Adrienne Albert (ASCAP) is an award-winning composer who has had her chamber, choral, vocal, orchestral and wind band works performed throughout the United States and across the globe. Her music has become widely known for its melodic and lyrical beauty as well as its whimsy and playfulness. Having previously worked as a singer with composers Igor Stravinsky, Leonard Bernstein, Philip Glass, and Gunther Schuller to name a few, Albert began composing her own music in the 1990s. Her music has been supported by noteworthy arts organizations including the National Endowment for the Arts, American Composers Forum, MTC/Rockefeller Foundation, Subito Awards, Mu Phi Epsilon Music Fraternity, MPE Foundation, ACME, and yearly ASCAP awards. Contact at: adrienne@adriennealbert.com

The music of award-winning American composer Greg Bartholomew is frequently performed throughout North America, Europe and Australia. Born in 1957 in St Paul, Minnesota, Bartholomew was awarded of the Cheryl A. Spector Prize twice (in 2012 for the First Suite from Razumov and in 2013 for Summer Suite), the Silver Platter Repertoire Award (for The Tree), and First Place in the 2006 Orpheus Music Composition Competition (for Beneath the Apple Tree). A two-time Finalist for the American Prize in Choral Composition, he was the 2012/2013 Composer in Residence for the Cascadian Chorale. For more information visit www.gregbartholomew.com.

Award-winning Michigan composer, Dinah Bianchi, seeks to create vibrantly exciting music; music that is sublime, beautiful and with the communicative power that drives the creative spirit of all artists. She is well versed in a variety of musical genres with a portfolio that includes music for orchestra, concert band, string ensemble, chamber ensemble, solo works, as well as electronic music. Well received both nationally and internationally, Bianchi’s music has been performed in concert halls located in Europe, Asia, Canada, and the United States. Recently, she completed a recording session for “Chasse Noir” with the Janáček Philharmonic Orstrava in the Czech Republic. The recording was released in August of 2022 and is anticipating an album release with PARMA in the Spring of 2024. Contact at : musicmusedb2@gmail.com

John G. Bilotta was born in Waterbury, Connecticut, but has spent most his life in the San Francisco Bay Area where he studied composition with Frederick Saunders. His works have been performed by Rarescale, Earplay, Talea Ensemble, Washington Square Contemporary Music Society, North/South Consonance, Avenue Winds, Boston String Quartet, Kiev Philharmonic, San Francisco Cabaret Opera, Bluegrass Opera, Boston Metro Opera, Thompson Street Opera, New Fangled Opera, and Floating Opera. He serves on the Executive Committee of the Society of Composers, Inc., and is currently vice-president of NACUSA. Contact at bilottaj@comcast.net

Elizabeth Blachly-Dyson is a molecular biologist turned composer. The Marylhurst Symphony, the Camas/Washougal Community Orchestra and the Pacific Crest Youth Sinfonietta, have all performed her compositions. Her piece, “Together” was performed at Governor Kate Brown’s inauguration on Jan. 9, 2017. Her chamber works have been performed at concerts organized by Cascadia Composers, Fear No Music, and the Crazy Jane Composers. Elizabeth has studied composition with Dr. Robert Priest, Tomas Svoboda, Jonathan Newman, and Kenji Bunch.

Photo by Micahmedia

Contact at: dysonfam@comcast.net

Sy holds the rank of professor emeritus of music from Millersville University, Millersville, PA. First prize awards include WITF-FM's 25th Anniversary Composition Contest, Franklin and Marshall College’s Wind Ensemble Composition Contest, and the Hillcrest Wind Ensemble Composition Competition. The Czech National Symphony Orchestra, the Philharmonia Bulgarica, and the Kiev Philharmonic have recorded his music. Performances of his music include the United States Army, Navy, and Air Force Bands, and NPR’s Performance Today. He was commissioned by the Arizona Commission on the Arts to compose the band composition celebrating Arizona’s centennial and was the recipient of the 2018 Thor Johnson Memorial Commission.

Jerry Casey, Naples, Florida, composes music in all genres. Her eleven premieres from 2022 through mid-year 2024 were in Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Ohio, and Oregon. These included works for piano, vocal and instrumental ensembles, art songs and a choral anthem.. Other performances have been in England, China, Slovakia and Spain. She has received the ASCAPLUS Award for over 25 years.

