American pianist, Joshua Mhoon’s talent for piano was discovered at the age of 7. Quickly dedicating himself to the instrument, he advanced at an exponential rate, despite his comparatively late introduction to music. His quick progression landed him first place prizes in The DePaul National Concerto Competition, The Walgreens National Concerto Competition’s Senior and Junior divisions, The Emilio del Rosario Concerto competition, and accomplishments such as TV appearances on The Tamron Hall Show, NBC Chicago, CBS Chicago, Redbull TV, WTTW’s Chicago tonight, The Mozart on TV Asahi in Japan, along with a feature in the Emmy award winning episode of Built to Last on PBS. Mhoon has given live performances for worldwide audiences in Japan, England, France, Greece, Turkey, Austria, Spain and Italy, and several concert tours in Germany. In 2023, after being named the Silver Medalist at the inaugural Nina Simone Piano Competition, Mhoon catapulted to new heights in the classical music industry, with engagements domestically, and abroad for the 2024-25 season.

Mhoon’s upbringing in Chicago, shaped his musical vision, growing up in the culture of Black American Music, such as R&B, jazz, blues, hip hop, and gospel. Mhoon has had various opportunities to showcase his abilities locally in Chicago, demonstrating a sense of pride in his hometown. Mhoon had the privilege of performing at Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s inauguration, a historic event that gained thousands of viewers on television and live attendance at the city’s Wintrust Arena. Additionally, his other performances in his city include a halftime show at a Chicago Bulls game, a performance for Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and China’s Vice Premier at the Harris theater; performances at the Navy Pier, Ganz Hall, The Studebaker Theater, Pritzker Pavilion, Pianoforte, and Bennett Gordon Hall at the Ravinia Festival. His radio performances became extremely popular as he played and spoke of his love of piano on popular radio shows including the Cliff Kelly Show on WVON with its mostly African American audience. As well as his popularity with larger ethnically diverse audiences appearing in multiple episodes on Chicago’s classical music station WFMT as well as Richard Steele’s program on Chicago National Public Radio’s WBEZ. Other Radio Appearances and performances have been heard on NPR’s From the Top as well as New York’s Classical Music Radio Station WQXR.

At the age of 15, Mhoon began studying at Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music with the school’s renowned Director of Musical Performance, Dr. James Giles. Outside of classical music, Mhoon has also studied jazz and spontaneous creation/composition with jazz legends Willie Pickens and Steve Million. He previously studied jazz with Miles Davis’s former music director Bobby Irving III. Mhoon is also mentored by world-renowned pianist Lang Lang and principal clarinetist of the New York Philharmonic Anthony McGill. Recent and upcoming highlights of Mhoon’s career include performances with the Cincinnati Symphony under musical director Louis Langrée, Yo-Yo Ma, Lang Lang, Anthony McGill, and Gil Shaham at an impressive number of venues, including the Jazz at Lincoln Center, Weill Recital Hall, and the world famous Stern Hall of Carnegie Hall, Steinway Hall, Chicago Symphony Hall, Alice Tully Hall, New World Symphony Center, Chicago Symphony Center, and the Musikverein.

He hopes to foster an appreciation of classical music to reach a larger demographic of people. Mhoon is currently studying in New York City at the Juilliard School under the tutelage of world-renowned pianist Emanuel Ax and Julian Martin. Although he has pursued a few other hobbies, including photography, practicing yoga, and investing in the stock market, above all else, Mhoon loves listening, playing, and composing music. As he said in a 2016 interview with WTTW, “I definitely want to make music my life.” Now, it is clear that Joshua Mhoon is doing exactly that.

Mhoon is a Young Steinway Artist.

Photo credit: Diego Redel

“She energetically bends music to her will and reshapes it with fascinating results.”
–Jazz Improv Magazine

A powerful communicator renowned for her musical scope and versatility, Brazilian-American Clarice Assad is a significant artistic voice in the classical, world music, pop, and jazz genres. The Grammy Award–nominated composer, celebrated pianist, inventive vocalist and educator is acclaimed for her evocative colors, rich textures, and diverse stylistic range.

What motivates Assad? What drives her passion and creativity? Writing and playing music that inspires and encourages audiences’ imaginations to break free of often self-imposed constraints is just the beginning. She endeavors to harness the incredible and intangible power of music to connect people and transform lives through original works, commissions, and education programs that give voice to everything from the impact of climate change to issues of social justice, gender equity, and the empowerment of young voices.

With her talent sought-after by artists and organizations worldwide, the polyglot musician continues to attract new audiences both onstage and off. In the recording arena, Assad has released seven solo albums and appeared on or had her works performed on another 34. Her music is represented on Cedille Records, SONY Masterworks, Nonesuch, Adventure Music, Edge, Telarc, NSS Music, GHA, and CHANDOS. Her innovative and award-winning VOXploration education series on music creation, songwriting, and improvisation has been presented throughout the world.

