Thanks for showing up to the fucking party

Composing since the late 1970s! Quirky movie-score style pieces and songs.

Bio:

Arthur Breur started seriously studying piano after his grandmother, Jocelyn— his grandfather’s second wife—passed away when he was eight.  They had been very close, and his weekend stays at her home inevitably included him asking her to play piano for him.  

At ten he started taking lessons, having already taught himself a variety of music, including various movie score themes and ragtime pieces—but he gradually discovered that he enjoyed composing and playing his own music more than playing what was assigned to him by his piano teacher.

From the start, his compositions were very affected by the music in movies and on television.  It is not in jest that he points to the music performed on such television shows as “Sesame Street”, “The Electric Company”, and “The Muppet Show”—not to mention the superb songs of “School House Rock”—as sources of inspiration.  Further, many excellent scores for movies of that time, such as Escape to Witch Mountain, Close Encounters, Star Wars, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Star Trek, and others, fascinated him and formed his ideas on how music should “work”—with accessible, easily remembered themes that can be associated with specific things, people, or feelings.  His music was also heavily influenced an excellent music program at church.

He studied piano performance and composition and got his bachelor’s degree from Millikin University in Decatur, Illinois. By that time he had been studying piano for eight years, had composed more than a dozen pieces, and had previously lied about his age to get into a college-level music theory course.  His college piano instructor worked with his desire to compose by assigning him works by composers that inspired him.  Prokofiev and Ravel in particular influenced his compositional tone and style considerably.  Around this time, Danny Elfman’s film music also came to Arthur’s attention and provided yet another dimension of sound to pursue.

In the early 1990s, Arthur collaborated with lyricist, comedian, and singer, Cristopher Blake.  Between them they wrote more than twenty songs, many of which they performed live in various Los Angeles venues.

Over the more than 36 years he has been composing, he has written more than 140 individual pieces, including works for five weddings, two Christmas revues, numerous videos, and one short film.

www.MalekJandali.com | www.PianosForPeace.org
Hailed by Fanfare Magazine as “a major new addition to the 21st century’s symphonic literature,” Malek Jandali’s symphonic works have been described by Gramophone as “deeply enigmatic with voices and in tongues emerging from the composer’s Syrian heritage that generously repay more reflective listening” with “heart-rending melodies, lush orchestration, clever transitions and creative textures.” American Record Guide.

His large-scale orchestral works integrate Arabic maqams (modes) with persuasive craft and a marked seriousness of purpose that echo UNESCO’s call to preserve and protect the rich cultural heritage of his homeland Syria at a time when it is being eradicated. “Jandali captures the struggle, trauma and triumph of our displaced brothers and sisters, through the voice of a child. It is a beautiful and important message.” Marin Alsop

Recent commissions and premieres include a Viola Concerto for Roberto Diaz, a String Quartet for the Nashville Symphony Orchestra, and a world premiere by Baltimore Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Marin Alsop who described The Silent Ocean as “an evocative and emotional journey for musicians and audience members. In this piece Jandali captures the struggle, trauma and triumph of our displaced brothers and sisters, through the voice of a child. It is a beautiful and important message.” 

His causes go beyond those of humanitarian activism, as he is regularly recognized by and invited to speak to key academic institutions such as Harvard University, the Skoll World Form at Oxford, Duke University, Aspen Ideas Festival, Fordham University, the United Nations headquarters in New York City and the Doha Debates at Georgetown University in Qatar, TEDx Talk at Georgia Tech and Sydney Ideas talk at the University of Sydney.

Mr. Jandali also has self-produced seven albums representing excellent performances of 40 of his compositions. His albums Syrian Symphony, SoHo, Hiraeth, and The Jasmine Tree were released at Carnegie Hall’s Weil Recital Hall in 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018 respectively. The Huffington Post described his work as “inspiring” and Bob Stevenson of NPR stated that his music is both “moving and thought provoking.” 

