Olga Neuwirth is an Austrian contemporary classical composer, visual artist and author. She is famed especially for her operas and music theater works, many of which have treated sociopolitical themes. She has emphasized an open-ended, interdisciplinary approach in her work, collaborating frequently with Elfriede Jelinek, exploiting live electronics, and incorporating video. In her opera Lost Highway, she adapted David Lynch's surrealist film with the same name. She has also written music for historic and contemporary films. Luigi Nono has inspired her both musically and politically.
Michael Kevin Daugherty is a multiple Grammy Award-winning American composer, pianist, and teacher. He is influenced by popular culture, Romanticism, and Postmodernism. Daugherty's notable works include his Superman comic book-inspired Metropolis Symphony for Orchestra (1988–93), Dead Elvis for Solo Bassoon and Chamber Ensemble (1993), Jackie O (1997), Niagara Falls for Symphonic Band (1997), UFO for Solo Percussion and Orchestra (1999) and for Symphonic Band (2000), Bells for Stokowski from Philadelphia Stories for Orchestra (2001) and for Symphonic Band (2002), Fire and Blood for Solo Violin and Orchestra (2003) inspired by Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo, Time Machine for Three Conductors and Orchestra (2003), Ghost Ranch for Orchestra (2005), Deus ex Machina for Piano and Orchestra (2007), Labyrinth of Love for Soprano and Chamber Winds (2012), American Gothic for Orchestra (2013), and Tales of Hemingway for Cello and Orchestra (2015). Daugherty has been described by The Times (London) as "a master icon maker" with a "maverick imagination, fearless structural sense and meticulous ear."
Kyung Wha Chung is a South Korean violinist.
Siow Lee Chin is a Singaporean violinist.
Karen Ritscher is an American violist and academic.
Helen Cha-Pyo is a South Korean-born American conductor and organist. The Mail Tribune describes her as being "on the front edge of a lustrous career as a conductor".
Daejin Kim is a South Korean pianist, an alumnus of the Juilliard School. He won the first prize in the 6th Robert Casadesus International Piano Competition - which is called Cleveland Competition today, in 1985. Kim is a professor of piano, the Dean of the School of Music at the Korea National University of Arts, and the music director of the Changwon Philharmonic Orchestra.
John Dalley is an American violinist. He was raised in a musical family. His father was an orchestra conductor, violinist, composer, instrumental teacher, and music educator. His mother, from Bloomington, Illinois, was a cellist, music teacher, and music publisher.
Arlene Sierra is an American composer of contemporary classical music, working in London, United Kingdom.
Cristina Braga is a Brazilian harpist. Working with various styles of both classical and popular music, she has released fourteen recorded works, two of them also released in the United States, one released in Japan, and one in Korea. She also performs regularly as soloist with many Symphony Orchestras, has won several prizes and is currently principal harpist at the Theatro Municipal do Rio de Janeiro Symphony Orchestra, as well as teacher at the School of Music at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.
Raymond Eugene Premru was an American trombonist, composer, and teacher who spent most of his career in London, England.
Andor John Toth was an American classical violinist, conductor and educator with a musical career spanning over six decades. Toth played his violin on the World War II battlefields of Aachen, Germany; performed with the NBC Symphony Orchestra under Arturo Toscanini in 1943 at age 18; and formed several chamber music ensembles, including the Oberlin String Quartet, the New Hungarian Quartet, and the Stanford String Quartet. For 15 years he was the violinist in the Alma Trio. Toth conducted orchestras in Cleveland, Denver and Houston. In 1969, he was the founding concertmaster of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra under Neville Marriner. Toth taught at five important colleges and universities, and recorded for Vox, Decca Records and Eclectra Records.
The Oberlin Trio was founded in 1982 by three faculty members of the Oberlin Conservatory: Stephen Clapp, violin; Andor Toth Jr., cello; and Joseph Schwartz, piano. Now in its current configuration with pianist Haewon Song, violinist David Bowlin, and cellist Dmitry Kouzov, the group continues an Oberlin tradition.
Alyson Cambridge is an American operatic soprano. In addition to opera, she sings classical song, jazz, and American songbook and popular song. She is also known for her work as a model, actress, and host.
Melissa Dunphy is an Australian-American composer best known for her vocal, political, and theatrical music. Born in Australia and raised in an immigrant family, Dunphy herself immigrated to the United States in 2003 and has since become an award‐winning and acclaimed composer.
Evelyn Mandac is a soprano opera singer, orchestra soloist, recitalist and voice teacher from the Philippines. She is based in New York City. She's also listed in "Who's Who in Music and Musicians."
Jung Sol-mi, known professionally as Jung Eun-chae (Korean: 정은채), is a South Korean actress, model and TV host. Jung began her career as a model, then made her acting breakthrough as the titular character in Nobody's Daughter Haewon (2013), a film by auteur Hong Sang-soo that premiered at the 63rd Berlin International Film Festival.
Nobody's Daughter Haewon is a 2013 South Korean drama film written and directed by Hong Sang-soo. The narrative is told in diary format and chronicles a few days in the life of a young woman who falls into depression following the departure of her mother to Canada. She falls back on a troubled affair with a professor, who offers to whisk her away.
Black conductors are musicians of African, Caribbean, African-American ancestry and other members of the African diaspora who are musical ensemble leaders who direct classical music performances, such as an orchestral or choral concerts, or jazz ensemble big band concerts by way of visible gestures with the hands, arms, face and head. Conductors of African descent are rare, as the vast majority are male and Caucasian.
Iris Stevenson-McCullough is an American academic, public school teacher, and choir director. The 1993 American musical comedy film Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit is loosely based on her time as a choir director at Crenshaw High School.
