Artistic Directors
B.K.Zervigón, Composer
Born in 2000 in New Orleans, LA, B.K.Zervigón began composing at a young age. Often dealing with the challenges facing the Gulf Coast due to climate change and industrialization, his work seeks to create a soundscape which reflects the interplay between heavy industry and ancient, sickly nature. This Southeast Louisiana landscape seeps into his work through its often massive architectural process against intensely emotional and intuitive feeling. His output includes works for piano, retuned piano, instrumental solos, chamber works and electronic music. Zervigón has had the privilege of studying composition under Michael Hersch at the Peabody Conservatory, and Yotam Haber at the University of New Orleans. His piano teachers include Peter Collins, Daniel Weilbacher and Rachelen Lein. He is currently pursuing a low-residency Master of Fine Arts at Vermont College of Fine Arts studying under Carla Kihlstedt and Lisa Mezzacappa. Zervigón has given guest lectures on microtonality, form and composition in the 21st century at Merrimack College and Stony Brook University. Some of his completed commissions and collaborations include those with the New York New Music Ensemble, Stony Brook University, Moscow Contemporary Music Ensemble, Ryan Muncy, Collide-O-Scope Music, the Contemporary Arts Center of New Orleans, the Ogden Museum of Southern Art, and the Historic New Orleans Collection. Additionally, Zervigón is a founding artistic director of the Alluvium Ensemble and an active piano soloist.
Nicole Cooley, Poet
Nicole Cooley grew up in New Orleans, Louisiana. Her most recent books are two poetry collections, Girl after Girl after Girl (Louisiana State University Press, 2017) and Of Marriage (Alice James Books, 2018). She has published four other collections of poems, Breach, Milk Dress, The Afflicted Girls and Resurrection, as well as a novel, Judy Garland, Ginger Love, a chapbook, Frozen Charlottes, A Sequence, and a collaborative artists’ book (with book artist Maureen Cummins), Salem Lessons. Her awards include The Walt Whitman Award from the Academy of American Poets, a Discovery/The Nation Award, an NEA, a Creative Artists fellowship from The American Antiquarian Society, and the Emily Dickinson Award from the Poetry Society of America. Currently, she is the director of the MFA Program in Creative Writing and Literary Translation at Queens College-City University of New York where she is a professor of English. Cooley’s work with the Alluvium Ensemble explores the contemporary experience of Gulf Coastal living through interdisciplinary collaboration. Her collection of poems Breach was set to music by the ensemble in 2020.
Nicole Cooley, poet
Nicole Cooley grew up in New Orleans, Louisiana. Her most recent books are two poetry collections, Girl after Girl after Girl (Louisiana State University Press, 2017) and Of Marriage (Alice James Books, 2018). She has published four other collections of poems, Breach, Milk Dress, The Afflicted Girls and Resurrection, as well as a novel, Judy Garland, Ginger Love, a chapbook, Frozen Charlottes, A Sequence, and a collaborative artists’ book (with book artist Maureen Cummins), Salem Lessons. Her awards include The Walt Whitman Award from the Academy of American Poets, a Discovery/The Nation Award, an NEA, a Creative Artists fellowship from The American Antiquarian Society, and the Emily Dickinson Award from the Poetry Society of America. Currently, she is the director of the MFA Program in Creative Writing and Literary Translation at Queens College-City University of New York where she is a professor of English. Cooley’s work with the Alluvium Ensemble explores the contemporary experience of Gulf Coastal living through interdisciplinary collaboration. Her collection of poems Breach was set to music by the ensemble in 2020.
Tara A. Melvin, Voice
Tara A. Melvin is an accomplished soprano with extensive experience in operatic and art song repertoire. An avid recitalist, Tara has performed in North and Central America and Europe. She is a passionate educator and researcher who has taught privately for over ten years and has held masterclasses in southern universities. These masterclasses included week-long artist-in-residence stints highlighting the interpretation of songs and operatic works of composers of African descent. Tara Angelique holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of New Orleans. She also has an M.M. from Southeastern Louisiana University, where she was a graduate assistant who taught private lessons and classes and served as the assistant director of the opera The Marriage of Figaro. She then attendedTexas Tech University, earning her D.M.A. in vocal performance while serving as a graduate teaching assistant. There, Tara discovered her love of African American composers, both historic and contemporary, and lectured about the subject. She is an active mentor to young singers and believes access to art should not be denied due to money or lack of education.
Luca Hoffmann, Photographer
Born in 2001 in New Orleans, LA, Luca Hoffmann has been exploring the sights of the Gulf South for his whole life. Luca’s work largely deals with documenting those parts of the Gulf Coast which transform and vanish daily due to climate change. Being raised by a photographer, the camera has long been Luca’s most intimate means of expression. He has had the honor of studying under Thom Bennet, Rick Olivier, and Winfried Mateyka. After two years at the Maine College of Art, Luca has decided to move home and commit to documenting the Gulf South full time. He is most at home capturing our massive vistas- focusing on the sickly beauty of landscapes peppered with heavy industrial happenings.
