Robert A. Baker (born 1970, Toronto, Canada) is a composer, pianist, researcher, conductor and teacher. His compositional aesthetic is one of stylistic pluralism, and is accompanied by a fascination with issues of listener perception, expectation, time and memory. Robert’s music has been performed by orchestras, ensembles, and soloists in North America and Europe including: the Azimuth Quartet and the Great Lakes Duo (USA); Esprit Orchestra, the Madawaska String Quartet, Elgin String Quartet, The Standing Wave Ensemble, and toneART ensemble (of which Baker was a founding member) (Canada); Chiasmus and Psappha Ensembles (UK). His music has been programmed on numerous concert series and at festivals and conferences including: the St. Magnus, the York Spring New Music, and Didsbury Arts Festivals (UK); Jihlava 2001 International Choral Festival (Czech Republic); Festival "Giuseppe Rosetta" 1998 (Italy); Canadian Contemporary Music Workshop, Canadian Music Centre Professional Readings Series, and New Music North ( Canada); Society of Composers, Inc., College Music Society, and FSU Biennial Festival of New Music, and Miami New Music ISCM Festival (USA). An award winner and finalist in international competitions, including “Jihlava 2000” International Choral Composition Competition of the Czech Republic, the 6th International Composition Competition, “Città di Udine” 2006, Italy, Free Style Composition Competition (England), and Choral Arts Ensemble Minnesota (USA), Robert’s music has been supported by the Maryland State and Toronto Arts Councils, broadcast by CBC Radio Canada, and featured on TEM (Taukay Edizione Musicali) Italian Web Radio.

Numerous commercial recordings of Robert’s music have been made by such artists and ensembles as classical guitarist Danielle Cumming, toneART ensemble ( Canada), the University Choir of Pardubice (Czech Rep.), and Chiasmus Ensemble ( England). His first string quartet is included on the recent 2010 ISCM Canadian Section Selected Works CD, and a new recording devoted to Robert’s recent solo and chamber music is scheduled for release in the 2011/12 season. An experienced conductor of chamber, orchestral and choral music, Robert has appeared as Guest Conductor for the Brampton and Scarborough Cathedral Bluffs Orchestras ( Canada), and most recently conducted Salisbury University’s spring 2008 production of Dido and Aeneas from the harpsichord.

Robert is also an active researcher on contemporary music analysis and philosophies on the perception of musical time and form. His research and theories on operatic spatiotemporality have led to a published article (“Spaces and Places of Opera”, Circuit musiques contemporaines, December 2007, Vol. 17, no. 3), and paper presentations at College Music Society conferences in the United States, and organization for which he currently serves as Composition Area Chair for the Mid-Atlantic Region. Robert holds a Ph.D. and M.Mus. in composition (McGill, 2009 and 2004) where his principal teachers were John Rea and Jean Lesage, a B.Mus. in theory (Toronto, 1993) and an A.R.C.T. in Piano Performance from the Royal Conservatory of Music (Toronto, 1993). Since 2008 Robert has been teaching various music courses as an Adjunct Lecturer at Salisbury University, MD, and beginning fall 2011 will also be on faculty at Towson University (Baltimore, MD). www.robertabaker.net

Keith Allan Kramer, composer, conductor, recording engineer and guitarist, currently resides in Boston, Massachusetts. His compositions are performed frequently throughout the U.S. as well as internationally. Keith is also the recipient of several composition prizes. He has studied with Thomas DeLio, John Van der Slice and Stuart Saunders Smith. Keith received his D.M.A. in composition from the University of Miami and his M.Mus. in composition from the University of Maryland, College Park. Keith was the President of the Baltimore Composers Forum from 2008-2010, an organization that promotes new music through innovative and cutting edge programming, and currently serves on the board of directors.

Keith Kramer's music is at times subtle and restrained, and other times ferocious and demanding. Always searching for new modes of expression, each piece that Keith composes represents another facet of a continuous journey of discovery. His music has been performed and recorded by the Slovak National Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Kirk Trevor, the Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Vit Micka, University of Miami Symphony Orchestra, conducted by David Stockton, David Taylor, Gottfried Stoger, David LaVorgna, Jessica Hanel Satava, Joseph Satava, Azimuth Quartet, Mariner String Quartet, Pictures on Silence, The Capitol Hill Chamber Players, Jade Strings, Sonora Ensemble, Alan Ngim, George Weremchuk, Hye-Jung Hong and Maiko Suzuki. Keith has collaborated with choreographers Lynne Price, Sonia Synkowski and Lauren Withhart, as well as visual artist Fred Merrill.

Keith's latest release is the exciting new orchestral work Emerge, which is heard on the Navona release Mementos and will appear on an all Kramer CD to be released by Navona in the fall of 2011. Keith's first CD release, Causal Dualism, includes the works Duality for soprano saxophone, bass trombone and string quartet, and Causality for string orchestra, piano and percussion. Mementos is available through the Navona Records website, Amazon.com and iTunes and Causal Dualism can be purchased through Amazon.com and iTunes. www.keithkramer.org

Jerry Tabor holds Doctor of Musical Arts and Master of Music degrees in composition from the University of Maryland at College Park, where he studied with esteemed composer and theorist, Thomas DeLio. He earned a Bachelor of Music degree in theory and composition at the University of New Mexico under the guidance of Scott Wilkinson, William Wood. While at UNM, Tabor took master classes with such composers as Milton Babbitt and Michael Colgrass.

