Jacob Bancks was born in 1982 in Fairmont, Minnesota and currently resides in Chicago. He received a B.M. degree in composition from Wheaton College in 2003, a M.M. in composition in 2006 from the Eastman School of Music, and is currently working on a Ph.D. at the University of Chicago. His composition teachers include Shulamit Ran, Ricardo Zohn-Muldoon, Carlos Sanchez-Gutierrez and Augusta Read Thomas. He has attended composition master classes with Luca Francesconi and Louis Andreissen and studied piano with Vincent Lenti and Daniel Paul Horn. A BMI Student Composer Award-winner in 2006, Bancks has also been honored with a Charles Ives Scholarship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, a Jacob K. Javits Fellowship from the U.S. Department of Education, the Century Fellowship from the University of Chicago, and the Eastman School of Music’s Howard Hanson Orchestral Prize. His music has been performed by eighth blackbird, the New York Youth Symphony, Eastman Wind Ensemble, South Dakota Symphony, the Millennium Chamber Players, Eastman Philharmonia, Cayuga Chamber Orchestra, and the University of Chicago New Music Ensemble. His BMI award-winning work was premiered in 2008 by the New York Youth Symphony in Carnegie Hall, with mezzo-soprano Kate Lindsey and Ryan McAdams conducting.

Nicholas Oberg Deyoe
BMI award-winning work: 15 Players for large mixed chamber ensemble

Nicholas Deyoe was born in 1981 in Boulder, Colorado and currently lives in San Diego. He received a B.M. degree in music theory and composition in 2004 and a M.M. degree in orchestral conducting in 2006 from the University of Northern Colorado. He is also the recipient of a M.A. in composition from the University of California San Diego (UCSD), where he will begin work on a Ph.D. in composition in the fall of 2008. He has studied composition with Roger Reynolds, John McLaird and Violeta Dinescu, conducting with Russel Guyver, Rand Steiger and Harvey Sollberger, and guitar with Jonathan Leathwood. He has conducted performances at UCSD of works by Gérard Grisey and Helmut Lachenmann. Recent performances of his work, - fl / vln -, have been occurred at UCSD with John Fonville (flute) and Peter Clark (violin) and at the University of Maryland with Lisa Cella (flute) and Mark Menzies (violin). A new work titled - POS BTR -, for tenor saxophone and piano was recently commissioned by the Kenners, Eliot Gattegno and Eric Wubbels. His BMI award-winning work was premiered by the UCSD New Music Ensemble in October 2007, with the composer conducting.

David Fulmer
BMI award-winning work: Discant Dialects for strings, piano and harpsichord

David Fulmer was born in Boston in 1981 and currently lives in New York City. He received a B.M. with academic honors and distinction in performance in 2004 and a M.M. in 2006 from the New England Conservatory of Music. He is currently a D.M.A. student at The Juilliard School. Fulmer has studied composition with Milton Babbitt, Robert Cogan, Pozzi Escot, and Lee Hyla, and violin with Robert Mann and James Buswell. He has been honored by the American Academy of Arts and Letters with a Charles Ives Scholarship, and has received scholarships from The Juilliard School and the New England Conservatory, and awards from the NYC King Doctoral Fellowship, a NYC New York Women Composer Grant, the C.V. Starr Doctoral Fellowship, and the 2003-4 George Whitefield Chadwick Gold Medal. He has performed with the New York New Music Ensemble, The Group for Contemporary Music, Speculum Musicae, the Zankel Band, and many other contemporary music groups. Fulmer’s works have been performed by the CUBE ensemble, the Cygnus Ensemble, the Tetras String Quartet, and many other groups in New York and Boston. His BMI award-winning work is scheduled for performance at Juilliard during the 2008-9 concert season.

