Dr. Michael Kerstan (Stage Director and Dramaturge)   
Randall Wong (Counter tenor)    Lily Hudson (Narrator)   
Ian Andrews (Actor – The Child God)   Peter Freer (Puppeteer)
Ekatrina Oleksa (Puppeteer)   Robert Schulz (Percussion)
Zhou Yi (Pipa)   Kevin Schempf (Bass Clarinet, Doublebass Clarinet)

Dr. Michael Kerstan (Germany)
Stage Director and Dramaturge

Born in Stuttgart, Germany, Michael Kerstan studied education, psychology and politics at the universities of Sarrebruck and Tübingen, Germany. After graduating, he became assistant to composer Hans Werner Henze for music eduaction projects in Germany, Italy, and Austria.

After receiving his Ph.D. at the Ludwig-Uhland-Institute for Empirical Cultural Science from Tübingen University, Kerstan became artistic director of the Jugendmusikfest Deutschlandsberg (1990-92), the KulturRegion Stuttgart (1994-96), the Junge Kultur in Hallein (1994-2000), and worked as stage director and dramaturge at several festivals of the musical and theatrical avantarde such as the styrian autumn (Austria), the FrankfurtFeste, the Munich Biennale for New Music Theatre, and the Tübingen Chamber Opera. After a five year stint as PR manager for the Nürnberg State Opera, he now stages productions for CrossSound in Alaska, the Cimarrón-Ensemble in Taranto (Italy), the repertory theatre Konstanz (Germany) in addition to writing essays and books, and working as a dramaturge at the International Chamber Music Festival, Nürnberg, (Germany). His recent publications include the biographies of Bella Rosenkranz: Bella. Odyssee einer Fürtherin in der Sowjetunion (Berlin, Metropol 2005) and Hans Werner Henze: Hans Werner Henze, Komponist der Gegenwart (Berlin, Henschel 2006). Michael Kerstan lives between Nürnberg (Germany) and Rome (Italy).

Randall Wong (CA) Counter Tenor

Male soprano/countertenor and composer Randall Wong has built a distinguished international reputation specializing in both historically informed performances of Baroque and Classic period repertoire and contemporary music. He maintains an active schedule of performances in opera, with symphony orchestra and recital taking him throughout the United States, Europe, Asia, and Australia.
A number of roles have been composed for Mr. Wong. With the Houston Grand Opera he premiered Stewart Wallace's Where's Dick, Meredith Monk's Atlas (later presented in New York, Minneapolis, Columbus, Philadelphia, Berlin, and Paris), and in 1995 Wallace's Harvey Milk. He reprised his role in Harvey Milk for his debuts with New York City Opera in 1995 and San Francisco Opera in 1996. A member of the Meredith Monk Vocal Ensemble since 1990, he has participated in numerous theatrical and concert tours; as a cast member of The Politics of Quiet (New York, Copenhagen, Avignon, and Lisbon) he received a 1997 New York Dance and Performance Award (the “Bessies”). Commissioned by the San Jose Chamber Orchestra, he premiered his own orchestrations of Meredith Monk’s Memory Song and New York Requiem in 1998.

His numerous 20th century revivals of early operas include Handel’s Teseo (Boston Early Music Festival and Pepsico SummerFare), Hasse’s Olimpiade, Artemisia and Attilio Regolo (Semperoper, Dresden), Jomelli’s Vologeso and Demofoonte with the Stuttgart Barockorchester (Rome, Cremona, Stuttgart, and Schwetzingen), Bernabei's Ascanio at the Mozart Festival in Vicenza, Italy (presented by Teatro La Fenice,Venice), J. C. Bach’s Endimione with the Carmel Bach Festival and miscellaneous Handellian princes with Pocket Opera (San Francisco).

Mr. Wong’s recordings have appeared on Helicon, ECM, Capriccio, Centaur, Teldec, Koch International, Dorian, and La Pocha Nostra. Since 1986 Mr. Wong has been the continuing recipient of a California Arts Council touring. He received his doctorate in music (DMA, historic performance) from Stanford University, and Bachelor of Music and Master of Arts degrees (composition) from San Francisco State University.

