Byron Schenkman (they/them) is a Queer Jewish keyboard player and scholar with a background in Historical Performance and a passion for connecting people through music. In addition to performing live on piano, harpsichord, and fortepiano, Byron can be heard on more than forty CDs, including recordings on historical instruments from the National Music Museum, Vermillion, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. They can also be heard in numerous online performances with Sound Salon. A founding director of the Seattle Baroque Orchestra, Byron received the Erwin Bodky Award from the Cambridge Society for Early Music “for outstanding achievement in the field of early music” and they were voted “Best Classical Instrumentalist” by the readers of Seattle Weekly. Their piano playing has been described in The New York Times as “sparkling,” “elegant,” and “insightful.” In recent seasons Byron has been a featured artist at the Boston Early Music Festival and the Vancouver Bach Festival, and they have premiered new works by Damien Geter, Caroline Shaw, and Jonathan Woody. Caroline Shaw’s Concerto for Harpsichord and Strings was dedicated to Byron. Their 2023 tour of Chile, including concerts and masterclasses in six cities, was sponsored by the Education and Culture program of the U.S. Department of State with funding provided by the U.S. government and administered by Partners of the Americas. Byron is a graduate of the New England Conservatory of Music and received a master’s degree with honors in performance from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. Byronschenkman.com

Jean Ahn, a Korean-born composer, holds a Ph.D. from UC Berkeley and received her B.A. and M.M. from Seoul National University. Her compositions have garnered recognition, including First Prize at the Renée Fisher Competition and the Sejong Korean Music Competition. Ahn’s works have been performed by Berkeley Symphony, Oakland East Bay Symphony, Memphis Symphony, Diablo Symphony, California Youth Symphony, Contemporaneous Ensemble, Dinosaur Annex, Earplay, Enhake, Ensemble Sur Plus, Invoke String Quartet, Khasma Duo and others. Commissions include works for the Left Coast Chamber Ensemble, Volti, SF Bach Choir, SF Choral Artists, Jia Wu Dance Company, Ong Dance Company, Tapestry Choir, New Arts Collaboration, Locrian Chamber Players among others. Her “Folksong Revisited” for piano and “K-Folksongs” for voice and piano are ongoing projects that show her vision to introduce Korean songs and techniques to professional performers in the US. The first collection is set to be published by Hildegard Publishing Company in 2024. She is a Lecturer at UC Berkeley and the director of Ensemble ARI. She also teaches special needs students at CHIM Studio. www.jeanahn.com

Nathan Chan’s multifaceted cello career spans solo, chamber music, and orchestral realms, driven by his belief in music’s power to invite camaraderie among musicians and patrons alike. Embracing technology and social media, he has attracted new audiences to classical music with over 25 million views across YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok. Nathan has performed as a soloist with renowned orchestras, including the San Francisco Symphony and The Royal Philharmonic. He has enthusiastically participated in music festivals such as the Marlboro Music Festival, where he collaborated with Mitsuko Uchida and Anthony McGill, and embraced growth at Fondation Louis Vuitton’s Classe d’Excellence du Violoncelle with Gautier Capuçon. The San Francisco Chronicle’s Joshua Kosman praised him for his “profound technical gift and… his mastery of musical narrative.” Nathan earned his Bachelor’s degree in Economics from Columbia University and his Masters of Music with Richard Aaron at The Juilliard School. In the 2023-2024 season, Nathan will perform Tan Dun’s and Gulda’s Cello Concertos. He currently serves as the Assistant Principal Cello of the Seattle Symphony. Visit him online at nathanchan.com

A celebrated composer, Damien Geter infuses classical music with various styles from the Black diaspora. His growing body of work includes chamber, vocal, orchestral, and full operatic works. A recent highlight includes the commission Cantata for a Hopeful Tomorrow for The Washington Chorus with subsequent performances at Pacific Chorale, Choral Arts Northwest, Bethune Cookman University, Northern Arizona University, Southwestern University, and Berkshire Choral International, with future performances at Minnesota Choral Artists. His piece 1619 also appeared with On Site Opera last fall as part of their presentation “What Lies Beneath.” Geter had six premieres as a composer in 2022. His large work, An African American Requiem, premiered in Spring 2022 commissioned by Resonance Ensemble with subsequent performances at the Kennedy Center. I Said What I Said for Imani Winds, co-commissioned by Anima Mundi Productions, Chamber Music Northwest, and The Oregon Bach Festival premiered in 2022 as well, in addition to his one-act opera Holy Ground for Glimmerglass Opera in July. Also premiering in July 2022 was his piece Elegy for the American Guild of Organists, his piece The Bronze Legacy for Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and the chamber version of American Apollo for Des Moines Metro Opera. https://www.damiengetermusic.com/