Luca Hoffmann, photographer
Born in 2001 in New Orleans, LA, Luca Hoffmann has been exploring the sights of the Gulf South for his whole life. Luca’s work largely deals with documenting those parts of the Gulf Coast which transform and vanish daily due to climate change. Being raised by a photographer, the camera has long been Luca’s most intimate means of expression. He has had the honor of studying under Thom Bennet, Rick Olivier, and Winfried Mateyka.
After two years at the Maine College of Art, Luca has decided to move home and commit to documenting the Gulf South full time. He is most at home capturing our massive vistas- focusing on the sickly beauty of landscapes peppered with heavy industrial happenings.
Sarah Quintana;
Singer-Songwriter, Voice Pathologist
Sarah Quintana is a singer-songwriter from New Orleans with a background rich in jazz, folk and popular music. She is a charming performer, devoted guitarist and her voice is instantly recognizable. Quintana attended The New Orleans Center for Creative Arts and received a CODOFIL heritage scholarship, which sent her to France as a teen. Quintana splits her time between the US and France, working alongside Michael Doucet of BeauSoleil, saxophonist Raphael Imbert, touring on her own repertoire with French and American musicians. Quintana is a member of the Pantheatre (Linda Wise and Enrique Pardo) as well as a hatha yoga instructor. In her latest studio recording, Daddy Lies (Independent 2017), Quintana collaborates with Mark Bingham. Quintana grew up in New Orleans where live music is ingrained many aspects of daily life. In 2010 she went from singing on the streets of Provence with a traveling circus, to the stages of the Jazz and Heritage Festival and later, the Lincoln Center for Mid-Summer Swing with The New Orleans Moonshiners. In 2012, Quintana was awarded an artist residency at A Studio in the Woods where she composed “Miss River,” music with water.
Peter Collins,
Piano
Peter Collins currently resides in New Orleans and is active as a performer, independent piano teacher and music researcher. He holds the distinction of Professor Emeritus from Missouri State University where he taught and served as keyboard area coordinator for twenty-five years. Collins received his Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees from the Peabody Conservatory. After winning awards in several piano competitions (the Washington International Piano Competition, the American Chopin Competition, the American Beethoven Foundation) he was granted the Regents’ Fellowship at the University of Michigan to pursue his Doctor of Musical Arts degree. A proponent of new music, Collins was the pianist for Tulane University’s First Monday Ensemble, a chamber group that performed under the direction of many prominent composers of the late twentieth century and beyond (Jacob Druckman, Ralph Shapey, Joseph Schwantner, Eric Ewazen). His interpretation of John Cage’s ASLSP during the University of Maryland International Piano Festival garnered him the Maurice Hinson prize for the commissioned work. While on the faculty of Missouri State, he originated the Missouri Chamber Players and toured Europe four times with members of the ensemble in concerts of music by American composers. Peter Collins has completed ten compact-disc recording projects (for the Albany, MSR and Centaur labels) focusing on works of living American composers, music by women composers, original arrangements and transcriptions and piano music of nineteenth-century New Orleans.
Tyrone Chambers,
Voice
American tenor, Tyrone Chambers, was heralded by the Allgemeine Zeitung as “...a real asset, due to his artfully melting tenor.” Quickly becoming a regular at Chicago Opera Theater and a language specialist, Chambers is just off a successful run of Szymanowski’s King Roger where the Polish community there received him well in his debut of the role of Shepherd. He first performed in Germany as Sporting Life in the Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess in Dresden’s Semperoper and Hamburg State Opera. In 2017, Mr. Chambers made his Swiss debut, singing the role of Joe in Gerswhin’s Blue Monday, and more recently, at Opernakademie Schloss Henfenfeld, both as Belmonte in Die Entführung aus dem Serail, and the eponymous role in La Clemenza di Tito. After creating the role of Dele Piebald in the world premiere of Quamino’s Map at Chicago Opera Theater, he was praised for his “lush tenor that [you] wanted to hear more of.” A native son of one of America’s earliest cities of opera, New Orleans, he is a founding tenor of OperaCréole. Mr. Chambers has performed principal roles Diron Hachard in Minette Fontaine and Jean Torrès in La Flamenca, by William Grant Still and Lucien Lambert, respectively, Basile Barès in Les Lions de la Reconstruction, compiled and written by Givonna Joseph, and a plethora of works that focuses on the classical contributions of 19th-century New Orleans Creole composers, les gens de couleur libres, and other composers of African descent. Mr. Chambers holds music degrees from the University of Oklahoma and Morehouse College. Post-graduate work includes Gastone in La traviata (Prelude to Performance), Eisenstein in Die Fledermaus (Opera in the Ozarks), and Laërtes in Mignon (Music Academy of the West). The Süddeutsche Zeitung praised him for having a “splendid voice, fit for both big stages worldwide, and important roles at home. [The voice is] fine in the heights, elegantly gliding on the tempi waves and in forte with powerful emotion.” In his first Brazilian appearance, Mr. Chambers presented a solo recital called "Seréstas, Spirituals, and Song". Once more, this winter he will lead the acclaimed Andrew Lloyd Webber Musical Gala throughout western Europe and Scandinavia. Other major highlights include El Remendado in Carmen with New Orleans Opera Association and Russell Davenport in Dan Shore’s Freedom Ride in its Chicago Opera Theater world premiere. Mr. Chambers currently resides in Mainz, Germany where he likes to travel, attend wine fests, and spend as much time as possible with friends near the Rhine.
