Artists
Alexandre Tchaykov
Alexandre Tchaykov is a Bulgarian pianist and poet devoted to the exploration of contemporary musical idioms and interdisciplinary discourses. He holds degrees from UCLA (DMA), Northwestern University (MM), and UGA (BM and BA English). A passionate teacher, he leads a private piano studio and has served as an instructor for college courses in musicianship, music history, and music appreciation. His dissertation and recent recital program, “LYRIC: An Ode to Poetry and Song,” assess the conceptual overlap between poetic and musical expression. Over the years, he has held fellowships at several renowned music festivals, including Tanglewood, New Music on the Point, and Kneisel Hall. When he isn’t practicing, teaching, or writing, you can find him baking in the kitchen or wandering in nature.
Click here to visit Alexandre’s website.
Portuguese cellist Mafalda Santos captivates audiences with her engaging presence and passion for sharing music and stories. A winner of over 20 international awards, she has performed at acclaimed venues such as the Royal Albert Hall and Berliner Philharmoniker. Since her debut with the FIME Ensemble at fourteen, Mafalda has performed as a soloist with symphony orchestras in Europe and the United States. As a dedicated chamber musician, Mafalda has participated in renowned series like Shriver Hall and at festivals such as Four Seasons, Kneisel Hall, and Kronberg. Passionate about music’s societal impact, Mafalda was the 2021/2022 Musician-in-Residence at the Edenwald Senior Living Community, where she lived with and provided musical services to 350 senior residents. She also co-founded “Storytelling, Storyplaying,” a concert series that brings literature and music to public schools. Mafalda holds degrees from the Peabody Conservatory, where she studied with Amit Peled, and is currently pursuing a Doctor of Musical Arts degree at Yale University under Paul Watkins.
Click here to visit Mafalda’s website.
Mafalda Santos
Yekaterina Lynch
Yekaterina Lynch is a California-based soprano currently completing her undergraduate degree at UCLA’s Herb Alpert School of Music. She spent several years at San Francisco Conservatory of Music’s Pre-College Program, and studied at the prestigious Odessa Conservatory in Ukraine. Having received both the Elaine Krown Klein and Mimi Alpert Feldman scholarships at UCLA, she covered the principal role of Maria in Richard Danielpour’s 2024 premiere of The Grand Hotel Tartarus. In 2023, she took on the role of Echo in Kay Rhie’s Quake premier, as well as Damon in Handel’s Acis and Galatea. Partial roles include Meg from Verdi’s Falstaff, Mère Marie from Poulenc’s Dialogues of the Carmelites, and Rosalinda from Die Fledermaus. An avid new-music vocalist, Yekaterina most-recently performed Pierrot lunaire in full for Schoenberg’s 150th anniversary in Schoenberg Hall. In addition to opera, Yekaterina is currently the music director of Con Brio, one of UCLA’s student-led string orchestras.
Carmen Edano
Carmen Edano is a Los Angeles-based Filipino mezzo-soprano praised for her “protean singing” and “elastic voice.” Carmen recently made her debut in the LA new music scene as Jing in The Industry’s cosmic production of Star Choir, a new opera by Malik Gaines and Alexandro Segade. She currently sings with the Los Angeles Master Chorale directed by Grant Gershon.Carmen performed as Baba the Turk in Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress, Giannetta in Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore, Eleni in the workshop premiere of Richard Danielpour’s The Grand Hotel Tartarus, and Le Mari in Poulenc’s Les Mamelles de Tirésias. Her mentors include Julianna Gondek, Peter Kazaras, and Lucy Yates. Carmen was also the winner of UCLA’s 2023 All-Star Competition. She received her BA in Vocal Performance and Music Education from Pepperdine University, and her MM in Opera from the University of California Los Angeles. She spends her free time crocheting and hanging out with her cat, Deedee.