Bassist Ross Gilliland performs regularly on modern and baroque bass, performing with the North Corner Chamber Orchestra (NOCCO), Seattle Modern Orchestra, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Auburn Symphony, Northwest Symphony, and the Portland Baroque Orchestra. He is also active freelancing in theater and studio sessions, recording soundtracks for feature films, pop, bluegrass, video games, and other ‘attractions’. A Madison, WI native, Ross has been a long-time and continuing performer with the Madison Bach Musicians, the Token Creek Chamber Music Festival, collaborating closely with famed composer John Harbison, the Madison Symphony Orchestra, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, and the Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society. He has been a featured soloist with Seattle’s Mostly Nordic concert series and live on Wisconsin Public Radio. Mr. Gilliland holds degrees in music performance, physics, and environmental policy.

Hailed by the Strad Magazine for his ‘warm hearted playing and mellow tone’, New York based violist Andrew Gonzalez lives a fulfilling career as both a soloist and chamber musician, performing in prestigious venues throughout the United States, as well as halls all over Asia and Europe. As a sought after chamber musician, his playing has allowed him to collaborate with respected ensembles such as the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, the Sejong Soloists, as well as members of the Guarneri, Juilliard, Tokyo, Orion, Borromeo, and Vermeer quartets. Also an accomplished teacher, Andrew served as a fellow of Carnegie Hall’s ‘Ensemble Connect’ from 2016-2018 and teaches chamber music in the Heifetz Institute’s ‘Program for the Exceptionally Gifted. In the fall of 2020, Andrew became the new violist of the Jasper String Quartet. http://andrewgonzalezviolist.com/

Internationally recognized as one of the world’s leading practitioners of klezmer violin music, Steven Greenman is a concert performer, composer, and educator of klezmer, East European folk, and classical music. Steven composed his virtuoso masterwork, Klezmer Concert Suite for Solo Violin and Orchestra in 2018 and gave its premier performance with the Muncie Symphony Orchestra. He has also performed as violin soloist with the Cleveland Pops Orchestra, the Akron, Canton and Firelands symphonies, the National Repertory Orchestra, and the Energy Corridor of Houston Orchestra. With the Joseph Rubin Orchestra, Steven performed the music of the late violin virtuoso David Rubinoff. Steven’s landmark recordings, Stempenyu’s Dream and Stempenyu’s Neshome, feature his original Jewish and klezmer compositions. His recording, Khevrisa – European Klezmer Music, appears on the Smithsonian Folkways label. Steven directs the Case Western Reserve University Klezmer Music Ensemble and has led international masterclasses at KlezKamp, KlezKanada, Yiddish Summer Weimar, Internationales Klezmer Festival Fuerth, KlezFest London, Master Class de Musica Tradicional Santiago de Compostela, and Yiddish Academy Tokyo in addition to numerous universities and colleges. His thrilling collaboration with master pipa-player Gao Hong, The Braided Candle, explores a unique blending of both traditional Jewish and Chinese folk music styles. https://stevengreenman.com/

Reynaldo Patiño, baroque violinist and violist, has performed with ensembles and festivals such as the Indianapolis Baroque Orchestra, Arts on Alexander (Austin, TX), Princeton Festival Baroque Orchestra, North Carolina Baroque Orchestra, and Mountainside Baroque (Cumberland, MD). He received his Bachelor of Music from Texas Tech University, Master of Music in Early Music from Indiana University, and is currently completing his Doctor of Music in Early Music (Baroque Violin) with Professor Emeritus Stanley Ritchie at Indiana University. Reynaldo has taught as Instructor of Violin (Historical Performance Practice) at the Texas Tech University School of Music. Reynaldo’s international performances include ‘Sound of Baroque Festival’ (Beijing, China), Shanghai Camerata (Shanghai, China), and the Musica Sacra festival in Quito, Ecuador. Reynaldo is a core member of the ensemble Las Aves, a research-oriented ensemble that produces historically informed programs of Renaissance and early Baroque chamber music. 

