☉ WU, MAN—PIPA (Chinese lute) (China/California)

Wu Man is an internationally renowned pipa virtuoso, cited by the Los Angeles Times as ‘the artist most responsible for bringing the pipa to the Western World.’ She is an inheritress of the Pudong School of pipa playing, one of the most prestigious classical styles of Imperial China and is a graduate of the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing. Wu Man is the first recipient of a master’s degree in pipa and is not only an outstanding exponent of the traditional repertoire, but is also recognized as a leading interpreter of contemporary pipa music.

Born in Hangzhou, China, Wu Man studied with Lin Shicheng, Kuang Yuzhong, Chen Zemin, and Liu Dehai at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing. She currently lives in Boston where she was selected as a Bunting Fellow at Radcliffe Institute of Harvard University. Wu Man was selected by Yo-Yo Ma as the winner of the City of Toronto Glenn Gould Protegé Prize in music and communication. Wu Man is also the first artist from China to have performed at the White House with the noted cellist with whom she now performs in the Silk Road Project.

When in China, Wu Man received many awards, including the first prize in the 1st National Music Performance Competition. She also participated in many groundbreaking premieres of exciting works by a new generation of Chinese composers. Since moving to the USA, she has continued to champion new works and has inspired new pipa literature from composers Terry Riley, Philip Glass, Lou Harrison, Tan Dun, Bright Sheng, Chen Yi and Zhou Long.

Wu Man has recorded several albums on various labels, including a recording of Tan Dun’s Ghost Opera with the Kronos Quartet on Nonesuch, a solo recording, Wu Man – Pipa From a Distance for Naxos, several other solo recordings for Nimbus Records and two recordings with the Silk Road Ensemble and Yo-Yo Ma for Sony Classical. Wu Man’s recent recordings include: Terry Riley’s The Cusp of Magic with the Kronos Quartet on Nonesuch; Traditions and Transformations: Sounds of Silk Road Chicago that features Wu Man’s performance of Lou Harrison’s Pipa Concerto with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra on the CSO Resound label; and New Possibilities with the Silk Road Ensemble on Sony/BMG. Wu Man has also released a CD of world music entitled Wu Man and Friends on the Traditional Crossroads label, and a recording of Orion with the Philip Glass Ensemble for the Orange Mountain label. Nonesuch released a new recording with the Kronos Quartet, Wu Man and singer Asha Bhosle called You’ve Stolen My Heart in August 2005, which was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary World Music Album. The album pays homage to the composer of classic Bollywood songs, Rahul Dev Burman. 

MORE INFO AT www.wumanpipa.org.

☉ STEPHEN BLANCHETT—VOICE/CAUYAQ (Yup’ik frame drum) (Bethel, Alaska)

“I have always been an artist who has wanted to share my culture to others. The essence of traditional Yup’ik dance and song is to share and disseminate knowledge to the community. My professional career as a performing artist has always reflected this aspect, whether through literally teaching the cultures or by implying it through performance. One of my missions in life is to help alleviate the delicate balance that exists between traditional ways of life and the rapidly changing world around us.”

MORE INFO AT: http://tribalfunk.wordpress.com/biography

☉ JOCELYN CLARK—GAYAGEUM (Korean zither) (Juneau, Alaska)

Jocelyn Clark grew up playing piano, clarinet, and oboe in Juneau, Alaska. After a year in Japan, she began studying the koto at age 18, with the Sawai Koto Academy under Yagi Michiyo, and later with Maruta Miki at Wesleyan University (CT). In 1990-91, she studied zheng at the Nanjing Academy of Arts in China, and then in New York, with master Wang Changyuan. From 1992 to 1994, she received a scholarship to study traditional Korean music, majoring in gayageum performance at the National Classical Music Institute in Seoul, Korea, where she studied in the beginning with YI Jiyeong, and then with JI Aeri and “National Intangible Human Cultural Asset” KANG Jeongsuk. She returned to Korea in 1995 on a grant from the Harvard Korea Institute, and again between 1999 and 2001 on consecutive Fulbright and Seonam Foundation Fellowships. Having premiered more than 20 new works for gayageum (and koto), she has appeared as a soloist at the Jeonju Sanjo Festival, Opera Latenight Nürnberg, and the Global Ear Series in Dresden, to name but a few. Her writing on the gayageum appears in the liner notes of Dr. Hwang Byung-Ki's 2001 re-release box set in English, Korean, Japanese, and French. She has a 2005 Ph.D. in East Asian Languages and Civilizations from Harvard University. She currently works for part of the year as a professor of East Asian Studies in the Appenzeller School at Pai Chai University in Daejeon, S. Korea.