Christopher Trapani, Composer
Christopher’s music weaves American and European stylistic strands into a personal aesthetic that defies easy classification. Snippets of Delta Blues, Appalachian folk, dance band foxtrots, shoegaze guitar effects and Turkish makam can be heard alongside spectral swells and meandering canons. As in Christopher’s hometown of New Orleans, diverse traditions coexist and intermingle, swirled into a rich melting pot. Christopher Trapani was born in New Orleans, Louisiana (USA). He earned a Bachelor’s degree from Harvard, then spent most of his twenties overseas: a year in London, working on a Master’s degree at the Royal College of Music with Julian Anderson; a year in Istanbul, studying microtonality in Ottoman music on a Fulbright grant; and seven years in Paris, where he studied with Philippe Leroux and worked at IRCAM. Christopher earned a doctorate in 2017 from Columbia University in New York City, where he studied with Tristan Murail, George Lewis, Georg Friedrich Haas, and Fred Lerdahl. Christopher is the winner of the 2007 Gaudeamus Prize, along with commissions from the Koussevitzky Foundation, the Fromm Foundation, and Chamber Music America. His scores have been performed by ICTUS, the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, and Spektral Quartet, amongst others. He is also the winner of the 2020 Barlow Prize. Christopher lives in New York City and Palermo.
Peter Collins,
pianist
Peter Collins currently resides in New Orleans and is active as a performer, independent piano teacher and music researcher. He holds the distinction of Professor Emeritus from Missouri State University where he taught and served as keyboard area coordinator for twenty-five years. Collins received his Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees from the Peabody Conservatory. After winning awards in several piano competitions (the Washington International Piano Competition, the American Chopin Competition, the American Beethoven Foundation) he was granted the Regents’ Fellowship at the University of Michigan to pursue his Doctor of Musical Arts degree. A proponent of new music, Collins was the pianist for Tulane University’s First Monday Ensemble, a chamber group that performed under the direction of many prominent composers of the late twentieth century and beyond (Jacob Druckman, Ralph Shapey, Joseph Schwantner, Eric Ewazen). His interpretation of John Cage’s ASLSP during the University of Maryland International Piano Festival garnered him the Maurice Hinson prize for the commissioned work. While on the faculty of Missouri State, he originated the Missouri Chamber Players and toured Europe four times with members of the ensemble in concerts of music by American composers. Peter Collins has completed ten compact-disc recording projects (for the Albany, MSR and Centaur labels) focusing on works of living American composers, music by women composers, original arrangements and transcriptions and piano music of nineteenth-century New Orleans.
New Orleans Based Members
J.T. Hassell, Piano
Born and raised in Amarillo, Texas, pianist J.T. Hassell moved to New Orleans in summer 2021 and has quickly established himself as one of the city’s most sought-after piano players. He has appeared as a soloist and chamber musician in venues throughout the city, including the Marigny Opera House, Loyola’s Roussel and Nunemaker Halls, Tulane’s Dixon Hall, and St. Charles Presbyterian Church. He has also done solo sets at Dos Jefes Cigar Bar, and played in Sara Quintana’s band at several venues on Frenchman Street. He is currently on staff at Loyola University, where he plays an integral role in the music department as a vocal coach and accompanist. He is also an accompanist and private teacher at Holy Name of Jesus School. His primary teachers have included Jim Rauscher, Michael Coonrod, and Boris Slutsky. He holds a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree from the Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University, where he graduated with honors as an inductee of the Pi Kappa Lambda music society
Morgan Stewart, Clarinet
Morgan Stewart is an active musician and educator hailing from New York City, currently living in the New Orleans area. After graduating from LaGuardia High School for Music and Performing Arts, Morgan moved to Philadelphia to pursue a degree in music education at Temple University. Upon receiving her Bachelor of Music, she accepted a position to serve as a Woodwind Specialist itinerant teacher for the School District of Philadelphia. She went on to receive her Master of Music degree in clarinet performance from Loyola University New Orleans. Her principal teachers have included Dr. Stephanie Thompson, Victor Goines, John Reeks, Renee Rosen, Cheryl Y. Boga, and Lawrence Wagner. Morgan has participated in clarinet master classes with Paquito D’Rivera, Anthony McGill, Mariam Adam, and Paul Demers. She is a free-lance performer with various chamber groups in the Greater New Orleans area and has collaborated with Grammy nominated producer and composer Khari Mateen on his album Wait for Sunrise. While completing her studies at Loyola University New Orleans, she joined the staff at Roots of Music in 2014. As the Chief Programs Officer, she has traveled the world with the Roots of Music students. She accompanied them to the North Sea Jazz Festival, the North Sea Jazz Festival at Curacao, the Harvest Jazz and Blues fest in Fredericton Canada, and the French Jazz Sous Les Pommiers Festival. As the Chief Programs Officer, she is thrilled to work with the teachers, staff, and directors to create enriching and life changing experiences for the youth of New Orleans.
