Misato Mochizuki (featured composer)

Born in 1969 in Tokyo, Misato Mochizuki is among those composers who are equally active in Europe and in Japan. After receiving a Masters degree in composition at the National University of Fine Arts and Music in Tokyo, she was awarded first prize for composition at the Conservatoire National Supérieur in Paris in 1995, and then attended the “Composition and Computer Music” program at IRCAM (1996-1997).

In her very own combination of Occidental tradition and the Asiatic sense of breathing, Misato Mochizuki’s style of writing developed magical rhythms and unusual sounds of great formal and stylistic freedom. Her catalogue of works (published by Breitkopf & Härtel) consists of about 40 works today, including 15 symphonic compositions and 12 pieces for ensemble. Her works, which have been performed at international festivals such as the Salzburg Festival, the Biennale di Venezia, and the Folle Journée in Tokyo, have received numerous awards such as the audience prize at the Festival Ars Musica in Brussels for Chimera in 2002, the Japanese State Prize for the greatest young artistic talent in 2003, the Otaka Prize for the best symphonic world premiere in Japan in 2005 (for Cloud nine), the Grand Prize of the Tribune internationale des compositeurs in 2008 (forL’heure bleue), and the Heidelberg Women Artists’ Prize in 2010. Her most outstanding productions include the orchestral portrait concert at Suntory Hall in Tokyo (2007), the cinema concert at the Louvre with the music to the silent film Le fil blanc de la cascade by Kenji Mizoguchi (2007) and the portrait concert at the Festival d’Automne in Paris (2010).

Between 2011 and 2013 Misato Mochizuki was composer-in-residence at the Festival international de musique de Besançon. Since 2007 she has been professor of artistic disciplines at the Meiji Gakuin University in Tokyo, and has been invited to give composition courses in Darmstadt, Royaumont, Takefu, and at the Amsterdam Conservatory. Within the framework of her activities, she continually reflects on the role of the composer in today’s society and the necessity to open oneself to it. In addition, Misato Mochizuki writes about music and culture in her own column every three months for the renowned Yomiuri Shimbun, the most widely read daily newspaper in Japan. http://www.misato-mochizuki.com/

Hiroyuki Yamamoto (commissioned composer)

Born in Yamagata Prefecture, Japan in 1967, Hiroyuki Yamamoto studied composition with Akira Kitamura, Jo Kondo and Isao Matsushita. He received both his bachelor and master’s degrees in composition from Tokyo University of the Arts. A prolific composer, Yamamoto has composed about 60 pieces including works for orchestra, chamber ensemble, solo instruments, and electronic media. They have been performed by Le Nouvel Ensemble Moderne, Ensemble Contemporain de Montreal, Trio Fibonacci, Nieuw Ensemble, Okeanos Ensemble, Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg, Cairo Symphony Orchestra, the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, Ensemble Music Practica, Quartet Excelsior, and Ensemble Contemporary α.

In 1990, Yamamoto helped establish TEMPUS NOVUM with Haruyuki Suzuki, Yoshifumi Tanaka, Hiroshi Yokoshima, and others. In addition to his work in composition, Yamamoto directed ENSEMBLE d’AME (Tokyo) for four years from 1997-2001. In 2003 he joined the faculty at Iwate University and in 2009 he joined the faculty at Aichi University of the Arts. Mr. Yamamoto currently resides in Aichi Prefecture, Japan.

Dai Fujikura

Born in Osaka, Dai Fujikura has now spent more than 20 years in the UK where he has studied composition with Edwin Roxburgh, Daryl Runswick and George Benjamin. In the last decade he has been the recipient of the Huddersfield Festival Young Composers Award, the Royal Philharmonic Society Award in UK, the Internationaler Wiener Composition Prize, the Paul Hindemith Prize, and both the Otaka and Akutagawa awards in 2009. His list of commissions and performances reveals he is fast becoming an international composer. His music is performed not only in the country of his birth and his adopted home, but also in venues as geographically diverse as Caracas and Oslo, Venice and Schleswig-Holstein, Lucerne and Paris. He has also collaborated with musicians working in experimental pop, jazz, and improvisation.

