Flannery Cunningham is a composer and musicologist fascinated by vocal expression, text, and auditory perception. She aims to write music that surprises and delights. Called “silken” by the Washington Post, her work has been performed at festivals such as Aspen, June in Buffalo, Toronto Creative Music Lab, SPLICE Institute and Festival, and Copland House’s CULTIVATE and by performers such as International Contemporary Ensemble, TAK, New York New Music Ensemble, Yarn/Wire, and Music from Copland House. Flannery is attracted the very old and very new; she has presented at the International Medieval Congress and performed at the International Computer Music Conference. In addition to acoustic ensembles she writes for players and singers with interactive electronics, always striving to foreground the musicality of human performers. Flannery holds degrees from Princeton University, University College Cork, and Stony Brook University, and the University of Pennsylvania.

“as a ghost before you on the road attempts to conjure a half-felt sonic presence. Its title paraphrases an English translation of a line from the Irish sean-nós song Aisling Gheal, or Bright Vision. Throughout the piece, delicate patterns on the viola, cello, and flute trigger echoes of the sean-nós tune, and all three players must work together to bring this ghost to life.”

– Flannery Cunningham

Will Healy is a composer, pianist, improviser, and educator based in New York. Aiming to write music that enables collaborations among inspiring artists regardless of genre boundaries, he is the artistic director of ShoutHouse, a collective of hip-hop, jazz, and classical musicians. He recorded and released his first full-length album in 2019, including a 40-minute song cycle for rappers, soloists, and chamber orchestra, which was released on New Amsterdam Records. As a pianist, he has a passion for both new and old music, particularly the works of J.S. Bach, with a repertoire that includes the complete Goldberg Variations and Well-Tempered Clavier. He studied composition at the Juilliard School, where his teachers were Samuel Adler, John Corigliano, and Steven Stucky. Current projects include directing and arranging for Kanye West, writing original music for the New York Philharmonic’s Young People’s Concerts, and composing a piano concerto for Kaleidoscope Chamber Orchestra with himself on piano. Healy’s awards include a Charles Ives Scholarship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, two ASCAP Morton Gould Awards, the W.K. Rose Fellowship, and a J-Fund commission. His work has appeared recently at The Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, New York City Ballet, and (le) Poisson Rouge, among others. He recently moved to Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn, where he has been enjoying spending time with friends on his roof.

“Small Spaces was written in the small space of my Brooklyn apartment in the winter of 2021. It was drawn from a short piano recording I made two years ago in the equally cozy confines of an apartment on the Upper West Side. Sometimes, the inspiration for a piece comes from a phrase, story, concept, or the timbres of a group of instruments playing together. With this piece, however, the initial seed of an idea came to me shortly after receiving the commission, long before the COVID-19 pandemic delayed all concerts and activities. I improvised the opening ostinato on the piano, with its irregular, bouncing rhythm, and recorded it as a message to my future self to be developed into this piece. I carried this one-minute recording around with me on my phone through four apartments, two relationships, and countless other musical projects, while my life and the world around me transformed dramatically. Looking back at that initial recording feels like a time capsule, and it inspired a very different piece in this current moment than it would have in 2019.”

– Will Healy

Benjamin Horne (b.1995) is a composer/arranger, low brass performer, and music educator residing in Indiana. He earned his Master’s degree at the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University and his Bachelor’s at the Schwob School of Music at Columbus State University (GA) with degrees in Music Education, Music Performance, and a Certificate in Music Composition. Horne studied composition with Dr. James Ogburn, Dr. Don Freund, and Dr. Sky Macklay. His works and arrangements span various styles. Horne’s works and arrangements have received many honors and have been performed around the world including at the Latzsch Trombone Festival in Germany, as well as performances at other events such as the International Tuba and Euphonium Conference and the International Trombone Festival. Mr. Horne has collaborated on works with several renowned classical artists such as Demondrae Thurman and Charles Vernon. He is a past winner of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Tuba Euphonium Conference Solo Artist Competition. He has also been a finalist in the South Eastern Regional Tuba Euphonium Conference Solo Artist Competition and the International Euphonium Tuba Festival Solo Artist Division. Horne was a member of the Columbus State University Trombone Choir under the direction of Dr. Bradley Palmer. He was among the ensemble members on the Choir’s 2017 CD, Full Tilt. Horne was a member of the Teal Sound and Bluecoats Drum and Bugle Corps including the latter’s 2016 Drum Corps International World Championship corps. He currently performs as a member of the Sequence Euphonium Quartet (where he is their composer-in-residence) and with the Albireo New Music Collective as principal euphonium and trombone.

“This work is inspired by those who suffer from dementia and memory loss. As such, the work slowly unfolds revealing melody in the cello at the end that served as the basis for the work all along. The work begins in a foggy state like a brain not able to recognize even the familiar faces of one’s life. Slowly, the music builds as the search begins to for old memories to return. Something clicks as the violin sings the words “I remember you”, first in consecutive half notes then later quarter notes before the main theme is finally heard.”

– Benjamin Horne

J. Estanislao Lopez‘s poetry has appeared in The New Yorker, Poetry Magazine, Adroit Journal, Boston Review, BreakBeat Poets Vol. 4: LatiNext, and elsewhere. He has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, Best New Poets, and Best of the Net. His debut collection, We Borrowed Gentleness, is forthcoming from Alice James Books in October 2022. He earned an MFA from the Warren Wilson Program for Writers and lives in Houston.