Roger Dickerson
Composer, Piano
Roger Dickerson’s musical quest began as a boy involved in formal piano lessons while listening to music in the streets of New Orleans. The two musical traditions easily embraced within Dickerson’s inner sensibilities. His studies have taken him throughout America, Europe, the Middle East and China. Over the years Dickerson’s musical compositions have received national and international attention. He is the recipient of numerous awards and commissions, including Pulitzer Nominations for both his “A Musical Service for Louis”, A Requiem for Louis Armstrong (1972), and “New Orleans Concerto” for piano and orchestra (1971) premiered by Maestro Werner Torkanowsky and the New Orleans Philharmonic Orchestra. A sixty-minute documentary film of “New Orleans Concerto” aired as a PBS Special via WETA-TV (Wash. D.C.) for national television, 1977. The film documentary has been recently restored and digitized. Recent premieres of Dickerson’s work include “For The Love of Jesus” (Wilmington Symphony Orchestra, Feb. 2007) written, and dedicated, as a part of the Vatican’s Canonization Process for Henriette DeLille, foundress of the Sisters of the Holy Family (New Orleans) and “A Flower Blooms in the Desert” commissioned by the Pecos Valley, Jazz and Arts Festival of Roswell, NM where Dickerson landed as an evacuee from Hurricane Katrina—and became a founding father, in 2006, of the Roswell Jazz Festival. Roger Dickerson is an honors graduate of Dillard University (BA 1955), received an MM degree in Composition (Indiana University, 1957), and attended the Akademie fur Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Vienna, Austria (1959-62) as a Fulbright Scholar. In 1990, The Minority Nationalities Institute of the Republic of China honored Dickerson with an Honorary Doctorate Degree. Dickerson, presently retired, served as Music Coordinator and University Choir Director at Southern University at New Orleans. Earlier appointments include Dillard University, Xavier University of New Orleans and the Institute of Services to Education, Washington, D.C. In recent years, Dickerson—as an associate in composition—has worked with students in the Louis “Satchmo” Armstrong Summer Jazz Camp and the Thelonius Monk Institute at Loyola University of New Orleans. The composer, currently, is nearing the completion of his Symphonie Congo Square, a large symphonic work. He looks forward, as well, to the mounting of a full premiere production of Preacher Man! Preacher Man!—his musical comedy (written with playwright John O’Neal)—next year, 2018. The musical comedy—staged in 1947 New Orleans—is a full evening production in 3 Acts (11 scenes).
Rose Cangelosi;
Drummmer, Composer, Singer-Songwriter
Rose’s love of music began at an early age, singing along to music with her mother and developing what would later become strengths of melodic and lyrical memory. The piano in the corner enchanted her as a girl, and she figured out how to copy simple melodies and play them on the old dusty keys, despite a lack of musical instruction. When she was twelve, she was inspired to play the drums. Her first teacher, Allen Goodman, inspired her to pursue a musical path heavily influenced by early jazz. After graduating with her Bachelor’s degree in Jazz Studies and Performance, she came to New Orleans on a musical pilgrimage in July of 2015. Since then she has been playing music full time around town as a high-in-demand freelance drummer and in groups of varying styles from traditional and more modern styles of jazz, to swing, country, folk, RnB, rock, and indie rock. She has played Jazz Fest and French Quarter Fest with acts like "Gal Holiday and the Honkey Tonk Review," has toured nationally and internationally(Europe and UK), and currently has been working monthly in Memphis with Nikki and Matt Hill and doing session work. Rose also fronts her own band of original music on vocals and drums, called Fantasy Non Fiction (fantasynonfiction.com).She appears as the drummer, backing vocalist, and songwriter on Gal Holiday’s Offbeat Award winning album "Lost and Found," June 8, 2018, drummer, vocalist, and songwriter for her bands self titled debut "Fantasy Non Fiction," May 8, 2020, as well as individual recordings with Nikki and Matt Hill(Memphis), Jeremy Joyce, Kate Fagan, James Rose, and other New Orleans artists. Insta/youtube/facebook @rosethedrummer or @fantasynonfiction https://www.youtube.com/user/rosethedrummer
Chris Bereos-Haigis;
Cellist, Composer
Chris Beroes-Haigis is a musician based in New Orleans, Louisiana. He writes and performs in a wide range of styles; from the fully notated to the fully improvised. In 2020, he received his Master Degree in cello performance as a student of Zuill Bailey at the University of Texas in El Paso. He is also a 2018 graduate of the Bard College Conservatory of Music where some of his mentors included Joan Tower, George Tsontakis, Peter Wiley and Luis Garcia-Renart.
