Welsh-born composer, Hilary Tann, lives in the foothills of the Adirondack Mountains in Upstate New York where she chairs the Music Department and is the John Howard Payne Professor at Union College, Schenectady. Recent composer-residencies include the 2011
Eastman School of Music Women in Music Festival, 2013 Women Composers Festival of Hartford, and 2015 Welsh Music Center (Ty Cerdd). Her work has been supported by numerous organizations, including the Welsh Arts Council, New York State Council on the Arts, Hanson Institute for American Music, Vaughan Williams Trust, Holst
Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, and Meet the Composer / Arts Endowment Commissioning Music USA.

Praised for its lyricism (“beautiful, lyrical work” – Classical Music Web) and formal balance (“In the formal balance of this music, there is great beauty …” – Welsh Music), her music is influenced by a strong identification with the natural world. These two interests combine in her enjoyment of haiku (she is a published haiku poet) and in text
selections from Welsh poets. A deep interest in the traditional music of Japan has led to private study of the shakuhachi and guest visits to Japan, Korea, and China. Her compositions have been widely performed and recorded by ensembles such as the European Women’s Orchestra, Tenebrae, Lontano, Marsyas Trio, Thai Philharmonic, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, and KBS
Philharmonic in Seoul, Korea.

Website: hilarytann.com.

Jun Qian joined the music faculty at Baylor University in 2012, when he was also appointed principal clarinetist of the Waco Symphony. Dr. Qian holds a Bachelor of Music in Clarinet Performance from Baylor University where he was a student of Richard Shanley, and a Master of Music in Clarinet Performance, and a Doctor of Musical Arts from the Eastman School of Music where he studied with Kenneth Grant and Stanley Hasty where he performed as principal clarinet with the Eastman Wind Ensemble (on full scholarship). Chinese-born, Professor Qian was the principal clarinetist with the Shanghai Philharmonic.

Qian won first prize in the International Clarinet Association’s Orchestral Excerpts Competition and third prize in its Young Artist Solo Competition in 1997 (the first artist in the history of the ICA to receive prizes in both competitions in the same year). As an endorsed artist for both Selmer of Paris and D’ Addario of New York, Qian has appeared as a concerto soloist with the Shanghai Symphony, the Eastman Wind Ensemble, the Shanghai Philharmonic, the Xiamen Philharmonic, and many other ensembles.