MORE INFO AT: www.threezeeplus.com

☉ RICHARD ZELINSKY—SAXOPHONE (Anchorage, Alaska)

Richard Zelinsky is saxophone artist and music educator living in Anchorage, Alaska. He currently teaches saxophone at the University of Alaska and band director in the Anchorage School District. Born in Ohio, he graduated with a B.A. in Music Performance at Cleveland State University and Master of Music in Saxophone Performance at the University of Akron. He's founder and director of the state's popular summer band program, the “Alaska Band,” with classes in Intermediate Band and Jazz Band. Rick plays soprano, alto, tenor, and baritone saxophones and midi wind controller and enjoys playing both jazz and classical music. He is busy working as a band leader or featured sideman in Anchorage, Alaska.

Beginning in late 2009, Rick has been performing a series of monthly concerts, “Tribute to the Jazz Masters,” and have so far featured the music of Cannonball & Nat Adderley, Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, Dexter Gordon, Joe Henderson, Sonny Rollins, Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn. Featuring the best musicians of Alaska, the “Masters” series have included musicians such as Pat Owens, Melissa Bledsoe Fischer, Dan McElrath, John Nyman, Robert Arms, Errol Bressler, Dirk Westfall, Cameron Cartland, and Kerry Maule. This is his 1st season with CrossSound.

MORE INFO AT www.icygrooves.com

☉ CHRISTOPHER SWEENEY—TROMBONE (Anchorage, Alaska)

Assistant Professor of Music at the University of Alaska Anchorage, Chris Sweeney was raised in Pottsville, Pennsylvania.  He received a B.S. in Music Education and a B.S. in Music Therapy from Duquesne University, an M.M. and a Ph.D. in Music Education from the University of Miami.  He has taught elementary through high school band, choir and guitar in the McKinley County Public Schools, New Mexico, and the Miami-Dade County Public Schools, Florida.  Prior to working at UAA, Dr. Sweeney served as Assistant Professor of Music at Limestone College, Gaffney South Carolina, where he was the coordinator of the Music Education and Music, Jazz emphasis programs.  At Limestone he also served at the Head of Teacher Education.  In addition, Dr. Sweeney is an active clinician, adjudicating and rehearsing bands throughout New Mexico, Florida, North Carolina and South Carolina.  His research interests are in helping musicians, especially at the beginning levels, make home practice more efficient. This is his third season with CrossSound.

☉ MORRIS PALTER—PERCUSSION (Fairbanks, Alaska)

Head of the UAF percussion program, Canadian-born percussionist Morris Palter is the Artistic Director for the University of Alaska Fairbanks New Music Festival, director of Ensemble 64.8 (UAF percussion group), and the Co-Artistic Director for the soundON Festival of Modern Music held each year in San Diego. Morris's wide-range of musical interests have found him performing throughout North America, Asia, and Europe at some of the most prestigious festivals and concert venues including his Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall debut under famed composer/conductor Pierre Boulez in 2001. Morris is a frequent guest at universities and conservatories worldwide and has commissioned and/or premiered over 100 new works, working with prominent composers and performers including Bob Becker (NEXUS, Steve Reich Ensemble), Roger Reynolds, Chou-wen Chung, John Luther Adams, Evelyn Glennie, David Lang, Stewart Saunders Smith, Philip Manoury, Iancu Dimitriescu, and Anchorage's own Matthew Burtner. Morris will be the host and director of the 2010 Focus Day of Percussion at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention held in Indianapolis.

MORE INFO AT: www.morrispalter.org

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