The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (BSO) is an American symphony orchestra based in Baltimore, Maryland. The Baltimore SO has its principal residence at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall, where it performs more than 130 concerts a year. In 2005, it began regular performances at the Music Center at Strathmore in Bethesda.
Lawrence Dillon is an American composer, and Composer in Residence at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. His music has a wide range of expression, generally within a tonal idiom notable both for its rhythmic propulsiveness and a strong lyrical element. Acclaimed particularly for his chamber music, he has also written extensively for voice and large ensembles.
Richard Danielpour is an American composer.
David Shifrin is an American classical clarinetist and artistic director.
Willy Porter is a contemporary American rock musician and singer-songwriter from Mequon, Wisconsin. He is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. In April 2023 The Wisconsin Area Music Industry (WAMI) announced that Porter would be inducted into the WAMI Hall of Fame.
The Pacifica Quartet is a professional string quartet based in Bloomington, Indiana. Its members are: Simin Ganatra, first violin; Austin Hartman, second violin; Mark Holloway, viola; and Brandon Vamos, cello. Formed in 1994 by Ganatra and Vamos with violinist Sibbi Bernhardsson and violist Kathryn Lockwood, the group won prizes in competitions such as the 1996 Coleman Chamber Music Competition, the 1997 Concert Artists Guild Competition, and the 1998 Naumburg Chamber Music Competition. In 2001, violist Masumi Per Rostad replaced Lockwood. The group subsequently received Chamber Music America's prestigious Cleveland Quartet Award in 2002, the Avery Fisher Career Grant in 2006, and was named "Ensemble of the Year" by Musical America in 2009. In 2017, violinist Austin Hartman replaced Bernhardsson and violist Guy Ben-Ziony replaced Rostad.
The Sacconi Quartet is a UK-based classical music string quartet founded in 2001 by four graduates of the Royal College of Music, London, UK. The Quartet has achieved widespread recognition, having given recitals in leading British concert halls and at music festivals in Britain and across Europe. They have also won several major prizes in string quartet and chamber music competitions. The Quartet is named for the outstanding twentieth-century Italian violin maker and restorer Simone Sacconi, whose book The Secrets of Stradivari is considered an indispensable reference for violin makers.
Carpe diem is a Latin phrase, usually translated "seize the day".
The Martinů Quartet is a Czech string quartet ensemble founded in 1976, originally under the name Havlák Quartet by students of Professor Viktor Moučka at the Prague Conservatory. In 1985, with the approval of the Bohuslav Martinů Foundation, the quartet assumed its present name Martinů Quartet, pledging to promote the chamber music of Czech composer Bohuslav Martinů. The quartet specialises in the works of Czech composers such as Smetana, Dvořák and Janáček, and especially the works of Bohuslav Martinů. They perform regularly at the Prague Spring Festival as well as concerts in many European Countries, the United States, Canada and Japan. The quartet also teaches chamber music performance at two annual chamber music workshops in the Czech Republic, which are open to both amateur and professional musicians.
John Bruce Yeh is an American clarinetist. He has been the assistant principal clarinetist and E-flat clarinetist of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra since 1977. Yeh is the founder and director of the chamber ensemble, Chicago Pro Musica, whose first recording, Stravinsky's L'Histoire du soldat, won the 1985 Grammy Award for the Best New Classical Artist.
Milan Turković is an Austrian classical bassoonist and conductor. He originates from an Austro-Croatian family, grew up in Vienna and became internationally known as one of the few bassoon soloists. Over the past two decades, he has become a successful conductor, making appearances all over the world.
Reza Vali is an Iranian musician and composer.
Benet Casablancas Domingo is a Catalan composer and musicologist.
Bruce Wolosoff is an American classical composer, pianist, and educator. He lives in Shelter Island, New York with his wife, the artist Margaret Garrett. He has two daughters, the singer-songwriter Juliet Garrett and the sculptor and mixed media artist Katya Wolosoff.
Richard Fleischman is an American violist and viola d'amore player, conductor and pedagogue.
Sahba Aminikia is an Iranian-born American contemporary music composer, artistic director, performer, and educator. Aminikia is the founder and the artistic director of Flying Carpet Festival, a performing arts festival for children in war zones.
Dr. Shahab Paranj is an Iranian-born composer and instrumentalist based in Los Angeles. He is considered as one of the pioneers among his generation of composers whose composition style integrates Persian and Western composition techniques. Known as a tombak virtuoso, he has performed, recorded and collaborated with numerous world-class artists and has performed in many festivals and venues throughout the world.
Frank Sumner Dodge is a cellist and artistic director of chamber music ensembles. Frank began studying the cello at 16. His instructors were Jacobus Langendoen, Alfred Zighera, Aldo Parisot, Pierre Fournier, Eberhard Finke and Maurice Gendron. He founded the Strawbery Banke Chamber Music Festival, Inc. in Portsmouth, New Hampshire and was artistic director and cellist from 1969-1980 and again in 1997. He moved to Berlin, Germany in 1982 and founded the privately supported Spectrum Concerts Berlin in 1988.
Philip Dukes is a British classical viola soloist.
Jonathan Leshnoff is an American classical music composer and pedagogue.
