BRAD COX
A composer in the uniquely American Ellington model, Brad is dedicated to forming long lasting relationships with musicians and writing music for those musicians. Brad is a founder and contributing composer to The People's Liberation Big Band of Greater Kansas City, and conceived and organized the ensemble’s versions of The Nutcracker and the Mouse King and The Battleship Potemkin. In addition to his work with Owen/Cox Dance Group, he has created compositions and arrangements for Sony Classical recording artist Nathan Granner, Grammy award-winning producer and engineer Russ Elevado, Paris-based songwriter Krystle Warren and internationally-recognized puppeteer Paul Mesner. Brad is a 2009 recipient of the Tanne Foundation Award, and 2010 recipient of the Charlotte Street Foundation Generative Performing Artist Award.

JEFF HARSHBARGER
Bassist/vocalist/composer Jeff Harshbarger has collaborated with visual artists (Nick Cave, David Ford, Molly Murphy) and musicians (Bobby Watson, Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey, David Balakrishnan) to produce work that challenges convention. He curates a twice-monthly concert series that promotes original composition, and hosts "Jazz in the Afternoon" on KKFI. A lecturer in Jazz Studies at KU, Harshbarger is the recipient of fellowships from the Charlotte Street Foundation, The Kennedy Center, and The Steans’ Institute.

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JEFF FRELING
Guitarist/composer Jeff Freling, originally from Kansas City spent 11 years in Chicago, IL performing with Blue Man Group on electric zither and Chapman stick, and on guitar with Tributosaurus, Mar Caribe and the popular Tom Waits tribute band, Big Time. He also served as a sideman to guitarist/songwriter Doug Gillard of Guided By Voices.
 
Since returning to Kansas City in 2012, Jeff has composed music for film and television including Kansas City’s weekly television show “Cinema KC” and Judith Levy’s short film “NV in KC”. He has also composed music and music directed for two theatre productions, “The Oil Boiler” and “Bucket Of Blood”, both produced by Kansas City’s Living Room Theatre. As producer/arranger, he contributed to Daisy Bucket’s 2018 release “Pansy” which won The Pitch’s Best Local Album of 2018. Jeff’s current projects include “Victor & Penny”, a guitar and ukulele duo alongside his wife, musician/actor Erin McGrane, that puts a modern twist on prohibition era Jazz, and the Jeff Freling Trio, a guitar driven combo, inspired by the vintage sounds of 50s/60s Jazz.
 
Jeff studied at Berklee School of Music in Boston, MA and the Conservatory at UMKC in Kansas City, MO.

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STACY BUSCH
Stacy Busch is a composer and performer who's work has been performed nationally and internationally. In 2020, Stacy is composing/performing the new music and theater production, When/Time in partnership with Charlotte Street Foundation. The Mid America Freedom Band is premiering her double concerto piece for two drag queens and New York City-based ensemble loadbang is premiering her piece "not enough yoga classes in the world." No Divide KC is producing "Stories from Under the Stars" a storytelling event focusing on homelessness in Kansas City as well as the 1st Annual Queer Narratives Festival.

Stacy is a 2020 Charlotte Street Foundation Generative Performing Artist Fellow. Stacy has received grants from ArtsKC, ArtSounds, Charlotte Street Foundation and the UMKC Women's Council. Stacy received her MM in composition from the University of Missouri-Kansas City and her BM in composition from Western Michigan University. Her teachers include Rome Prize winners Paul Rudy and James Mobberley as well as Pulitzer Prize winners Zhou Long and Chen Yi. Other influential teachers include Guggenheim Fellow Curtis Curtis-Smith, Christopher Biggs and Lisa Coons. Prior to studying music, Stacy studied print journalism at Boston University.