Sixto Franco;
Violist, Composer
Newest member of the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, Sixto Franco is a violist, composer, improviser, teacher and a performing arts enthusiast. He is enjoying an active career in the musical arts, having concertized in Europe, United States, Mexico and Uruguay. Sixto is also the founder of the Quijote Duo, a viola and cello formation that strives to create new spaces that promote creative collaborations The creative side of Sixto Franco has led him to venture into composition. He has written music for different mediums such as chamber music, theater and dance. He made his debut on February 2011 premiering his work “Blanco y Negro” in a Cancer Benefit Concert promoted by the Spanish Consulate in Los Angeles. The “malArte Association” of Valencia, Spain, premiered his piece Five “O’clock Tabu” as the soundtrack for the interdisciplinary work with the same title. Latest commission include Tulane University’s production of the theater play The Jane Project. Sixto Franco is passionate about chamber music and has had the honor to perform with Eighth Black Bird Ensemble, International Chamber Artists, Symbiosis Ensemble in L.A., Music of the Americas Project, the Chicago Ensemble, the Chicago Chamber Music Festival, Gesher Music Festival in St. Louis, MO, and the Versipel Ensemble in New Orleans. Soloist appearances include the Camerata Musicalis, Chamber Orchestra of Salamanca, the Lira Castellonera Symphonic Band, Spain and the Thornton Music School Chamber Orchestra. He is has also served in the Santa Barbara Chamber orchestra, the Barcelona Symphony, Chicago Chamber Orchestra, the Elgin Symphony, and the Chicago Philharmonic, In addition, he has had the honor to perform with artists such as Paquito D ́Rivera, Fareed Haque, Ernie Adams, Robert McDuffy, Mike Mills, Steve Larson and Austin Wintory. Sixto has also been the curator of the Mu Live concert series at Mu Art Gsllery of Chicago, a performance series that strived to highlight local artists by pairing music with sculptures and visual art. Sixto and his wife Rachel, an amazing lighting designer, enjoy taking their two kids, Odessa and Otis, to music, theater and dance shows all over New Orleans.
Jacob Fowler, Cello
New Orleans-based cellist Jacob Fowler is the Founding Director of the Surf and Sounds Chamber Music Series (Outer Banks, North Carolina), and frequently performs with the Houston and San Antonio Symphonies and Louisiana Philharmonic. He is also a Festival Artist at the Crescent City Chamber Music Festival in New Orleans, where he has performed with members of the Manhattan Chamber Players, Dover and Escher Quartets and the Lysander Trio. Mr. Fowler is a former tenured member of the Virginia Symphony Orchestra and former Principal Cellist of the Shen Yun Performing Arts Orchestra, with which he travelled throughout North America, Europe, and Asia. Along with these appointments, he was an adjunct cello professor at Virginia Wesleyan College, the Fei Tian Academy and Fei Tian College. Mr. Fowler has also toured throughout China as a Principal Cellist of the Manhattan Symphonie. In March of 2019, Mr. Fowler was a featured artist at the SXSW Festival performing in the HBO/Games of Thrones and American Red Cross production Bleed for the Throne, which received national coverage. Mr. Fowler can also be heard on the 2019 soundtrack recording of the Alley Theater production Constellations. In Virginia, Mr. Fowler was a regular performer with the Norfolk Chamber Consort and the Hampton Roads Chamber Players, and was a founding member of the New Commonwealth String Quartet. He performs regularly at Bargemusic in Brooklyn and has been a Festival Artist at the Festival de Febrero in Ajijic, Mexico. In November of 2014, Mr. Fowler collaborated with Todd Rosenlieb Dance Company to perform the Suite for Solo Cello by Gaspar Cassadó with choreography by Ricardo Melendez, which opened with great success and was hailed by M.D. Ridge of Norfolk's WHRO as "the pièce de résistance. [Mr. Fowler] sang sweetly...and the result was spectacular."
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Gabrielle Fischler, Violin
Gabrielle is a violin player based in New Orleans. She currently works as a teaching artist and performer, serving on faculty at the Ellis Marsalis Center and maintaining a private studio of her own. Gabrielle plays regularly with the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra and the New Orleans Opera, and frequently collaborates with New Orleans based bands, composers, and recording artists. She has previously performed with Lyrica Baroque, New Orleans Chamber Players, Musaica, Crescent Chamber Artists, the New Resonance Orchestra, and many more. Gabrielle has worked as the Community Coordinator of Lyrica Baroque where she helped facilitate arts integration programs built to enhance social-emotional learning, and collaboratively developed projects such as NOLA Chamber Fest, a chamber music festival for young aspiring musicians and community members. In April of 2018, Gabrielle helped to launch the New Orleans chapter of Groupmuse, an organization dedicated to fostering and building community through art and classical music house concerts. When she is not performing or teaching, Gabrielle works as a social worker in the greater New Orleans area.