Mrs. Casey has degrees from Texas Woman’s University and Gateway Baptist Theological Seminary. She is a former faculty member at University of the Cumberlands, Williamsburg, Kentucky, and a former adjunct teacher/ Florida Southwestern State College, Ft. Myers, Florida.

Contact at: musiccasey@sbcglobal.net

Ted Clifford has a music degree from St. Cloud State University in Minnesota where he first studied composition under Alvaro Bertrand, and piano under Tom Allen. Ted has subsequently studied jazz composition and performance independently, under Art Lande and David Friesen, and has studied classical composition under Tomas Svoboda. Ted recorded an album of jazz originals, has had his music performed in conjunction with Cascadia Composers, and in concerts as far away as Germany and Cuba. He continues to explore a natural synthesis of genres in his compositions. Ted has been on the board of Cascadia Composers since 2013, and served as President from 2017 to 2023.

I'lana Cotton holds a Master of Arts degree in composition from the UCLA. Since moving to southern Oregon in 2003, she has written over 35 works for Rogue Valley musicians and ensembles, including four commissions for the Siskiyou Singers, a large community choir. The Rogue Valley Symphony commissioned Cantus, in honor of its 50th anniversary season in 2017. Active in NACUSAsf for over 10 years, she later helped form the Southern Oregon NACUSA chapter in 2006, and joined Cascadia Composers in 2012. Contact at icotton@notimemusic.com

Dr. David De Lyser is an award-winning composer whose works have been commissioned, premiered and performed by professional, collegiate, community and high school performing ensembles throughout the West and Midwest. He is the Artistic Director and Conductor of the Choral Arts Ensemble of Portland, and Professor of Music/Director of Choral Activities at the University of Portland, where he teaches music theory, composition, orchestration, conducting and musical theater, as well as conducting the University Singers, Chamber Choir and serving as music director/pit orchestra conductor for campus musicals.

John DeRuntz, pianist and composer, was one of seventy-two performers from eighteen countries who were invited to compete in the prestigious Van Cliburn Sixth International Piano Competition for Outstanding Amateurs in Fort Worth, Texas in May of 2011. It was publicly noted that John was the first person ever to audition with, and perform his own works in a Van Cliburn competition. After the preliminary round, Van shook John's hand and told him that he has written some wonderful music. John has composed more than eighty classical, romantic and impressionistic piano pieces, and fifty of them appear on four CD albums, Soaring, Fantasia, Reverie and Encore.

Contact at: deruntz@pcisys.net

Violinist and composer and co-artistic director of The Elsewhere Ensemble. Based in Eugene, OR, he has composed, performed and produced many works bringing together music with stories, theater, and poetry: Invocation; Icarus Quartet; Chekhov Triptych; The Happy Prince; among others. His works have been performed in New York City, Boston, Eugene, Portland, Paris, Beirut,Brussels, Montreal, Edinburgh, etc and it several International Festivals and conferences. Recent commissions include: Beethoven in the Stars; Chaucer’s The Rooster and the Fox (for Chamber Music Amici). As a violinist he performs regularly in the Eugene Symphony along with many other groups.

Contact at: elsewhereensemble@gmail.com

David Drexler's music has been performed on five continents by groups such as L’Ensemble Portique, The New York Miniaturist Ensemble, Synchronia, Sound--The Alarm!, The Dutch Tuba Quartet, the May in Miami Festival, and the EmergOrchestra, and has been broadcast on Wisconsin Public Radio and many new-music radio shows around the U.S. He has received grants and commissions from the Oakwood Chamber Players, Music St. Croix, the Wisconsin Alliance for Composers, the Wisconsin Arts Board, and others.

Amy Fairchild is a composer, pianist, vocalist, and music educator. She is an ASCAP recording artist and has released two albums of her piano compositions: “Serendipities” (2021) and “Beneath the Surface” (2022). Her international debut as a composer/performer was at the International Composers Festival in the United Kingdom in 2022. Amy's catalog of popular works for piano are available on her website, www.amyfairchildmusic.com.