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MATT OTTO
M.F.A. California Institute of the Arts; B.A. The New School

Assistant Director in Jazz Studies, directs Jazz Combo I, teaches jazz Theory and Performance, private lessons in jazz saxophone and improvisation. Saxophonist Matt Otto studied music performance and composition at Indiana University, Berklee School of Music, The New School for Social Research (BFA) and California Institute of the Arts (MFA) during which time he studied under Lee Konitz, George Garzone, Billy Pierce, Don Hawkins, Charlie Haden and many others. Having lived in Japan for five years, New York City for seven years and Los Angeles for six years, he has performed with a variety of artists including Anthony Wilson, Larry Koonse, Rashid Bakr, Ben Monder, Willie Jones III, Alan Ferber, Mark Ferber, Albert “Tootie” Heath, Gregory Hutchinson, Joe La Barbera, Leroy Vinegar, Jimmy Smith, Ari Hoenig, Ben Street, Mike Moreno, Jonathan Kreisberg, Danny Weiss, Steve Cardenas, Larry Goldings, Eric Harland, Sheryl Bailey, Darek Oles, Erik McPherson, John Stowell, and many others. He currently performs his original compositions with his Kansas City-based quartet. Matt Otto has recorded with the Grammy Nominated Anthony Wilson Nonet, the Rashid Bakr Quintet, the Joeless Shoe trio, and the 3-ish trio and over 10 CDs recorded as a leader on Origin, Noir and Jazz Collective Records. He has also appeared on more than 50 CD projects as a side man. 

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BEAU BLEDSOE
Beau Bledsoe’s performances have been described as “pointedly musical” by Paul Horsley of The Kansas City Star. This stylistically eclectic musician performs and records classical music, jazz and folkloric music from around the world as he seeks to integrate different musical cultures with diverse audiences. With his many varied projects and ensembles, Beau has performed extensively throughout Europe, Russia, Asia, South America and North America. In addition, he has produced fifteen recordings under his recording label Tzigane. Beau is currently artistic director and founder of Ensemble Ibérica which explores the music of Spain, Portugal, and the colonial Americas while educating the public about Iberian cultural influence.

AMADO ESPINOZA
Amado Espinoza, from Cochabamba, Bolivia, is a unique performing artist that respects his folk traditions of the Andes mountains while creating compositions that are sincere to his musical-wanderlust personality. He specializes in the Bolivian charango, a small ten-stringed guitar, but demonstrates mastery of over 40 instruments, including Latin, African and Arabic percussion, and native flutes from all over the world. A multi-faceted performer, Amado also guides sound meditations, recycled instrument workshops, and is a respected instrument maker in South America and beyond.

NATHAN GRANNER
Through his performances on the live stage, on video and on recording, Nathan's buoyant personality and intense musicality have connected with millions of people over the length of his career. From his early apprenticeships with Wolf Trap and Glimmerglass Operas and as a Metropolitan Opera National Competition winner, Granner’s path is blessed with distinction, variety and ... sometimes wild extremes.  Nathan's work as a recording artist with Sony Classical, with Tzigane Music, as a soloist and as a founding member of The American Tenors, netted a top five on the Billboard Classical-Crossover charts and sent him touring across the nation and into the EU and Russia.

COLEEN DIEKER
Coleen started playing piano when she was four-years-old and violin when she was seven. She has been singing all her life. After many years of classical training, she attended Berklee College of Music for two years and studied piano performance, improvising, listening, arranging and recording. As a genre-hopping music fiend, she enjoys a diverse career of collaboration, performance and recording. She has since worked with many local and national artists, and enjoys taking on new challenges and projects.

VICTOR PENNIMAN
Victor Penniman is a violist da gamba (traditional and electric), composer, producer and educator. He has performed as a soloist and with numerous Historical Performance ensembles, including the Oregon Bach Festival, The Tallahassee Bach Parley, the Kansas City Baroque Consortium, as well as countless modern groups covering a wide variety of genres and repertoire. Based in Kansas City, MO, he holds a Doctor of Musical Arts in Operation of Early Music Programs from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music.

JOHN CURREY
John Currey is a freelance percussionist with more than 20 years experience as an in-school presenter and clinician. John specializes in Modern dance accompaniment and has toured extensively throughout the US, Mexico, and Western Europe. Teaching credits include at the UMKC Conservatory of Music and Dance, Graceland College, and Pittsburg State University. John currently directs the Mexican marimba quartet, Sol de Chiapas.

