As a multi-genre recording artist and instrumentalist, Damien Sneed is a pianist, vocalist, organist, composer, conductor, arranger, producer, and arts educator whose work spans multiple genres. He has worked with jazz, classical, pop, and R&B legends, including the late Aretha Franklin and Jessye Norman. He is featured on Norman’s final recording, Bound For The Promised Land, on Albany Records. He also worked with Wynton Marsalis, Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross, Ashford & Simpson, J’Nai Bridges, Lawrence Brownlee, and many others. In addition, Sneed has served as music director for several Grammy Award-winning gospel artists and BET’s hit gospel competition, Sunday Best – Season Four. Sneed is a 2014 Sphinx Medal of Excellence recipient. He is a 2020 Dove Award winner and a 2021 NAACP Image Award winner for his work as a featured producer and writer on the Clark Sisters’ newest project, The Return.

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Lyric soprano Jacqueline Echols has been praised for her “dynamic range and vocal acrobatics” (Classical Voice) in theaters across the United States. In the summer of 2022, Echols reprised her acclaimed portrayal of Clara in Porgy and Bess in her debut with Des Moines Metro Opera, in addition to her debut with The Cleveland Orchestra for their annual Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration concert and her return to Cincinnati Opera for a special performance alongside Morris Robinson in Morris and Friends. In the 2022-23 season, she returns to LA Opera as Julie in Rhiannon Giddens and Michael Abels’ Omar, debuts the role of Juliette in Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette with Opera San Antonio, and makes her long-awaited return to the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts reprising the role of Musetta in La bohème with Washington National Opera.

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Praised in Opera News as “a gentle actor and elegant musician” and in The Wall Street Journal for his "mellifluous baritone," Justin Austin has been performing professionally since the age of four. Born in Stuttgart, Germany, to professional opera singer parents, Austin began his singing career as a boy soprano performing at venues such as Teatro Real, Bregenzer Festspiele, Lincoln Center, and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. While working with directors such as Götz Friedrich and Tazewell Thompson, he was able to realize early on his love for music and performance.

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Amyr Joyner is a professional violinist and music instructor based in the wider Baltimore-D.C. area with vast experience performing solo, chamber, and orchestral music. He have performed extensively throughout the United States and abroad, and at major music centers in the country including Carnegie Hall, Woodruff Arts Center, the Harris Theater, the Hippodrome Theater, Grant Park Stage, and the Music Center at Strathmore. Amyr is versed in classical, jazz, and popular music improvisation.

Justus Ross completed his Bachelor of Music degree in Violin Performance at Texas Tech University under Professor Annie Chalex Boyle. During his studies at Texas Tech University, Justus became the first prize winner of the Texas Tech University String Concerto Competition in 2016; a national finalist in the MTNA Chamber Music Competition in 2017; and received second prize in the ENKOR International Chamber Music Competition in 2017. In the season of 2018-2019 Justus was the assistant concertmaster of the Amarillo Symphony Orchestra. He also performed in the Lubbock Symphony Orchestra, The Myrska Trio, and other various small ensembles in the West Texas area.

Justus has participated in music festivals such as the Heifetz International Music Institute, Round Top Music Festival, Hot Springs Music Festival, and Lake City String Academy. He has performed in master classes and lessons with Ani Kavafian, Scott St. John, Frank Almond, Tom Rosenberg, Kenneth Goldsmith, and Sally O’Reilly. While in Los Angeles, California, Justus attended the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music. There he received his master of music degree in Violin Performance under Dr. Lina Bahn. During his master’s degree, Justus was a finalist in the Thornton School of Music String Concerto Competition; a member of the Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion committee; and a section violinist of the American Youth Symphony.

Currently, Justus is pursuing his graduate diploma in Violin Performance under Professor Ayano Ninomiya at New England Conservatory in Boston, Massachusetts. He is also the assistant concertmaster of the Du Bois orchestra. Originally from Houston, Texas; his previous teacher was Zachary Carrettin. Apart from Justus’ violin career, he is an avid runner and enjoys singing.

Edward W. Hardy is a critically acclaimed Black and Puerto Rican composer, music director, virtuoso violinist and violist and is one of the foremost exponents of solo violin repertoire for theatrical productions. At the age of 25, “Hardy [was] one of the youngest composers to ever be accepted into the Exploring the Metropolis Con Edison Composer Residency and one of the most prominent composer/ violinists in New York City” (Broadway World).

“Edward W. Hardy, who composed the omnipresent music, plays the violin superbly” (The New York Times).

Hardy is “Mesmerizing” (Manhattan With A Twist) and also performs in a style that is “serene, dreamy, and soulful with velvety panache” (The Millbrook Independent).