Benjamin Martin
Benjamin Martin (b.1998) is a Chicago-based composer and musical collaborator. While interested in all manner of expressive media, his love of the human voice and the written word is often the center of his compositional orbit. Martin’s works have been commissioned and premiered by the VIVO Music Festival, the Northern Ohio Youth Orchestra, the Oberlin Contemporary Music Ensemble, and University Theatre at the University of Chicago. He was also the recipient of the 2021 VIVO Innovation Grant. He has composed for New Music on the Point, Brevard Summer Music festival, the EAMA Institute in Paris, and the Cortona Sessions for New Music. Benjamin received a BM from Oberlin Conservatory in Composition with a minor in Vocal Performance. While attending, he was the recipient of the 2022 Walter E. Aschaffenburg prize in Composition. He is currently pursuing his PhD at the University of Chicago, where he studies with Augusta Read Thomas.
Click here to visit Benjamin’s website.
Timothy Peterson
Timothy Peterson’s music has been performed in the US, Europe, and Australia at venues ranging from galleries and distilleries to Times Square (Anita’s Way), National Sawdust, and Lincoln Center. His vocal and chamber works have been featured at events such as BMP: Next Gen (Cycle 2, Round 1), the Bang on a Can Summer Music Festival at MASS MoCA, and the Hear Now Music Festival of Los Angeles. Recent projects include a song cycle commissioned by the Gabriela Lena Frank Creative Academy of Music’s Composing Earth initiative for countertenor César Aguilar, which features texts by author-illustrator Shaun Tan that explore interspecies encounters in urban environments. Timothy is currently pursuing a DMA in Composition at the University of Southern California, where he studies under Ted Hearne. He also holds a MM in Composition from USC and undergraduate degrees in composition and comparative literature from the University of Michigan.
Emma McCartney
Emma McCartney is a Los Angeles based flutist from St Paul, MN. She is a dedicated performer of new music and regularly performed with USC Thornton Edge while at USC. She has also attended the Montreal Contemporary Music Lab, the Toronto Creative Music Lab, New Music on the Point, and soundSCAPE as a performer. She won 2nd place at the 2017 NFA orchestral excerpts competition, and was a semi finalist for the Plowman Competition in 2019 with her USC Woodwind Quintet. Emma has a bachelors degree in flute performance from DePaul University, and a masters and graduate certificate from the University of Southern California.
Anders Peterson
Anders Peterson is a Graduate student of clarinet performance at the University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music and a 2022 BMA graduate of USC Thornton. He is a member of the internationally acclaimed studio of Yehuda Gilad and an accomplished orchestral artist and soloist. Peterson graduated from the Interlochen Arts Academy in 2018, receiving the highly coveted Yping Artist Award. Last summer, Peterson performed with the Tanglewood Music Center festival orchestra under conductor Andris Nelsons. He is a 2018 National YoungArts Finalist and a 2017 member of NYO-USA, performing in Carnegie Hall and touring Latin America. He was a soloist with the Minnesota Orchestra, Bloomington Symphony, and Dakota V alley Symphony Orchestra. Notable past teachers include Dr. Jun Qian, Scott Anderson, Emil Khudyev, Bryan Conger, Gabriel Campos-Zamora, Alexander Fiterstein, and David Howard. Recently, Peterson was invited to perform with the Cascade Symphony in Edmonds, WA in spring of 2025.
Maya Irizarry Lambright
Maya Irizarry Lambright is a dynamic violinist from West Hartford, Connecticut. Maya's musical journey is deeply rooted in a childhood surrounded by diverse musical influences, shaping a performance style that transcends genres. Maya has performed over 50 concerts as a member of the Eris Quartet, including a 2023 tour across the East Coast, and were the 2024 Fellowship String Quartet in Residence at New Music on the Point. In January 2022, Maya spearheaded "Why We Breathe," a piece created as a result of the pandemic’s effects on collaborative projects, uniting musicians and visual artists to create a fusion of art and music. In 2024, they won Oberlin’s Concerto Competition, playing Shulamit Ran’s Violin Concerto. Maya graduated with a BM at Oberlin Conservatory and currently attends the Thornton School of Music at the University of Southern California under the tutelage of Lina Bahn.