Mr. Jandali is the recipient of the 2014 Global Music Humanitarian Award and in 2015, The Carnegie Corporation of New York honored him as a Great Immigrant. He is a strong advocate for peace and was selected as a Visiting Scholar for the 2017/2018 academic year in the Center for the Study of Genocide and Human Rights at Rutgers University. Mr. Jandali is very passionate about making the arts accessible to all and is the founder and CEO of (www.PianosForPeace.org), a non-profit organization dedicated to building peace through music and education. He embraces young talent from all over the world through the annual Malek Jandali International Youth Piano Competition. Mr. Jandali makes his home in both Manhattan and Atlanta. His music is published exclusively by Soul b Music and his discography is available on iTunes, Amazon and at Virgin Megastores worldwide.

Ethan Gans-Morse is a critically-acclaimed composer and producer based in Southern Oregon. He is best known for composing and producing the opera, The Canticle of the Black Madonna, which The Oregonian called “A huge achievement… generous, carefully crafted and supremely compassionate” and Oregon ArtsWatch hailed as “One of the most exciting developments of the arts season.” He focuses on collaborative, socially relevant projects that foster greater human connection. As Eugene Weekly described his work, “Classical music is often rightly accused of ignoring the here and now. Fortunately, [composers such as Gans-Morse] are using classical and postclassical forms to help us understand the sometimes-unpleasant realities of the world we live in.” His most recent commissions include the multimedia oratorio Six Feet Apart: Stories of Resilience and Transformation, the immigration-themed chamber opera Dreams Have No Borders, How Can You Own The Sky? A Symphonic Poem Honoring Native Wisdom, a program symphony commissioned by the Rogue Valley Symphony in honor of its 50th anniversary season, and Tango of the White Gardenia, a tango-infused opera in two acts for Cascadia Chamber Opera in Eugene, Oregon.

His instrumental works have been performed by numerous ensembles, including the American Creators Ensemble, the Quartetto Indaco, the Fireworks Ensemble, the Firebird Wind Trio, and the Eugene Contemporary Chamber Ensemble; his choral works have been performed by the Portland Vocal Consort (winner of their 2010 Composer Competition), Chorus Austin, the American School in Taipei, Taiwan, The Sandlapper Singers, and the Contemporary Choral Collective of Los Angeles. His music has been presented at numerous concert series, including the highSCORE Festival in Pavia, Italy, the Instrumenta Oaxaca Festival in Oaxaca, Mexico, the Music Today Festival, the Vanguard Concert Series, The University of Wyoming New Music Festival, the Oregon Composers Forum, the Oregon Bach Festival Composers Symposium, and the Ashland Winter Fine Arts Festival.

Gans-Morse and his wife and creative partner, Tiziana DellaRovere, are the co-founders of Anima Mundi Productions, a 501.c.3 non-profit based in Southern Oregon dedicated to “healing the soul of the world through the arts.”

BEN MCMILLAN (b. 1984) is an active composer and producer. His unique compositional style has lead to an increasing demand for his works. Born in Cookeville, Tennessee, Ben holds a bachelors degree in Music Composition from Tennessee Tech University. His music has been performed internationally by leading artists including Steven Mead, Sergio Carolino, Timothy Northcut, Gail Robertson, Adam Frey, The United States Army Band, Spanish Brass, Eufonix Quartet, North Texas Euphonium Quartet, and the Tennessee Tech Tuba Ensemble. He has had performances at prestigious music venues and conferences including Carnegie Hall, the International Tuba/Euphonium Conference & Regional Conferences, the Tennessee Music Educators Conference, the US Army Band Tuba/Euphonium Workshop. He has received numerous commissions ranging from high school concert band to student chamber groups and professional solo artists. He has been nominated twice for the Harvey Phillips Award For Excellence In Composition from ITEA. Ben's works have been recorded on numerous albums ranging from doctoral dissertations to professionally produced recordings. His music is published by Cimarron Music, Potenza Music, and Absolute Brass.