Lutenist Kevin Payne is active as a recitalist, accompanist, and continuo player. Recent ensemble work includes performances with Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, Seattle Symphony, Tempesta di Mare, Philharmonie Austin, and Bach Collegium San Diego. Festival appearances include Caramoor, Tanglewood, Spoleto, and Newport Classical. Performance venues include Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., the National Concert Hall in Taipei, Taiwan, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, and the Festspielhaus in Baden-Baden, Germany. His playing has been broadcast on a number of nationally syndicated radio programs including Sunday Baroque and Performance Today. Kevin is a graduate of the Peabody Institute, the Juilliard School, and the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in Basel, Switzerland. When not performing, Kevin enjoys cooking, reading, watching Star Trek (P’Tach!) and attempting to delay the inevitable (and often imminent) demise of the houseplants he shares with his wife, cellist Caroline Nicolas.

Violinist Carmen Lavada Johnson–Pájaro, a native of Birmingham, Alabama, is a community–based artist living in New York City. Raised in a family of music lovers, Carmen began her musical studies with jam sessions in the living room and eventually found herway to the world of historical performance. Recent engagements include performances with Twelfth Night, Washington Bach Consort, Teatro Nuovo, New York Baroque Incorporated, Valley of the Moon Music Festival, Bach Akademie Charlotte, Washington National Cathedral, Early Music Access Project, and Juilliard415. She’s had the opportunity to work with renowned early music figures such as Masaaki Suzuki, William Christie, and Rachel Podger, among many others. Beyond traditional performing, Carmen’s commitment to community engagement and education has led to years of administrative nonprofit work as well as work in schools, shelters, and detention centers across the world. She is currently pursuing a master’s degree in historical performance at The Juilliard School, studying with Elizabeth Blumenstock, Robert Mealy, Rachel Podger,and Cynthia Roberts. Carmen holds degrees in violin performance from the New England Conservatory and the Eastman School of Music, where she was a Lois Rogers and Links Scholar. 

Multi-instrumentalist Adaiha MacAdam-Somer is highly sought after as a teacher, chamber, and orchestral musician across the United States and Europe. She splits her time and passion equally between cello, baroque cello, and all branches of the viola da gamba family. From her home base in Portland, Adaiha performs with a variety of ensembles including Amadeus Chamber Orchestra, Portland Baroque Orchestra, Seattle Baroque Orchestra, 45th Parallel, Sound Salon, Gallery Concerts, Voices of Music, Voice of the Viol, Eugene Opera, and various other chamber and vocal ensembles across the states. As an educator she maintains a studio of private students, coaches the Bridgetown Baroque Ensemble, Trillium Baroque Orchestra, substitute teaches for youth orchestras and chamber ensembles across the Pacific Northwest, and is a regular guest instructor of workshops nationwide.
Miss MacAdam-Somer holds degrees from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her principal teachers include Jean-Michel Fonteneau, Elisabeth Reed, Uri Vardi, and Laszlo Varga. In the summer you can find her performing with various festivals and teaching chamber music and cello at Kinhaven Music School. Adaiha is forever grateful to Indre Viskontas and Adam Bristol for facilitating the acquisition of her bass viol, made by master luthier Francis Beaulieu.

Breana H. McCullough is a Karuk, Baroque and Modern music violist from Bozeman, Montana. McCullough started her career at a young age and has since performed with various ensembles including the Sinfonia Spirituosa, I-90 Collective, Sound Salon, Carpe Diem String Quartet, the Baroque Chamber Orchestra of Colorado, and others. She began a masters degree in Historical Performance at Indiana University, Jacobs School of Music but has since moved towards a doctoral degree in Ethnomusicology at the University of California, Los Angeles as a fully funded Cota-Robles Fellowship recipient. Her research focuses on Indigenous representation in Early Music; as well as, topics in the re-Matriation of Karuk relatives captive in various archives across the United States. She primarily challenges these archives in the development of relationships and the implementation of protocols that support Tribal, family, and data sovereignty. McCullough sat as a co-chair on the IDEA Taskforce for Early Music America and is the student representative in the Indigenous Music section for the Society of Ethnomusicology. They are a teaching artist with the Heartbeat Music Project bringing music education through cultural empowerment to young people on the Diné (Navajo) Reservation. It brings her significant joy to invest and elevate young people pursuing their passion through cultural empowerment in musical expression. McCullough currently resides in Los Angeles, California. 