Dai Fujikura is published by G Ricordi & Co, Berlin—part of Universal Music Publishing Classical.

Sunao Isaji

Born in 1968, Mr. Isaji received a master’s degree from the graduate school of Tokyo College of Music in 1995. He studied composition with Akira Nishimura and history of western medieval music with Masakata Kanazawa. He has been awarded the top prize in the Music Competition of Japan, Japan Society for Contemporary Music Award for Composers, Akutagawa Award for Music Composition, and Idemitsu Music Prize.

Isaji’s contributions to music have been diverse. He was a participant in the centenary celebration of Garcia Lorca’s birth in 1998 and in 2000 was involved in the production of the radio opera “Bodas de sangre (Blood Wedding – Acoustic Theater in a Closed Room).” In 2001 he was the artistic director for “A musial avant-garde – John Cage” and in 2002 held an exhibition named “Nanban-yakai (a western banquet) – Exhibition of Sunao Isaji.” In 2003, Mr. Isaji was appointed the composer in residence for “Music from Japan” festival, and also played in the opening concert for the film festival “Festival de Jacques Tati”. In 2005 and 2012, Suntory Music Foundation organized concerts named “Sunao Isaji – Composer in Dialogue” in Osaka.  Along with his composition and performance activities, Mr. Isaji has also regularly performed live concerts of mainly Brazilian music since 2001.

Satoshi Minami

Born in 1955, Satoshi Minami studied composition with Teruyuki Noda and Toshiba Mayuzumi at Tokyo University of Arts and Music. In 1982 he was selected for the “Music Today” International Composition Competition. Minami was a founding member of Sannen Kessha (“Three Years Association”), which was formed in 1983. Sannen Kessha was a group of young composers gathered around Yoshio Hachimura that included Toshio Nakagawa and Akemi Naito. In 1988 Minami’s work for solo harp and orchestra “Taoere  if … commentary” debuted in a joint presentation by the Japan Contemporary Composers Association and the Japan Philharmonic. His orchestral work “Saishoku Keikaku V” premiered in 1991 and received the Muramatsu Award. In 1992 he received the Agency for Cultural Affairs Performing Arts Award for his piece “Kanashiki chishiki no hanazono I b” (Sad Garden of Knowledge I b). He also won the second prize at the 52^nd Japan Music Competition.

Today Minami lives in Sapporo where he serves as councilor for the Sapporo Concert Hall and the Arai Memorial Art Museum. In addition to composing, he is active in education and the organization of concerts throughout Hokkaido.

Masahiro Miwa

Masahiro Miwa was born in Tokyo in 1958, and formed a rock band in high school in 1974. In 1978 he moved to Germany to attend the National Academy of Art in Berlin, where he studied composition under Isang Yun. In 1985 he began studying with Günther Becker at the Robert Schumann National Academy in Düseldorf. He has been teaching computer and electronic music at the Academy since 1988. In 1986 Miwa began to teach himself computer programming, and has since focused on creating computer music.

Miwa has been the recipient of many awards for his work, including: the Hambacher Prize (Germany, 1985); the Irino Prize (Japan, 1989); second prize in the Music Today Composition Contest (Japan, 1991); first prize in the Concorso Internationale Luigi Russoro (Italy, 1992); and the Muramatsu Award (Japan, 1995).

His works have been performed in Europe, Japan, the United States and Canada. He has been involved in other projects, including collaborations with Akke Wagenaar for interactive computer installations, and a house music album, “Lucky Choi” released by Meldac in 1991, “Rotküpchen-Begleiter” by Rhizome Sketch in 1995, “Gesäge des Ostens” by Fontec in 1998 and 4 CDs of “Ascending Music for the End of the Century.”

