Stewart Goodyear

Proclaimed "a phenomenon" by the Los Angeles Times and "one of the best pianists of his generation" by the Philadelphia Inquirer, Stewart Goodyear is an accomplished concert pianist, improviser and composer. Mr. Goodyear has performed with, and has been commissioned by, many of the major orchestras and chamber music organizations around the world.

Orchid Classics has released Mr. Goodyear's recording of his suite for piano and orchestra, "Callaloo" and his piano sonata. His recent commissions include a Piano Quintet for the Penderecki String Quartet, and a piano work for the Honens Piano Competition. Mr. Goodyear's discography includes the complete sonatas and piano concertos of Beethoven, as well as concertos by Tchaikovsky, Grieg and Rachmaninov, an album of Ravel piano works, and an album, entitled "For Glenn Gould", which combines repertoire from Mr. Gould's US and Montreal debuts. His Rachmaninov recording received a Juno nomination for Best Classical Album for Soloist and Large Ensemble Accompaniment. Mr. Goodyear's recording of his own transcription of Tchaikovsky's "The Nutcracker (Complete Ballet)", was chosen by the New York Times as one of the best classical music recordings of 2015. His discography is released on the Marquis Classics, Orchid Classics, and Steinway and Sons labels. His new album, entitled "Phoenix", was released on the Bright Shiny Things label in October 2021, and includes Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition.

Benjamin Horne

Benjamin Horne (b.1995) is a freelance composer/arranger, low brass performer, and conductor residing in Bloomington, Indiana. He completed his Masters degree in Music Performance at the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University. He earned his Bachelor’s at the Schwob School of Music at Columbus State University (GA) with degrees in Music Education, Music Performance, and a Certificate in Music Composition. Horne is an accomplished euphonium player and trombonist. He currently performs with the Sequence Euphonium Quartet and the Albireo New Music Collective. As a composer, Horne has written for various styles and instrumentations from large ensembles to solo and chamber works. Horne also spent time as a band director in Atlanta, Georgia.

Jeffrey Scott

Jeff Scott served as French hornist of the Oberlin-founded ensemble Imani Winds for more than 20 years, a position that took him to Carnegie Hall, Walt Disney Concert Hall, the Kennedy Center, and countless other prominent stages—as well as the stage of Finney Chapel for an Artist Recital Series performance in 2014. With Imani Winds, he led master classes with hundreds of students every year.

Insatiable in his appetite for all aspects of the creative process, Scott has served as composer or arranger for a multitude of projects, including an Off Broadway production of Becoming Something: The Story of Canada Lee and the staged production of Josephine Baker: A Life of le Jazz Hot!, in addition to many original works for solo winds and ensembles of all kinds.

Scott is a graduate of the Manhattan School of Music, where he studied under David Jolley. He earned a master’s degree from the State University of New York at Stony Brook under William Purvis, and he continued his studies with Scott Brubaker and Jerome Ashby.

Shanyse Strickland

Shanyse Strickland is a multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, composer and arranger. While french horn is her primary instrument, Ms. Strickland plays a variety of woodwind and brass instruments.

Originally from Akron, OH, Shanyse Strickland has led a life full of music in various shapes, forms and sizes. While pursuing her undergrad at Youngstown State University, she played trombone and flute for the reuniting Ohio Players, under the direction of the bands piano player and songwriter, Billy Beck. In 2016, Shanyse was the winner of the International Horn Symposium’s jazz competition. After moving to New Jersey, Shanyse performed at the 2019 and 2021 Heisman Trophy Ceremony aired on ESPN, along with performing and recording parts for an NBA commercial. Shanyse has also had the experience of being a “hip-hop French horn player,” performing with artist such as Savion Glover, tap dancing legend, along with Black Thought from well known hip-hop group, the Roots. Expanding her love for writing music, Shanyse has written and published seven original works, one of which was performed by the horn section of the New Haven Symphony titled “Moods.” Shanyse has written commissioned works for brass faculty at the University of North Texas, along with many other soloists around the country.

Althea Talbot-Howard

Althea Talbot-Howard was born in Nigeria, but spent her infancy and childhood in England and Australia. She was a choral and instrumental scholar at the University of Cambridge, where she read Archaeology & Anthropology. Postgraduate studies in Oboe took place at the Royal Academy of Music & the Banff Centre for the Arts in Canada. Postgraduate awards include a Fulbright Scholarship; and a two-year placement on the Countess of Munster Musical Trust Recital Scheme.

​​Based in London, Althea commenced her professional career in 1992, performing as an Oboe concerto soloist, recitalist & orchestral guest principal until 2017, when she formally retired from Oboe performance, owing to a left hand injury. Highlights of her Oboe career include Third Prize at the Paris-Ville d’Avray International Oboe Competition in 2007; and her CD From Leipzig to London, with Harpsichordist Katharine May. 

Having long desired to compose as a child - but frustrated by not knowing how to develop a musical idea – Althea began again in 2014, by writing pedagogical recital music for her Recorder pupils. These pieces range from Initial to Grade 8 in standard, and six of them have recently been published by ABRSM Publishing, as part of the new Woodwind Exam Syllabus from 2022.  They are available to view on her YouTube channel.​

Mary Watkins

Ms. Watkins is the recipient of several granting foundations such as Meet The Composer, National Endowment for the Arts, Gerbodi Foundation, Zellerbach Family Fund and California Council for the Arts. She is an eclectic composer and also a pianist, arranger, recording artist and record producer. Mary has composed for solo piano works for both adults and children, wind ensembles, string quartets, and music for both chamber and full symphony orchestras. She has also composed for theater, dance and film, solo vocalist, vocal ensemble and large chorus. She has completed three 2 act operas, Queen Clara, with Lance Belville as librettist, and her second opera, Dark River, in which she composed both music and libretto, commissioned by the Oakland Opera Theater and premiered November, 2021. Emmett Till, created with Clara Coss as librettist, premiered on March, 2022 in New York City.

Mattea Williams

Mattea Williams is a published composer based in California. She received her bachelor’s degree in music from Baldwin Wallace Conservatory where she studied composition and piano, then went on to continue her composition studies and receive her Master’s degree from UT Austin Texas, Butler School of Music. She now works as a composer and piano teacher in California’s Bay Area. Williams specializes in composing for concert works, such as orchestra and wind band as well as  media projects such as video games and film. Her music can be recognized by her use of found sound to create musical texture as well as storytelling based on themes of magic, afrofuturism and nature. Performances of her work include a premiere by the Mt. Kenya Academy String Orchestra in Kenya, Africa.

Jasmine Barnes

Baltimore native Jasmine Arielle Barnes is a promising young composer and vocalist whose work has been performed all over the world. She is a multifaceted composer who embraces a variety of genres, formats, and instrumentations with a specialty of writing for the voice. A full-time composer, Barnes is currently a composer-in-residence for American Lyric Theater. Barnes previously held residencies as a composer fellow at Chautauqua Opera, and composer-in-residence with All Classical Portland. Her work is in high demand, with recent commissions from respected institutions throughout the country including: The Washington National Opera (in celebration of the Kennedy Center’s 50th year anniversary), Bare Opera, Resonance Ensemble, Tapestry Choir, City Works Cleveland, LyricFest Philadelphia, Baltimore Choral Arts, Burleigh Music Festival, Symphony Number One, Baltimore Musicales, The Voic(ed) Project, amongst others.