Steven Gerber was born in 1948 in Washington, D.C., received degrees from Haverford College and from Princeton University, where he received a 4-year fellowship, and now lives in New York City. His composition teachers included Robert Parris, J. K. Randall, Earl Kim, and Milton Babbitt. Over the years, his harmonic language has changed - from the chromatic, dissonant intensity of his early Trio for violin, cello, and piano (commissioned by the Kindler Foundation when he was only 19), through the austerity of such serial works from the 70's as Dylan Thomas Settings and Illuminations, to the tonality of much of his recent music, beginning with the Piano Sonata (1981-82). He is a member of BMI and a board member of The American Composers Alliance. In addition to his success in the United States, Mr. Gerber has becomes perhaps the most often-played living American composer in the former Soviet Union, which he has toured 10 times since 1990, and where he has received literally dozens of orchestral performances and numerous concerts of his solo and chamber music.

Recent works of Mr. Gerber's include a Viola Concerto written for Yuri Bashmet and premiered by Bashmet at his summer festival in Tours in 1997; String Quartet #4 for the Fine Arts Quartet, premiered by them in Milwaukee in 1996; two works for Tatyana Grindenko, who has given numerous performances of Gerber's Violin Concerto in the U.S., Russia, and Estonia; two works for the London-based Bekova Sisters Trio; "Spirituals" for clarinet and string quartet, commissioned by Concertante Chamber Players for performances in 2000 at the Library of Congress, Merkin Hall (NYC), and Harrisburg; a clarinet concerto for Jon Manasse; and a work for Voice of America to celebrate its 60th anniversary.
 

Dorothy Rudd Moore began her studies in composition at Howard University, where she graduated magna cum laude with a B.A. in music theory and composition. She continued her studies with the famed Nadia Boulanger in Fontainebleau. Her opera, Frederick Douglass, was commissioned and performed by Opera Ebony in New York. A co-founder of the Society of Black Composers, Mrs. Rudd-Moore is a former panelist National Endowment for the Arts and NY State Council on the Arts. Several of her works have been written for her husband, cellist and conductor Kermit Moore.

Kermit Moore’s playing has been featured on an incredible list of diverse works ranging from Phillip Glass’s Koyaanisqatsi to “Baroque and On the Street,” to Roxy Music’s “To Turn You On.” An internationally-renowned composer, conductor and cellist, he has been a guest conductor with the Brooklyn Philharmonic, the Detroit Symphony, and the National Opera Ebony, in addition to guest-lecturing for the New York Philharmonic. He is the founder and conductor of the Classical Heritage Ensemble, and formerly was on the faculty of the Hartt School of Music. A co-founder of the Society of Black Composers, Mr. Moore has composed solo works for cello, compositions for orchestras, a flute sonata, a timpani concerto and two string quartets. He has conducted various pieces written by his wife, Dorothy Rudd Moore.

Daniel Bernard Roumain “DBR” - Whether he’s playing electric violin with a symphony orchestra or singing with his powerful 8-piece band complete with a string quartet and a DJ, DBR is an artist on the move. Often described as "Beethoven meets Lenny Kravitz", this African-American composer/musician of Haitian descent seamlessly blends funk, rock, hip-hop and classical music and creates a new sonic vision that is "far out and creative in another world."

Voted the third Best Classical Moment of 2003 by the New York Times and raved by critics from classical and popular music fields alike, DBR recently performed his arrangements of Cassandra Wilson’s Glamoured with the Grammy-Award winning jazz vocalist and her quintet while conducting the Seattle Symphony Orchestra and Buffalo Philharmonic (May 2004); performed with his band DBR & The Mission at The Kennedy Center’s Concert Hall (June 2004); collaborated with DJ Spooky at the Lincoln Center Summer Festival (July 2004); and composed music for and performed in the European premiere of Another Evening at the RomaEuropa Festival in Italy (Sept 2004). As Artist-in-Residence at Arizona State University (2003-2006), DBR premiered Rockestra: A Hip Hop Music and Dance Party featuring DJ Radar (Feb 2004) and will return to collaborate and perform with Philip Glass in SEEN AND HEARD: Philip Glass and Daniel Roumain, Together on Screen, Stage and in Sound (April 2005).

Multi-Grammy-nominated artist Patrice Rushen is the first woman in 43 years to serve as head composer/musical director for television's highest honor, the Emmy Awards, and the first woman to serve as musical director for the NAACP Image Awards broadcast, an honor she has held for twelve consecutive years. Ms. Rushen has been the only woman musical director/composer for the People’s Choice Awards, HBO’s Comic Relief, and she served as the musical director for Janet Jackson's World Tour, "Janet." As the musical director for these top award shows, Ms. Rushen composed and performed special musical tributes to Michael Landon, Ted Turner, Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, The Temptations, James Garner and Leonard Bernstein to name a few.

A classically trained pianist, Ms. Rushen has spent a lifetime honing the skills which make her one of the music industry's most versatile and sought after artists. In 1998, Rushen was again honored by the music industry when her current adult-contemporary CD, Signature, received a Grammy nomination, as well as, an NAACP Image Award nomination, and landed in the top ten of the adult-contemporary jazz charts. The critically-lauded, chart-topping style she championed in the '70's and '80's - a jazz R&B/pop fusion that combined melodic accessibility with instrumental prowess not only became her signature style but continues to be a mainstay of popular radio.
 

Andy Vores was born in Cardiff, Wales in 1956 and has lived in the United States since 1987. He studied composition at Lancaster University, England with Edward Cowie. After graduating he worked in London as a music copyist and as Lecturer in Composition at The City University. Many of his works received their premieres at this time from performers including Sarah Walker, Irvine Arditti, the London Sinfonietta, The Nash Ensemble, and the BBC Singers, including Humming Harvest Gone Snow Motor which later won first prize in the Kucyna International Composition Competition at Boston University.

In 1986, Mr. Vores was a Fellow in Composition at Tanglewood, studying with Oliver Knussen. Hammer and Darkness, Mirror and Knife, written that summer, was awarded the Tanglewood Prize for Composition. Commissions include Return to a Place for Sanford Sylvan and David Breitman, Wetherby Nocturne for Kathy Supové, Cleopatra for Dominique Labelle, Goback Goback for Collage, Quartet No.3 for The Borromeo Quartet, World Wheel for The Cantata Singers, and Uncertainty Is Beautiful for BMOP. His song In a Parlor Containing a Table has been performed frequently by Dawn Upshaw and Gil Kalish throughout the US and in Europe.

From 1999 to 2001 Mr. Vores was Composer-in-Residence to the BankBoston Celebrity Series: Emerging Artists. Dark Mother for Triple Helix–his first commission for the series–was premiered in April 2000 and Urban Affair premiered by The Boston Trio the following year. He is currently Composer-in-Residence for the New England Philharmonic. Since 2001, he has taught at The Boston Conservatory where he is Chair of Composition, Theory, and Music History Departments.