In 1995 he was a lecturer at Academy of Media Arts Cologne and since 1996 he has been a professor at International Academy of Media Arts and Sciences, Gifu, Japan.

Haruyuki Suzuki

Haruyuki Suzuki was born in Tokyo in February 1962. In 1990 he organized a young composers’ collective called “TEMPUS NOVUM,” which produced 14 concerts between 1990 and 2004. In 1995 Suzuki was awarded the 16th Irino Prize for his piece “A Double Tour.” His music has been performed in Japan, the US, and throughout Europe in festivals including, but not limited to Gaudeamus Music Week in the Netherlands, Les Inouies in France, Santa Maria Nuova Musica Festival in Italy and Experimental Intermedia in New York. In 2013 his “Punctuation” series was performed in complete in Tokyo. Finally, in 2014 his string trio Gyroscope was performed in Frankfurt by members of Ensemble Modern. Suzuki has also written music for film, video and theater. M/OTHER won the Cannes International Film Festival Prize and Mainichi Film Music Prize. Un Couple Parfait won the Special Prize of the Jury Award and the C.I.C.A.E. Award at the 58th Locarno Film Festival. He also performs electronic music with or without silent films. His Film Strip II for electronics, ensemble and film (directed by Takahiko Iimura) was first performed in Suntory Summer Music Festival in Japan in 2011. He premiered the sound installation Circulating Daily Life in the Striped House Museum in Tokyo in 1996, and Arechi with the theater group Port B, which was a sound installation in a disused library in 2008. In 2015 he had a sound installation titled After The Symposium in Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum.

Yoshifumi Tanaka

Yoshifumi Tanaka was born in Itami, near Osaka in 1968. While pursuing a degree in cognitive psychology at Tokyo Metropolitan University he began composition studies by himself before studying with Chaya Czernowin in 1994 and 1995. In 1988 and 1989 his work was selected as a finalist in the JSCM competition and in 1996 he won the Akiyoshidai International Composition Award. Tanaka co-founded the composers’ group “TEMPUS NOVUM” in 1990 along with fellow contemporary composers Hiroshi Yokoshima, Haruyuki Suzuki, Hiroyuki Yamamoto and Fumio Tamura. His pieces have been played at Arsenale Musica (Pisa, Italy), Festival nieuwe MUSIEK (Middelburg, Holland), Darmstadt International Summer Course (Germany), Melbourne Festival (Australia), Gaudeamus Music Week (Amsterdam), ISCM World Music Days 2001 (Yokohama), ACL2003 (Tokyo), Angelica Festival 2005 (Bologna) and Tongyeong International Music Festival (Korea).

Since 2006, Tanaka has served as guest lecturer at the Contemporary Music Seminar “Akiyoshidai’s Summer.” His highly acclaimed portrait CD linea-respiro was released in 2015 on Fontec Records.

Yoshifumi Tanaka’s scores are published by Ars Publica (Italy) and Mother Earth (Japan).

Akiko Yamane

Yamane, in her own words, “[tries] to create music using the concept of “visible sound” as a figurative art. The phenomenon of sound is in fact invisible, but as it is experienced as installation art, I strive to enable the listener to trace the outlines of sound movement and feel shapes, colors, textures and the space beside them in their own inner perception.”

Yamane studied composition at the Kyoto City University of Arts with Hinoharu Matsumoto from 2001-2007, and at Hochschule für Kuenste Bremen with Younghi Pagh-Paan from 2005-2006 as an exchange student. Yamane also studied composition with Motoharu Kawashima privately. She participated in a Composition Master Course in Akiyoshidai’s Summer (2003), at the Composers Forum in Tokyo (2004), in the Takefu international music festival (2005, 2007 as an invited composer), and at Royaumont Voix Nouvelles in France (2006).

