Errollyn Wallen, renaissance woman of contemporary British music,' is as respected as a singer-songwriter of pop influenced songs as she is a composer of contemporary new music. Communication is at the centre of both worlds: engaging the audience, speaking directly to hearts and minds.

Born in Belize, Errollyn Wallen gave up her training at the Dance Theater of Harlem, New York to study composition at universities of London and Cambridge. She founded her own Ensemble X and its motto, we don’t break down barriers in music… we don’t see any, reflects her genuine, free-spirited approach and eclectic musicianship. She has been commissioned by outstanding music institutions from the BBC to the Royal Opera House and has performed her songs internationally.

Errollyn Wallen’s song Daedalus appears alongside songs by Björk, Sting, Elvis Costello and Meredith Monk on the Brodsky Quartet’s recent CD 'Moodswings'. The two solo albums Meet Me at Harold Moores and most recently Errollyn feature her songs in her own voice/piano performance and in collaboration with outstanding jazz artists. Her multi-media show Jordan Town, a modern day song cycle with dance and film, was a sell-out hit at the Edinburgh Festival. The Errollyn Wallen Songbook published by Peters Edition comprises twelve of her celebrated songs for voice with piano accompaniment.

Margaret Leng Tan has established herself as a major force within the American avant-garde; a highly visible, talented and visionary pianist whose work sidesteps perceived artificial boundaries within the usual concert experience and creates a new level of communication with listeners. Embracing aspects of theater, choreography, performance and even “props” such as the teapot she "plays" in Alvin Lucier’s Nothing is Real, Tan has brought to the avant-garde, a measure of good old-fashioned showmanship tempered with a disciplinary rigor inherited from her mentor John Cage. This has won Tan acceptance far beyond the norm for performers of avant-garde music, as she is regularly featured at international festivals, records often for adventurous labels such as Mode and New Albion and has appeared on American public television, at Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall.

Renowned singer-songwriter John Wesley Harding, hailed by Rolling Stone as, “a literate and ironic neo-folkie with enough bile to win over a younger, hipper audience not attuned to folk music,” recently released his latest album, Who Was Changed And Who Was Dead , via Popover Corps/Rebel Group. In support of the record Harding will be reviving his three-show residency at Le Poisson Rouge on Sept. 16, Oct. 7, and Nov. 18: John Wesley Harding’s Cabinet of Wonders. Part variety show and part concert, the Cabinet of Wonders will draw together collaborators from the worlds of music, literature, comedy and even ventriloquism all hand-picked by Harding himself. “I wanted to bring together my novel writing friends (who mostly envy my musician friends) and my musician friends (who mostly envy my novel writing friends) under one flag,” says Harding. “The fact is: I like everyone who’s performing.”

You can read about their 11/18/09 show at LPR here.

Born in New York, violist RITA PORFIRIS received both her BM and MM in Viola Performance from The Juilliard School. A member of the Houston Symphony since 1995, she has been Guest Principal Violist with the Indianapolis Symphony, Principal Violist with the New World Symphony and the Schleswig-Holstein Orchester as well as in the section of the Radio-Sinfonie Orchester Berlin and the Baroque Orchester Berlin. As a soloist she has appeared with numerous orchestras in North America, most recently in April 2008 with the Mexico City Philharmonic in celebration of their 30th anniversary season.

An award-winning chamber musician, Rita is a recipient of Austria’s prestigious Prix Mercure, one of the top prize winners in the Fischoff Chamber Music Competition and the William Primrose International Viola Competition, and laureate of the Paolo Borciani International Quartet Competition. She has given solo and chamber concerts at Lincoln Center, Merkin Hall, the Salzburg Mozarteum and various other venues worldwide. In Houston, she can be heard performing with the Greenbriar Consortium, The Foundation for Modern Music, Barmusic, and on faculty concerts at both the University of Houston Moores Opera House and Rice University. In March 2008 she was featured as a member of the Montrose Quartet at the Houston Symphony’s Beethoven Festival. She was also a member of the Plymouth Quartet which was featured in an article in Chamber Music America and on National Public Radio and with the quartet toured the U.S., Europe, and South America to critical acclaim.

She is currently on the faculty of the University of Houston Moores’ School of Music, the Texas Music Festival, the Intensive String Quartet Seminar at New York University, and has formerly been on the faculties of Florida International University and the Harlem School for the Arts in New York. She has given master classes and clinics across the U.S., Japan, and Brazil. An avid champion of modern music, in 2006 she performed the premiere of Confrontacion for Viola and Orchestra, written for her by Mexican composer Max Lifchitz. She recently published an article in the American Viola Society Journal detailing the importance of physical fitness in preparing for virtuosic modern works. Rita receives daily training with Jack Walston's Original Navy SEAL Physical Training course. Her top push-up score is 134 in two minutes.

David Grand is serving as writer-in-residence for Fairleigh Dickinson University 2008-2009 and is teaching workshops in fiction writing. Grand's first novel, Louse (1998), was selected as a New York Times Notable Book and a Los Angeles Times Best Book of the Year. His most recent novel, The Disappearing Body (2002), is described by Salon.com as "A nifty update on the classic noir [which] plumbs an urban underworld of dames, dope rings, double-crossing heavies and poor saps set up to take a fall." Grand received his MFA from New York University, where he held the Fellowship in Fiction and studied with E.L. Doctorow. He has also taught in the creative writing program at the New School in New York City. David currently lives in Brooklyn with his wife and twin sons.

Praised by the New York Times for her “honeyed tone,” Elizabeth Farnum is one of today’s most highly sought-after vocalists in the field of modern music. Widely known for her high level of musicianship, versatility and range, she has presented modern works in venues such as Lincoln Center, Alice Tully Hall, London's Institute for Contemporary Art, the American Academy at Rome and the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, collaborating with such composers as Samuel Adler, Anthony Braxton, Lucas Foss, Ricky Ian Gordon, John Harbison, Peter Schickele, Charles Wuorinen and John Zorn. She has appeared as a guest soloist with many prominent modern music ensembles throughout the US and Europe, and appeared in a featured role in the U.S. premiere of Pascal Dusapin's To Be Sung, presented by L'opera Francais. Elizabeth maintains an interest in many diverse musical styles, and her various interests have lead her to performances on Broadway, at the Metropolitan Opera, and throughout the world on tour with acclaimed early music groups Pomerium and the Waverly Consort. In the oratorio and concert fields, Elizabeth has appeared as soloist with, among others, the Brooklyn Philharmonic, the American Symphony Orchestra, the Riverside Symphony, the La Jolla Symphony and Musica Sacra.

A prolific studio artist, Elizabeth has been featured on over 30 recordings, three of which were nominated for Grammy awards. Labels include Deutsche Grammophon/Allegro, Koch International, Naxos, Bis and Albany. Upcoming recordings include works by Samuel Adler, Harold Meltzer and Andrew Violette.

Elizabeth has a keen interest in nature, animals, and the environment, and is a NY State- licensed wildlife rehabilitator. She lives on City Island, NY with her husband Ken, a keyboardist and piano technician.