Barbie L'Hoste,
Painter
Barbie L'Hoste is a native of New Orleans who began her career at the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts. After completing her foundation year at the Maryland Institute College of Art she returned to the great city of New Orleans where she studied at Loyola and finished with a Bachelor of Fine Arts at the University of New Orleans. She earned her masters degree in studio fine arts from Tulane University and continues to work with collage/ mixed media on paper and canvas. Barbie’s proclivity in painting is to borrow surrounding images or materials and reinterpret their original intentions through appropriation. She draws inspiration from cultural norms, nostalgia, and social media. Seeking to crate humor and satirical narratives, she also responds strongly to society’s extreme materialism and subsequent desensitization of the human condition.
Carlos Zervigón, Sculptor
Carlos was born and raised in New Orleans where he and his wife, Elizabeth, raised their six children. He is a graduate of Tulane University’s prestigious glass sculpture program. Carlos was a cofounder of the New Orleans Creative Glass Institute (NOCGI) and served as its President and CEO from 2008 to 2012. In that capacity he helped oversee NOCGI’s merger with YaYa, Inc. to create the YaYa Art Center in the Central City section of New Orleans. His work has been shown is such cities as New York, New Orleans, Santa Fe, Seattle and Portland, OR. He has received grants from the Louisiana Division of the Arts and the Louisiana Cultural Economy Foundation. Carlos has been a finalist for the prestigious Niche Awards for glass sculpture, was chosen “Best in Glass” by Art Buzz Collection 2009, and was invited to perform a hot glass sculpting demonstration for the 2009 Glass Art Society conference at the Corning Museum of Glass. Carlos’s work has appeared in many publications including GLASS Quarterly, American Craft Magazine, Art Glass Today 2, and Studio Visit Magazine.
Collaborators Abroad
Jordan Dinkins, Horn
Jordan grew up in Austin, Texas and began playing horn at age eight. Jordan is graduate of the Peabody Institute-Johns Hopkins University where she held the William and Lillian Hackerman and Mary C. Walker endowments. Mentions include the International Horn Society Solo Competition, Yamaha Young Artist Competition and the Grace Clagett Rainey Prize in chamber music from the Peabody Institute. She has performed with the Cincinnati, North Carolina, Omaha and Kentucky Symphonies, Boise Philharmonic and Civic Orchestra of Chicago. Major teachers include Denise Tryon, Gail Williams, Jon Boen, Froydis Ree Wekre and Roger Rocco. Jordan has spent summers at Brevard, Norfolk Chamber, Eastern, Hot Springs and Sewanee Festivals and the National Orchestral Institute. Before moving to Cincinnati last fall, Jordan was a graduate student at Northwestern University in Chicago.
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Szymon Rywalski, Horn
Born and raised in Poland, Szymon started playing the horn at the age of eight and immediately fell in love with the horn sound and its capabilities. A native of Wejherowo, Poland, and currently based in Kansas City, Missouri, Szymon is currently studying with Martin Hackleman at the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory, where he serves as the horn player of the UMKC Graduate Fellowship Brass Quintet. Previously, Szymon attended the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and the Peabody Conservatory, where he studied with Denise Tryon. While in Poland, Szymon collaborated with the Gorzów Philharmonic, the Silesian Philharmonic, the Beethoven Academy Orchestra, Capella Gedanensis, and the Warsaw Chamber Opera. From a very early age, Szymon participated in countless amount of workshops and masterclasses. He improved his skills under the guidance of Frøydis Ree Wekre, Frank Lloyd, Martin Owen, Kristina Mascher-Turner, Markus Maskuniitty, and many more.
Timothy Krippner, Piano
Since discovering the piano at the age of 10 and beginning the virtuoso repertoire at 11, Timothy Krippner's studies have taken him from the Pacific Northwest to the Midwest, South, and East Coast, with performances and festivals ranging from the United States to Italy and Austria. His soloistic endeavors have led to concerto performances with the University of Michigan Symphony Orchestra and the Spokane Symphony, top prizes in the Seattle International and Chicago International Piano Competitions among others, and the honor of being lauded as "a true artist" by the late Aldo Ciccolini." He was a young artist for two years with Da Camera of Houston and performed solo and chamber works in multifaceted programs focused on new music in venues including the Wortham Opera House, Museum of Fine Arts, and the Menil Collection. He was awarded a fellowship by Da Camera to develop "Music and the Human Spirit," a curriculum contemplating the human condition through popular and classical music and presented to inmates in the Harris County Jail. A dedicated collaborator since the age of 12, Timothy has performed duo recitals with the former Principal Cellist of the Cleveland Orchestra and Rice Professor Desmond Hoebig and is pianist-in-residence and board member of the Kalmia Garden Chamber Music and Arts Foundation in Connecticut where he has performed significant portions of the chamber music repertoire for piano and strings. He has had the privilege of studying with Dr. Logan Skelton and Dr. Robert Roux and masterclassing with artists such as Emanuel Ax, Jonathan Biss, Frederic Chiu, and John Perry. Timothy is currently a doctoral candidate at the Peabody Institute with Dr. Steven Spooner.