Gilbert Galindo
BMI award-winning work: Clarion Horizons for orchestra

Gilbert Galindo was born in Odessa, Texas in 1982 and now lives New York City. He received a B.M. in music composition and outreach and education in music in 2004 from Northwestern University and a M.M. in music composition from the Cleveland Institute of Music in 2006. His composition teachers include Jason Eckardt, Margaret Brouwer, Zhou Long, Jay Alan Yim, Augusta Read Thomas, William Karlins, and Amnon Wolman. In addition to winning the BMI Student Composer Award in 2006, he is the recipient of the 2008 Van Lier Fellowship from Meet the Composer, the 1st Place Award in the 2006 Ohio Federation of Music Clubs Young Composers Contest, Northwestern University’s 2004 Cacavas Award for “outstanding composition in chamber music,” the 2003 Chicago Union League Civic and Arts Foundation’s Music Composition Award, the Rev. John M. Krump Endowed Scholarship, William T. Faricy Award for Creative Music, and Interlochen Arts Academy’s Maddy Award in Composition. Galindo’s works have been performed by the ai ensemble, Duo Petrarca, The Lone Star Brass, the Northwestern University Symphony Orchestra, the Chicago Fine Arts Society, and in Berlin, Chicago, and Cleveland. His BMI award-winning work was read by the Bard Institute Orchestra conducted by the composer in July, 2007.

Trevor M. Gureckis
BMI award-winning work: Very Large Array for orchestra

Trevor Grueckis was born in 1982 and currently lives in New York City. He received a B.M. degree in piano performance from the University of Texas at Austin in 2005 and a M.M. degree in composition from Yale University in 2007. His composition teachers include Martin Bresnick, Aaron Jay Kernis, Ezra Laderman, Kevin Puts, Russel Pinkston, and Dan Welcher and he has studied piano with Danielle Martin, Dariusz Pawlas, and Alisa Bohon. He was a composer participant in the 2007 Minnesota Orchestra Composer Institute and the winner of a 2007 Charles Ives Scholarship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He was awarded an Endowed Presidential Scholarship at UT Austin and a full scholarship at Yale, participated in the 2005 Cabrillo Conductor/Composer Workshop. As a performer he has participated in chamber ensembles and new music ensembles at UT Austin and at Yale, and has performed at the United Nations in 2005 where he was the winner of the Emil and Ruth Beyer Competition. His music has been performed by the Yale Philharmonia, New Music New Haven, and choreographed by the New Haven ECA. His BMI award-winning work was premiered by the Yale Philharmonic with Shinik Hahm conducting and later performed by the Minnesota Orchestra under the baton of Osmo Vänskä.

Justin Hoke
BMI award-winning work: Che Si Sgretola for flute, two clarinets, celesta and piano

Justin Hoke was born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania in 1987. His composition teachers have included John Carbon, Carlos Sanchez-Gutierrez, and David Liptak. Studying piano since the age of five, he has been a student of Joann Wagstaff, Elizabeth Keller and currently works with Tony Caramia. Hoke graduated from Lampeter-Strasburgh High School in Lancaster, Pennsylvania in 2006 and is currently pursuing a B.M. degree from the Eastman School of Music, from which he received the Howard Hanson Scholarship. He attended the Pennsylvania Governor’s School of the Arts in the summer of 2005. In high school, he participated in both the concert and marching bands and since that time has performed on many occasions with various chamber ensembles as a pianist. His Lament was premiered by the Lancaster Symphony Orchestra for elementary-age students in 2006. Several of his works have been presented at the Pennsylvania Governor’s School and at the Eastman School of Music. His BMI award-winning work was premiered by students at the Eastman School in 2007 and was performed again in May, 2008.