As the composer, music director and violinist of the smash hit Off-Broadway show The Woodsman, Hardy’s show was a recipient of the 2016 Obie Award, the 2014 Jim Henson Foundation Grant, and was broadcast on PBS stations four separate times, streamed on BroadwayHD, and major music producer Jim McElwaine produced Hardy’s album The Woodsman Original Off-Broadway Solo Recording which continues to be sold and streamed in countries such as the United States, Mexico, United Kingdom, Russia, Turkey, France, Hong Kong, Argentina, Ireland, and Germany.

Currently, Edward's discography contains 8 singles, 1 album, and his list of original compositions include works for solo violin, voice, harp, piano, string quartet, string trio, string duo, Latin ensemble, and soundtracks for film and stage. Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts commissioned Edward's song cycle, Born Free (“Sorrow Home ,” “Lineage,” “The Struggle Staggers Us,” and “Southern Song”) and premiered the work as part of their 2022 UNTRAPPED series. Also in 2022, Edward's Latin piece Flying - Dancing in Spanish Harlem was performed by jazz legend Andre Hayward and his band, along with Edward, at the Austin Chamber Music Festival.

Edward has received numerous awards, most recently winning 1st Prize in the 2022 University of Northern Colorado Concerto Competition and 2nd Prize in the 2022 Angie Southard Performance Competition. Edward also has an extensive performance history ranging from solo violin performances for the Congressional Black Caucus, opening of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History & Culture, Hublot, MAC Cosmetics, Haute Living, special performances for rap legends 50 Cent, Nas, Justin Bieber, Hailey Bieber, Usher, Russell Westbrook, Kehlani, and legendary hockey player Alexander Ovechkin, to sharing the stage with famous artists such as Itzhak Perlman, Maxim Vengerov, Kygo, André De Shields, Damien Sneed, Brandie Sutton, Justin Austin, Regina Carter, Norm Lewis, Joshua Bell, John Blake Jr., Mark O'Connor, Radmila Lolly, Raven McMillon, Janinah Burnett, Amanda Lynn Bottoms, Raehann Bryce-Davis, Graham Reynolds, the Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra, Jeffrey Zeigler, Sandbox Percussion, and the Attacca Quartet. Performance venues include Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Avery Fisher Hall, Jazz at Lincoln Center, WQXR, The Greene Space, The Apollo Theater, Metropolitan Museum of Art, American Museum of Natural History, Charleston Museum, The Cutting Room, The Public Theater's Joe's Pub, Amanyara, and many others.

Edward is a proud member of Local 802 Musicians Union, Dramatist Guild of America, ASCAP and is affiliated with the American Composers Orchestra, the Sphinx Organization, Exploring the Metropolis, the Gateways Music Festival, Carnegie Hall/Weill Music Institute. He is also the founder and artistic director of the Omnipresent Music Festival - BIPOC Musicians Festival, the digital marketing director and artistic advisor of Beethoven in the Rockies: Concert Series, and the senior director of operations and co-founder of the Northern Colorado Center for Arts Entrepreneurship. Edward is a doctoral candidate and graduate instructor in violin performance at the University of Northern Colorado under the mentorship of Dr. Jubal Fulks.

Thapelo Masita uses his music to help further the arts in his home country of South Africa. He earned a bachelor of music in cello performance from the Eastman School of Music in 2017 and a master of music degree from the Juilliard School in 2019.

Through a faculty position at the Opportunity Music Project and a fellowship in the Music Advancement Program—a Juilliard Sponsored Community Engagement Initiative, Masita has been able to serve young people from underrepresented communities.

Masita is a founding member of the Uhuru String Quartet, which seeks through artistic collaborations and performance to connect and empower women who have experienced domestic violence and homelessness. The Quartet has commissioned and performed a new quartet by Japanese American composer Sato Matsui, and has collaborated on several occasions with Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Caroline Shaw.

Masita is the founder and executive director of the Bokamoso International Chamber Music Festival and Workshop in South Africa, which aims to share the joys of music with local communities while providing high level training to promising youths from around the country.

Thapelo is pursuing a doctor of musical arts degree at CUNY Graduate Center where he works with Julia Lichten. He performs on a cello made by Oded Kishony, on generous loan to him by the Virtu Foundation.

The Coalition for African Americans in the Performing Arts (CAAPA) supports Black classical musicians and others in the performing arts by “Bringing Color to the Classics!” through The CAAPA Cause: Community Outreach, Arts Education, Audience Development, Performance Opportunities, and Arts Partnerships. Founded in 2003 by brother-sister classical musicians Victor Simonson and Pamela Simonson to “give back to the community”, the 501c3 Maryland-based arts organization’s programming includes: Opera for Fun Youth Outreach Program, Sing for Seniors Recitals, The Performance Series, REACH: International Outreach Program, CityCONNECT, Scholarship Program, Meet the Composers Seminars, CAAPA Camp (Cultivating Artists, Musicians, and Performers), and the Master Class Series. For more details, visit www.4caapa.org