Yamane’s numerous awards and grants include the Meiji Yasuda quality of life scholarship (2004), the Kyoto Musical Association prize (2005), a finalist of the Takefu Composition Award (2005), the Togashi Prize of the 22nd JSCM Award for Composers (2005), 1st Prize of the Music Competition of Japan (2006), and the Akutagawa Prize (2010).

Her works have been performed in Tokyo, New York City, Paris, Bremen and commissioned by the NHK Symphony Orchestra, Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra, Izumi Sinfonietta Osaka and many ensembles and players. She has organized experimental music events called “eX.” with composer Motoharu Kawashima in Tokyo since 2007. She staged a sound installation “Dots Collection No.06” in Kyoto, 2011.

Fred Sherry, cello

A pioneer and a visionary in the music world, Fred Sherry has introduced audiences on five continents and all 50 United States to the music of our time through his close association with today’s composers. Carter, Davidovsky, Mackey, Rakowski, Satoh, Wuorinen and Zorn have written concertos for him, and he has premiered solo and chamber works dedicated to him by Babbitt, Bermel, Foss, Knussen, Lieberson and Takemitsu, among others. Sherry was a founding member of Tashi and Speculum Musicae; he has been a member of the Group for Contemporary Music, of Berio’s Juilliard Ensemble and of the Galimir String Quartet; and he was a close collaborator with jazz pianist and composer Chick Corea. He has been an active performer with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center since the 1970s and was its Artistic Director from 1988 to 1992. Sherry has been a soloist and “sideman” on hundreds of commercial and esoteric recordings. The Fred Sherry String Quartet recordings of the Schoenberg String Quartet Concerto and the String Quartets Nos. 3 and 4 were both nominated for a Grammy. Sherry is a member of the cello faculty of the Juilliard School, the Mannes College of Music and the Manhattan School of Music. His book, 25 Bach Duets from the Cantatas, was published by Boosey & Hawkes in 2011. It will be followed by the long-awaited treatise on contemporary string techniques.

Stephen Gosling, piano

Pianist Stephen Gosling earned his bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees at the Juilliard School. During this time he was awarded the Mennin Prize for Outstanding Excellence and Leadership in Music and the Sony Elevated Standards Fellowship, and was featured as concerto soloist an unprecedented four times. Gosling is a member of New York New Music Ensemble, Ensemble Sospeso, Columbia Sinfonietta, and Ne(x)tworks. He has also performed with the New York Philharmonic, Orpheus, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, American Composers Orchestra, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Riverside Symphony, Speculum Musicae, Ensemble 21, DaCapo Chamber Players, Continuum, SEM Ensemble, the League of Composers/ISCM Chamber Players, and Da Camera of Houston. Gosling has made more than 30 recordings for Albany, Bridge, Capstone, Centaur, CRI, Innova, Koch, Mode, Morrison Music Trust, Naxos, New World Records, and Rattle Records.

Eriko Sato, violin

Eriko Sato is a leading violinist on the New York City chamber music scene and a co-concertmaster of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and the Orchestra of St. Luke’s. She has performed as soloist with orchestras in Louisville, San Francisco and Tokyo. An active chamber musician, Ms. Sato has participated in the Mostly Mozart, Aspen, Sitka, Angel Fire, Gretna, Affinis and Kuhmo Music Festivals, and has appeared regularly with Bargemusic, Chamber Music Northwest, The American String Project, Music From Japan, Caramoor, Dobbs Ferry and the Washington Square Music Festivals. A founding member of the Aspen Soloists, Festival Chamber Music and Salon Chamber Soloists she is also a member of the Elysium, Ecliptica, Strathmere and American Chamber Ensembles.