Amy has her B.A. in Music Theory/Composition from Linfield University. She is also on the board of the Wallowa Valley Music Alliance and directs their youth musical theatre program. Contact at: amyfairchildmusic@gmail.com

Brian Field began his musical endeavors at age eight with the study of piano, and began his first serious compositional efforts at sixteen, earning his undergraduate degree in music and English literature from Connecticut College, where he studied composition with Noel Zahler. He continued his musical studies at the Juilliard School in New York City where he was awarded his Master of Music degree. At Juilliard, he was a student of Milton Babbitt. From Juilliard, Mr. Field attended Columbia University, earning his Doctorate. At Columbia, he was a President’s Fellow and studied composition with George Edwards and Mario Davidovsky.

contact at: brianfield@yahoo.com

Mary’s an Oakland-based composer, pianist, singer/songwriter and teacher. Originally from Baltimore, she studied music theory with Grace Newsom Cushman, and intensive piano with Philip Cohen in Montreal. She taught at Concordia University, studied jazz at McGill, and accompanied instrumentalists and dancers.

Her music trajectory changed radically in 2003 after visiting an “energy healer”; she suddenly began composing in earnest, creating diverse works - art song, pop, neoclassical. Her song cycle for orchestra, performed in 2014, will be featured again in 2024.

Contact at: maryfineman@maryfineman.com

Working remotely from a small farm in the Pacific Northwest, composer Daniel Gall has collaborated with musicians, ensembles, filmmakers, and choreographers/dance companies from all around the world. During the pandemic he produced PROJECT SCREENDANCE, a social media series in which he collaborated with a different performer each month on a short dance film, resulting in 23 films before calling it quits in Summer of 2022. Before he fled the grid nearly a decade ago, Daniel studied music at UCLA, and was the founder of the Los Angeles based new music organization and concert series, Synchromy.

contact at: dgall.music@gmail.com

Sylvia’s great love is music, which she has pursued as an avocation throughout her entire life, teaching piano, playing for weddings, accompanying, and studying piano with Dr. Susan DeWitt Smith and more recently Nicholas Fontana. Occasionally she performs in a House Concert series that she and her husband Viktors Berstis host monthly. she also composes art songs based on poetry written by Northwest poets.

Contact at sylvia@berstis.com

Michelle Green Willner’s evocative and award-winning works, “filled with story, emotion and humanity,” have been commissioned and performed internationally. Her pieces widely address abstract instrumental ideas, poetry, folklore, prayer, Judaic historical subjects, and she often collaborates with visual artists, dancers, poets, filmmakers, and writers in a variety of styles. Dr. Green Willner grew up in Toronto, receiving her undergraduate degree from the University of Toronto and her DMA from Columbia University, New York. She is always welcoming new projects, including speaking engagements, conducting, and collaborating with other artistic minds!

Contact at: michellegwillner@yahoo.com

YouTube channel.

"“Grossman’s environmental music poignantly expresses the mission and values of Columbia Riverkeeper, where she is composer-in-residence.

The music was brilliant, haunting and beautiful. In some ways this feels like a return to a time when music served a different role in society… Concerts like Flutes in the Garden remind me of a time when music was composed for a specific place and time. It felt purposeful.”

— Oregon ArtsWatch on Deena’s 2023 concert “Flutes in the Garden”

Photo credit: Rachel Hadiashar"
contact at deenatgrossman@gmail.com

John Hidalgo is a composer from New Orleans. He earned a BA in music from Tulane University and a MA in music composition from California State University, East Bay, where he studied with Frank La Rocca. He taught band and choir in Alameda, California, and music history, world music, songwriting, and digital audio production at CSUEB.