GRAMMY® Award-winning Ukrainian-American pianist Nadia Shpachenko enjoys bringing into the world things that are outside the box – powerful pieces that often possess unusual sonic qualities or instrumentation. Described as a “gifted and versatile pianist” (San Francisco Chronicle), “one of today’s foremost promoters of contemporary music” (Textura Magazine), and “a great friend and champion of new music” (Fanfare Magazine), Nadia performed recitals at Concertgebouw, Carnegie Hall, Disney Hall, on the Piano Spheres and Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Green Umbrella and Chamber Music Series, and with numerous orchestras in Europe and the Americas. She premiered more than 100 works by Armando Bayolo, Elliott Carter, Christopher Cerrone, Paul Chihara, George Crumb, Ian Dicke, Daniel Felsenfeld, Tom Flaherty, Annie Gosfield, Yuri Ishchenko, Vera Ivanova, Dana Kaufman, Leon Kirchner, Amy Beth Kirsten, Hannah Lash, James Matheson, Missy Mazzoli, Harold Meltzer, David Sanford, Isaac Schankler, Alexander Shchetynsky, Adam Schoenberg, Lewis Spratlan, Evan Ware, Gernot Wolfgang, Iannis Xenakis, Peter Yates, Pamela Z, Jack Van Zandt, and many others.

Nadia’s debut Reference Recordings CD Woman at the New Piano: American Music of 2013 was nominated for 58th GRAMMY Awards® in 3 categories: Best Classical Compendium, Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance, and Producer of the Year, Classical. “Sure to remain a mainstay of the contemporary discography for posterity” (New Classic LA), Nadia’s 2018 Reference Recordings CD Quotations and Homages features premieres of solo and collaborative works for 6 pianists (performed with Ray-Kallay Duo, HOCKET and Genevieve Feiwen Lee) inspired by a variety of earlier composers and pieces. Described as “superb… evocative… pure magic” (I Care If You Listen), Nadia’s 2019 Reference Recordings album The Poetry of Places features premieres of solo and collaborative works (performed with LA Phil pianist Joanne Pearce Martin and LAPQ percussionists Nick Terry and Cory Hills) inspired by diverse buildings. It won the 62nd Best Classical Compendium GRAMMY® Award. She is also featured on Isaac Schankler’s 2019 Aerocade Music album Because Patterns, Gernot Wolfgang’s 2019 Albany Records album Vienna And The West, José Serebrier’s 2021 Reference Recordings album Last Tango Before Sunrise, and Wouter Kellerman’s 2021 South African Music Award winning album We’ve Known All Times. Nadia’s recording projects are supported by grants from The Aaron Copland Fund for Music, The Alice M. Ditson Fund at Columbia University, and New Music USA, among others.

As a distinguished chamber musician, Nadia frequently collaborates with prominent artists, most recently including Boris Allakhverdyan, Sarah Cahill, Martin Chalifour, Jin-Shan Dai, Kevin Fitz-Gerald, Vijay Gupta, Dahae Kim, Jerome Lowenthal, Kathleen Supové, Ben Ullery, and the Lyris and Argus Quartets. Her recent collaborative performances were featured on Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Chamber Music Series and the Hear Now Music Festival.

Nadia Shpachenko is Professor of Music at Cal Poly Pomona University, where she leads the Piano Performance program and was awarded the 2017 Provost’s Award for Excellence in Scholarly and Creative Activities. She is also on the faculty of Claremont Graduate University, where she teaches Doctoral piano students. Born in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Nadia completed her DMA and MM degrees at the University of Southern California, where she was awarded the title of Outstanding Graduate. Her principal teachers included John Perry, Victor Rosenbaum, and Victor Derevianko. Nadia Shpachenko is a Steinway Artist and a Schoenhut Toy Piano Artist.

Ethan Gans-Morse is following