As a concertmaster of Orpheus, she appears on Deutsche Grammophon recordings, where her releases include Vivaldi’s Four-Violin Concerto and Handel’s Concerti Grossi, Op. 6. For MusicMasters, she appears with the St. Luke’s Chamber Ensemble in the Bach Concerti and the chamber music of Hindemith and Beethoven. Her latest releases are Allen Shawn’s string quartet “Sleepless Night” and “Mozart Flute Quartets” on Albany Records. She has also recorded for Vanguard, Delos, Elysium and Grenadilla labels and has been featured on CBS News Sunday Morning. Ms. Sato is currently a faculty member of Bennington Chamber Music Conference, Amateur Musicians Project, Hoff-Barthelson Music School and the Mannes College of Music Preparatory and NEXT Divisions, where she teaches violin and chamber music. www.erikosato.weebly.com

Elizabeth Brown, flute alto flute and piccolo

Elizabeth Brown combines a successful composing career with an extremely diverse performing life, playing flute, shakuhachi, and theremin in a wide variety of musical circles. Her chamber music, shaped by this unique group of instruments and experiences, has been called luminous, dreamlike and hallucinatory.

A Juilliard graduate and Guggenheim Fellowship recipient, Brown’s music has been heard in Japan, the Soviet Union, Colombia, Australia, South Africa and Vietnam as well as across the US and Europe. She has received grants, awards and commissions from Orpheus, St. Luke’s Chamber Ensemble, Newband, the Asian Cultural Council, Music from Japan, the Japan/US Friendship Commission, Meet the Composer, the Electronic Music Foundation, the Cary Trust, and NYFA. She is known both here and in Japan for her compositions combining western and traditional Japanese instruments. A solo CD, Elizabeth Brown: Mirage is available on New World Records. http://www.ElizabethBrownComposer.com

Jocelin Pan, viola

Violist Jocelin Pan is passionate about performing the works of living and recent composers.  As the co-Artistic Director of Ensemble Échappé, Jocelin has assembled a team of new music visionaries, committed to cultivating virtuosity in 20th and 21st century sinfonietta repertoire.  Jocelin has collaborated with many composers on their works including Nina C. Young, Jonathan Dawe, Xiaogang Ye, and Derek Bermel, to name a few.  Jocelin gave the U.S. premiere of Andrew Ford’s Viola Concerto The Unquiet Grave, with “ravishing strength” (ConcertoNet) and “played the solo part with great sensitivity to texture” (The New York Times).  She also led the Juilliard Chamber Orchestra in an un-conducted performance of Joan Tower’s viola concerto Purple Rhapsody.

In addition to performing, Jocelin enjoys working as a teaching artist in the NYC area.  She recently joined the faculty at The Nightingale-Bamford School as the music department’s viola teacher.  As a founding member of the Milestone Trio, Jocelin brings interactive concerts and classroom workshops to schools in Manhattan.  The teaching ensemble’s curriculum emphasizes active listening and creative imagination through the exploration of diverse repertoire.  From Beethoven Serenades to “Let It Go,” the Milestone Trio aims to engage young audiences through storytelling and musical interpretation. She has also taught for the Harmony Program, Music Advancement Program at Juilliard, and the Morse Teaching fellowship at P.S. 11.

She plays on a viola made by Joseph Grubaugh and Sigrun Seifert, on generous loan from the Virtu Foundation.

Margaret Kampmeier, piano

Pianist Margaret Kampmeier enjoys a varied career as a soloist, collaborative artist and educator. A founding member of the Naumburg award-winning New Millennium Ensemble, Ms. Kampmeier performs regularly with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s and Orpheus Chamber Orchestra.  She has appeared with the St. Petersburg Chamber Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic Ensembles, Metropolitan Opera Chamber Ensemble, Kronos Quartet and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. As a recording artist, Ms. Kampmeier can be heard on the Albany, Centaur, CRI, Koch, Nonesuch, Bridge and Deutsche Gramophon labels. Ms. Kampmeier teaches piano at Princeton University and is Chair and Artistic Director of the Contemporary Performance Program at the Manhattan School of Music. A native of Rochester, NY, Ms. Kampmeier resides currently in New York City.