Shawn Jaeger
BMI award-winning work: In Old Virginny for soprano and double bass

Shawn Jaeger was born in Louisville, Kentucky in 1985 and currently lives in Chicago. He received a B.M. in composition summa cum laude from the University of Michigan in 2007 and is now pursuing a D.M. in composition from Northwestern University. His composition teachers include Lee Hyla, Evan Chambers, Susan Botti, Erik Santos and Bright Sheng. In addition to winning a BMI Student Composer Award in 2007, his honors include many scholarships at the University of Michigan and a Full-Tuition Merit Scholarship at Northwestern. Jaeger was also a Kentucky Senator Jeff Green Scholar and winner of the Louisville Metro Mayor’s Outstanding High School Senior Award in 2003. His music has been performed by the Northwestern University Contemporary Music Ensemble, and he has had many performances at the University of Michigan and readings of his music by the UM Philharmonia Orchestra and by the St. Petersburg String Quartet. His Phase Shifts for solo clarinet was performed at the Brevard Music Center in North Carolina. Active as a violinist, he studied with Aaron Berofsky and has performed with many UM ensembles, including the University Symphony Orchestra and the Contemporary Directions ensemble. He has also recorded violin tracks for the rock band, Tally Hall. His BMI award-winning work was premiered in 2008 by the Duo Borealis (Mary Bonhag, Soprano, and Even Premo, double bass) at the University of Michigan, and tour performances are planned for Chicago and Marquette, Michigan.

Yeeren I. Low (Carlos Surinach Prize)
BMI award-winning work: String Quartet

Yeeren I. Low was born 1997 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina and currently lives in East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania. He attended the Sterling Montessori Charter Academy from 2001 to 2003 and is currently enrolled at the Gratia Dei Christian Academy and the Juilliard Pre-College Division, where he majors in composition and studies piano and violin. His composition teachers have included Ira Taxin and John Ruggero and he has studied piano with Jennifer Hancock, John Ruggero and Zitta Zohar. He has studied violin with Karen Moorman, Emily Steele, Mary Frances Boyce, Richard Luby, Yoram Youngerman and Isaac Malkin. He has performed as a violinist with the Piedmont Youth Junior Orchestra and the Mallarme Youth Chamber Orchestra. He has been featured as a soloist with the Winston-Salem Symphony, the Raleigh Civic Symphony Orchestra, and often performs chamber music with his brother Yeeray Low. As a performer, he has won 1st place in the Junior Division of the Peter Perret Youth Talent Search in 2005 and 2006 and as a composer he has won awards in the National Federation of Music Clubs Junior Composers Contest in both 2005 and 2006. Low’s music has been performed by several chamber ensembles at Juilliard and read by the Ciompi Quartet at Duke University and the Juilliard Pre-College Symphony. His BMI award-winning work is scheduled to be premiered at Juilliard later this year.

Eric Nathan (William Schuman Prize)
BMI award-winning work: Icarus Dreamt for orchestra

Eric Nathan was born in 1983 in New York City and currently lives in Larchmont, New York. He received a diploma from the Juiliard School Pre-College Division in 2002, a B.A. in music with distinction from Yale University in 2006 and a M.M. degree in composition in 2008 from Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. He will begin work toward a D.M.A. at Cornell University in the fall. He has studied composition with Claude Baker, Jeffrey Hass, Sven-David Sandström, Kathryn Alexander, John Halle, Matthew Suttor, Ira Taxin and George Tsontakis. He is active as a performer on trumpet, studying with Allan Dean and James Hamlin and at Boston University Tanglewood Institute, and performing with the wind ensembles and orchestras at Indiana University, Yale and Juilliard Pre-College. He has won many composition awards including a 2008 Grant for Young and Emerging Wind Band Composers sponsored by the Atlantic Coast Conference Band Directors Association, a 2008 Composers Conference and Chamber Music Center Commission, the 2007 New York Federation of Music Club’s Brian M. Israel Prize, and the 2005 New York Art Ensemble Young Composer Competition. Nathan’s works have been performed in the United Stated, Canada, the Netherlands, South Korea, and Japan by ensembles such as the Daejeon Philharmonic Orchestra, the Yale Symphony, Juilliard Pre-College Symphony, Indiana University Symphonic Band, and many others. His BMI award-winning work has been read by the Indiana University Symphony.

