Vasco M. N. Pereira

A native of Portugal, Vasco founded and conducted the Orquesta Luso-Española. His music is published by Music Vall, Edicions Musicals C.B. His chamber and choral music is performed internationally.

Vasco’s personal website is here.

David Haladjian

One of the best-known modern composers of Armenia, David combines melody and sound in the language of his home country while utilizing the means of expression of contemporary music.

In 1985, he became a member of the Composers Union of the USSR. He worked for the State TV and Radio of Armenia and from 1987 to 1991 he was the conductor of the Yerevan Conservatory Choir. In 1991, he went to Switzerland, where he studied computer music at the Music Academy in Basel and at the Musikhochschule Zurich. David composed the score for the major motion picture “LORIK”, which won the Narrative Feature Grand Prize at the Socially Relevant™ Film Festival (2020) in New York City.

Today, David composes, conducts and teaches in Switzerland. His compositions have been performed at concerts and music festivals in Armenia, Germany, France, Spain, Holland, Italy, Israel, USA, Japan, Latvia, Russia and Switzerland.

Vincent Kennedy

Born in Dublin, Vincent studied trumpet winning major prizes and performing with RTÉ National Symphony. He came to prominence as a composer when he won the RTÉ music prize for his piece "Soliloquy and March". He is a founding member of the Irish Film and Television Academy.

In this 2008 interview, Vincent Kennedy talks to Michael Quinn of the Contemporary Music Center of Ireland about his influences, sources of inspiration, composing for bands, his commissions, and his concert in the National Concert Hall.

Nikos Xanthoulis

A Greek composer and author, Nikos is currently Professor of Composition at the Athens Conservatory, Artistic Consultant with the Greek National Opera, and Correspondent Member of the Archaeological Institute of America. Editions “Daedalus- Zacharopoulos” published his treatise on Ancient Greek Music in 2006.

Nikos served as principal trumpet player with the Greek National Opera for 25 years. He has played and presented his music in more than 30 countries. Since 2011 he has revived the technique of the Ancient Greek Lyre after 1600 years of silence composing and playing all over the world.

Véronique Bracco

A prize-winning French pianist and composer, Véronique began composing at age 10. Published at Editions H.Lemoine at 13, she wrote her 1st piano Concerto at 14. Her multifaceted compositions have been performed internationally. Her pieces are frequently programmed as compulsory works in competitions such as L.Bellan, Les Clés d’Or, Concours Steinway-Prodige Art... Her own Piano Method will be published in 2022 and 2023 by F2M Editions. Passionate and creatively curious, she's always eager to explore and compose for various instruments and in miscellaneous styles and genres.

Véronique’s personal website is here.

Ilan Chouraki

Ilan Chouraki, born in 1963, is a post-modern French-Israeli composer and arranger. He has taken his roots in the world of classical composers and more particularly in the works of Ravel, Prokofiev, Stravinsky... He allowed himself to step over the elitist atonal music of the following decades, despite spending a year at IRCAM under the direction of Pierre Boulez, where he was able to see Luciano Berio, György Ligeti, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Iannis Xenakis and many others working.

Like Gershwin, Ilan combines classical aesthetics with the musical culture of his contemporaries.

Ilan’s personal website is here.

Igor Vorobyov

Graduated from the Leningrad Choir College (1983), Leningrad Conservatoire (1992).  Member of the Union of composers of Russia. Scholarship holder of the Ministry of culture (1998-2000). The winner of the grant of the Russian humanitarian scientific Fund (2000), the winner of the all-Russian competition D. D. Shostakovich (2014), winner of a number of international competitions and festivals. Since 1994 he has been teaching at the St. Petersburg Conservatory. Professor of the Department of music theory of the St. Petersburg Conservatory. Doctor of art (2014). Deputy Chairman of the dissertation Council of the St. Petersburg Conservatory (2018). Author of fundamental monographs on the history of Russian avant-garde music and Soviet music of the 1930s-1950s. 