NORMA PACHECO O'NEIL
Norma Pacheco O'Neil has lived and danced flamenco in the Kansas City area for over 20 years. Using her educational background in both general and bilingual education, she and Beau Bledsoe have created 2 educational programs: Vamos a España and Mexico Lindo. She enjoys sharing her passion for the music, dance, history and culture of the two beautiful countries. These programs are used to supplement Spanish, Art and Music curriculums. She, along with her guitar accompanist and singer have educated and entertained over 5,000 students in the Kansas City area in grade levels K-12. She continues to expand her love of learning by teaching and taking flamenco classes both locally and internationally.

KRYSTLE WARREN
Born and raised in Kansas City, Missouri, Krystle Warren, now based in France, is a singer-songwriter who tends to defy category,
blending jazz with hints of folk, blues, and country. She has released three albums, "Circles", (2009) "Love Songs..." (2012), featuring
arrangements by Brad Cox, and "Three the Hard Way" (2017). An innate performer, she has garnered international acclaim as well as an impressive list of collaborators, (Rufus Wainwright, Joan As Police Woman, Hercules and Love Affair, Robyn Hitchcock).

ELIZABETH SUH LANE
Elizabeth Suh Lane has been described as a “phenomenal musician” by the renowned violin pedagogue Max Rostal and “among the finest chamber musicians in America today” by San Francisco Symphony’s Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas. She has performed across the globe as a chamber and orchestral musician in the world’s finest concert halls-Carnegie, Suntory, Salzburg Festspielhaus, Berlin’s Philharmonie, Theatre des Champs Elysee, Helzberg Hall. Elizabeth was a first violinist with the London Symphony Orchestra under music directors Sir Colin Davis, Michael Tilson Thomas, Mstislav Rostropovich and many others; she toured with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe under Claudio Abbado, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Gidon Kremer; and with the Academy of St. Martin-in the-Fields under Sir Neville Marriner. She has performed with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and has been invited to numerous international festivals: Tanglewood; Britten-Pears; Germany’s Schleswig–Holstein; Japan’s Pacific Music; the Carmel Bach Festival. She recently served on the faculties of the Snowpond Chamber Music Seminar in Maine and the Brian Lewis Young Artists‘ Program instructing advanced violin students. Elizabeth is Founder-Executive-Artistic Director and Violinist of the critically acclaimed
Bach Aria Soloists, embarking on their 20th Anniversary Season this year. Her leadership has brought world-class collaborations to Kansas City to partner with BAS, incl: the world’s preeminent scholar of Bach Dr. Christoph Wolff; Associate Director of Parsons Dance Elizabeth Koeppen who with Suh Lane gave the world premiere of Accompagnata...a ViolinDance; Guggenheim-award winning composer Narong Prangcharoen she commissioned for BAS’ 15th Anniversary and debut of his beautiful work DIALOGUE in Thailand. Collaboration is integral to her artistic direction of BAS.

ELAINE NG
Served as first violinist and current violist of UMKC Graduate Fellowship String Quartet, Elaine Ng is now ABD for her DMA, in the
studio of Benny Kim and Artist’s Certificate in viola with Scott Lee; She has her intensive chamber music training with Mike Mermagen. Recently, Elaine won the Principal Viola position at Des Moines Symphony Orchestra after serving as Associate Concertmaster at Wichita Symphony and Topeka Symphony. She and her groups have the honor to work with Ivan Chan, Martin Beaver; Miami, Guarneri, Orion, Szymanowski, Endellion, and Berlin Philharmonic String Quartets etc. Elaine appears as soloist and chamber musician at major music scenes such as Neue Galerie(NYC), Metropolitan Museum of Arts, Nelson Atkin
Museum of Arts, Kauffman Performing Arts Center, Carnegie Hall and Avery Fisher Hall; From New York String Orchestra Seminar at Carnegie Hall, Fontainebleau Music Festival in Paris; The Kent/Blossom Music Festival with Cleveland Orchestra at Blossom Music Center, St. Lawrence String Quartet Chamber Music Seminar at Stanford University, Chiara String Quartet Chamber
Music Institute at University of Nebraska-Lincoln, to Texas, Florida, Hong Kong and Mexico, etc. Elaine’s groups also have the privilege to work with leading living composers including Zhou Long, Chen Yi, Kaija Saariaho, Donald Crockett, Morton Subotnick, John Corigliano etc. Where Corigliano described as “One of the finest playing of my own compositions that I have ever
heard...terrific music experience!” Elaine earned her BMus at The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Art, MMus at Mannes College The New School in NYC with Hong-Ying Ho, Hiroko Yajima under full scholarships as well as being the winner of Sigma Alpha Iota, Disney and Hong Kong Society scholarship awards competitions.

