John Mackey is a composer currently based in Cambridge, Massachusetts.  He's also lived in New York, Austin, Los Angeles, and Ohio, but he prefers not to talk about Ohio.

As a frequent collaborator, John has worked with a diverse range of artists, from the Santa Clara Vanguard Drum and Bugle Corps to choreographer David Parsons, from the Alvin Ailey Dance Company to the US Olympic Synchronized Swim Team. (The team won a bronze medal in the 2004 Athens Olympics performing to Mackey's work for clarinet and percussion, "Damn.")

John has served as a Meet-The-Composer/American Symphony Orchestra League Composer In Residence with the Greater Twin Cities Youth Symphony and with the Seattle Youth Symphony Orchestra. He has been Composer In Residence at the Vail Valley Music Festival in Vail, Colorado, and in 2005, at the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music.  He returns to Cabrillo this summer for  performances of his trombone concerto, "Harvest," conducted by Marin Alsop, with trombonist Joseph Alessi of the New York Philharmonic.

John holds degrees from The Juilliard School and The Cleveland Institute of Music, where he studied with John Corigliano and Donald Erb, respectively.

To entertain himself while procrastinating on commissions, John enjoys photography and road cycling (but not at the same time). You can hear his music and see his photography (mostly of food, and the backs of conductors’ heads) on his website: www.ostimusic.com

Jesse Kaiser (b. 2000) is a composer, conductor, violinist, and vocalist based in South Carolina. His music spans diverse styles and ensembles, with recent works including "Full fathom five," a miniature setting of "Ariel's song" from Shakespeare’s "The Tempest," and "Un flambeau, Jeannette, Isabelle," a Christmas anthem based on the traditional French carol.

He is the founder and artistic director of the Jesse Kaiser Ensemble, a professional choir in Columbia, South Carolina, known for eclectic, high-level performances. He also serves as a cantor and choral scholar at the Basilica of St. Peter and regularly performs with the South Carolina Philharmonic.

Kaiser studied at the University of South Carolina School of Music with John Fitz Rogers, Fang Man, David Kirkland Garner (composition), and Ari Streisfeld (violin). He participated in the Brevard Summer Music Festival, where he studied violin with Margie Karp and performed under conductors Ken Lam and Keith Lockhart, and he performed at the ACDA Southern Division (2016) and National (2017) conferences under composer/conductors Christopher Aspaas and Eric Whitacre, respectively. He received the John Lawrence McElyea Scholarship in 2020 for his musical contributions to the USC School of Music, and was a finalist for the 2021 Creativity in Music Awards for his electronic music installation "Information Alpha."

Outside of music, he enjoys time with family and friends, cooking, working on his studio, and watching his favorite YouTube creators.

Ian M. Jones is following