Masayo Ishigure, koto

Masayo Ishigure began playing the koto and jiuta shamisen at the age of five in Gifu, Japan, and throughout her career has redefined the limits of the koto despite her roots in traditional Japanese music. After initial studies with Tadao and Kazue Sawai, Masayo became a special research student in 1986 at the Sawai Koto Academy of Music. The aim of the academy was to shed new light on koto music by incorporating everything from Bach to jazz, thus changing the koto from being perceived as a strictly traditional Japanese instrument into an instrument accepted as capable of expression in many styles.

In 2005 , Masayo Ishigure was a recording artist for the Grammy Award-Winning soundtrack from the movie “Memoirs of a Geisha” by John Williams alongside Yitzhak Perlman, Yo-Yo Ma and others. In 2001 she released her own solo CD entitled “Grace.” Ms. Ishigure moved to New York City in 1992 and has performed at Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, Weill Reciteal Hall, BAM, Merkin Hall, Japan Society, Symphony Space and was a guest artist with the San Diego Symphony, New Haven Symphony Orchestra, Seattle Symphony Orchestra and Hartford Symphony Orchestra. In 2015 she was featured in the performance of “Melody of Japan” at the Kennedy Center.

Masayo Ishigure currently teaches at Columbia University and offers private lessons as the only Sawai Koto Academy instructor in the New York City and Washington DC area. http://www.masayoishigure.com

CJ Camerieri, trumpet, flugelhorn

CJ began working in alternative music as the trumpet player and keyboard player for Sufjan Stevens in January of 2006.  He then went on to tour the world as a member of Rufus Wainwright’s band in 2007-2008 before starting yMusic with Rob Moose in the spring of 2008 and later joining Bon Iver in 2011 while also touring with the Plastic Ono Band and The National.  In 2014 CJ became the newest member of Paul Simon’s touring band.

As an arranger, trumpet player, french horn player, and keyboardist C.J.’s discography includes well over 200 recordings including current and forthcoming releases by Paul Simon, Bon Iver, yMusic, Sufjan Stevens, Rufus Wainwright, The Tallest Man on Earth, David Byrne, Antony and the Johnsons, Martha Wainwright, Loudon Wainwright III, Gabriel Kahane, The National, Angus and Julia Stone, Ingrid Michaelson, The Staves, My Brightest Diamond, Sean Lennon, Yuka Honda, GOASTT, Jesse Harris, She and Him, Harper Simon, Chris Garneau, Clare and the Reasons, Welcome Wagon, Anthony Coleman, ACME, The New York Trumpet Ensemble, Argento New Music Ensemble and the Paragon Ragtime Orchestra.

William Schimmel, accordion

William Schimmel is a virtuoso accordionist, author, philosopher and composer. He is one of the principle architects in the tango revival in America, the resurgence of the accordion and the philosophy of Musical Reality (composition with pre-existing music). Regarded as the world’s greatest accordionist by National Public Radio, he has performed with virtually every major symphony orchestra in America (and the Kirov ) including a longstanding relationship with the Minnesota Orchestra, as well as virtually every chamber music group in New York including Ensemble Sospeso and the Odeon Jazz Ensemble. Pop star colleagues range from Sting to Tom Waits, who has made the legendary statement: “Bill Schimmel doesn’t play the accordion, he is the accordion”.

Dr. Schimmel now heads the Neupauer Conservatory Order of the Shield program, a private studies program for gifted students on a graduate and post graduate level.

Dr. Schimmel, and his wife, choreographer, director, filmmaker Micki Goodman co-founded and co- directs the Institute for Private Studies, a pluralistic think-tank. They have a 34 year old son, Michael, an accordionist and visual artist—and a Special Olympics gold medal winner.

Oren Fader, guitar

Classical and electric guitarist Oren Fader has performed in Asia, Europe, and throughout the United States. Recent concerto performances include the Villa-Lobos Guitar Concerto with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Rodrigo’s “Concierto de Aranjuez” with the New Jersey Symphony, and David Del Puerto’s new concerto, “Zephyr”, with the New Paths in Music Ensemble.