The prolific composer has more than 70 works to her credit, including numerous commissions for Carnegie Hall, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the Boston Youth Orchestra, Chicago Sinfonietta, San Jose Chamber Orchestra, the Bravo! Vail Music Festival, and the La Jolla Music Festival, to name a few. Her compositions have been recorded by some of the most prominent names in classical music, including percussionist Dame Evelyn Glennie, cellist Yo-Yo Ma, violinist Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, and oboist Liang Wang. Assad’s music has been performed by the Philadelphia Orchestra, Tokyo Symphony, Queensland Symphony, and the Orquestra Sinfônica de São Paulo. She has served as a composer-in-residence for the Albany Symphony, the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, New Century Chamber Orchestra, and the Boston Landmarks Orchestra. Her works are published in France (Editions Lemoine), Germany (Trekel), Brazil (Criadores do Brasil), and in the U.S. by Virtual Artists Collective Publishing (VACP), a publishing company she co-founded with poet and philosopher Steve Schroeder. Assad recently wrote the soundtrack to Devoti Tutti, a documentary by Bernadette Wegenstein, and is composing the music for a ballet by award-winning choreographer Shannon Alvis.

As a performer, Assad has shared the stage with Bobby McFerrin, Anat Cohen, Nadia Sirota, Paquito D’Rivera, Tom Harrell, Marilyn Mazur and Mike Marshall, among others. She has performed at internationally renowned venues and festivals including The Netherlands’ Concertgebouw, Carnegie Hall, Belgium’s Le Palais des Beaux-Arts, Le Casino de Paris, Jazz at Lincoln Center, and the Caramoor International Jazz Festival.

Assad also strives to expand the sonic palette of the voice, including immersing audiences in the music as active participants and by electronically altering sounds, “like one of those cooks who can turn any four random foodstuffs into a feast” (Classical Voice North America).

She takes the immersive experience outside of the concert hall with the innovative and accessible VOXploration, which she created in 2015. The program offers a creative and fun approach to music education through meaningful, interactive experiences. It has been carefully curated to work equally well with participants of any age or musical background. It has received numerous grants and awards from Brazilian foundations such as CAIXA CULTURAL and SESC, as well as American organizations New Music USA and the McKnight Foundation. Assad has given master classes, residencies, and workshops throughout the United States, Europe, and the Middle East.

Born in Rio de Janeiro, Clarice Assad is one of the most widely performed Brazilian concert music composers of her generation. The recipient of numerous honors and awards, amongst them an Aaron Copland Award and several ASCAP awards in composition, she holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the Roosevelt University in Chicago, and a Master of Music degree from The University of Michigan School of Music.

Liam Cummins (b. 2004) writes music that builds bridges, bringing wide-ranging ideas and people together. His compositions span the extremes of grand gesture and subtle nuance, vibrant lyricism and bitter dissonance, high drama and piercing simplicity.  Knitting together diverse materials and sound-worlds, he seeks new windows into age-old traditions.

His music has been widely recognized for its incisive craft and emotional sensitivity. He has received recent commissions from Orchestra of St. Luke’s, New York Youth Symphony, Orchestra Lumos, The Juilliard School’s AXIOM, and Aspen Contemporary Ensemble, among other orchestras, ensembles and soloists across the United States and beyond. ​He is a recipient of a 2024 Charles Ives Scholarship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, a 2023 ASCAP Morton Gould Award, and the 2022 YoungArts Gold award in Classical Music. His music has also been recognized by Tribeca New Music, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, New York Youth Symphony, American Composers Orchestra, National Young Composers Challenge, The Silent Voices Project, Juilliard’s AXIOM competition, the New England Philharmonic, Icarus Quartet and NPR’s The American Sound. In 2022, he was the only young composer in the country nominated for consideration as a United States Presidential Scholar in the Arts. His music has premiered at Alice Tully Hall, The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Aspen Music Festival, Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium and numerous other venues throughout around the world.

Liam is pursuing a Bachelor of Music degree in composition at The Juilliard School, studying with John Corigliano. He has been awarded fellowships at Aspen Music Festival, National YoungArts Week and the DeGaetano Composition Institute, and has participated in festivals including Curtis Institute of Music’s Young Artist Summer Program, Yellow Barn’s Young Artist Program, The Walden School, the Cleveland Institute of Music’s Young Composers Program. Through these opportunities he has studied with luminaries including Augusta Read Thomas, Christopher Theofanidis, Kevin Puts, Martin Bresnick, David Ludwig, Pierre Jalbert, Reiko Füting, Melinda Wagner, George Tsontakis, Zhou Long, Nico Muhly, Ana Sokolovic, Eric Nathan, Pascal Le Boeuf and Chen Yi. 

​Liam is an avid backpacker and adventurer. When not making music, you’ll likely find him in the natural world, camera and notebook in hand, seeking adventure at every opportunity. In turn, these experiences  deepen and enrich his musical passion.

