First Prize, 2002 Concert Artists Guild International Competition

WQXR Prize, 2002 Concert Artists Guild International Competition

2004 & 1999 ASCAP/CMA Award for Adventurous Programming

Hailed by The Chicago Tribune for "powerful virtuosity and striking razor-sharp ensemble playing," ANTARES was named First Prize Winner of the 2002 Concert Artists Guild International Competition, where the ensemble was also awarded the Victor and Sono Elmaleh Award, the WQXR Prize, and numerous performance prize engagements. Comprised of four virtuoso instrumentalists, Antares draws from a vast and colorful repertoire for the piano-clarinet quartet formation, as well as its various trio and duo permutations. This versatility allows Antares to create programs which span the traditional eras of classical music from the 18th century through the music of today, and the group has quickly gained a stellar reputation for its dedication to the commissioning and promotion of music by living composers. In January 2004, Antares received its second ASCAP/CMA Award for Adventuresome Programming, and, since its founding in 1996 in New Haven, CT, the quartet has won top prizes in four national chamber music competitions. A recent New York Times review accurately described Antares' approach to the music they perform: "The four musicians play with superb technical polish and, equally important, a sense that they not only are comfortable with this music but also understand its vocabulary and syntax." Current engagements for Antares include a return to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art for a pair of concerts, as well as performances and residencies at New York's Merkin Concert Hall, the Krannert Center at the University of Illinois, the Aspen School of Music, the Raleigh Chamber Music Guild, Friends of the Arts (NY) and the Newtown Friends of Music (CT). The members of Antares are also dedicated to education, giving frequent lecture/performances and master classes and participating in community educational outreach programs. Antares is in residence at Columbia University, NY and Wesleyan University, CT and is on the Touring Roster of the Connecticut State Commission, which provides partial funding for various programs throughout Connecticut and New England.

He has received commissions from Betty Freeman, the Merce Cunningham Dance Company, the Paul Dresher Ensemble, the Vienna Modern Festival, the St. Lawrence String Quartet, Belgium's Champ D'Action, Festival Adevantgarde (Munich), Zeitgeist, MANUFACTURE (Tokyo), and the American Composers Forum. In 1997 Applebaum received the American Music Center'scps Stephen Albert Award.

Applebaum builds electroacoustic sound-sculptures out of junk, hardware, and found objects. He is also active as a jazz pianist, concertizing from Burkina Faso to Sumatra. At present, he performs with his father, Bob Applebaum of Chicago, in the Applebaum Jazz Piano Duo. His music can be heard on recordings on the Innova, Tzadik, Capstone, and SEAMUS labels. Prior to his current appointment, he taught at UCSD, Mississippi State University, and Carleton College.

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John Bischoff (b. 1949, San Francisco) has been active in the experimental music scene in the San Francisco Bay Area for over 30 years as a composer, performer, and teacher. He is known for his solo constructions in real-time synthesis and the pioneering development of computer network bands. His performances around the U.S. include New Music America festivals in 1981 and 1989, Experimental Intermedia (N.Y.C.), Lampo (Chicago), and the Beyond Music Festival (L.A.). He has performed numerous times in Europe including the Festival d'Automne in Paris, Akademie der Kounste in Berlin, Fylkingen in Stockholm, and t-u-b-e in Munich. He was a founding member of The League of Automatic Music Composers (1978) and he co-authored an article on The League's music that appears in Foundations of Computer Music (MIT Press 1985). He was also a founding member of the network band The Hub with which he has performed and recorded from 1985 to the present. In 1999 he received an award from the Foundation for Contemporary Performance Arts (N.Y.C.) in recognition of his music. Recordings of his work are available on Artifact, 23Five, Lovely, and Tzadik. He is currently on faculty in the Music Department at Mills College in Oakland, California.

Chris Brown, composer, pianist, and electronic musician, creates music for acoustic instruments with interactive electronics, for computer networks, and for improvising ensembles. Collaboration and improvisation are consistent themes in his work, as well as the invention and performance of new electronic instruments. These range from electro-acoustic instruments (Gazamba, 1982), to acoustic instrument transformation systems (Lava, 1992), and audience interactive FM radio installations (Transmissions, 2004, with Guillermo Galindo). In 2005 he created TeleSon, a composition for two ReacTable instruments performed in a joint concert between Ars Electronica in Linz, Austria and the International Computer Music Conference in Barcelona, Spain. Recordings of his music are available on Tzadik, Pogus, Intakt, Rastascan, Ecstatic Peace, SIRR, and Artifact labels. As a performer he has recorded music by Henry Cowell, Luc Ferrari, José Maceda, John Zorn, David Rosenboom, Larry Ochs, Glenn Spearman, and Wadada Leo Smith; as an improvisor he has recorded with Anthony Braxton, Pauline Oliveros, Fred Frith, Rova Saxophone Quartet, Ikue Mori, Alvin Curran, William Winant, Biggi Vinkeloe, Don Robinson, and Frank Gratkowski, among many others. He teaches at Mills College in Oakland, California where he is Co-Director of the Center for Contemporary Music (CCM).