Dr. David A. Jones (b. 1990) is a contemporary classical composer, horn player, and singer based in Salem, Oregon. Through his quietly energetic music, Jones seeks to shine a spotlight on the hidden details and unknown stories of the world around us. Jones is a champion of music that is intricate, complex, and clever while still being comprehensible and relatable, a blend of the comfortably expected and the delightfully unexpected. Contact at: dvd185@gmail.com

Theresa Koon composes music primarily for the voice, emerging from an international performance career as a singer and actress. Operas, song cycles and choral music make up the center of her work, generally inspired by texts that explore psychological themes or current issues of social concern. When not composing, Theresa enjoys teaching Vocal Music Appreciation Classes for Friends of Chamber Music, and voice for PCC. She is the founding director of Opera for the Hesitant, dADa and other eclectic adventures. “Mother of Exiles” —her choral adaptation of the poem inscribed on the Statue of Liberty—was released on the Navona Records label in 2020. Contact at: tikkun.voice@gmail.com

When 15 years old I set Yeats’ "Song of the Wandering Aengus" for my twin brother and I to sing. I didn’t know then I’d be setting many poets I love over the next 50 years. In 2019 the Light Opera of Portland performed my musical We Met In Moscow. In 2023 my cantata The Wisdom of Columbia County was performed by the Columbia Chorale. Kevin is certified to teach Deep Listening by Pauline Oliveros. He is honored to serve Pacific Northwest musical arts as President of Cascadia Composers. Contact at: cascadiacomposer@gmail.com

Music performance and composition has always been an avocation. I am inspired by the music I listen to and strive to create inspiration for others with the music I create. I have played classical guitar as well as other genres my entire life and have been involved in vocal music also. My father was a great influence as an educator and performer in his own right. Tonal music and in particular romantic and impressionism has always been my greatest ideal.

Dr. Stephen Lewis is an award-winning composer and concert pianist living in Portland, Oregon. Stephen’s compositions explore the boundaries of musical meaning, as well as alternative perceptions of time. His style involves an eclectic blend of influences: the European avant-garde, American experimentalism, Expressionism, Modernism, the European Renaissance, and contemporary avant-garde rock, among others. His works include opera, orchestral music, chamber music, solo works, and experimental works (open instrumentation). Stephen also produces and performs his own solo recitals, mixing avant-garde and traditional piano music into compelling experiences that recontextualize classical music for the 21st century. Photo credit: Daniel Stark, Stark Photography

Robert is a graduate of Yale University (BA – Music 1977) and has been active in choral music for most of his life. His first composition for choir was a setting of Christina Rossetti’s Love Came Down at Christmas, written in 1996. Other compositions include Adam Lay YBounden, In the Bleak Midwinter, I Was Glad, Behold the Dwelling Place of God, Ave Maria (2 settings), and several others. He has been Music Director of Portland’s Midwinter Revels productions from 1999 through 2023.

Pedro Lopes Baptista started his musical studies with Régine Campagnac at the Sintra Music Conservatory, and then with Júlio Guerreiro at the Lisbon National Conservatory. He studied at the University of Évora, obtaining his degree in guitar with Dejan Ivanovic and in composition with Christopher Bochmann and Pedro Amaral. Pedro Baptista concluded his Master’s degree at the University of Aveiro in music teaching with Pedro Rodrigues and Paulo Vaz de Carvalho. He teaches guitar at the Lisbon National Conservatory and at the Montijo Regional Conservatory of Arts. Currently Pedro is attending Ph.D. studies in Music at the University of Aveiro. Contact at: pedrosmbaptista@gmail.com

Brian Magill is a composer from Portland, OR. He has done music and sounds for educational film and spent 10 years composing and performing all incidental music and sound effects for the Avant-Guard Theatre group Thringst. He spent 35 years as a software engineer in the high tech industry and raising a family, releasing two CD's of his electronic music. After retiring, he has sought to combine his interest in Jazz, Classical, Blues and Un-popular popular music with classical forms and instruments. He is currently studying composition with Gary Lloyd Noland. Contact at ferventtorpor@gmail.com.

The music of Lisa Ann Marsh is inspired by the natural and supernatural worlds, the complexity of human emotions, and the artists she collaborates with. Chamber and choral works have been performed by the Northwest Piano Trio, The Ensemble, The Mousai, Choral Arts Ensemble, Portland State University Chamber Choir, and The Resonance Ensemble.
Ms. Marsh is pianist with the Marsh-Titterington Piano Duo and former Principal Keyboard with the Columbia Symphony Orchestra. She is a member of the piano faculty at Portland State University where she also directs the wellness program for musicians.

