Nestor Taylor (b. 1963) belongs to the younger generation of Greek composers, with a strongly lyrical voice and an uninhibited tonal style of expression. Although his eclectic approach to composition never compromises individuality and artistic integrity, Taylor's music has the ability to communicate with a wide audience.

He studied music theory, harmony and counterpoint at the Athens Conservatory with George Diamantis and the distinguished composer and academic, Menelaos Pallantios. Taylor also studied composition at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama with Francis Shaw and at Royal Holloway, University of London, with John Woolrich and Peter Wiegold. He holds a number of diplomas and degrees in composition: L.G.S.M., Certificate of Advanced Studies (Guildhall School of Music) and M. Mus., M. Phil. (University of London).

Performances of his works have taken place in Greece (Athens Megaron Concert Hall, Greek National Opera,
Goethe Institute and abroad (Conway Hall, Royal Festival Hall, Hellenic Centre and BMIC in London, Museo Revoltella in Trieste, Lubeck Opera Theatre, Schwartzsche Villa in Berlin, Kioi Hall in Tokyo, Philharmonic Hall in Odessa). In 1997, Taylor was short-listed by SPNM for his song cycle On a Ray of Winter Sun and, in 2002, his work And then it is Dusk for voice and chamber ensemble earned him the First Prize at the Mediterranean Composer's Competition.

He is a member of the Greek Composers Union, a founding member of the Athens Composers Forum, and author of the studies The Pythagorean Harmony (ed. Nefeli, 2000) and The Technique of String Divisi (ed. Orphens, 2007). Taylor has taught harmony and composition at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki since September 2004. He can be reached by email at nestaylor@yahoo.com.

Christina Whitten Thomas

Christina Whitten Thomas’s compositions have been described as “shaped with great skill and commitment,” “imaginative,” and “extraordinarily moving.” Her works have been performed throughout the United States by both professional and community choirs. As a recipient of the Sorel Medallion in 2007 for Choral de Bêtes, Ms. Whitten Thomas attended the premiere performance of the work, performed by Voices of Ascension, in Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall. She was invited back to Zankel Hall in 2008 to hear Voices of Ascension perform Take Peace, which was awarded the Sorel Conductor’s Choice award that year. In 2011, Musica Sacra of New York encored Choral de Bêtes in Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center. This work for a cappella choir was recorded by Musica Sacra for their 2012 release Messages to Myself.

Her awards include 1st place in the 2011 Los Robles Master Chorale composition competition for My Cathedral, 1st place in the 2010 Park Avenue Christian Church competition for The Lord is King, 1st place in the 2010 Wallingford Chorus composition competition for The Lamp of Life, and 2nd place in the 2010 NATS Art Song Composition Award for her song cycle In the Garret. Ms. Whitten Thomas’s commissions include Discovery (2011) for the Esoterics of Seattle, Mornings With You (2011) for Melodia Women’s Choir of NYC, Three Songs of Life (2009) for the USC Apollo Men’s Choir, and The Raising of Lazarus (2006) for the First Baptist Church of Worcester.

She received her B.A. in music from Middlebury College in 2002 and her M.M. in composition from the University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music in 2005. She currently resides in Pasadena, California where she is also an active vocalist and teacher. www.christinawhitten.com

David Evan Thomas

The music of David Evan Thomas has been praised for its eloquence, power and craft. Critics have noted Thomas’s loving ties to tradition, expressed in clear forms, smart instrumental writing and skillful orchestration. Audiences have responded to the music’s warmth, lyricism and sense of play.

Thomas is the recipient of awards from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the McKnight Foundation and the American Guild of Organists. He has received commissions from the Minnesota Orchestra, the Jerome Foundation, The Schubert Club and the American Composers Forum.

In a varied catalogue that includes music for orchestra and wind ensemble, two dozen chamber works, keyboard pieces large and small, and an opera, vocal music is particularly prominent, with twelve song cycles—on subjects ranging from medieval women troubadours to the baseball writings of Donald Hall—and over forty choral works. Thomas’s music is published by ECS Publishing, Augsburg Fortress, Falls House, Fatrock Ink, Jeanné, MorningStar, and Yelton-Rhodes. His music been performed by the Minnesota Orchestra, London’s Westminster Cathedral Choir, the trio of Gil Shaham, Truls Mørk and Yefim Bronfman, The Rose Ensemble, and the Minneapolis and Rosalyra String Quartets. From 1997-2005 he was composer-in-residence for The Schubert Club; he has also served in that capacity with Westminster Presbyterian Church, Minneapolis and the Cathedral of Saint Paul.