Praised as “One of the most sought after young composers in the country” (Texas Monthly) and “a composer who clearly understands the orchestra and knows how to take advantage of its many varied colors” (Tallahassee Democrat), composer and conductor Quinn Mason (b. 1996) has distinguished himself as an artist of national and international renown. Winner of the 2025 ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer award and one of the most performed composers of his generation, his orchestral music has been commissioned and performed by over 220 orchestras in the US and Europe, including by the San Francisco, Seattle, Detroit, Cincinnati, Dallas, Utah, Phoenix, and Kansas City symphonies, Minnesota Orchestra, Rochester Philharmonic and National Youth Orchestra of the United States (NYO-USA), Ensemble Obiora (Canada) and in Europe by the Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI, Sheffield Philharmonic Orchestra, West of Scotland Schools Symphony Orchestra plus many more. 

 Equally renowned as an international conductor, Quinn was selected by musicians of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra as the winner of the Emerging Maestros Conducting Competition in 2025, and made successful debuts with the Berliner Symphoniker (Germany), Orchestra Filarmonica di Firenze (Italy), North Czech Philharmonic and West Bohemian Symphony Orchestra (Czech Republic) and Siamo Orkest (The Netherlands). In 2026, he will conduct the Vratsa Symphony Orchestra (Bulgaria) and Albanian Radio and Television Symphony Orchestra.

He has studied with Jorma Panula, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Marin Alsop, Robert Spano, Gerard Schwarz, Arturo Tamayo, György Györiványi Ráth, Tomáš Koutník, Michael Palmer, Scott Seaton and Carl Topilow and has guest conducted over 40 orchestras around the world, including the National Symphony Orchestra, Houston Ballet Orchestra, Hartford Symphony Orchestra, Denver Philharmonic Orchestra and West Virginia Symphony Orchestra. Quinn has studied closely with renowned composers David Maslanka, Jake Heggie, Christopher Theofanidis, Jimmy Lopez Bellido, Libby Larsen, David Dzubay and Robert X. Rodriguez.

Selected as one of the “Cool 100” by Houston CityBook Magazine alongside icons such as Simone Biles and Megan Thee Stallion, composer Nicky Sohn is a versatile and sought after voice in contemporary classical music. With a distinctive style characterized by jazz inspired, rhythmically driven themes, her work has been praised internationally as “undoubtedly the crowd pleaser of the evening” (YourObserver), “dynamic and full of vitality” (The Korea Defense Daily), showcasing “colorful orchestration” (NewsBrite), and evoking “elegant wonder” (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung).

Recent highlights include the premiere of Sohn’s guitar concerto with the Albany Symphony featuring guitarist Bokyung Byun, followed by a sinfonietta performance at the 2025 Tanglewood Music Festival. She also composed a large scale ballet for BalletCollective, premiered at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City in collaboration with choreographer Alysa Pires and visual artist Linn Meyers. Additional projects include a cello concerto commissioned by the University of Iowa and recorded by the Czech Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra, and Galaxy Back to You for the Balourdet Quartet, commissioned following their Avery Fisher Career Grant win and featured on their debut CD.

Sohn has a busy spring ahead with three orchestral premieres by the Atlanta Symphony, Knoxville Symphony, and Orchestra Lumos, and is currently composing a new orchestral work for the Amarillo Symphony for their 2026–27 season.

Christopher Theofanidis (b. 12/18/67 in Dallas, Texas) has had performances by many leading orchestras from around the world, including the London Symphony, the New York Philharmonic, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Atlanta Symphony, the Moscow Soloists, the National, Baltimore, St. Louis, and Detroit Symphonies, among many others.  He has also served as Composer of the Year for the Pittsburgh Symphony during their 2006-7 season, for which he wrote a violin concerto for Sarah Chang.

Mr. Theofanidis holds degrees from Yale, the Eastman School of Music, and the University of Houston, and has been the recipient of the International Masterprize, the Rome Prize, a Guggenheim fellowship, a Fulbright fellowship to France to study with Tristan Mural at IRCAM, a Tanglewood fellowship, and two fellowships from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.  In 2007 he was nominated for a Grammy award for best composition for his chorus and orchestra work, The Here and Now, based on the poetry of Rumi, and in 2017 for his bassoon concerto.  His orchestral work, Rainbow Body, has been one of the most performed new orchestral works of the new millennium, having been performed by over 150 orchestras internationally.

Mr. Theofanidis’ has written a ballet for the American Ballet Theatre, a work for the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra as part of their ‘New Brandenburg’ series, and two operas for the San Francisco and Houston Grand Opera companies.  Thomas Hampson sang the lead role in the San Francisco opera.  His work for Houston, The Refuge, featurs six sets of international non-Western musicians alongside the opera musicians.  He has a long-standing relationship with the Atlanta Symphony and Maestro Robert Spano, and has just four recordings with them, including his concert length oratorio, Creation/Creator, which was featured at the SHIFT festival at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. this year with the ASO, chorus, and soloists.  His work, Dreamtime Ancestors, for the orchestral consortium, New Music for America, has been played by over fifty orchestras over the past two seasons.  He has served as a delegate to the US-Japan Foundation’s Leadership Program, and he is a former faculty member of the Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University as well as the Juilliard School.  Mr. Theofanidis is currently a professor at Yale University, and composer-in-residence and co-director of the composition program at the Aspen Music Festival.