Liz Nedela, MM, MEd, BA, composition, piano and strings. Liz is fond of contemporary and traditional composition techniques, often melding them together. She uses counterpoint, ethnic, modal and early music, and weaves these aspects into her compositions, writing music in many genres, instruments and voice. She has earned an MM in composition; and a BA and MEd with focus on piano, composition, English, and theater, devising a program for teaching composition. Contact at liznedela2014@gmail.com

Dr. Lisa Neher (she/her, “NEER”) is an award-winning composer and new music mezzo on a mission to transform audiences through sound, story, and vulnerability. Described as a “visionary composer” (Willamette Week) “supremely talented,” and a “maestro of beautifully wacky noises” (Oregon ArtsWatch), Neher’s compositions are inspired by the climate crisis, the tender love of family and friends, and the eerie mystery of deep ocean life. She has been commissioned and performed by the National Association of Teachers of Singing, Cincinnati Song Initiative, Third Angle New Music, FearNoMusic, Dinosaur Annex, and New Opera West, among others. Photo credit: Antonia Rose Photography

Timothy Arliss OBrien (he/they) is an interdisciplinary artist in music composition, writing, and visual art. He has premiered music from opera to film scores to electronic ambient projects. He has published several books of poetry, (The Queer Revolt, The Art of Learning to Fly, & Happy LGBTQ Wrath Month), and is a poetry editor for Deep Overstock, a judge for Reedsy Prompts, and a poetry reader for Okay Donkey. He also founded the podcast & small press publishing house, The Poet Heroic, and the digital magic space The Healers Coven.

Contact at: timothyarlissobrien@gmail.com

Ajit Phadke is an amateur pianist and composer in the Portland area. As an undergraduate, Ajit studied composition and orchestration with Alan Stout, as well as others, and piano with Carmen Or and Sylvia Wang. In addition to his Bachelor of Music in Composition from Northwestern, Ajit also has degrees in Electrical Engineering (Northwestern) and law (Lewis & Clark). Ajit's compositions are rooted in his background as a (Western) classical musician, and his composition portfolio ranges from short pieces for solo piano to tunes for jazz ensemble to a symphony for a late-Classical-era orchestra. Contact at justamuzer@gmail.com

My musical training in both classical and jazz idioms took place in the Los Angeles area, culminating in a BA in Music Composition from Cal State Northridge and an MFA from California Institute of the Arts.

My primary goal as a composer is to create musical and multi-media concert works that are intriguing, fresh and engaging for listeners; and rewarding and fun for performers. The music springs from diverse influences, including western classical from the renaissance through today, world music, blues, jazz, spiritual ceremony, and the sounds of nature. I currently reside in the South Sound area of Washington state

Contact at: mpritchard@fairpoint.net

Thomas Proctor is a composer and singer from the Portland, Oregon area whose path to composition began with an electric guitar in high school, and eventually forming a rock band. This eventually led him to earn a Bachelor of Music in composition from Portland State University. He currently sings baritone with the Oregon Repertory Singers, and directs his local church choir. He is especially drawn to composing choral music, and his style is sweeping and lyrical. He is interested in the contrasts between tender and intense. Contact at: thomasmproctor@gmail.com

Christine Richardson has been a music educator for 37 years teaching band, orchestra, choir, and elementary music in Banning, California. Ms. Richardson holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Southern California and a teaching credential from California State University Fullerton. Christine studied music composition with Lynn Blake John, and her current instructor is Robert Barrett. Ms. Richardson is a member of the Society of Composers Inc., and the Boston New Music Initiative.

Currently, Christine plays horn for both the Empire Wind Ensemble and the Redlands Community Orchestra. Contact at CRcomposer@gmail.com

Passionate about composing about place and the human experience, composer Christina Rusnak works at the intersection of place, nature, culture, history and art to integrate context into her music from the world around her. Her repertoire includes chamber ensemble, orchestra, wind band, choral and solo pieces as well as jazz, electro-acoustic works, and film. A member of the Landscape Music Composers Network, Ms. Rusnak has composed many works for our national and regional landscapes. Her works are available from Amazon, Naxos and Parma Recordings, with scores available through her website http://christinarusnak.com

Paul Safar is a versatile composer/performer and private piano instructor based in Eugene, Oregon. Equally at home in the classical and jazz/ pop worlds, Paul’s orchestral music has been performed by the Octava Chamber Orchestra and Orchestra Next. Commissions have included the Delgani String Quartet. Paul did graduate study at the University of Oregon after getting a Bachelors degree from The University of Cincinnati. When not musicking, he may be seen hiking, enjoying a vino tinto or spending time with family and friends.

