Michael Ippolito: The Seeds

Praised by the New York Times for his “polished orchestration” that “glitters, from big-shoulders brass to eerily floating strings,” Michael Ippolito’s music has been performed by leading musicians in venues around the world. Drawing on a rich musical background of classical and folk music, and inspired by visual art, literature, and other art forms, Ippolito has forged a distinctive musical voice in a body of work spanning orchestral, chamber, and vocal music.   

His orchestral music has been conducted by Edo de Waart, Marin Alsop, and Michael Francis in performances by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, San Diego Symphony Orchestra, Cabrillo Festival Orchestra, and the Florida Orchestra. His chamber music has been performed by the Miro Quartet, Attacca Quartet, and Altius Quartet. He has received commissions from Carnegie Hall and Chamber Music America.  

Ippolito is currently Professor of Composition at Texas State University. He studied with John Corigliano at The Juilliard School and with Joel Hoffman and Michael Fiday at the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.  

Recent and upcoming highlights include performances of Darkening, then Brightening by Christopher Cerrone across the country, premieres of wind transcriptions of Caroline Shaw’s Is a Rose and Maria Schneider’s Winter Morning Walks, The Treachery of Sounds by Steven Bryant with the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, Energy in All Directions by Kenneth Frazelle with Sandbox Percussion at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center, the role of Anna in Kurt Weill’s The Seven Deadly Sins with the Charlotte Symphony, a leading role in Louis Andriessen’s opera Theatre of the World with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Dutch National Opera and an international tour of Einstein on the Beach with the Philip Glass Ensemble (2012-2015). 

Kesselman is Assistant Professor of Voice and Choral Music at UNC Greensboro and co-directs the Heretic’s Guide to Musicianship with Kevin Noe. More info can be found at: www.lindsaykesselman.com  

Violist Scott Rawls has appeared as soloist and chamber musician throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, Japan, and Europe.  Recent chamber music endeavors include performances with Anthony McGill, Branford Marsalis, Sergey Antonov, Michelle Cann and the Reynolda Quartet.  With the Nikkanen/Rawls/Bailey string trio, he has played tours in Alaska, Washington, Arizona and Texas.  His solo and chamber music recordings can be heard on the Centaur, CRI, Nonesuch, Capstone, and Philips labels.   

A strong proponent of new music, Rawls has premiered dozens of new works by prominent 

composers.  Most notable, he has toured extensively as a member of Steve Reich and Musicians.  As the violist in this ensemble, he performed the numerous premieres of Daniel Variations, The Cave and Three Tales by Steve Reich and Beryl Korot, videographer. And under the auspices of presenting organizations such as the Wiener Festwochen, Festival d’Automne a Paris, Holland Festival, Berlin Festival, Spoleto Festival USA and the Lincoln Center Festival, he has performed in major music centers around the world including London, Vienna, Rome, Milan, Tokyo, Prague, Amsterdam, Brussels, Los Angeles, Chicago and New York.    

Under the baton of maestro Christopher Dragon, he plays principal viola in the Greensboro Symphony Orchestra.  During the summer season, Rawls plays principal in the festival orchestra at Brevard Music Center where he also coordinates the viola program.  He was also appointed principal viola of the Palm Beach Opera orchestra, David Stern artistic director.  

 Dr. Rawls currently serves as Marion Stedman Covington Distinguished Professor of Viola and Chamber Music and String Area Chair at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro. He holds a BM degree from Indiana University and a MM and DMA from State University of New York at Stony Brook. His major mentors include Abraham Skernick, Georges Janzer, John Graham and Julius Levine.  

Hailed for her “brilliant pianism” (Gramophone) and “acrobatic” performances (Take Effect), Taiwanese-American pianist Annie Jeng has performed widely as a solo and chamber musician in Europe, Asia, and the United States. Annie has commissioned and premiered dozens of new solo and chamber works, and is the pianist of contemporary chamber ensemble, Khemia Ensemble (khemiaensemble.com). The ensemble recently released their sophomore album, “Intersections,” with Parma Recordings. She is the Founder of A Seat at the Piano (ASAP) (aseatatthepiano.com), a non-profit that is dedicated to the promotion of inclusion in the performance and study of solo piano repertoire, and recipient of the 2023 MTNA Frances Clark Award for Keyboard Pedagogy. Annie is the co-creator of the Frances Clark Center online course “Hidden Gems: Four Centuries of Piano Music by Women Composers” and the writer for the column, “Teaching Tomorrow Today” published in American Music Teachers journal. This summer, she is on faculty at Nief-Norf Summer Music Festival, as well as Mosaic Music Festival, a new festival that she co-founded located in Pesaro, Italy that empowers emerging pianists to deepen their musical excellence through wellness, piano pedagogy, and lifelong musicianship. Annie has presented at Music Teachers National Association (MTNA) conferences at collegiate, state, and national levels, The National Conference of Keyboard Pedagogy (NCKP), and College Music Society (CMS) conferences. She served as the President of Greensboro Music Teachers Association (GMTA) from 2022-2025 and now serves on the board for the North Carolina Music Teachers Association (NCMTA). Annie received her DMA in Piano Performance and Pedagogy from the University of Michigan, where she also received her MM. She earned her BM in Piano Performance with a minor in Public Health from New York University. She is currently Associate Professor of Piano and Piano Pedagogy at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. (www.anniejeng.com)