Sebastian Chang was born in 1988 in Orange County, California, where he currently resides.  He has recently received a B.M. degree in Composition from the Curtis Institute of Music, where he studied with Jennifer Higdon and Richard Danielpour.  In addition to winning two previous BMI Student Composer Awards in 2002 and 2005, Chang was a 2002 recipient of the $50,000 Davidson Fellow Laureate Scholarship from the Davidson Institute for Talent Development, and has also received awards from the Music Teachers National Association, the Music Teachers Association of California, and Collage New Music, among others.  Trained as a pianist and electric guitarist, Chang has performed throughout the U.S., Asia, and Canada as a piano soloist in performances with the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, the Pacific Symphony, the California Symphony, the Reno Philharmonic, the Southwestern Youth Music Festival Orchestra and others. His music has been performed by the Curtis Symphony Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Asia America Symphony Orchestra, pianist Charles Abramovic, and others.  Commissions have come from the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts and the Pinnacle Project in Music Composition.  His BMI award-winning work was premiered in 2006 by the Curtis Percussion Quartet in Philadelphia. 

Bryan Christian
BMI award-winning work:  The Lake, -To-, for solo violin, eight solo singers, alto flute, bass clarinet, percussion, and double bass

Bryan Christian was born in 1984 in Gainesville, Florida and currently lives in McLean, Virginia.  He is a 2007 graduate of Indiana University with a B.M. in Music Composition and plans to pursue the Masters of Arts in Music Composition at the University of California San Diego in the fall.  His composition teachers include P.Q. Phan, Claude Baker, Chinary Ung, Sven-David Sandström, Don Freund and Per Mårtensson and he has studied bassoon performance with Arthur Weisberg.  Christian has received a Creative Activities Grant and a Research Grant from Indiana University Hutton Honors College and was selected to have a work performed at the 2007 Midwest Composers Symposium.  Nine of his compositions have been performed at Indiana University, including a the premiere of his BMI award-winning work which was conducted by Cinthia Alireti and featured Strass Pronin, to whom the work is dedicated, as violin soloist.  Other recent performances have included his Nuclear Winter for clarinet, viola and cello, and Two Etudes of Consonance, scored for two pianos. 

Eric Guinivan
BMI award-winning work:  A Shade of Grey, for flute and chamber orchestra

Eric Guinivan was born in Wilmington, Delaware in 1984.  In 2006, he received both a B.M. in Composition and a B.M in Percussion Performance from Indiana University, and he is currently pursuing a M.M. in Composition at the University of Southern California.  He has studied composition with P.Q Phan, Claude Baker, Tamar Diesendruck, Don Freund, and David Dzubay and his principal percussion teachers include Gerald Carlyss, Anthony Cirone, and Erik Forrester.  He won 2nd Prize in the 2006 Quey Percussion Duo Composition Contest, and was the recipient of the USC Alfred Newman Music Scholarship, the Indiana University School of Music Performer’s Certificate in 2005 and 2006 and Dean’s Prize in Composition in 2006.  Guinivan’s music has been performed in Indiana, California, Missouri, Illinois and Delaware.  Orchestra performances have featured the Young People’s Symphonic Orchestra (St. Louis) conducted by Richard Holmes, and the Delaware Youth Symphony Orchestra conducted by Timothy Clinch.  Active as a percussionist, he has performed as Timpanist with the Columbus Indiana Philharmonic, the American Youth Symphony (Los Angles), and with the orchestras and new music ensembles at both Indiana U. and USC.  In 2007 he will travel to Japan to perform with Yumiko Nishioka in a percussion duet concert which includes his own work, Twelve.  Guinivan’s BMI award-winning work was premiered in 2006 at Indiana University conducted by Cliff Colnot and featuring flutist Lissie Okopny as soloist.