I studied piano and composition in Romania, Israel and the US. Following a successful hi-tech career, I'm now pursuing my passion for music again, creating music at the intersection of East and West, which balances between artistic intuition and structural rigor, always prioritizing the emotional experience.

My music is performed throughout the US, and won awards such as the New Ariel Piano Composition Competition, Saint-Saens International Music Competition, Vivaldi International Music Competition, King’s Peak International Music Competition and is featured on Navona Recordings label. I joined NACUSA in 2021, Cascadia in 2022 and serve on the board of NACUSA National. Contact at alex.shapi2020@gmail.com

The music of Olympia-based composer, conductor, collaborative pianist, and educator Dawn Sonntag has been described as “hauntingly lyrical” and “freshly relevant.” Her first opera, Verlorene Heimat, won honorable mention in the American Prize competition for opera. Commissioned for the 2022 Operas in Place festival, winner of the 2023 Opera America Award for Creative Digital Excellence, her opera “For Life” was featured in the 2022 National Association of Rights Protection and Advocacy Conference. She was the statewide Music Teachers Association composer of the year in Ohio (2010) and Washington (2021). She is a lecturer in music composition at Pacific Lutheran University.

Contact at: dawnsonntagcomposer@gmail.com

Bev is an accomplished pianist, composer, guitarist and artist. She spent most of her childhood either drawing or practicing. She graduated from Northwestern University Evanston Illinois and did graduate work in music therapy at The University of Kansas.

After her formal education, Bev’s interests began to shift from performing to composing music for film. While thriving as a much-loved music teacher, Bev’s skills in computer animation grew. She created a full length animated/live action movie called “The Escape of Middle C.” Her passion to combine music and animation are foremost on her vision of future creative fun.

Contact at: bev@digitalelfstudios.com

"Dr. Greg A Steinke is retired, former Joseph Naumes Endowed Chair of Music/Art and Associate Dean of Undergraduate Studies, Marylhurst University, Marylhurst, Oregon; Associate Director, Ernest Bloch Music Festival (‘93–97) and Director, Composers Symposium (‘90–97) (Newport, OR); served as the National Chairman of the Society of Composers, Inc. (1988–97). Composer of chamber and symphonic music and author with published/recorded works and performances across the U. S. and internationally; speaker on interdisciplinary arts, and oboist specializing in contemporary music. Dr. Steinke is a past national president of NACUSA and also currently serves on the NACUSA Cascadia Chapter Board. Contact at: tdmmusic8@gmail.com

William Toutant received degrees George Washington University and Michigan State University. He joined the music faculty of California State University, Northridge in 1975, becoming Professor Emeritus in 2013. He also served as dean of the Curb College of Arts, Media and Communication. For eighteen years he wrote and hosted the weekly radio program, “The KCSN Opera House.” His music is available on North/South, Capstone, Centaur, Navona, Ariel and Phasma records. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife, Ligia Toutant.

Contact at: william.toutant@csun.edu

Originally from Holland, Michigan, Martin J. Van Klompenberg currently teaches bassoon and chamber music at the Challey School of Music at North Dakota State University. From 2013 – 2022, he served as a member of the United States Army Band program, performing with the 101st Airborne Division “Air Assault” Band (Fort Campbell, KY), the 282nd Army Band (Fort Jackson, SC), and the 323rd Army Band “Fort Sam’s Own” (Fort Sam Houston/San Antonio, TX). Prior to joining the ranks of military musicians, he attended the University of Arizona, where he obtained a Doctorate of Musical Arts degree, studying with William Dietz. He also earned degrees from Arizona State University and Western Michigan University, studying with Albie Micklich and Wendy Rose, respectively. He has also studied composition with award-winning composer Jenni Brandon.