Mr. Wong was the recipient of a Wattis Artist Residency for 1999-2000. For his new work, he was the designer/composer/performer of The Household Opera for Victorian Toy Theatre (presented by the Yerba Buena Center and the Z Space Studio in 2000 and 2001, and the Z Festival, Santa Cruz). Recent stage works include Di Nostra Vita (after Dante) for three multiple stages and geometric objects (commissioned by the SF Arts Commission and the Museum of Jurassic Technology, Los Angeles), Waiting for Godzilla (an opera for puppets), and incidental music for the Word for Word/Magic Theater production of Amy Tan’s Immortal Heart. For the Children’s Gardens at the Yerba Buena Center, he created a site-specific version of Alice in Wonderland. He has recently received grants from Theatre Bay Area and the Zellerbach Family Foundation for a new work in development.

Lily Hudson (Juneau) Narrator

Tlingit, Raven Takdeintaan born and raised in Juneau Alaska. Lily is an award winning storyteller at the University of Alaska Statewide Native Oratory Contest. She performs annually with Beyond Heritage, a celebration of contemporary and traditional Alaskan perfromance art. She's a company actor at Perseverance Theatre. Lily is often a guest Native storyteller in the Juneau Public schools and helps facilitate storytelling workshops across Southeast Alaska. She's thrilled to be working with CrossSound this year. She'd like to thank Ishmael Hope for his unwavering support.

Ian Andrews (Junaeu) Actor – The Child God

Ian Andrews has performed most recently in the Juneau Douglas High School's production of Pippin where he played the role of Theo. Previous roles with Theatre in the Rough include the Duke of York in Richard III, Tiny Tim in A Christmas Carol and Astyanax in Trojan Women.  He was also in the children's ensemble in Perseverance Theatre's 2005 production of King Island Christmas.  Ian is in the seventh grade at Dzantik'i Heeni Middle School and enjoys many activities including cross-country, soccer, and golf.

Peter Freer (Juneau) Puppeteer

Peter has appeared in Theatre in the Rough productions of The Merry Wives of Windsor, King Lear, A Christmas Carol and Richard III, and in Perseverance Theatre productions of Desire Under the Elms and The Crucible. He was on the Perseverance Board for 13 years and has served on the Grants Committee of the Juneau Arts and Humanities Council for many years. Peter is a long-time supporter of theatre and performing arts and is delighted to be working with Jocelyn, Stefan and everyone else at Cross Sound.

Ekatrina Oleksa (Juneau) Puppeteer

Ekatrina is a long-time Juneau resident and a senior at the Univeristy of Alaska Southeast. In addition to her work as a volunteer, board member, and Development Director at Perseverance Theatre over the past decade, Ekatrina has performed extensively with Theatre in the Rough, Perseverance Theatre, KTOO, Juneau-Douglas Little Theatre, The Alaska Native Oratory Society and the UAS/Breadloaf School of English, as well as serving as a 2001 Andrew Mellon Artistic Fellow at Perseverance Theatre, where she organized PT’s Third Annual Native Playreading Festival. She has also recently performed at Washington, D.C.’s Round House Theatre, the New York Theatre Workshop, the Last Frontier Theatre Conference, and the 2005 Theatre Communications Group national convention in Seattle. Ekatrina plans to return to Washington, D.C. to perform the role of Lady Macbeth at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian this spring.

Robert Schulz (Arlington MA) Percussion

has become a familiar face to New England audiences.  The Boston Globe has referenced his virtuoso work as "heroic and indefatigable", his musicianship as "dazzling" and his performance as "spellbinding".  Highly sought after by instrumentalists, composers and conductors alike for his collaborative skills, Mr. Schulz's percussive expertise extends through the traditional symphonic repertory, contemporary solo and chamber ensemble works to jazz, improvisational forms and world music. In addition to BMV, he is percussionist for the Auros Group for New Music, Boston Landmarks Orchestra, Boston Modern Orchestra Project, Fromm Players at Harvard, Music at Eden's Edge and Mistral (of the Andover Chamber Music Series).  He works with the Boston Symphony, Boston Pops, Boston Ballet, and Pro Arte orchestras on various occasions as well as the Boston Chamber Music Society, Collage New Music, Dinosaur Annex and Firebird Ensemble. In 2004 he was nominated for a Grammy Award in the category of Best Small Ensemble Performance for his work on Composer Yehudi Wyner’s The Mirror.

Originally from Buffalo, N.Y., Mr. Schulz’s first teachers were John Rowland and Lynn Harbold of the Buffalo Philharmonic and later Jan Williams at SUNY Buffalo, where he earned his Bachelor’s Degree (1989). After moving to Boston in 1990 for study at the New England Conservatory, he completed a Masters in Jazz Studies with Fred Buda (1992) and was offered successive fellowships to the Tanglewood Music Center while pursuing a Graduate Diploma in Solo Percussion with Frank Epstein of the Boston Symphony (1994).