Tabor writes music for various instrumental combinations, including orchestra, mixed chamber ensembles, chorus, vocal solo with piano, and jazz ensembles, as well as for the electroacoustic medium. His music has been commissioned by respected performers such as Frank Cox (cello), Danielle Cumming (guitar), Thomas Moore (piano), and the Links Ensemble, as well as the Salisbury Symphony Orchestra and the Salisbury University Classical Guitar Festival. Tabor's compositions are published by Silent Editions and several are recorded on the Neuma Records label. His 1989 woodwind quintet, Texture and Color on a Wall, won the University of New Mexico Composition Competition and his 1994 work for large chamber ensemble, Ambit, was a finalist in the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) Foundation Young Composer Competition (1995). More recently, as a guest composer, his music has been featured at the John Donald Robb International Composers Symposium (NM), the Western Illinois University New Music Festival, The Electroacoustic Music: The Continuing Tradition conference (MD), the Holy Cross College New Music Festival (MA), George Mason University (VA), SUNY Buffalo, Catholic University of America (DC), and Hartwick College (NY), among others. His music has also been presented in Europe and at such festivals as the International Computer Music Conference, the Percussive Arts Society International Conference, the American Society for Cybernetics Conference, the Electronic Music Midwest Festival, and Society of Composers conferences.

Tabor's research is focused in the areas of composition theory and compositional pedagogy. His important book on a pioneering theorist and cognitive musicologist, entitled, Otto Laske: Navigating New Musical Horizons, is published by Greenwood Press (1999). He played an important role in the organization of a significant Mellen Press volume on the work of Thomas DeLio, Essays on the Music and Theoretical Writings of Thomas DeLio, Contemporary American Composer, for which he coauthored the introduction (2008). He also published several essays in the Computer Music Journal and wrote the Instructors Manual for the 2nd edition of the popular jazz text, Jazz: The First 100 Years.

Tabor has taught at the University of Maryland, University of Maryland Baltimore County, and Trinity College in Washington, D.C. As Professor of Music at Salisbury University in Maryland, where he has taught since 1997, Tabor teaches in and coordinates the theory and composition programs. He also directs the jazz ensembles. www.jerrytabor.com

Adalberto Yanes holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Miami(Coral Gables, Florida) in music composition. The topic of his dissertation was Vita Hildegardis a chamber opera on the life of St. Hildegard von Bingen. Dr. Yanes also holds a Master of Music from Manhattan School of Music (NYC), and a Bachelors of Music from Florida International University (Miami, Florida).

His composition instructors have included Dennis Kam, Richard Danielpour, Orlando Jacinto Garcia, and Jon Christopher Nelson. He has participated in master classes given by: Tomas Marco, Steve Reich, Philip Glass, John Cage, George Crumb, Pauline Oliveros, Tania LeÛn, and Thea Musgrave. Also an accomplished pianist his instructors have included Peggy Neighbors Erwin, Miguel Salvador, and Adolfo Fernandez. As a pianist Dr, Yanes has performed both classical and contemporary repertoire throughout the New York and Greater Miami area and in Europe.

Dr. Yanes has written for various mediums including choral and orchestral. Winner of various awards for academic and musical excellence, Dr. Yanes has placed finalist on both the ASCAP Awards for Emerging Composers, and the Fulbright Scholars Program. Dr. Yanes attended LíEcole Americaine in Fountainbleau - France studying with the protÈgÈ of Oliver Messiaen, Betsy Jolas and was accepted as a student of Louis Andriessen at The Royal Conservatory in The Hague ñ The Netherlands. Dr. Yanes has been active participant in European events and festivals such as IRCAM Course díete ñ (Paris, France) master class with Gerard Grisey, Jonathan Harvey, Internationale Musikinstitut- (Darmstadt, Germany) master class with Helmut Lachenmann and Gyorgy Kurtag, and Bartok Festival - (Szombathely, Hungary) master class with Marco Stroppa, Jacopo Baboni, and Dennis Smalley.

Winner of the Shouse Foundation Award Adalberto Yanesí music has been performed at various New Music Festivals such as the Society of Composers, Inc Regional conferences, The Substropics Festival, the May in Miami Festival, Festival Miami, and College Music Society Regional Conference. Two of his piano preludes from the collection Points of Origin are featured in the UMSCI CD.

As an educator Dr. Yanes has been a theory and composition teaching assistant for three years at the University of Miami and has taught music at the Doral Academy Charter Elementary School, Southwood Middle Center for the Performing Arts, and currently at The Doral Performing Arts Academy Charter High School were he was elected Teacher of the Year by the faculty. Currently, Adalberto Yanes is Founder and CEO of Teachers2GO.com a tutoring company providing quality instruction in Academics, Foreign Languages, and Instrumental Performance. www.adalbertoyanes.com