The music of Canadian-American composer Karim Al-Zand (b.1970) has been called “strong and startlingly lovely” (Boston Globe). His compositions are wide-ranging in influence and inspiration, encompassing solo, chamber, vocal and orchestral works. From scores for dance, to compositions for young people, to multi-disciplinary and collaborative works, Al-Zand’s music is diverse in both its subject matter and its audience. It explores connections between music and other arts, and draws inspiration from varied sources such as graphic art, myths and fables, folk music of the world, film, spoken word, jazz, and his own Middle Eastern heritage. Al-Zand’s music has enjoyed success in the US, Canada and abroad and he is the recipient of several national awards, including the “Arts and Letters Award in Music” from the American Academy of Arts and Letters In his scholarly work, he has pursued several diverse areas of music theory, including topics in jazz, counterpoint, and improvisation (both jazz and 18th century extemporization). Al-Zand was born in Tunis, Tunisia, raised in Ottawa, Canada and educated in Montreal (McGill University) and Cambridge (Harvard University). Since 2000 he has taught composition and music theory in Houston at the Shepherd School of Music, Rice University.

Composer Anthony Brandt is Musiqa’s Artistic Director. His catalogue includes three chamber operas, as well as orchestral, chamber, vocal, theater, dance, and television scores. Recordings of his music are available on the Albany, Crystal, and Navona labels, including the upcoming release of “Kassandra,” his chamber opera premiered by Musiqa and Opera in the Heights. Dr. Brandt and neuroscientist David Eagleman have co-authored The Runaway Species: How Creativity Remakes the World, which has been published in fourteen countries. Dr. Brandt has written extensively about music cognition and creativity and is currently a co-investigator in several research studies. He is a Professor of Theory and Composition at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music.

Earning widespread notice for his richly colored and superbly crafted scores, Pierre Jalbert has developed a musical language that is engaging, expressive, and “immediately captures one’s attention with its strong gesture and vitality” (American Academy of Arts and Letters). Among his many honors are the Rome Prize, the BBC Masterprize, a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Fromm Foundation commission, an Academy award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s Stoeger Award, given biennially “in recognition of significant contributions to the chamber music repertory.” Jalbert has drawn inspiration from a variety of sources, from plainchant melodies to natural phenomena. His music has been performed worldwide in such venues as Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall, Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, and the Barbican. Performances include those by the Boston Symphony, the National Symphony, the Houston Symphony, the Cincinnati Symphony, and the Emerson String Quartet. His Violin Concerto was recently premiered by a consortium of three orchestras and soloists, and his most recent CD, String Theory, was released in 2021. Jalbert is Professor of Music at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music in Houston, where he has taught since 1996, and his music is published by Schott Helicon Music Corporation, New York.

Composer Rob Smith is Professor of Music Composition and director of the AURA Contemporary Ensemble at the University of Houston Moores School of Music. He has received numerous awards, including a Fulbright Grant to Australia and an Aaron Copland House Residency, and his highly energetic and vibrant music is frequently performed throughout the United States and abroad. Commissions have come from the Texas Music Festival Orchestra, the New York Youth Symphony Chamber Music Program, and the American Composers Forum, among many others. Boosey & Hawkes, Carl Fischer, C-Alan Publications, and Skitter Music Publications publish his music.

Trevor Weston’s music has been called a “gently syncopated marriage of intellect and feeling.” Weston’s honors include the Arts and Letters Award in Music and a Goddard Lieberson Fellowship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Carnegie Hall co-commissioned Weston’s Flying Fish, with the American Composers Orchestra, for its 125 Commissions Project. The Bang on a Can All-Stars premiered Weston’s Dig It, for the Ecstatic Music Festival in NYC. Weston won the first Emerging Black Composers Project sponsored by the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and the San Francisco Symphony. Dr. Weston is currently the Music Department Chair at Drew University and teaches in the MAP and Pre-College program at the Juilliard School.

