MARY KOUYOUMDJIAN (executive director) is dedicated to composing music that pushes the boundaries of expectation and musical tradition. As a first generation Armenian-American, she uses a sonic pallet that draws on her heritage, interest in folk music, and background in experimental composition to progressively blend the old with the new. With commissions from the American Composers Forum, REDSHIFT, and the Los Angeles New Music Ensemble, her compositions range from concert works to multimedia collaborations and film scores.

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LEAHA MARIA VILLARREAL (artistic director) explores classical and contemporary trends to compose unique works of art. Inspired by visual artists and literary figures, her pieces are described as introspective with attention to space, resonance, and silence. Villarreal’s music has been premiered by the Boston New Music Initiative, violinist Andie Springer, and members of the percussion ensemble red fish blue fish. She holds a B.A. from the University of California, San Diego and is pursuing her M.M. at New York University.

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JAMES HOLT (host) is a composer, podcaster, and arts administrator. His music has been performed across the country and internationally, including recent performances in New York, Boston, St. Paul, and San Francisco. His bi-weekly podcast, My Ears Are Open, is dedicated to contemporary composers and performers. This ever-growing library of interviews features contemporary music’s most important advocates from around the world. Holt is originally from Seattle and now lives and works in New York City.

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MEG ZERVOULIS (music director) is a musical director and pianist, collaborating in the realms of Broadway and chamber music alike. Zervoulis’ current residencies include Paper Mill Playhouse (M.D./Arranger/Accompanist) and Montclair State University (Adjunct Professor, Mainstage M.D., Accompanist). Her Off-Broadway credits include Chuckleball at the Snapple Theatre (M.D./Arranger/Stage Pianist) and Rated P…for Parenthood (M.D., Upcoming). Zervoulis received a B.F.A. with honors in Piano Performance from Carnegie Mellon University.

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NICOLE CAMACHO (flutes) has taken her classical upbringing and turned it upside down in performing new music with such ensembles as Cochlea Freedom Ensemble and Hotel Elefant. Pulling the sister art form of music into her work, she has collaborated with Hallo Hallo Dance Company and has had her composition Tiki Tiki for percussive alto flute choreographed by Megan Shaw. Camacho has also embraced folk/rock forms in joining The Kjersti Kveli Group.

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DOMENICA FOSSATI (flutes) earned her M.F.A. at New York University with Robert Dick, where she also served as adjunct faculty. An advocate of fusing contemporary techniques with pop and non-western music, she performs with some of today’s leading artists, ensembles, and composers, blurring genre lines to allow for a unique and eclectic sound. She is a founding member of Concert Black and is the front-woman of the multicultural ensemble Underground System, one of the only afrobeat bands to exclusively feature a female at front.

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ISABEL KIM (clarinet) has performed with the Arabesque Winds, Nouveau Classical Project, Rochester City Ballet, Chesapeake Orchestra, New York Chamber Virtuosi, and Eastman BroadBand, appearing at Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center, (le) poisson rouge, and Galapagos Art Space. A graduate of the Eastman School of Music, she has recorded for Bridge Records and ArkivMusic. Additional engagements include the Wooster Chamber Music Series, Harry Jacobs Chamber Music Series, and the Sanibel Music Festival.

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JONATHAN RUSSELL (clarinet/bass clarinet) writes for ensembles ranging from orchestra to choir to klezmer band. Especially known for his innovative bass clarinet compositions and performances, he is a member of the Edmund Welles bass clarinet quartet, the Sqwonk bass clarinet duo, and Co-Director of the Switchboard Music Festival. He is currently a Ph.D. Composition student at Princeton University.

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ANDIE SPRINGER (violin/viola/ukulele), a native of Fairbanks, Alaska, specializes in contemporary music and is also a founder and co-director of new music ensembles TRANSIT and REDSHIFT. Springer has premiered and commissioned solo works by Mary Kouyoumdjian, Leaha Maria Villarreal, Rich Shemaria, Bryan Jacobs, and Robert Ashley. Recent highlights include the premiere and European tour of Richard Maxwell’s Neutral Hero, and the premiere of Redshift’s large-scale commissioning project “Arctic Sounds.”

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ROSE BELLINI (cello) is an avid performer of a wide variety of music including classical, amplified, improvisational, crossover, and experimental. She regularly performs with contemporary music ensembles, modern dance companies, bands, and chamber and orchestral groups around New York City and across North America.

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ALISA HORN (cello), an active freelance cellist in New York City, enjoys performing, recording, and teaching a wide variety of musical genres from classical to jazz to rock and beyond. Horn performed in the Broadway musical Next to Normal (2009 Tony Award-Winning Musical; 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Drama) and is a member of the Inventions Trio with jazz greats Marvin Stamm and Bill Mays.

