Christopher Cerrone
Christopher Cerrone is a Brooklyn-based composer of dramatic, orchestral, chamber and electronic music. Hailed as “a rising star” (The New Yorker), “dangerously talented” (The New Haven Advocate) and "most original” (The Albany Times-Union), Cerrone's intricate and evocative work has been praised for its “skillful and economical” orchestration and was called “the program’s highlight” by The New York Times. His music has been heard across North America and Europe, with performances and commissions from the LA Philharmonic, the Brooklyn Philharmonic, Carnegie Hall, New York City Opera, Opera America, Eighth Blackbird and the New York Youth Symphony. Cerrone has won awards and grants from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, Chamber Music America, the Civitella Ranieri Foundation, the Jerome Foundation, ASCAP and New Music USA. He was recently named to NPR’s 2011 crowd-sourced selection of young composers “100 Composers Under 40.” He is currently pursuing his doctorate at Yale University, where he also taught music composition and electronic music. His works are published by Schott NY, Project Schott New York and Outburst-Inburst Musics. http://www.christophercerrone.com

Tao Lin

Melissa Hughes
Hailed by The New York Times as “one of New York’s freshest, most compelling interpreters” soprano Mellissa Hughes enjoys a busy career in both contemporary and early music. She has collaborated with Julia Wolfe, Michael Gordon, David Lang, and Steve Reich and premiered works written expressly for her by Caleb Burhans, Missy Mazzoli, Ted Hearne, Corey Dargel and Frederic Rzewski. This season, she performed the world premieres of David T. Little’s Am I Born with Alan Pierson and the Brooklyn Philharmonic, and Alex Temple’s Liebeslied for the opening of the SONiC Festival; sang Jonathan Berger’s Theotokia at Stanford Lively Arts with the St. Lawrence String Quartet and Pedja Muzijevic; and Mohammed Fairouz’s Tahwida with clarinetist David Krakauer at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Hall. Upcoming dates include David Coll’s Position, Influence and Matt Marks’s The Little Death, Vol. II for the MATA Festival, and a tour to Amsterdam and Ireland with Alarm Will Sound. 

Thomas Bagwell
Thomas Bagwell’s appearances as a collaborative pianist have taken him to such venues as New York's Carnegie Hall, London’s Wigmore Hall, the Musikverein, the Concertgebouw and numerous concert halls across the U.S., Canada, Puerto Rico and Japan. His activities as a coach and teacher have led to invitations to give master classes for colleges and apprentice programs in opera companies. He was an assistant conductor at the Metropolitan Opera for nine seasons, and has served in the same capacity for many seasons at the Washington National Opera, The Santa Fe Opera and Opera Theatre of Saint Louis. Bagwell has partnered in recital with singers including Marilyn Horne, Renée Fleming, Susan Graham, Denyce Graves, Frederica von Stade, Andrea Rost, Kristine Jepson, James Morris, Roberta Peters and Lucine Amara. His recital collaborations with the rising generation of singers include Elaine Alvarez, Eric Cutler, Gregory Turay, Rinat Shaham, Thomas Meglioranza and Jesse Blumberg. In the field of chamber music, Bagwell has been a participant at the Marlboro Music Festival and has performed recitals with violinists Midori, Miranda Cuckson and Scott St. John, with whom he made a critically acclaimed CD of works by Antonin Dvorak on the Marquis Classics label. He has received degrees from the Mannes College of Music and the Manhattan School of Music, and has studied with Warren Jones, Graham Johnson and Edna Golandsky.