Participant in international symposiums, conferences and festivals in Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Lithuania, Germany, USA, Japan, South Korea, Georgia, Armenia. He gave open lectures and master classes at the Moscow, Yekaterinburg, Saratov, Tbilisi, Volgograd conservatories, Grodno University, University Laval (Quebec, Canada), music colleges of Yakutsk, Penza, Grodno, Daejeon (South Korea). One of the organizers and Director of the international festival of arts "From the Avant-garde to the present day" (1992-2016), since 2017 - Director of the international festival "World of art. Contrasts”.

As a composer, conductor and pianist he took part in concerts in many cities of Russia, as well as in Paris, Rome, Quebec, Montreal, Stockholm, Visby, Turku, Vilnius, Riga, Tallinn, Kiev, Batumi etc. Among the musical works: four ballets, four operas, "Don Capriccio" for a large symphony orchestra and the poem "There is only light" for a symphony orchestra and organ, a small symphony for seven instruments "Archipelago", two instrumental concertos (piano and double bass), three piano, two cello, viola and violin sonatas, string Quartet, "Izhora wedding" for five instruments, Requiem, Magnificat, Stabat Mater, cantata "Sergius Radonezhsky", "Weeping" for folk ensemble, double basses and piano, eight choral concerts and cycles, ten vocal cycles. Igor Vorobyov’s music has been recorded on radio and television in St. Petersburg and Moscow, as well as 7 CDs and 3 DVDs.

Garry DW Judd

Garry DW Judd is a contemporary classical composer whose music is driven by such diverse influences as the English Experimentalists, Erik Satie and Percy Grainger. His music has been played on BBC Radio 3, ClassicFM, and other broadcasters in the USA, Germany and France, by such performers as the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Leslie Howard and Courtney Pine. Garry has written extensively for film and television, his recent scores being for a Disney+/NatGeo commission, two feature films and a drama series for NTV.

Garry’s classical music website is here.

Nikolas James

An American composer and pianist, Nikolas James founded and directed the Nevada Chamber Orchestra in 2017, and while enrolled in graduate studies at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), he served on the inaugural committee which established the NEON music festival (Nevada Encounters Of New music), a yearly composers’ symposium consisting of four days of concerts, lectures, private lessons and masterclasses. While in Las Vegas, he taught for about a decade at four higher educational institutions, including UNLV, the College of Southern Nevada and The Art Institute of Las Vegas. At UNLV, he earned a dual Masters Degree with emphases in Piano, Music Composition and Music Theory, during which time he also appeared as a regular performer in the university’s “Nextet” new music ensemble. Today, Nikolas is actively performing and teaching in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, where he maintains a private studio preparing young students for college music studies, and is adjunct professor at South Dakota State University in Brookings, SD.

In all that he does musically and pedagogically, he is a firm believer in studying the riches contained in the Classics, and also believes that artists must be well-rounded and versatile. His own interests encompass many areas of the humanities, as well as more technical pursuits. He has worked in areas as diverse as high-energy physics, oil painting, astronomy, and ornithology, to name a few. Everything we experience in life can find its expression in music.

Thomas Bramel

The American Academy of Television Arts and Sciences awarded Thomas Bramel an EMMY for his score to the film The Potomac: American Reflections. And, Bramel received a CINE Golden Eagle Award for his score to the film George Mason and the Bill of Rights.

Thomas composed music for two full-length ballets: Cinderella: A Child’s Dance and Alchemy at Bollingen Tower: An Architectural Ballet based on the autobiography of Carl Jung. He has composed symphonic band music, choral scores, incidental music for plays, and music for children’s television. Thomas’s chamber music has been commissioned and performed by ensembles in Armenia, Belgium, England, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Spain and the USA.

Thomas has been Artist in Residence at Bloedel Reserve and at Brush Creek Foundation for the Arts. Thomas is an expert in the Schillinger System of Musical Composition.