Japanese-American conductor Eiki Isomura is in his fifth season as artistic director and principal conductor of Opera in the Heights (OH) in Houston, where he has led over a hundred performances of over twenty-five operas, drawing consistent praise for elevating the company’s performance standard. A passionate advocate for new music, Isomura launched OHs’ first-ever new works festival, has co-commissioned/produced five operas, and has led numerous world premieres with MUSIQA. In 2019, Isomura collaborated with Pacific Opera Project (POP) in creating a Japanese-English bilingual production of Madama Butterfly, which won an Opera America Innovation Grant. Upcoming conducting engagements include debuts with Opera Philadelphia, Opera Santa Barbara, and Opera Orlando. Prior to his time at OH, Isomura served on the music staff of HGOco, preparing the world premieres of numerous chamber operas for Houston Grand Opera. His educational activities have included work with Opera in the Ozarks, Arizona Opera, Lone Star College, and Temple University. In addition to his work as conductor and producer, Isomura is a sought-after adjudicator of vocal competitions and panelist for arts organizations, and he serves on the Opera America Artistic Services Council. Isomura holds a doctorate in orchestral conducting from the University of Michigan.

Brittny Bush is an actor and teaching artist from Houston, TX. She graduated from the University of Houston with a BA in Theater Acting/Directing. She has since worked in many local Houston theaters as an actor and educator. Currently she is an Artistic Company Member with Classical Theater Company, Creative Consulting Director with Brave Little Company, and a teaching artist with Hope Stone Project. Ms. Bush teaches Primary School Theater with St. Francis Episcopal School Houston. Brittny can currently be seen in Missing from the Museum, a virtual theater educational experience co-produced by Brave Little Company. Brittny is thrilled to perform with Musiqa for the first time.

Amanda Galick is a freelance flutist in the Houston area. Previously she held the position of second flute and piccolo with the Sarasota Opera Orchestra. A past Young Artist with Da Camera of Houston, she has performed as guest principal flutist with the Fort Worth Symphony and has appeared with the orchestras of Houston Grand and Florida Grand Operas, Houston Symphony Orchestra, San Antonio Symphony, Palm Beach Symphony, The Louisiana Philharmonic and The New World Symphony. As a chamber musician, Amanda has performed locally in Houston with Aperio – Music of the Americas, Texas New Music Ensemble, Loop38 and WindSync. A passionate outreach advocate and educator, Amanda currently maintains a large private flute studio in Houston and frequently visits elementary school classrooms to implement arts integration lessons with her flute. She has been a faculty member of the Sitka Fine Arts Camp and the Belvoir Terrace Summer Fine Arts Camp. In 2016, Amanda completed a certificate with the Youth Orchestra of the Americas, which sent her on teaching missions to Guanajuato, Mexico and St. Croix, of the US Virgin Islands. Amanda is a graduate of Rice University and the University of Michigan.

Honduran violinist and violist Jackson Guillen has performed in venues in USA, Mexico, Honduras, Colombia, and Chile, and has toured across Latin-America with the Orchestra of the Americas. He has served as Principal Second Violin of the Gulf Coast Symphony, Lubbock Symphony, and the Symphony of Southeast Texas, and as guest concertmaster of the Shreveport Symphony. An avid chamber musician, Jackson completed a two-year Fellowship with Da Camera of Houston and was recently selected to be a part of the Future of Music Faculty Fellowship with the Cleveland Institute of Music. He also performs regularly with Mercury Chamber Orchestra, Musiqa Houston and the Terra Nostra Ensemble. Dr. Guillen also plays an important role in the organization of the Encuentro de Cuerdas, a string-focused festival in Honduras. Jackson was also a member of the first generation of the OA’s Global Leaders participating in missions in Honduras, El Salvador, and Chicago. Dr. Guillen has also been in the faculty of the International Music Festival in Medellin, Colombia, The International Music Festival in Naolinco, Mexico, and as regular guest artist of the Victoria-Bach Festival. Jackson currently serves as Director of the CODA Music Program and Conductor of the Debut String Orchestra of the Houston Youth Symphony. Additionally, Dr. Guillen has a position as professor of violin, viola, and conducts the Creekside Civic Chamber Orchestra.