Born in Rochester, New York in 1958, David Evan Thomas received his early musical training in the Preparatory Department of the Eastman School of Music, and he received degrees from Northwestern University, Eastman and the University of Minnesota. His teachers have included Dominick Argento, Samuel Adler and Alan Stout. He received further training at the Aspen Festival and as an Associate of David Diamond at the Atlantic Center for the Arts.

Thomas lives in Minneapolis, where in addition to writing music, he is active as a pianist, conductor, lecturer and program annotator.
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Randall Thompson

Randall Thompson (born in New York City on April 21, 1899; died in Boston on July 9, 1984), eminent American composer, was educated at Harvard University (B.A. 1920; M.A. 1922). His teachers there included Walter R. Spalding, Edward B. Hill, and Archibald T. Davison. He also studied with Ernest Bloch. From 1922 to 1925, Thompson held a fellowship at the American Academy in Rome, and he twice won a Guggenheim Fellowship (1929, 1930). From 1927–1929 and again in 1936–1937, he was assistant professor of music at Wellesley College. Other academic positions included professorships at the University of California, Berkeley (1937–1939) and Princeton University (1946–1948).

From 1939 to 1941, Thompson was director of the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia and then became head of the music division of the School of Fine Arts of the University of Virginia (1941–1946). In 1945 he was appointed Walter Bigelow Rosen Professor of Music at Harvard University and became Professor Emeritus at the close of the 1964–65 year. Thompson received numerous awards and honorary doctoral degrees from American colleges and universities including Yale, Harvard, and the New England Conservatory of Music. In 1959, the Italian Government named Randall Thompson Cavaliere ufficiale al merito della Reppubllca Italtana. He was a member of The National Institute of Arts and Letters and of The American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Commissioned in 1958 for the two-hundredth anniversary of the incorporation of the Town of Amherst, Massachusetts, Frostiana was composed between June 15 and July 7, 1959 in Gstaad, Switzerland. The work was first performed as part of the Bicentennial Commemoration at an inter-faith convocation in the Amherst Regional High School Auditorium on October 18, 1959. It was sung by the Bicentennial Chorus, comprised of singers of all denominations in the township. Professor J. Heywood Alexander accompanied, the composer conducted, and the poet was present.
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Eric Tuan is a third-year undergraduate at Stanford University, pursuing studies in music and literature. A voice student of Gregory Wait and a piano student of Laura Dahl, Eric is actively engaged in numerous activities throughout the music department. He sings tenor and serves as rehearsal pianist for the Stanford Chamber Chorale, and was honored to perform the aria “Erwäge” in their performance of J.S. Bach’s Johannes-Passion at the National Gallery of Art in March 2010. An early music enthusiast, Eric has also performed with the Stanford Early Music Singers and the Monteverdi Consort, a one-voice-per-part chamber ensemble that performs Renaissance and early Baroque music. He recently returned from a term abroad in Oxford, where he sang with Schola Cantorum of Oxford, and is currently a teaching assistant in Stanford’s music theory program.

As a pianist, Eric was awarded the Stanford music department’s Patrick Butler Prize in piano performance for his rendition of Scriabin’s final set of preludes. He has also accompanied for numerous groups on campus, including the Stanford Savoyards and the music department’s non-major voice classes. In the summer of 2009, he appeared in recital with soprano Clarissa Lyons, who was a Marc and Eva Stern Fellow at Songfest 2010.

An alum of the Piedmont East Bay Children’s Choir, Eric continues to serve on staff at their summer program, and has accompanied their concert tours to China (2005) and Seattle/British Columbia (2010). An emerging composer and arranger, he has both composed original works and created American folksong arrangements for the choir. The choir has performed Eric’s works at numerous choral events, including the Grand Prix St. Petersburg Choral Festival (2008), the 8th Golden Gate International Children’s and Youth Choral Festival (2009), and the fourteenth International Choral Kathaumixw in British Columbia (2010). Current projects include Japanese folksong arrangements for the Stanford Chamber Chorale as well as a piece for Volti’s Choral Institute for women’s choirs.