Maya Miro Johnson;
Composer, Conductor, Violin
Maya Miro Johnson (b. 2001) is a composer, conductor, performer, and interdisciplinary creator who considers her work philosophy not constrained to logic and reason. Finalist in Beth Morrison Projects’ 2021 Next Generation and recipient of both Schuman and Surinach Prizes in the 2020 BMI Awards, Maya made her professional debut in 2019 with a commission from the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, and will debut in Europe with Ensemble InterContemporain in 2022. Current projects include recordings with pianists Inna Faliks and HOCKET; works for Zeitgeist, loadbang, violinist Johnny Gandelsman, and retuned piano artists B.K. Zervigón and J.T.Hassell; an installation with David Michalek and Norman Frisch via AOP’s Helping Hands grant; and an artist residency at the Sarasota Music Festival. Maya has studied at NYO-USA, Luna Composition Lab, BUTI, Fresh Inc Festival, soundSCAPE, Cabrillo, and Miguel Harth-Bedoya’s Conducting Institute. She currently holds the Tureck Bach Research Institute Fellowship at the Curtis Institute of Music, studying composition and furthering her violin training under the guidance of Juliette Kang. Important mentors include Marin Alsop, Conner Gray Covington, Chaya Czernowin, Devin Maxwell, and Missy Mazzoli, among many others. With Sarrah Bushara, she forms the performance art duo ~ [pronounced two]. mayamirojohnson.com pronouncedtwo.com
Teodora Adzharova,
Piano
As an active soloist and a sought-after chamber musician, pianist Teodora Adzharova performs throughout the Baltimore-Washington region, frequently collaborating with musicians from both the Peabody Institute and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. She has had numerous appearances at the Sundays at Three Concert Series, Summer Chamber Music at Roland Park, Montpelier Arts Center, Washington College, Towson University, University of Maryland, Silo Hill, and as part of the Hedgelawn Series. On many occasions, Teodora’s recordings have been broadcast on APM’s Performance Today. In 2015 she was honored to inaugurate the Peabody-UMBC (University of Maryland, Baltimore Country) Partnership in Innovation alongside cellist Mauricio Ray Gallego- a residency that took place at Linehan Hall, UMBC. Teodora is an avid proponent of new music and has often appeared with the Now Hear This ensemble, led by Courtney Orlando, performing works by groundbreaking composers such as Reich, Haas, and Mincek. As a soloist, she has participated in master classes with many esteemed pianists including Richard Goode, John Perry, José Feghali, Tamara Poddubnaya, Éric Heidsieck and Anton Dikov (among others), and has performed under the baton of David Zinman and Edward Polochick. In 2016 she was chosen as the pianist for the Naxos recording of Pulitzer Prize winner Kevin Puts’ CD, under the direction of Marin Alsop. Teodora is also a Co-founder and Artistic director of the Annunciation Cathedral Concert Series in Baltimore, MD. As a devoted educator, she is currently a faculty member at the Peabody Conservatory, Peabody Preparatory and the Community College of Baltimore County. Teodora’s performing history encompasses the stages of multiple countries (US, Bulgaria, France, Germany, Macedonia, Czech Republic) and accolades at national and international competitions (Clara Wells Scholarship Competition (US), Yamaha Scholarship Competition ( Bulgaria), Albert Roussel ( Bulgaria), Seiler (Bulgaria), Nikolai Rubinstein (France). She holds performance degrees from the Peabody Institute (MM, 2011; Performance Diploma, 2013; DMA, 2020) where she studied with renowned pedagogue Ellen Mack.
Susan Millar Boldissar, Cello
Susan Millar Boldissar is a cellist and music educator active in London, Ontario. Susan has maintained an active free-lance performance career in the New Orleans area for years. Working closely with composer Jeff Pagano, Susan is a staple of the burgeoning New Orleans experimental music scene. Known for her highly emotional, yet technically refined playing, she can be found playing acoustic and electric cello around town. In addition to her work as a performer, Susan is a dedicated and much loved teacher. In her private studio, she offers lessons in cello as well as the other bowed strings from her Lakeview home. She has also served as a highschool orchestra director. Susan earned her Bachelors in Music from Oberlin Conservatory (2004) and her Masters in Performance and Minor in Pedagogy from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music (2009).
Marie Herrington;
Composer, Voice
Marie Herrington is a Baltimore/DC area based soprano and keyboardist who works to culminatenall of the hidden beauties of the classical world with the ever-growing world of post-classical/new music; she works to share these beauties by performing the most highly effective and interesting new music, writing her own music, and sharing her teaching expertise with her 29 member private teaching studio. Marie has 10+ years of experience as a trained opera singer who has worked with prestigious vocal masters such as Luciano Pavarotti’s vocal coach, Enza Ferrari, and Joan Patenaude-Yarnell of the Curtis Institute. Marie’s most recent opera production (which got cancelled due to the spread of Covid-19), was to perform the role of Prince Orlafsky in Johann Strauss’ production of Die Fledermaus, conducted by Metropolitan Opera conductor, Gregory Buchalter. Marie has also earned a lot of press as a keyboardist, being a member of the Baltimore Chapter of the American Guild of Organists, and working as an organist and music director in both the Carolinas and the Maryland/DC area for eight years. Marie’s training has landed her the ability to work with some of her favorite composers, such as Jake Heggie, John Williams, and her personal favorite, B.K.Zervigón. Some of Marie’s projects this year include getting to start her own concert series here in North East Baltimore, hosting up and coming local instrumentalists and composers.