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SHAWN LOVATO (bass) works as a freelance jazz bassist performing in New York City’s finest venues. Lovato tours the country regularly, performing with jazz ensembles, chamber ensembles, Celtic groups, independent contemporary composers, and dance choreographers. Lovato is a dedicated music educator, teaching jazz and classical bass throughout the New York Area. He currently serves as Adjunct Professor of Jazz at Hofstra University.

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DAVID FRIEND (piano) is dedicated to ensuring the continued relevance of the art of the piano in contemporary culture. As a champion of new and experimental music, he has performed at top venues including Carnegie Hall, Royal Festival Hall (London), and the Reina Sofia Museum (Madrid). As a soloist, he presents programs that seek to revitalize the experience of a piano recital for the 21st century.

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KIRSTEN VOLNESS (piano) is a composer, pianist, and educator. Volness enjoys collaborating with a myriad of contemporary ensembles, writing music for others to play (Colorado Quartet, NOW Ensemble, and REDSHIFT) and performing with groups like Hotel Elefant, Erik Ehn’s Tenderloin Opera Co., and Awesome Collective. She resides and teaches privately in Providence and works with the non-profit Boston New Music Initiative.

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LINDSEY WARFORD (harp/viola) has been entertaining hundreds of audiences, both public and private, for over a decade across the eastern seaboard performing in notable venues such as Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall and Jacksonville Symphony’s Jacoby Hall. Hailing from Florida, Warford holds degrees in Harp Performance and Arts Administration, maintains a full roster of performances throughout the NYC metro area, and enjoys sharing her passion of music through teaching private lessons.

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NICK GLEASON (percussion) is a devoted advocate for contemporary music. He actively works with composers including Salvatore Macchia, Francesco Hoch, Margaret Schedel, and Charles Bestor, among others. Gleason is co-founder of the Sinopia Quartet and has performed with the Boston New Music Initiative, Mantra Percussion Ensemble, Stony Brook Contemporary Chamber Players, and Winged Harmony Ensemble.

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CAITLIN MCKECHNEY (mezzo-soprano) is a vocalist from Lake Bluff, Illinois. Operatic credits include Kate Pinkerton in Madame Butterfly with Opera New Jersey, The Wife/Mother in Mark-Anthony Turnage’s Greek and Inez in No Exit with Chicago Opera Vanguard, and Carmen in an outreach production with Opera Santa Barbara. McKechney apprenticed with Des Moines Metro Opera, Sarasota Opera, Opera Santa Barbara and Cedar Rapids Opera Theater. McKechney also loves to draw and paint and maintains a private voice studio.

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HANNIS BROWN (guitar) has performed under the direction of notable musicians including former Tonight Show bassist Joel DiBartolo, jazz composers Maria Schneider and Ed Neumeister, legendary guitarist John Abercrombie, trumpet great Bobby Shew, and Quincy Troupe, poet and Miles Davis biographer. His résumé includes extensive tours of the Western United States with the noise-funk outfit LOBE as well as performances in New York City, the POP Montreal Festival 2011, and a tour of Poland as bandleader of the Hannis Brown Ensemble.

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KELLI RUDICK (guitar) is an American-born composer and instrumentalist. Her distinctive style is marked by her passionate curiosity and imagination as she plays guitar with original tunings and chords, percussive rhythms, and looped beats. Exploring new territories and mixing genres, she is passionate about scoring film. Beyond the studio and with a full fleet of instruments and players, Rudick has toured the U.S. and has played internationally in the U.K. and Israel.

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PETER BUSSIGEL (electronics) is a composer and intermedia artist interested in abrupt cuts, zooming in, science fiction, recursion, waiting, multiples, wormholes, smashing things together and looking through binoculars. His work has been performed in concerts and festivals throughout North America and Japan. Bussigel is currently a Ph.D. candidate in Multimedia and Electronic Music Experiments at Brown University.

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JONATHAN ZALBEN (electronics/violin) received an M.A. in Music Composition and Multimedia from New York University, a B.A. in Music from Yale University, and studied violin and music composition at Juilliard Pre-College. His multimedia work has been presented Boston Cyberarts, Art Without, Knitting Factory, PS122, HERE Art Center, Ontological Theater, and Galapagos Art Space. He was a research fellow at the U.S. Department of Energy, Argonne National Laboratory and has been in residence at the Studio for Electro-Instrumental Music (STEIM) in Amsterdam.

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JOANNA SZU (director of marketing & public relations), a California native, began her career in non-profit arts administration as a Development Assistant at La Jolla Music Society. Before moving to the Hudson Valley in New York, Szu was the Publicity Assistant at the Department of Music at University of California, San Diego and the Marketing and Public Relations Manager at Longy School of Music in Boston. She now serves as the Marketing Associate at The Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts at Bard College.