In addition to performing as a soloist, Mr. Fader is much in demand as a New York City chamber musician. He has performed hundreds of concerts with a wide range of classical and new music groups, including the Met Chamber Ensemble (directed by James Levine), New York City Opera, New York Philharmonic, Talea Ensemble, ICE, Mark Morris Dance Group, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. Festival performances include Aspen, Tanglewood, Bach Oregon Festival, Istanbul Festival, Deer Valley Festival (Utah), Bard Music Festival, and Morelia, Mexico.

Mr. Fader is well known for his performances of contemporary music. He has premiered over 200 solo and chamber works with guitar, and can be heard on over 40 commercial recordings and films. His latest solo recordings include “Another’s Fandango”, featuring 500 years of guitar music, and “First Flight”, a disc of 10 premiere solos written for Mr. Fader by New York City composers.

Since 1994 Mr. Fader has been on the guitar and chamber music faculty of the Manhattan School of Music.

Hila Zamir, bass clarinet

A native of Israel, clarinetist Hila Zamir is currently an active teacher and chamber music performer in New York City. She earned her bachelor of music in clarinet performance from the Buchman-Mehta School of Music at Tel Aviv University and her Master’s degree from Manhattan School of Music. She is currently an Artist Diploma candidate at Brooklyn College, where she studies with Prof. Marianne Gythfeldt. In 2014, Hila performed as a soloist with the Israel philharmonic orchestra under the baton of Maestro Zubin Mehta. She won first prize at the Manhattan International Music Competition, third prize at the International Clarinet Association young artist competition, special prize at the European Clarinet Association competition and second prize at the Ruth Lewis international clarinet competition.                As a contemporary music fan, Hila collaborated with the contemporary music program musicians at Manhattan school of music, and with composers in residence at Brooklyn College. Since 2007 she has been a recipient of America-Israel Cultural Foundation scholarships.

Randall Wolfgang, oboe

Randall Wolfgang is an acclaimed musician whose career has led him to perform throughout the United States, Europe, South America, and the Far East. He currently holds the position of principal oboist with both the New York City Ballet and The New York City Opera orchestras. His past accomplishments include a grammy award, and many years as principle oboist and faculty member at the Aspen Music Festival and guest artist and faculty member at the Aspen Music Festival in Nagano Japan. He has also appeared at the Marlboro, the Manadnock Music festivals, and the Great Mountains International Festival and School in South Korea. He was on the faculty of Queens College and the Manhattan School of Music. A frequent performer and soloist with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Mr Wolfgang also enjoys an active freelance career in the New York recording scene.

Mr Wolfgang has recorded extensively on the Deutsche Grammophon, Pro Arte, and Nonesuch labels, including a recording of the Mozart Oboe Concerto with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra.

Yuji Numano

Born in 1965, Yuji Numano is a music writer and historian whose research interests include Japanese contemporary music, modern musical notation, socialism and music, and trends in contemporary music. After completing an MD and PhD in musicology at Tokyo University of the Arts, Mr. Numano held a lecturing position at Tokyo College of Music until 2004, when he became an assistant professor. He was a visiting fellow at Harvard University during the 2008-2009 academic year and currently serves on the faculty at Toho Gakuen School of Music. A prolific writer, Mr. Numano has published scholarship on Japanese contemporary music in general, and on composers Akira Nishimura, Gyorgy Ligeti, Luciano Berio, Pierre Boulez, and Edgar Varese.

Nancy Malitz

Nancy Malitz is the founding music critic at USA Today and a pioneer in journalism on the internet.  Recently she spearheaded the creation of Classical Voice North America, the national web magazine of the Music Critics Association of North America, for which she both writes and edits.  She also created the theater and arts website Chicago On the Aisle, for which she both writes and edits. Previously, as cultural columnist for The Detroit News, she wrote about the intersection of the arts and technology, and she was tapped to create the newspaper’s first websites. She subsequently moved into senior management and worked on strategic planning for media change with Gannett publications. She has written about the arts and technology for the New York Times, the Washington Post and dozens of other publications. Also active as a commentator, she has appeared on PBS, NPR, the CBC and various regional radio and TV outlets.