Laura Gamboa
Laura Gamboa is a Colombian American violinist currently pursuing her doctoral degree in violin performance at the University of Southern California under Martin Chalifour, concertmaster of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Gamboa is currently minoring in music theory, viola performance, and jazz violin. Gamboa received Bachelor’s Degrees in Violin Performance and Music Theory as well as a minor in Eurhythmics from the Cleveland Institute of Music. Afterwards, she completed her Master’s Degree in Violin Performance as a fellowship recipient from the University of Michigan, where she also completed a Specialist Degree in Violin Performance and a Master’s in Chamber Music. She attended the Aspen Music Festival and School from 2014-19, 22’, 24’ with various fellowships including the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble fellowship and premiered Jessie Montgomery’s Concerto Grosso as the featured soloist.
Olivia Cho
Canadian-Korean cellist Olivia Yelim Cho is praised for her “ravishing tone and organically felt phrasing… sincerity, wonderful taste, and a mature aplomb beyond her years” (ARTSFILE). Olivia is dedicated to musical outreach and thoughtful pedagogy, engaging in activities such as presenting for TEDxYouth on the value of music and performing for the Colburn School’s Musical Encounter Interactive which brought an educational show blending music and drama to over 1,500 elementary school students. Hailed as one of CBC Music’s “30 hot classical musicians under 30,” she debuted with the National Arts Centre Orchestra in 2020 and has received distinctions at multiple national competitions and festivals. Olivia began her cello studies with Joseph Elworthy, and completed her B.M. at the University of Michigan with Richard Aaron and her M.M. at the Colburn Conservatory with Clive Greensmith. She is currently pursuing her D.M.A. at the University of Southern California with Ralph Kirshbaum.
Julia Moss
Julia Moss (she/her) is a Los Angeles-based composer and violist who tries to foster community everywhere she goes. She writes music that is thought-provoking and emotionally gripping. She is interested in working on projects that examine the systems we are a part of and dig into the complications of our inner lives. She has collaborated with various dancers at USC’s Kaufman School of Dance and loves to work in theatrical spaces. Julia is a Composer Teaching Artist Fellow for the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra (LACO), and has worked at the Aspen Music Festival as Orchestra Manager of the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble (ACE) for the past two summers. She recently graduated from her Masters in Music Composition at the University of Southern California (USC) Thornton School of Music and was a 2024 Eighth Blackbird Creative Lab Fellow.
Graycen Gardner, soprano, is based in Los Angeles, where she is a professional singer specializing in classical and session vocals. Her ability to deftly alternate between a full operatic vocal production and a light, shimmering sound enables her to sing a variety of repertoire and musical styles. Graycen became a rostered member of the Los Angeles Master Chorale in 2021, and she performed in the organization’s production of “Music to Accompany a Departure” (directed by Peter Sellars) this past April. Graycen sang the role of Mina in Beth Morrison Projects’ 2024 workshop of Star Singer by Juhi Bansal, and in 2023 she sang the soprano solo in the premiere of Reena Esmail’s “Malhaar: A Requiem for Water.” In 2022, she was the soprano soloist in the LA Master Chorale’s Messiah Sing-Along at Disney Concert Hall, and she will be the soprano soloist in the Chorale’s performance of Messiah this upcoming December.
Graycen Gardner
Praised for his “dramatic and physical mastery”, “brilliant technique and musicianship”, Chinese pianist Zhaoyuan Qin is currently based in Los Angeles, pursuing his doctorate in piano at University of Southern California. An avid promoter of contemporary music, Qin has premiered numerous works by peer composers. He was one of the 2024 piano fellows at Tanglewood Music Center. His conference and festival appearances include The College Music Society (2024), Asian Classical Music Initiative (2024, 2023, and 2022), New Music Gathering (2023), and Electronic Music Midwest (2023). Qin performs regularly with USC’s new music ensemble, Thornton Edge. Qin has given solo and chamber recitals, including charity concerts, across China and the United States. In 2017 he won the second prize of The Sixth “Premio Citta di Imola” International Piano Competition. Qin holds degrees from Indiana University (23’ AD), New England Conservatory (20’ MM) and Shanghai Conservatory of Music (18’ BA).