David Martynuik

For thirty years David Martynuik has been active as a composer, conductor, clarinetist and music educator. His pragmatic, eclectic approach to music composition has been influenced by composers, visual artists, architects, writers, philosophers and educators.  He particularly enjoys artistic collaboration with ballet/ dance, chamber music and art song.  In addition, he has written for theater, film, choir, wind band and orchestra.  Further information is available on his website davidmartynuik.com

Javier Costa Císcar

Javier Costa Císcar studied piano, musicology, composition, and choir conducting at the Conservatorio Superior Joaquín Rodrigo in Valencia, Spain, obtaining the Extraordinary Prize in Harmony, Counterpoint and Fugue, Composition and Instrumentation. He completed his training with Franco Donatoni, Josep Soler, Luis de Pablo, Luis Blanes, Arturo Tamayo, Carles Tamayo, Carles Ginovart and Cristobal Halffter.

Javier obtained several composition awards: Juan Bta. Comes (Segorbe 1988); finalist in the III International Competition of Symphonic-Choral Composition (JONDE Madrid 1991); Premi Fira de tots Sants (Cocentaina 1994); Prize in the Xth Anniversary of the creation of the University Carlos III of Madrid (Madrid 1999); FECOCOVA Prize (Valencia 2001); Premis Catalunya de Composició Coral (Barcelona 2002); Matilde Prize (Barcelona 2002); Matilde Salvador Prize (Valencia 2002); finalist in the International Competition of Choral Composition Ciudad de La Laguna (in 2002 and 2004); Paco Llázar Prize (Barcelona 2002); Paco Llázar Prize (Valencia 2004); Paco Llácer Award (Valencia 2008); Fernando Remacha Scholarship (Pamplona 2009); Luis Morondo Prize (Pamplona 2010); 2nd Prize SBALZ (Alzira 2017).

Javier has written around 75 works for different vocal and instrumental ensembles. He has completed the Master of Aesthetics and Musical Creativity organized by the Institut de Creativitat and Innovations Educatives of the Universitat of Valencia. He holds a doctorate from the Universidad Literaria (Literary University) of Valencia, with a thesis based on the analysis of the piano piece “Vingt regards sur l'Enfant-Jésus” ("Twenty Contemplations on the Infant Jesus")  by Olivier Messiaen. He has directed several masterworks and doctoral theses. He taught at the Conservatory of the Balearic Islands as a guest professor in the discipline of Musical Analysis (2004/2011). He was a professor and director of the Conservatorio Profesional Maestro Vert de Carcaixent (1983 - 2017).

He is currently a professor of Fundamentals of Composition at the Conservatorio Mestre Tàrrega of Castellón de la Plana. Further information is available on his website: www.javiercostaciscar.com.

Arthur Aharonian

As a composer, Arthur Aharonian’s influence extends across a career crowned with several international distinctions, including 1st Prize in the Composition Competition of the Festival Mondial de l'Image sous-marine in Antibes and the Golden Star Halo Award from the Southern California Motion Picture Council in Hollywood. His work ranges from short piano pieces to symphonic and concertante works. He also excels in the composition of vocal and choral music, including the chamber opera Pari, and in the creation of music for film and theater.

Leading musicians and orchestras frequently perform his work on the world's most prestigious stages.

His compositions include :

• La Ballade de Jonathan, symphonic poem premiered in 2004 at the Théâtre Mogador by the Orchestre National d'Ile-de-France, conducted by George Pehlivanian,

• Violin Concerto N2 premiered in 2011 at Muziekgebouw by Amsterdam Sinfonietta and Sergey Khachatryan,

• The Cry Of My Soul for soprano, clarinet and piano, based on poems by Hamo Sahyan, premiered in 2018, Zipper Hall, Los Angeles, by Shoushik Barsoumian, Phil O'Connor and Arthur Aharonyan,

• Le soldat et la danseuse, Ballet freely inspired by Andersen's fairy tale "Le stoïque Soldat de plomb", created in 2021, salle Jean Français de la ville de Vanves.

A professor at the Paris Conservatoire, he also pursues a career as a concert pianist, touring Europe, Canada and the United States.

He has made numerous recordings as a pianist and composer. One of his recent albums, featuring Komitas' complete works for solo piano, released on the Megadisc Classics label, was honored with the Vienna Radio Prize.

