Mike Evans received both his bachelor's degree in music composition and master's degree in music history from Ohio University, Athens, OH. He had his first international premiere in the summer of 2010 when his work for violin and guitar, Bis Coctus!, was premiered by Duo 46 at the soundSCAPE Music Festival in Maccagno, Italy. He has also had works premiered by soprano Tony Arnold and the Ohio University Chamber Ensemble, among others. He currently resides in Chicago, where he is writing two musicals and acting as music director in various venues.
Sarah Hersh, a transplanted New Yorker now residing in Atlanta, composes instrumental and vocal music and enjoys writing for nontraditional ensembles. She is interested in feminist music, unintentional feminism in music, and promoting the music of women composers, as well as advocating for new music in general. She holds a bachelor's degree in music from Carleton College and a master's degree in composition from the University of Florida. Sarah also studied composition at King’s College London and the Juilliard School, and last year participated in the soundSCAPE New Music Festival in Maccagno, Italy. Her compositions have been performed by the UF Saxophone Quartet, Out of Bounds Ensemble, University of South Florida Wind Ensemble, UF New Music Ensemble, Great Neck Rotary Band, Duo46, and various other ensembles and performers. Sarah’s teachers include Paul Richards, Paul Koonce, Phillip Rhodes, Conrad Cummings, Michael Wittgraf, and Roger Ames.
Sarah is a co-founder and contributing author for Alphabet Soup, a new music blog (
alphabetsoupmusic.com). For more information, please visit
www.sarahhersh.com.
Ben Irwin holds master's degrees in composition and clarinet performance from the University of Wisconsin at Madison and a bachelor's degree in music from Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota. He is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in composition and theory at the University of California at Davis. His principal composition teachers are Kurt Rohde, Ross Bauer, Pablo Ortiz, Laurie San Martin, Stephen Dembski, Laura Schwendinger, and Phillip Rhodes. He has been a composition fellow at MusicX, soundSCAPE, Ostrava Days, and the Wellesley Composers Conference, and a performance fellow at the SICPP and Bowdoin festivals.
Ben's music was recently performed by the Empyrean Ensemble, Existential Pilot, violinist Hrabba Atladottir, pianist Michael Seth Orland, and ensembles at the Wellesley Composers Conference and the Ostrava Days Festival. Ben is excited to be collaborating with Diagenesis.
Ben's compositional interests include rhythmic counterpoint, proportionality, registrally-specific harmonies, projection, and microtonality. As a clarinetist, he specializes in contemporary music and improvisation. Recent performances include Bresnick's ***, Kurtag's Hommage à R. Sch., and Carter's Gra.
Originally from Baltimore, Maryland,
Aaron Jay Myers (b.1979) is a Boston based composer. He has composed orchestral and large ensemble works, many diverse chamber works, and music for dance and short films. His works have been performed across the United States by various ensembles and performers including the Zodiac Trio, DMC clarinet and percussion duo, Juventas New Music Ensemble, Ludovico Ensemble, marimbists Matt Sharrock, Laurel Black, and Jeremy Barnett, saxophonist Rebecca Wellons, cellist Jennifer Bewerse, pianist Nicholas Place, percussionists Masako Kunimoto, and Karlyn Mason, and many others. He has received commissions by DMC Duo, Matthew Sharrock, Diagenesis Duo, Rebecca Wellons, Open Theatre Project, and by 'Air Dance Bernasconi' to compose music for their aerial dance piece titled "As Above, So Below." He is a finalist in the 2011 ALEA III Composition Competition and a winner of the 2011 Ironworks Percussion Duo contest. As a guitarist, he has performed many different kinds of music in solo and group situations over the past seventeen years. He also gave private guitar and theory lessons for over seven years.
Myers holds a bachelor's degree in composition from Towson University and an master's degree in composition from The Boston Conservatory. He studied classical, flamenco, and jazz guitar as well as music theory privately with Maurice Arenas from 2000-2005, and classical guitar with Troy King at Towson University from 2005-2007. He studied composition and improvisation with Dave Ballou and composition with William Kleinsasser at Towson University, and composition with Jan Swafford and Marti Epstein at The Boston Conservatory.
www.wix.com/AaronJayMyers/aaronjaymyercom
Scott J. Ordway (b. 1984, Santa Cruz CA) is an American composer and conductor of contemporary music. His works have been performed and broadcast throughout the United States and in Europe, and he has conducted more than 30 world premiere performances in recent seasons, most by young American composers. His output is diverse, including his two symphonies, numerous chamber works, and sacred and secular vocal music, as well as experimental or improvisatory pieces in collaboration with sound and video artists, and live music for film. From 2007–2008 he was music director of the Eugene Contemporary Chamber Ensemble, and from 2008–2009 was in residence at the Boston Conservatory as Associate Conductor of the Juventas New Music Ensemble. He is presently a Benjamin Franklin Doctoral Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania.
Mr Ordway has worked with members or graduates of the Juilliard School, Curtis Institute of Music, Opera Boston, New York City Opera, and Oregon Bach Festival. He is a published James Joyce scholar and the recipient of grants or awards from the American Composers Forum, American Music Center, Oregon Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra, University of Pennsylvania, University of Puget Sound, and University of Oregon.
He graduated with high honors in composition from the University of Oregon (MM, 2008), and in English literature at the University of Puget Sound (BA, 2006); he has studied conducting at the Curtis Institute of Music and at the University of Oregon. His composition teachers have included Samuel Adler, David Crumb, Robert Hutchinson, Robert Kyr, Jim Primosch, and Jay Reise. He presently lives in West Philadelphia.
Sid Samberg is a composer as well as a pianist and violist. He first came to attention when he played for world-renowned violinist Ida Haendel at the age of ten. Since then, his music has been played in Europe, North America, and Puerto Rico. Samberg often performs his own music, as well as the music of contemporary composers such as George Flynn, Frank Abbinanti, Oliver Knussen, and Joan Tower. His recent projects include a setting of the first Psalm for choir and chamber ensemble, a solo trumpet work based on Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I have a dream” speech (for Tage Larsen of the CSO), and a single-movement piano concerto. Samberg has participated in soundSCAPE festival 2010 and 2011 (Maccagno, Italy), The Summer Institute for Contemporary Performance Practice 2009-2011 (New England Conservatory), and the 2011 Fringe Festival (Edinburgh). Samberg was awarded 2nd prize in the Hawai’i Institute for Contemporary Music Competition 2008.
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