Wammie award winner for ‘Best Classical Artist,’ violist Tonya Burton enjoys a diverse career of both solo and ensemble playing. She has been a guest artist for the Houston Viola Society, Texas A&M Corpus Christi, Texas Lutheran University and has been featured on the All Classical Portland 89.9 station as well as the Los Angeles KCRW 89.9 station. Her recent solo album featuring the music of Max Reger recently won a 2022 Wammie award for ‘Best Classical Song.’ An active chamber musician, Burton is a core member of Kinetic, both performing and programming for the Houston based ensemble known for showcasing diverse, under-represented and newly composed classical music. She is a founding member of Arco Strings as well as the D.C. based Natonya Duo. Burton performs annually at the Caroga Lake Music Festival. Prior summers have been at esteemed festivals such as the Perlman Music Program, Talis Festival in Saas-Fee, Switzerland and Heifetz International Music Institute. She has collaborated with renowned artists including Donald Weilerstein, Jeffrey Irvine, Katherine Murdock, Mark Kosower, Saeunn Thorsteinsdottir, Dimitri Ashkenazy, Richie Hawley and Fabio Di Càsola.

Tyler Martin joined the Houston Grand Opera Orchestra n the 2021-22 season and is a substitute flutist for the Houston Symphony and Houston Ballet. He has performed with the symphony orchestras of Chicago, Seattle, Fort Worth, Omaha and Missouri. He is a prize winner of numerous competitions, including the Houston Flute Club, New York Flute Club, Austin Flute Society, and National Flute Assciation’s ORchestral Audition Competition. Additionally, he was a semi-finalist in the 2021 Young Concert Artists National Repertory Orchestra, and was on faculty for the 2022 Virtual Flute Music Festival. He has been featured as a guest artist at the 2020 National Flute Association Convention and gave a nationally broadcast solo recital and interview as a 2022 Young Artist in Residence for American Public Media’s Performance Today. An avid performer of new and contemporary music, he performs with Houston’s new music collective Musiqa and is the dedicatee of works for flute and piccolo written for him by composers Joy Guidry and Alex Berko. Tyler received a Bachelor of Music degree from DePaul University’s School of Music, and Master of Music degrees from both the New England Conservatory of Music and the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University. His principal teachers include Alice K. Dade, Mark Sparks, Paula Robison, and Leone Buyse. Typer plans on a handmade 10k Powell Flute with a 19.5K Powell Lumina headjoint and a Powell Signature Piccolo.

Fulfilling a childhood dream, Dr. Maiko Sasaki, a clarinetist, enjoys her professional career as a solo/chamber/orchestra musician. Dr. Sasaki plays in prestigious orchestras such as River Oaks Chamber Orchestra, Opera in the Heights, Sarasota Symphony, and Gilbert & Sullivan Society of Houston. She has also been featured in many chamber concerts such as the Kennedy Center Conservatory Project, Musiqa, the ROCO Connection Series, and Take Five — a Houston Symphony’s outreach program to just name a few. For her passionate and inspiring performances, she has been awarded the Presser Music Award–which is given to an artist demonstrating excellence and outstanding promise for a distinguished career in the field of music. Since 2011, Dr. Sasaki has co-founded an ensemble “MATIMA” with pianist Dr. Makiko Hirata. Its mission is to promote music as a universal language to help us transcend our differences through a communal sensory experience. MATIMA was invited to perform as guest artists at the International Clarinet Association’s ClarinetFest 2015 in Madrid, Spain for their contribution to the clarinet literature and their collaborative artistry.

Violinist Jacob Schafer is a multifaceted performer dedicated to compelling, thoughtful presentations of works old and new. Based in Houston, Texas, he is a core member of Loop38 and Kinetic Ensemble and regularly performs with the Houston Symphony, Houston Ballet and Grand Opera Orchestras, Mercury Chamber Orchestra, and Musiqa. Passionate about bringing music to the community in both familiar and innovative contexts, he has taught music to students in underserved public schools and performed at venues as diverse as the Houston Public Library, Houston’s Smither Park, the Aspen Art Museum, and New York’s Carnegie Hall. Recent performance highlights include world premieres by Du Yun, Steven Banks, and Laura Elise Schwendinger; piano trio concerts in Leipzig, Germany; and collaborations with Nicholas Phan, Seth Parker Woods, and the late Leon Fleisher. In 2022, Jacob received Co-First Prize from the Doug Davis Awards for his performance of Michael Friedmann’s “Fantasy” for solo violin. Festival appearances have included Aspen Contemporary Ensemble, Norfolk New Music Workshop, Composers Conference Contemporary Performance Institute, Sarasota Music Festival, and Tanglewood Music Center. Originally from Nashville, Tennessee, Jacob holds a B.A. in Music and in Ethics, Politics, and Economics from Yale University and an M.M. in Violin Performance from Rice University, where he is currently completing his D.M.A. under the tutelage of Paul Kantor.

Blake Wilkins is Professor of Music and Director of Percussion Studies at the University of Houston’s Moores School of Music, and in 2016-17 he served as Interim Director of the Moores School of Music. Prior to joining the UH faculty in 1997, he served as percussionist and substitute principal timpanist with the Oklahoma City Philharmonic from 1993-97. Under his direction the Moores School Percussion Ensemble has distinguished itself internationally by winning the Percussive Arts Society International Percussion Ensemble Competition three times (2003, 2006, and 2010); with the release of three critically acclaimed commercial compact discs on the Albany Records label; and through its Percussion Ensemble Commissioning Project, which to date has generated sixteen new works for large percussion ensemble. He is equally active as a composer, and his four works for large percussion ensemble have been recorded by the University of Oklahoma and University of Houston Percussion Ensembles on the Albany Records label. His Twilight Offering Music was a prizewinner in the 1988 Percussive Arts Society International Composition Competition. Dr. Wilkins holds degrees in Percussion Performance and Composition from the University of Oklahoma and the University of Southern California. He is an artist endorser of Innovative Percussion and Zildjian cymbals.