Gabrielle Nina Haigh (Carlos Surinach Award)
BMI award-winning work:  Poème-Ritual, for orchestra

Gabrielle Haigh was born in 1992 in Cleveland, Ohio and has just completed the 10th grade at Laurel School, an independent school in Shaker Heights, Ohio.  She has not formally studied composition but she has taken piano lessons and worked on orchestration exercises with her grandmother, Mary Ann Griebling, who is a private theory and piano teacher.  Additionally, she has also recently begun study of cello with Kent Collier and vocal study with Marla Berg.  She is a member of the Akron Youth Symphony and a chamber group at the Cleveland Music School Settlement, and she has been the soprano soloist with the Canton Symphony on two occasions and also with the Cleveland Baroque Orchestra and the Forest City Chorale.  Haigh is the winner of numerous composition honors, including awards from Music Teachers National Association, the National Federation of Music Clubs, the Ohio Federation of Music Clubs, the Akron Scholastic Composers Contest, and many others.  Her music has been performed by the Cleveland Composers Guild, the Cleveland Orchestra Children’s Chorus, the Cavani Quartet and at the MTNA National Conference in Salt Lake City.  Outside of music, she has won gold medals in the National Latin Exam, and was a national runner-up in the Discovery Channel Science Competition.

Aaron Holloway-Nahum
BMI award-winning work:  Night Mist for chamber orchestra (single strings)

Aaron Holloway-Nahum was born in Chicago in 1983 and currently lives in Minneapolis.  He is a student a the Royal Academy of Music in London, pursuing a M.M. degree in Music Composition and previously received his B.M. degree in Music Composition and Orchestral Conducting from Northwestern University.  His composition teachers have been Philip Cashian, Augusta Read Thomas, Amy Williams and William Karlins and conducting with Mallory Thompson and Stephen Alltop.  His orchestral work, Glasswork, has given honorable mention by the Minnesota Orchestra in their 2006 Composer Institute and 2nd prize in the Union League of Chicago Multiple Instrument Composition Competition.  He has also received scholarships and awards from the Leverhulme Trust, the RAM Friends Club, and the Royal Academy of Music’s Turner Cooke Award.  Active as a conductor, he has worked with university ensembles at Northwestern University, in a variety of musical theater productions, and has recently recorded his own score for a feature length film in Abbey Road Studios.  Recent premieres include his “Railroad Song” for 7 instruments in Queen Elizabeth Hall for the “Music of Today” project and a RAM performance of his work for solo oboe titled “The Poorer Silence Now.” His BMI award-winning work was commissioned and premiered by Daniel Cohen for the Eden Chamber Orchestra and presented in 2006 at Duke’s Hall at the RAM. 

Shawn Jaeger
BMI award-winning work:  Prelude and Fugue, for solo violin

Shawn Jaeger was born in Louisville, Kentucky in 1985.  He received a B.M. in Composition from the University of Michigan in 2007 and will pursue a D.M. in Composition from Northwestern University in the fall.  His composition teachers include Evan Chambers, Susan Botti, Erik Santos and Bright Sheng.  He was a James B. Angell Scholar at the University of Michigan and received UM University Honors in 2007 and the UM Richard and Susan Rogel Scholarship in 2003.  Jaeger was also a Kentucky Senator Jeff Green Scholar and winner of the Louisville Metro Mayor’s Outstanding High School Senior Award in 2003.  He has had many performances at the University of Michigan and has had readings of his music by the UM Philharmonia Orchestra and by the St. Petersburg String Quartet.  His Phase Shifts for solo clarinet was performed at the Brevard Music Center in North Carolina.  Active as a violinist, he studies with Aaron Berofsky and has performed with many UM ensembles, including the University Symphony Orchestra and the Contemporary Directions ensemble.  He has also recorded violin tracks for the rock band, Tally Hall. 

Otto Muller
BMI award-winning work:  Vocis Secundae, for bass flute, B-flat clarinet, viola, cello and percussion

Otto Muller was born in 1981 in Hamilton, New York and currently lives in Eden, New York.  He received a B.M. degree in Composition and a B.A. in Philosophy from Northwestern University in 2003 is currently pursuing a PhD. in Composition from the University at Buffalo (SUNY), where he has received a Presidential Fellowship.  His composition teachers have included David Felder, Amnon Wolman, Amy Williams, William Karlins, Alan Stout and Jay Alan Yim.  He is a pianist and accordionist and performs regularly with the Open Music Ensemble in the Buffalo area.  His music has been performed at the Accademia Chigiana in Siena Italy, by the New York New Music Ensemble, at St. Paul’s Cathedral in Buffalo, and by the International Contemporary Ensemble.  His film collaborations with Alan Rhodes and Vincenzo Mistretta have been screened at the Squeeky Wheel in Buffalo and at the Blue Room in Rome, Italy.  His BMI award-winning work was performed at the June in Buffalo Festival in 2006 by the New York New Music Ensemble. 