The DUO ALTERNO was born in Turin (Italy). Through concerts and master classes they seek to promote the vocal-piano repertoire from the early Twentieth Century to living composers, with particular attention to Italian music. Many composers (including Giacomo Manzoni and Ennio Morricone) have written pieces for soprano Tiziana Scandaletti and for pianist-composer Riccardo Piacentini, both of whom are graduated with top marks in History of Music as well as in their respective fields of performance.

The DUO made its debut in February 1997 at Vancouver Festival of Italian Contemporary Music, where they were invited to hold concerts and master classes at Simon Fraser University, at University of British Columbia and Vancouver Academy of Music. Since then they have undertaken regular foreign tours: Finland in 1998 (Sibelius Akatemia in Helsinki), Uzbekistan (Tashkent Festival of contemporary music, first Italian artists to be invited) and Argentina (San Martin Cultural Centre in Buenos Aires); in 1999 they returned to Uzbekistan and visited the four Scandinavian countries (Festival "Memorie sonore" in Stockholm, Cinemateket in Oslo, Cable Factory in Helsinki); in 2000 they were in USA (Ethical Society of Philadelphia, Levine School of Washington, Rutgers State University); in 2001 in France (Festival Musique italienne du XXme siécle in Strasburg, Festival Transphotographique of Lille, Centre Noroit in Arras), Kazakhstan (Almaty State Conservatory), Great Britain (Festival Roussel in London), south-east Asia (Gedung Kesenian Theater in Jakarta, Chongdong Theater and Joong Ang University in Seoul, Jubilee Hall in Singapore), in 2002 in Belgium (Flanders Festival), Norway, China (Beijing Central Conservatory of Music), Singapore; in 2003 again in USA, Canada (Los Angeles, San Francisco, NUMUS Concerts at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo-Toronto and second time at University of British Columbia in Vancouver) and Macedonia; in 2004 in India (New Delhi Indian International Centre, Madras Musical Association in Chennai, ITC Windsor Mannor in Bangalore), Indonesia (Erasmus Huis in Jakarta) Australia (Melbourne Chapel off Chapel and University of New England) and Argentina (San Paolo Auditorium and Museum Fernandez Blanco); in 2005 in Holland, Belgium, Turkey (Gerere Theater in Istanbul), USA (Mannes College of New York and, again, Rutgers State University), Russia (St. Petersburg Composers' Union); in 2006 in Japan (Toyota Museum) and USA (Haverford College of Philadelphia); as well as dozens of performances in Italy, from Kandinsky Academy in Avellino to Musica Aperta in Bergamo, Perosi International Academy in Biella, Accademia Filarmonica and Cultural Centre La Soffitta in Bologna, Spazio Musica in Cagliari, Spazio Novecento in Cremona, Amici della Musica of Lanciano, Maratea Musica Festival, I Teatri di Reggio Emilia, Nuovi Spazi Musicali in Rome, Torino Settembre Musica, Trieste Prima, Ateneo Veneto and Levi Foundation in Venice... besides several master-classes in Academies, Conservatories and Universities (Biella, Bologna, Padua, Turin, Trento...).

The DUO has made recordings for Curci (first recording of Giacomo Manzoni's "Du Dunkelheit", dedicated to the Duo Alterno, Milan 1998), for Nuova Era label (four CDs with first-ever recordings of works by Giorgio Federico Ghedini, Turin 2000 and 2001, Alfredo Casella, Turin 2002, Franco Alfano, Turin 2003) and the CDs of foto-musica con foto-suoni with enviromental sounds for the 8th and 9th Biennial International of Photography in Turin (Musiche dell'aurora , Shahar and Arie condizionate), for the Train Museum in Bussoleno (Treni persi), for the mines in Traversella (Mina miniera mia) and the Royal Castle in Venaria Reale (Musiche della Reggia di Venaria Reale). Last CDs La voce contemporanea in Italia - 1st CD and 2nd CD (The Italian contemporary voice) labeled by Stradivarius.

