Choice nomination, an Image Award nomination, and multiple critics awards. The hip-hop influenced score for US was short-listed for the Oscar, and was even named …
Attacca Quartet
Amy Schroeder, violin Domenic Salerni, violin Nathan Schram, viola Andrew Yee, cello Grammy Award–winning Attacca Quartet “lives in the present aesthetically, without rejecting the virtues of the musical past” (The Nation) and this dexterity to glide from the music of the 18th through to the 21st century repertoire places them as one of the most …
Rhiannon Giddens, 2023 Music Director
The acclaimed musician Rhiannon Giddens uses her art to excavate the past and reveal bold truths about our present. A MacArthur “Genius Grant” recipient, Giddens co-founded the Grammy Award-winning Carolina Chocolate Drops. She most recently won a Grammy Award for Best Folk Album for They’re Calling Me Home, and was also nominated for Best American Roots …