Clint Needham (William Schuman Prize)
BMI award-winning work:  Earth and Green, for orchestra

Clint Needham was born in Texarkana, Texas in 1981 and currently lives in Bloomington, Indiana.  He holds a B.M. degree in composition from Baldwin-Wallace Conservatory of Music and a M.M. in Composition from Indiana University, where he is currently pursuing a D.M. in Composition.  He has studied composition with David Dzubay, Per Mårtensson, P.Q. Phan, Sven-David Sandström, Richard Wernick, Loris Chobanian, Robert Beaser, Christopher Rouse, and George Tsontakis.  He is the winner of many awards and prizes, including selection for the 2007 American Composers Orchestra’s Underwood New Music Reading Session, the Aspen Music Festival’s Susan and Ford Schumann Composition Scholarships, the 2005 National Association of College Wind and Percussion Instructors Composition Project, 2006 Composition Fellowship to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Chamber Music Institute, Indiana University Doctoral Fellowship, 2006 Indiana University Kuttner String Quartet Composition Competition, and the 2005 Appalachian State University Brass Chamber Music Composition Contest, among others.  His music has been performed by the American Brass Quintet, Aspen Contemporary Ensemble, Baldwin-Wallace Conservatory Wind Ensemble, Cascadian Chorale, Cleveland Chamber Symphony, Kuttner Quartet, Oberon Trio, and at the 2004 International Trumpet Guild Conference and the 2006 MENC National Conference.  He is active as a trumpeter and currently studies at IU with Joey Tartell.  Needham’s BMI award-winning work was read by the American Composers Orchestra in May, 2007. 

Matthew Peterson
BMI award-winning work:  The Binding of Isaac, a chamber opera in five scenes

Matthew Peterson was born in Grand Forks, North Dakota in 1984 and currently lives in Bloomington, Indiana.  He attended St. Olaf College where he received a B.M in Theory/Composition and a B.M. in Double Bass Performance in 2006 and currently attends Indiana University, where he is pursuing a M.M. degree in Composition.  His composition teachers include Claude Baker, Justin Marritt, Mary Ellen Childs, Timothy Mahr, and Peter Hamlin.  He has studied Double Bass with Paul Ousley, Jeff Seabloom, Jim Clute and Jim Bates and has served as the principal bassist of the St. Olaf Orchestra and as a member of the Grand Forks Symphony Orchestra and Grand Forks Youth Orchestra.  Additionally he has studied piano, voice and saxophone.  He was the winner of the 2006 Chanticleer Student Composer Choral Competition, several composition awards in 2005 from MMEA, an IU Dean’s Scholarship, and many other honors.  His music has been performed by many different ensembles at Indiana University at St. Olaf College, and by Chanticleer, VocalEssence, the Red River High School String Orchestra (Grand Forks), and others. His BMI award-winning opera, to a libretto by Jason Zencka, was premiered by the St. Olaf Opera Company in 2006 directed by Janis Hardy and the composer. 

Nathan Shields
BMI award-winning work:  Music for Piano, Winds and Percussion

Nathan Shields was born in 1983 in Traverse City, Michigan and now lives in Poughkeepsie, New York.  He attends the Juilliard School where he is pursuing a M.M. degree in Composition and studies with Milton Babbitt.  He received a B.M. degree in Composition from the New England Conservatory of Music in 2006.  His former composition teachers include Lee Hyla, David Rakowski, Andrew Thomas, and Barbara Mallow.  He is a cellist, studying with Yeesun Kim and Barbara Mallow, and has been active in the New York Youth Symphony Chamber Music Program, Bowdoin Summer Music Festival and the Perlman Music Program.  He was a BMI Student Composer Award winner in 2004 and has received the Steuermann Memorial Prize and the Marvin Hamlisch Scholarship at Juilliard.  Shields also won the Toru Takemitsu Prize from the Japan Soceity of Boston in 2006, and a 2004 NEC Honors Quartet Performance.  His works have been performed at Juilliard, New England Conservatory, at the Wellesley Composers Conference and at the Cathedral of St. Severin in Paris. 