Anton Rovner

Anton Rovner was born on June 28, 1970 in Moscow, Russia into a family of literati. In 1974 he and his parents moved to the United States. He studied composition at the Pre-College Division of the Juilliard School in New York with Andrew Thomas, then he studied at the Juilliard School with Milton Babbitt, receiving his Bachelor of Music degree in 1991 and his Master of Music degree in 1993. In 1989-1990 he studied composition with Nikolai Sidelnikov and music theory with Yuri Kholopov at the Moscow Conservatory through the IREX Arts Exchange program. He took music theory courses with Jeff Nicholls and Joseph Dubiel at the Music Department of Columbia University (New York). From 1993 to 1997 he was the artistic director of the “Bridge” contemporary music concert series in New York. From 1994 to 1997 he studied composition with Charles Wuorinen at the Music Department of Rutgers University, receiving his PhD degree in 1998. He took private lessons with Tristan Murail.

Since December 1997 he has lived in Moscow Russia. His music has been performed in New York, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Bryansk, Nizhni-Novgorod, Perm, Ekaterinburg, Kiev, Lviv, Odessa, Chisinau, Bucharest, Paris, Freiburg, Helsinki, Seoul and Caracas. The concert organizations and chamber music ensembles who have performed his music include the American Festival of Microtonal Music and the Composers’ Concordance concert organization in New York, by the “Helix!” Ensemble in New Jersey, by the Moscow Ensemble of Contemporary Music, the Studio for New Music ensemble, the 20th Ensemble and the Gallery of Actual Music ensemble in Moscow, “eNsemble” and the Sound Ways ensemble in St. Petersburg, the Ekaterinburg Ensemble for Contemporary Music in Ekaterinburg and the Archaeus Ensemble in Bucharest. His music has been performed at the “Moscow Autumn,” “Moscow Forum” and “Alternativa” festivals, the “Sergei Berinsky Club” and the Piotr Jurgenson Salon in Moscow, the “Sergei Oskolkov and his Friends,” “From the Avant-garde to the Present Day,” “Sound Ways,” “Pythian Games” and “Russian Music. The 21st Century” festivals, the Nikolai Roslavetz and Nahum Gabo Festival for the Arts, the Festival of Contemporary Music in Perm, the “Contrasts” festival in Lviv, the “Two Days and Two Nights of New Music” festival in Odessa and the “Days of New Music” in Chisinau.

He has been a member of the Russian Composers’ Union since 2001. He has taught at the Department of Interdisciplinary Specializations for Musicologists of the Moscow Conservatory since 2002. In 2005-2011 he studied at the Moscow Conservatory’s post-graduate program with Valentina Kholopova, having written his dissertation “Sergei Protopopov: Musical Compositions and Music Theory Works,” which he defended at the Gnesins’ Russian Academy of Music in 2011, receiving the degree of Candidate of the Arts. He has contributed to music theory journals in Russia, USA, Canada, Azerbaijan and other countries, including such journals as “Muzykal’naya akademiya,” “Muzyka i vremya,” “Muzykovedenie” and “Muzykant-klassik” in Moscow, “Problemy muzykal’noy nauki/Music Scholarship” in Ufa, Russia, “20th/21st Century Music” and “New Music Connoisseur” in New York, “Musicworks” in Canada, “Musica Ukrainica” in Odessa and “Musiqi Dunyasi” in Baku, Azerbaijan, and has participated in numerous conferences in Moscow (the Moscow Conservatory and the Scriabin Museum), St. Petersburg (the festival “From the Avant-garde to the Present Day”), Ekaterinburg, Vilnius, Grodno and Berlin.

Since 2012 he has worked as a translator and the member of the editorial board of the journal “Problemy muzykal’noy nauki/Music Scholarship.” He has participated in organizing contemporary music concerts at the Piotr Jurgenson Salon, the Rachmaninoff Hall of the Moscow Conservatory and in numerous other venues in Moscow. In 2024 he is organizing the concert series “Muzykal’nye mosty” [“Musical Bridges”) at the Myaskovsky Hall of the Moscow Conservatory.