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In 1978, he began teaching during his residency in Brazil at the Universidade Nacionale do Estade de Sao Paulo. A major appointment followed at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Lyon (1986-96). Most significant is his long association with the world's leading center for computer music research, IRCAM (Intitut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique/Musique) a branch of the Centre George Pompidou in Paris where he has worked as a Research Scientist since 1984, and as a Professor of Composition since 1993. It was at IRCAM where Manoury composed Zeitlauf, a work for mixed choir, instrumental ensemble, synthesisers, and tape.

For the European Year of Music, the Council of Europe commissioned Manoury to compose Aleph, which premiered in 1985. He continued to compose a series of chamber works, among which were Musique I and II, and Instantanés. 1992-1993 he composed the opening of the opera La Nuit du Sortilège (later renamed 60e Parallèle), which won an award from the UNESCO International Composers' Tribune. He also has produced two other operas, La Frontière and K. K was commissioned and premiered by the Paris Opera. One of his most important works is the Sonus ex Machina series of compositions (Jupiter, Pluton, and Neptune) for solo instruments and real-time computer processing.

Stefan Östersjö studied with Gunnar Spjuth and Prof Per-Olof Johnsson at the Malmö Academy of Music and also with Peder Riis and Magnus Andersson in Stockholm and Darmstadt. He is at present engaged in artistic research on the performance of new music at the Malmö Academy of Music

Tim Perkis has been working in the medium of live electronic and computer sound for many years, performing, exhibiting installation works and recording in North America, Europe and Japan. His work has largely been concerned with exploring the emergence of life-like properties in complex systems of interaction. In addition, he is a well known performer in the world of improvised music, having performed on his electronic improvisation instruments with hundreds of artists and groups. He is also producer and director of a feature-length documentary on musicians and sound artists in the San Francisco Bay area called NOISY PEOPLE to be released in 2007.

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He has created new techniques extending the colours and range of the double bass heretofore thought impossible on this instrument. He collaborated for long time with Luigi Nono ("arco mobile a la Stefano Scodanibbio" is written on Prometeo's score) and with Giacinto Scelsi.

John Cage, in one of his last interviews, exposed the following: "Stefano Scodanibbio is amazing, I haven't heard better double bass playing than Scodanibbio's. I was just amazed. And I think everyone who heard him was amazed. He is really extraordinary. His performance was absolutely magic". In 1996 he has been teaching contrabass at Darmstadt Ferienkurse. He regularly plays in Duo with Rohan de Saram and, furthermore, with Markus Stockhausen.

Active as a composer, his catalogue consists of more than 40 works principally written for strings (Sei Studi for solo contrabass, Six Duos for all combinations of the four strings, Three String Quartets , Concerto for contrabass, strings and percussions, etc.) and he was chosen three times for the ISCM, International Society of Contemporary Music (Oslo 1990, Mexico City 1993, Hong Kong 2002). Of particular importance is his collaboration with Terry Riley and with poet Edoardo Sanguineti. In 1983 he founded the "Rassegna di Nuova Musica", New Music Festival held every year in Macerata, Italy.

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Also involved in community, environmental and educational projects, his Sounds Fun books of musical games having been republished in Japanese. His most recent pieces include Globalalia , commissioned by Folkmar Hein and premiered in Berlin 2004 and Memories of Madrid , one of several sound installations in Madrid bus-stops (May-Sept 2005) based on street recordings, as part of the Itinerarios del Sonidos project.

He is currently Honorary Professor of Music at the University of York, UK.

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Matthias Ziegler currently teaches at the Musikhochschule Winterthur Zurich.

Searching for new sounds he enormously broadened the expressive potential of the traditional flute and the electroacoustically amplified contrabass flute. Amplifying the flute allows him to increase the volume of the microsound structures of the flute to an audible level. Inspired by the new dimension of sounds of these instruments, composers such as Michael Jarrell from Switzerland, Benjamin Yusupov from Tadjikistan and the American Mark Dresser wrote flute concertos for him. In 2002 Matthias Ziegler became the Artistic Director of the Waldhaus Musik Flims Festival, a three-week festival in July.

Matthias Ziegler performs on a flute manufactured by Louis Lot (1880), on a Alto- and Bassflute by Eva Kingma (Holland) as well as on his own invention, the "Matusiflute", a uniquely designed instrument with a vibrating membrane. His contrabassflute has been constructed by Kotato Fukushima (Japan).