Carl Stone

Carl Stone is one of the pioneers of live computer music, and has been hailed by the Village Voice as “the king of sampling.” and “one of the best composers living in (the USA) today.” He has used computers in live performance since 1986. Stone was born in Los Angeles and now divides his time between San Francisco and Japan. He studied composition at the California Institute of the Arts with Morton Subotnick and James Tenney and has composed electro-acoustic music almost exclusively since 1972. His works have been performed in the U.S., Canada, Europe, Asia, Australia, South America and the Near East. In addition to his schedule of performance, composition and touring, he is on the faculty of the Department of Media Engineering at Chukyo University in Japan.

Musical collaborations include those with Michiko Akao, Pearl Alexander, Samm Bennett, Sarah Cahill, Gianni Gebbia, Mineko Grimmer, Haco, Alfred Harth, Madoka Kono, Gil Kuno, Min Xiao-Fen, Otomo Yoshihide, Kazue Sawai, Elliot Sharp, Yasuaki Shimizu, Stelarc, Aki Takahashi, Yuji Takahashi, Tosha Meisho, Kazuhisa Uchihashi, Wu Na, Wu Wei, Michiyo Yagi, and z’ev.

Carl Stone served as President of the American Music Center from 1992-95. He was the Director of Meet the Composer/California from 1981-1997, and Music Director of KPFK-FM in Los Angeles from 1978-1981. He often hosts a weekly program on KPFA-fm in the Bay Area, USA. Other activities have included serving as a regular columnist for Sound & Recording Magazine in Japan, serving as web editor for Other Minds, a website devoted to New Music, and for the official website of the John Cage Trust.

Richard Teitelbaum

Richard Teitelbaum has been active as a composer and performer for more than five decades, performing throughout world. His music includes notated compositions and free and structured improvisations in acoustic, electronic and electroacoustic media, often combining traditional western and non-western instruments with electronics. After receiving his Master of Music degree from Yale in 1964 he spent two years on a Fulbright in Italy where he studied with Luigi Nono. While there he co-founded the pioneering live electronic music group Musica Elottronica Viva with Frederic Rzewski and Alvin Curran in Rome.

In 1970 he formed one of the first intercultural improvisation groups, the World Band, and has continued to work with traditional musicians from many nonwestern cultures.

In the 1970’s he began composing live, interactive computer music. His “digital piano system” combined mechanically-played acoustic pianos with computers to play complex “acoustic computer music” on three grand pianos simultaneously.

In 1976 he studied shakuhachi with Katsuya Yokoyama for a year in Tokyo and wrote “Blends” for shakuhachi, synthesizers and percussion, which he performed and recorded with Yokoyama-sensei on the New Albion Label. It was named one of the ten best classical recordings of 2002 by the Wire Magazine in London in 2003.

Teitelbaum has created two operas dealing with Jewish mystical expressions of redemptive hopes: Golem, An interactive Opera (1989), and Z’vi, (2001-) based on the 17th Century Jewish-Moslem Messiah figure Sabbatai Z’vi. He received a Guggenheim Fellowship to create this piece, which has since been performed at Bard College’s Fisher Center, the Venice Biennale and the Center for Jewish History in New York City.

He has worked with many jazz and improvising musicians such as Steve Lacy, Anthony Braxton, George Lewis, Derek Bailey, Evan Parker, Carlos Zingaro, and many other important artists, including John Cage, Morton Feldman, Philip Glass, Nam June Paik, and The Living Theater.

Teitelbaum is a Professor of Music at Bard College, where he has taught in the undergraduate and graduate programs for more than twenty five years.