ADAM SCHLOZMAN
Adam Schlozman is a guitarist from Kansas City, Missouri, where he performs in many facets of the city's music scene spanning from jazz to many other genres. After attending the UMKC Conservatory of Music, Schlozman melded into different musical branches of the scene, leading to opportunities performing with artists such as Bobby Watson, Bob Bowman, Bill Cunliffe, Denise Donatelli, Benny Green, and Joe 9 Chambers. Adam can be seen playing regularly with groups such as The Project H, Marcus Lewis Big Band, Brad Cox Octet, Eddie Moore & the Outer Circle, Hot Club KC, Nate Nall Quintet, and Next Level Live.

MICHAEL STOVER
Michael Stover is a multi-instrumentalist proficient in both traditional and experimental musical environments. Current projects include The Grisly Hand, Lorna Kay's One Night Stand, The People's Liberation Big Band. Previous theater & dance work include Hair (KC Rep), Men On Boats (Unicorn Theater) and The Nutcracker & The Mouse King (Owen/Cox Dance Group).

VICTORIA BOTERO
Victoria Botero navigates a variety of musical genres from baroque to new music, from opera, to concert, to world music stages. In opera, she has performed with Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Union Avenue Opera, Des Moines Metro Opera, Wichita Grand Opera and Tulsa Opera. She is a grant recipient of ArtsKC and the Lighton International Artist Exchange residency in Milan resulting in the formation of a critically acclaimed concert series featuring the music of women. New music and collaboration with living composers figures prominently in her work with numerous premieres by Brad Cox, Susan Kander, Jorge Sosa, and others. Future performances include Bernstein’s Songfest in Saratoga Springs and the world premiere of a commissioned song cycle as part of The Music of Susan Kander in January 2019. She has degrees in Vocal Performance and Musicology from The Catholic University of America and UMKC. A proud Colombian-American, she performs in more than 15 languages and dialects. victoriabotero.com/

TRILLA RAY CARTER
Trilla Ray Carter performs regularly throughout Kansas City and the greater midwest region as both a modern and period cellist. She has served as principal cellist of the Lawrence Chamber Orchestra, the Liberty Symphony, the Philharmonia of Greater Kansas City, and as substitute for the Kansas City Symphony. She worked in Los Angeles as a studio musician for several years before returning to the midwest, and has studied, performed and taught in Germany, Switzerland, Italy and the former Yugoslavia. She is the founding director of the Kansas City Baroque Consortium specializing in period performances. kcbaroque.org

ABOUD AGHA
Aboud Agha began training on the Oud as a child in Aleppo, Syria with master teachers. Before immigrating to the U.S. at the age of 16 he recorded and performed with the Syrian Broadcasting Orchestra in Damascus in multiple original-score Syrian musicals. Once in America he continued pursuing his passion for Arabic music while simultaneously being exposed to Western music theory. In addition to performances across North America, Agha has recorded with the Sharq Ensemble and Chicago Classical Oriental Ensemble. He holds degrees from the University of Massachusetts and Northern Illinois University and continues to perform regularly while pursuing a PhD in Ethnomusicology from UCLA. aboudagha.weebly.com/

KARIM NAGI
Karim Nagi is originally from Egypt and a true crossover artist uniting the Arab tradition with the global contemporary world with fourteen recordings ranging from traditional Arab music to fusion and electronica. An avid educator, Nagi has taught Arabic dance and drums in dozens of festivals on five continents, authored instructional DVDs, served on the faculty of New England Conservatory of Music, and presented on Art, Diversity and the Arab traditional arts for audiences ranging from the Ivy League to enthralled pre-schoolers. He recently received a Doris Duke Grant for the Islamic Arts and now serves on the board of directors for Chamber Music America. karimnagi.com