As a new music harpist, Danielle Kuntz is dedicated to bringing new music to life. Danielle believes that the longevity of the classical music industry relies on living composers. She has focused her career on connecting these composers with new audiences by commissioning them and performing their music. Danielle also works to make the harp a more accessible instrument for composers through lectures, workshops, and individual instruction. She is also the harpist and Marketing Director of the Midwest-based new music ensemble The_____Experiment. Danielle holds degrees from the University of North Texas and is currently based in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Mendel Lee is a music professional whose career oscillates between composition, music education, artistic entrepreneurship, and the pageantry arts. His work has been performed across the globe, most recently as a part of the World Expo 2020 Dubai, and his music has been described as “finding the right balance between minimalist… [static] space and forward motion and trajectory”. A passionate new music advocate, Mendel is the founder and executive director of nienteForte, a concert series devoted to championing new music in New Orleans. He also performs regularly as a percussionist with Versipel New Music.
New music powerhouse Dr. Lisa Neher is an award-winning composer and mezzo-soprano on a mission to transform audiences through sound and story. Described by Oregon ArtsWatch as “a small woman with a very big voice” and a “maestro of beautifully wacky noises,” she captivates listeners with her electrifying dramatic commitment and unforgettable vocal colors. Her compositions explore female athleticism, the climate crisis, and the eerie mystery of ocean life. Neher’s collaborators include Third Angle New Music, FearNoMusic, New Music Gathering, Rhymes With Opera, and Dinosaur Annex. She is a creative and business coach for singers and composers.
Drew Swatosh (they/them) is a Vancouver, Washington-based composer, vocalist, and multi-instrumentalist. Inspired by their background in arts-integrated education, they write eclectic, programmatic music, using composing as a means of processing the world around them. Drew’s collaborators include the Seattle Opera Creation Lab; choral educator Stephanie Bivins; the Vancouver School of Arts and Academics Music Department; and vocalists Stephanie Lamprea, Marguerite McKean, and Carolyn Quick. As a vocalist, they made their professional debut with Persisting Sound, worked under Conspirare Artistic Director Craig Hella Johnson at the Oregon Bach Festival Composers Symposium, and currently sing with In Medio.
Born in 1994, Portland-based Carolyn Quick (MMus ’18) is establishing herself as one of the most important voices in our community” (Makrokosmos Project). As a singer and composer, Carolyn loves exploring the unique timbral/textural possibilities of the human voice, and advocates for historically-excluded composers with her collective Persisting Sound. Her commissions include Fear No Music, Eugene Opera, Symphony 21, Vancouver Opera, and Voices of Concinnity’s Choral Composer Amplify Project. Her works have been performed across Canada, the US, and Croatia by ensembles like the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, South Puget Sound College Orchestra, Erato Ensemble, and Myriad Women’s Choir.
