Pianist Victoria Neve has distinguished herself as a piano soloist, chamber musician, duo pianist, and accompanist in concerts throughout Northern California and in Illinois, Pennsylvania, Kansas, and Tennessee. Her appearances include presentations for the College Music Society, the National Conference on Women in Music, the Memphis State Music Festival and the State Convention of the California Association of Professional Music Teachers.

Hillary Hight Daw, soprano, has performed opera and oratorio in the United States and Europe. Her operatic portrayals include Countess Almaviva in Le Nozze di Figaro, Rosalinda in Die Fledermaus, Agathe in Der Freischutz and La Musica/La Mesaggiera in Monteverdi’s Orfeo. She has sung oratorio and sacred literature extensively, appearing often in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Handel’s Messiah and Schubert’s Mass in G.

Roger Woodward rose to international prominence in prestigious collaborations with Messiaen, Boulez, Barraqué, Stockhausen, Cage, Feldman, Takemitsu, Donatoni, Xenakis and Pärt, et al.

Dianthe “Dee” Spencer is a Professor of Music at San Francisco State University where she founded the jazz studies degree program. She earned an Ed.D. from the University of San Francisco; M.M. from Washington University in St. Louis; and a B.S. in Music Education from Florida A&M University. She taught piano at Berklee College of Music in Boston, Ma. A keyboardist, composer/arranger, and vocalist, Dee’s recordings include a live International Association of Schools of Jazz (IASJ) Baltic tour performance in Gdynia, Poland.

Hafez Modirzadeh has focused on integrative directions for the practice and education of jazz and world music. On both international and local fronts, he is active in the realms of performing, teaching, recording, publishing, and presenting cross-cultural perspectives regarding musical culture, tradition and innovation, and individual representations thereof.

Bruce Christian Bennett is currently a lecturer in music at San Francisco State University, teaching courses in 18th century counterpoint, 20th century music theory, and orchestration. In fall 2005 and spring 2006, he was a visiting scholar at Reed College in Portland, Oregon, where he lectured on contemporary composition techniques, electronic and computer music, and produced concerts of electroacoustic music.

In addition to teaching at SF State, and his work as a clinician and educational consultant Michael Zisman has been performing with jazz stars such as Cecil Payne, George Coleman, David "Fathead" Newman, Ernestine Anderson, James Williams, Eric Alexander, Dena DeRose, and many others.

A native of Clearwater, Florida, Paul began his viola studies at the age of nine. He studied at Davidson College, Penn State University, Hartt School of Music and the Juilliard School. As a founding member of the Alexander String Quartet (Quartet-in-Residence with San Francisco State University in association with San Francisco Performances since 1989), he has performed over 1000 concerts at major venues on four continents. A frequent recitalist and soloist with orchestra, he is featured on numerous recordings.

Jim Witzel has distinguished himself as a freelance jazz artist. For 20 years he has led and performed with jazz groups in the Bay Area and in Los Angeles, working with John Handy, Mark Isham, Art Lande, Mel Martin, Glen Cronkhite, Mike Clark, and Dave LeFebvre, among others.

Mr. Spellman has been principal tubist for the San Francisco Opera since 1977. He is also principal tubist for the Marin Symphony and the Golden Gate Brass, and is a founding member of the San Francisco Tuba Quartet. Mr. Spellman has performed at the Tanglewood and Grand Teton Music Festivals and has been a concerto soloist for the Lake Tahoe Summer Music Festival and the Portland Youth Philharmonic.