With an eclectic repertory that spans from the Middle Ages to the 21st century, acclaimed cellist/gambist Caroline Nicolas enjoys an active and multifaceted career as one of the outstanding performers in her field. Noted for her “eloquent artistry and rich, vibrant sound” (Gainesville Times), she has been praised for her unique ability to combine emotionally rich interpretations with a historically inquisitive spirit. She regularly appears with leading ensembles as soloist, chamber musician, and music director. Ensembles she has worked with include the English Concert, Trinity Baroque Orchestra, Mercury Chamber Orchestra, Ars Lyrica Houston, Juilliard Baroque, Harmonia Stellarum, Philharmonia Baroque, Pacific MusicWorks, Kammerorchester Basel, New World Symphony, and Sinfonieorchester Liechtenstein. She recently completed her tenure as music director of New Baroque Orchestra. Festival appearances include the Boston Early Music Festival, Indianapolis Early Music Festival, Bach Festival Leipzig, and Styriarte Festival in Austria. Notable venues include the KKL Luzern, Berliner Philharmonie, Alice Tully Hall, and Benaroya Hall. Her performances have been broadcast on KING FM in Washington, KUHF in Texas, WDIY in Pennsylvania, and CCTV in China. Notable collaborations include such eminent musicians as Andrea Marcon, Amandine Beyer, Kristian Bezuidenhout, Jordi Savall, William Christie, Rachel Podger, Harry Bicket, and Stephen Stubbs. https://www.carolinenicolas.com/ 

Highly in-demand as an early musician, Pablo O’Connell performs with the Trinity Wall St Baroque Orchestra, Carmel Bach Festival, Mercury Chamber Orchestra, Berkeley Cantata Collective, New York Baroque Incorporated, and Musica Angelica. He is passionate about contemporary music and performs regularly with SEM Ensemble and the Metropolis Ensemble, where in 2022 he curated a series of pop-up concerts as part of the Biophony festival. Pablo’s dynamic and varied musical life also includes writing and recording original folk music, and in 2021 he released his debut EP Still You Answer, with a full length LP to be released in fall of 2023. Pablo maintains a private teaching studio of baroque and modern oboists and he holds Bachelors and Masters degrees in modern and historical oboes from the Juilliard School (‘20, ‘22). https://www.pabloboe.com

Violinist Anna Okada holds a Bachelor of Arts in Music Performance from Whitman College and a Performer Diploma in Early Music from Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, where she studied with Stanley Ritchie. Anna was a finalist in the 2020 Indianapolis International Baroque Concerto Competition. She has performed with period ensembles around the U.S., including Portland Baroque Orchestra, Seattle Baroque Orchestra, Pacific MusicWorks, Indianapolis Baroque Orchestra, Alchymy Viols, and Bach Akademie Charlotte. Anna has also performed at music festivals, including the Oregon Bach Festival, the Montana Early Music Festival, the Princeton Festival, and Festival Internacional de Música Sacra in Quito, Ecuador. In addition to performing, Anna enjoys teaching violin at Whitman College and Walla Walla University. In her spare time, Anna loves cooking and baking, spending time outdoors, learning and writing fiddle tunes, and playing with her baby, Antonio.

Elisabeth Reed, Oakland, CA teaches Baroque cello and viola da gamba at the University of California at Berkeley and at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where she is co-director of the Baroque Ensemble. Recent teaching highlights include master classes at the Juilliard School, the Shanghai Conservatory and Middle School, and the Royal Academy of Music. A soloist and chamber musician with Voices of Music, Pacific Musicworks, Archetti ,and Wildcat Viols, she has also appeared with the Smithsonian Chamber Players, the American Bach Soloists and the Seattle, Portland, Pacific, and Philharmonia Baroque Orchestras. Elisabeth directs “Voice of the Viol”, the renaissance viola da gamba ensemble of Voices of Music. She can be heard on the Virgin Classics, Naxos, Focus, Plectra, and Magnatunes recording labels and has many HD videos on the Voices of Music Youtube channel. She is a Guild-certified practitioner of the Feldenkrais Method™ of Awareness Through Movement ™ with a particular interest in working with musicians and performers. http://elisabethreed.com/