Roger Zare
BMI award-winning work:  Green Flash, for orchestra

Roger Zare was born in Sarasota, Florida in 1985.  He recently received a B.M. degree in Composition from the University of Southern California, and has studied composition with Donald Crockett, Tamar Diesendruck, Rick Lesemann and Morten Lauridsen.  He is a pianist and violinist, studying piano with Betty Hines, Sandra Lawler and Antoinette Perry, and won first prize in the Florida Orchestra Young Artist’s Competition in 2001.  He is a member of Pi Kappa Lambda Music Honor Society, and won 1st Place in the 2004 National Federation of Music Clubs Composition Competition.  Zare was the 65th composer to be commissioned by the New York Youth Symphony as part of its First Music Program, and won the 2006 Sarasota Music Archive Morrison Memorial Composition Competition and the 2006 Phi Kappa Phi (USC Chapter) Student Recognition Award for his work, Fog.  His music has been performed by the New York Youth Symphony, the USC Thornton Symphony, the USC Concert Orchestra, FWCS Youth Philharmonic, USC Starving Composers’ Ensemble, Santa Monica Symphony Wind Quintet, the Sarasota Music Archive, and the Florida West Coast Symphony Orchestra.  His BMI award-winning work was premiered in 2007 by the USC Thornton Symphony, Donald Crockett conducting.

Ivory’s piano-laden tracks excel in instigating dreamy gaits through dewy-eyed memories and yearnings. Recorded at Smart Studios in Madison, WI, the band’s self-released EP introduced their bubbly piano pop to indie rock connoisseurs. Ivory’s spruce arrangements embody mass appeal, capable of Generation Y adoration and baby-boomer appreciation. Kick back with a glass of red wine and Ivory’s “Coast of Maine.”

Tally Hall graciously side-step genre pigeon-holing. Vocalist/guitarist Joe explains: "If a certain idea requires a certain sound, then why limit ourselves?" The Boston Herald praises Tally Hall’s mix of “vintage Beastie Boys with snarky new wave and Beatles-y psychedelia,” while the Detroit Free Press calls the group’s debut, Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum, “pop patchwork at its best.” A crew of serious composers, pianist/vocalist Andrew received the prestigious BMI/John Lennon Songwriting Scholarship as the band’s “Good Day” was featured on The OC. Discover Tally Hall here with “Spring and a Storm.”

Missouri-based quintet Ludo issued their self-titled debut in 2003 and hit the road. Packed venues across the Midwest and Texas led to heavy rotation on FUSE, including three appearances on the network’s Daily Download — a first for an independent band. Ludo’s follow-up, Broken Bride, broke EP molds, emerging as a cohesive rock opera that follows two lovers through time and tribulation. The band signed with Island Records in 2006 and is currently in the studio recording their major label debut. Sample Ludo’s brand of rock here with “Hum Along.”

The Nice Device take pride in their insistent evolution — growing pains are prettily exposed instead of swept under the rug. Delicate lead vocalist Alicia sets the buoyant tone, backed by happy guitar chords and the occasional foxy jolt of electronica. Pitchforkmedia.com proclaimed that the quintet’s Birth of a Lover EP "strikes a balance between charming sugar high and nuts 'n' bolts junkyard cacophony…a remarkably strong debut.” Soak up The Nice Device here with “Innocent.”

BMI’s “See It Hear First” podcast has become an important tool for exposing new BMI songwriters and artists to key industry professionals and fans alike. Since its release in May 2005, millions of listeners from around the world have tuned in to discover new music from a broad range of genres and regions. Past 'cast artists including singer/songwriter Brendan James, rockers somedaynew, Latin hip-hop artist Cosculluela, Canadian crossover band Soul Kid #1 and country-pop combo the Zac Brown Band have all grabbed the industry's attention through the BMI podcast, with some landing major recording and publishing deals, and others on the verge of being signed.