Yotam Haber,
Composer
His music hailed by New Yorker critic Alex Ross as “deeply haunting,” by the Los Angeles Times as one of five classical musicians “2014 Faces To Watch,” and chosen as one of the “30 composers under 40” by Orpheus Chamber Orchestra’s Project 440, Yotam Haber was born in Holland and grew up in Israel, Nigeria, and Milwaukee. He is the recipient of the 2021 Benjamin Danks Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters (the highest prize awarded that year), a 2017 Koussevitzky Commission, a 2013 Fromm Music Foundation commission, a 2013 NYFA award, the 2007 Rome Prize and a 2005 John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship. He has received grants and fellowships from the MAP Fund (2016), New Music USA (2011, the New York Foundation for the Arts (2013), the Jerome Foundation (2008, the Bellagio Rockefeller Foundation (2011), Yaddo, Bogliasco, MacDowell Colony, the Hermitage, ASCAP, and the Copland House. Haber is Associate Professor of Composition at the UMKC Conservatory and Artistic Director Emeritus of MATA, the non-profit organization founded by Philip Glass that has, since 1996, been dedicated to commissioning and presenting new works by young composers from around the world. His music is published by RAI Trade. Previously, he taught at the UNO for some years. While in New Orleans, he wrote and organized New Water Music for the LPO and community musicians to be performed from boats and barges along the waterways of the Airlift- this was one of the largest contemporary music events in New Orleans’ recent memory.
Rachel Mink, Voice
Rachel Mink, soprano, is a 2021 Pacific Opera Young Artist and ensemble member of Luminescence Chamber Singers. Her engagements for 2021 include Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro, Marzelline in Fidelio, Despina in Cosí fan tutte, Servilia (cover) in La Clemenza di Tito and Spirit in Gustav Holst's Savitri. Last season, Rachel sang the role of Émilie in Peabody Conservatory’s presentation of Kaija Saariaho's Émilie. Highlights of her previous operatic credits include Colin in Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s opera Le Devin du Village, Belinda in Dido and Aeneas, and Zirphile (cover) in the American premiere of Jean-Philippe Rameau’s Sympathy with Victory Hall Opera. Rachel gave the premiere performance of ensemble members Nicole Cooley and B.K.Zervigón’s 2020 collaboration Breach- 15 years gone at Peabody Conservatory. Rachel is a dual master’s candidate in Vocal Performance and Musicology at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, Maryland studying in the studio of Ah Young Hong. In her spare time, she works as a fundraising professional for the Boulanger Initiative, a non-profit committed to promoting music composed by women.
Technicians & Advisors
Ellen McCusker;
Vocalist, Social Media Manager
Born in New Orleans in 1995, Ellen committed to spending a majority of her life engaging in internet nonsense after discovering some sick games on the General Mills website. She eventually moved up to collecting Webkinz, and by age 11 she created a Facebook then quickly regretted doing so (this was not for any particularly shocking reason; she just dreads parenthood updates and mediocre photos of less-than-stellar meals). As an adult, Ellen regularly updates her Youtube channel where she talks about internet drama and gets drunk occasionally "for the views." She also sings sometimes.
Evan Martin,
Recording Engineer
Evan Martin is a recording engineer and producer born and raised in New Orleans. He has quickly made a name for himself as one of the most active and sought after engineers in his age group. Being raised by musicians in the heart of uptown, it only makes sense that Evan has recorded Rebirth Brass Band live at the Maple Leaf before age 21. His gigs have included, recording Tank and the Bangas, among others. Evan is currently an undergraduate at Loyola University; he is an alum of New Orleans Center for the Creative Arts and New Orleans Charter Science and Mathematics High School.
Francois Rodary McHugh,
Grant Advisor
Françoise McHugh’s career took many turns, much like the Mississippi River that inspired the birth of the Alluvium Ensemble. A native of France, she had been a teacher and a librarian for a number of years. Before she moved to the United States, she used to create materials for teachers at the publications department of the Centre Regional de Documentation Pédagogique. Over the past 10 years, she has been busy raising funds for Benjamin Franklin High School by writing grants, very often working in collaboration with students. In her spare time, she loves to edit the manuscripts of a few talented authors before publication (Juno Publishing). She also occasionally translates in the language pair English to French as a freelancer. While she loves nothing more than to support young talent, she occasionally publishes books under her maiden name Francoise Rodary, as well as varied pen names. One of her novels– Le sang des femmes—won the prestigious Louis Pergaud award in 2009. It is an honor for her to serve as a grant advisor to this group of people, who draw their artistic inspiration from their beloved region of the Mississippi delta.