A successful instructor and committed mentor to many, he has current teaching affiliations with Tufts University, Harvard University and the Boston Conservatory.  His work at these and other institutions includes private lessons, ensemble coaching and conducting, musician contracting, and compositional seminars.  Always interested in expanding his own range as a musician, Bob's approach to his craft has always been one of fearless inclusion, appreciation and exploration of the many musical traditions one finds in this modern age.

Zhou Yi (Shanghai/New York) Pipa

pipa soloist, graduated from the Shanghai Conservatory of Music in China. She has been award many prizes: In 1983, the First Prize of the Shanghai Spring Music Festival; In 1989, the Outstanding Performance Award of the Art Cup International Chinese Traditional Instruments Contest and In 1998, the White Magnolia Award for the Extraordinary Expertise in the Fine Arts (NY). As soloist she has toured to Japan, Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Italy with the group Chinese National Music.

In 1998, Zhou Yi was invited to perform and lecture throughout the United States. She has performed at Merkin Concert Hall in Lincoln Center (NY), Pickman Concert Hall (MA), John Hancock Hall (MA), the Metropolitan Museum of Art (NY), Harvard University (MA), Princeton University (NJ), Yale University (CT), New York University (NY), Peabody Conservatory of Music (MD) and the Eastman School of Music (NY). She is currently a guest lecturer at New York University. Her music has been recorded on the Moon in Sky label and published by New Era Sound & Video Company of Guang Zhou and Nanjing Video Publishing House of China. Accomplished in the traditional repertoire, she is also an active performer of contemporary music. Her playing has been praised for its meticulous technique and expressiveness. She has been singled out as a young performer of notable musical talent. The Boston Globe wrote: "...She has an impressive command of the instrument and of a broad range of its classical, folk, and modern musical literatures..." and The New York Concert Review said: "...Her subtle stringwork made an artistic effect..."

Zhou Yi has delighted audiences in the “Peony Pavilion”, “The Orphan Of Zhao” and “Ghost Lovers” with the Lincoln Center Festival, the Asia Society’s “WenJi: Eighteen Songs Of Nomad Flute”, and has been heard at the Shen Wei Dance Arts’ “Second Visit To The Empress”. She has performed at the Spoleto Festival, USA in 2002 and 2004, and the ADF Festival in 2005. Zhou Yi is a co-founder of the Ba Ban Chinese Music Society of New York.

Kevin Schempf (Bowling Green OH)
Bass Clarinet, Doublebass Clarinet

Kevin Schempf is Associate Professor of Clarinet at Bowling Green State University and is active as a teacher, chamber player, soloist, and orchestral musician. After graduating from the Interlochen Arts Academy and the Eastman School of Music, he performed with the United States Coast Guard Band and toured with them throughout the United States and to St. Petersburg, Russia. A frequent soloist with the Band, he was featured on NPR broadcasts and on their 75th Anniversary CD Recording. He was on the faculty at Connecticut College and performed with the New London Contemporary Ensemble. He has also taught at Wesleyan University where he played with the New World Consort, which gave regular concerts throughout Connecticut, in New York City and at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.

Mr. Schempf played with the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra for nine years, appearing as a concerto soloist on several occasions. He has also performed with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Fort Wayne Philharmonic, the Chautauqua Orchestra, and The Toledo Symphony. Chamber music engagements include performing with the Ying Quartet, several concerts and a CD recording with the Society for New Music in Syracuse, NY, appearances at the Skaneanteles Festival, with the Wall Street Chamber Players, Chamber Music Plus, and Venti da Camera.
He has performed throughout Europe and Japan, and most recently in Stockholm as a recitalist at the International Clarinet Conference in 2002. CD recordings include the premiere recording of Stephen Albert's "Wind Canticle" with the Bowling Green Philharmonia and most recently Appalachian Spring with the Nashville Chamber Orchestra.

Dr. Michael Kerstan (Stage Director and Dramaturge)   
Randall Wong (Counter tenor)    Lily Hudson (Narrator)   
Ian Andrews (Actor – The Child God)   Peter Freer (Puppeteer)
Ekatrina Oleksa (Puppeteer)   Robert Schulz (Percussion)
Zhou Yi (Pipa)   Kevin Schempf (Bass Clarinet, Doublebass Clarinet)