In addition to hearing great music from an array of new talent, podcast listeners can also vote for their favorite artist to help them win a CD duplication package from Disc Makers, the leading CD manufacturer for the independent musician. Winners get 1,000 discs, a prize with a promotional value of more than $10,000.

Tune in to bmi.com/podcast to hear all 18 editions of the BMI podcast, the first in the music industry to be listed in Apple's podcast directory. The "See It Hear First" series is also available from iTunes at bmi.com/itunes, from Yahoo! at podcasts.yahoo.com, or though Pod2Mob.com.

Often recognized by their trademark ties—Rob (yellow tie-vocals/guitar), Zubin (blue tie-vocals/bass), Ross (silver tie-percussion), Joe (red tie-vocals/guitar), and Andrew (green tie-vocals/keys)—Tally Hall began in 2002 when Andrew met Rob through friends. Andrew, the only member not originally from Michigan, began writing songs when he was eight years old and eventually headed to the University of Michigan to study composition. There he met Rob, who attended high school with Zubin and joined Joe's film production group. When Tally Hall's original drummer left the band, they recruited Ross, who went to high school with Joe.

While Andrew was the only member to study music formally, Rob and Joe proved accomplished songwriters with similar desires to start a band. They worried less about stylistic boundaries than about fulfilling their creative potential. Joe describes it this way: "We don't like the idea of limiting ourselves to one genre because there's no point in doing that. If a certain idea requires a certain sound then why limit ourselves?" Accordingly, Mechanical Museum is spacious, intimate, hilarious, serious; disparate and seamless all at once. It's the natural result of having three songwriters, four vocalists, and five capable musicians in one band, as well as their common interests in the The Beach Boys, Queen and more recent artists like Arcade Fire and Sufjan Stevens. "We listen to everything and we try to take ideas from different genres and broaden the span of what people perceive as rock music," says Andrew. "The song wouldn't be the same if all of us weren't involved."

Early on, Joe filmed a surreal music video for the calypso-tinged "Banana Man." The video appeared on the internet humor site Albino Black Sheep (www.albinoblacksheep.com), drawing new fans to the band's website. "We didn't really realize what was going on outside of Ann Arbor," says Ross. "Then our website started crashing each month from the bandwidth and it became obvious that there were people outside of Ann Arbor that were listening to the music." To date, the video has been downloaded over two million times.

Andrew's song "Good Day"—the first he wrote for the band—heralded further success for Tally Hall, as it was not only featured on Fox's hit series The O.C., but also won Andrew the BMI/John Lennon Songwriting Scholarship, and a meeting with Brian Wilson. "Good Day" introduces the band by traversing their broad stylistic spectrum within a few minutes. A concise opening piano gives way to momentary rock bombast, before dropping back into a verse newly adorned with expanded instrumentation. By the end of the song we've heard an interlude that would make Freddie Mercury sweat through his body suit and a gather-round-the-piano sing-along that references the Beatles without imitating them.

Tally Hall has appeared with OK Go, Nightmare of You, World Party, and Fastball, among others. This summer will provide more opportunities to catch the band's compelling live show, though they'll also be using the time to write new songs and get a handle on their devoted and obsessive fans. "We've had people travel halfway across the country to see our shows," says Andrew. "We just assume that most bands have their fair share of loyal followers. Ours are just a little more…proactive." With so many fans mulling over everything from song lyrics to which members are single, why the modesty? "In the end, if someone likes us because we are funny, then I think we have succeeded in a way. But, if someone appreciates us because they understand us, then I think we will be truly satisfied," Zubin explains. "We're not a band that has a lot of pretenses," says Rob. "As long as people like the music, that is the main thing we're concerned with, and whatever they take from it, at least they're taking something." Whatever it is that Tally Hall is giving, they've got enough to go around.