Contact at: martin.vanklompenberg@gmail.com

Mark Vigil was born in Spokane Washington in 1954. He received his bachelor of music degree in piano performance and composition from the Cornish college of allied arts located in Seattle Washington. He then received his master's degree in composition from the University of Oregon School of Music located in Eugene Oregon. Since graduating in 1996 He studied composition privately for ten years with Tomas Svoboda.He has composed music for chamber orchestra, wind band, wind and string ensembles big and small, solo works, string quartets and symphonies. Over 100 works in all. His music is published through Universal Edition.

Contact at: ejbmusic@markvigil.com

Smart, transcendent, and immersive, Kirsten Volness’ emotive soundscapes integrate electronics and modern composition techniques with jazz and pop influences. “Irresistible” (San Francisco Chronicle) and “nothing short of gorgeous.” (New York Arts), each of her compositions reveals “an exquisite sound world” (New Classic LA) inspired by nature, myth, spirituality, and environmental and sociopolitical issues. With commissions from New Music USA, ASCAP/SEAMUS, BMI Foundation, Metropolis Ensemble, and The American Opera Project, Volness received MacColl Johnson and RISCA Fellowships. She holds composition degrees from the Universities of Michigan and Minnesota, and has taught at Lewis & Clark, Reed College, and the University of Rhode Island. Photo by Jacob Richman

Born in Richland, Washington in the year 2001, Stephen Williford is a young queer composer with a passion for music of all genres. Inspired by their family history in the arts and the many wonderful musicians they’ve gotten to work with throughout their years in the field, they make a habit of trying to learn something new every day. They love hiking, geology, gaming, and are active in many artistic spaces both in their home town and their home-away in Ellensburg.

A fourth-generation Oregonian and one of Cascadia's eight founding members, Jeff Winslow seeks the musical heart of natural and psychological landscapes, emphasizing vocal and piano works. His music has been heard at Astoria Music Festival, Cherry Blossom Musical Arts, Fear No Music, Oregon Bach Festival, Resonance Ensemble, 45th Parallel and Seventh Species concerts among others, often with the composer at the piano.

Notably among Cascadia concerts, he curated and co-produced "Tombeau de Claude Debussy à travers la Mer” on the centennial of the composer's passing, which he prefaced with a lecture-demonstration on Debussy's evolution as the first modernist composer.

Betty Wishart's solo and chamber music has been performed throughout the U.S. and in Russia, Germany, France, Italy, Greece, and South Korea. With degrees in piano performance, it's not surprising that the majority of her music is for piano solo or piano and another instrument. She has, however, also written for voice, small chamber ensembles, and orchestra. A finalist in The American Prize Competition for Instrumental Chamber Music 2022, her music is available from Navona, Ravello, Sarton, and Phasma-Music.

Linda Woody graduated in 2013 from Marylhurst University with a B.A. in Music and a B.M. in Composition. She studied music composition with Dr. Bob Priest and Dr. John Paul. She enjoys writing for a variety of music ensembles. When Linda is not composing music or at the bench of Fernando, her grand piano, you will likely find her with her family and two dogs enjoying any number of outdoor pursuits requiring specialized footwear. Linda is a board member of Third Angle New Music and a former board member of Cascadia Composers and Music & Arts Partners.

Nicholas Yandell is a PDX-based composer, musician, writer & visual artist. Musically, whether he’s writing classical concert works, psychedelic emo synth pop, building electronic works with found sounds from the Portland streets, or something entirely different, he seeks to blur the line between the visual, verbal, and musical realms. He is half of the band Gentle Heresy, has composed a number of scores for short films and film projects, holds a Masters of Music Composition from Five Towns College in Dix Hills, NY, and was named the 2020 Composer of the Year by the Oregon Music Teacher’s Association.

Joe Hay is a writer and composer living in Portland, Oregon. He studied humanities at St. John's College in Santa Fe and Annapolis, and music composition at the University of New Mexico.

His performance background includes classical violin, viola and piano, scandinavian fiddle, taiko drumming, rock, and freeform improv. His written music has been performed in various concert halls, bars, festivals, farmers markets, and art galleries across New Mexico, Colorado, Oregon, and Washington.

His core values as an artist, whatever he’s making, are coherent structure, balance, legibility, and deep feeling.