film director
Connie Field
Filmmaker Connie Field is an Academy Award nominated, and Emmy Award winning, director who has made a number of high profile documentaries that have been shown all over the world. Before getting involved in film she worked as an organizer in many social and human rights organizations where she established her commitment to progressive social change which she has carried into her film career. Many of her films focus on hidden histories, stories that had not been told before which should be an important part of our collective memories. Her most recent film is Al Helm: Martin Luther King in Palestine, about an African American gospel choir touring Palestine in a Palestinian play about Martin Luther King Jr. See more... |
composer
Jonathan Berger
Jonathan Berger’s “dissonant but supple” (The New York Times) compositions integrate science and human experience. Referred to as “lush and inviting” by the San Francisco Chronicle, Berger’s music ranges from vocal, orchestral, and chamber works to electroacoustic constructions. His creations include The War Reporter (chamber opera for fivesingers, chamber orchestra, and digital audio. Commissioned by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts; Theotokia (chamber opera for fivesingers, chamber orchestra, and digital audio). Commissioned by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts; and Yaqira (flute, clarinet, violin, ‘cello, piano). Commissioned by Plural Ensemble (Madrid) and Earplay (San Francisco). Official Site |
writer
Harriet Scott Chessman
Harriet Scott Chessman is the author of the acclaimed novels The Beauty of Ordinary Things, Lydia Cassatt Reading the Morning Paper, Ohio Angels, Someone Not Really Her Mother and the libretto for the operatic piece, My Lai. Her fiction has been translated into eight languages. She has taught English and creative writing at Yale University, Bread Loaf School of English, and Stanford University. Official Site |
music performers
Photo by Jay Blakesberg
Kronos Quartet
The Kronos Quartet--David Harrington, John Sherba (violins), Hank Dutt (viola), and Sunny Yang (cello)—has pursued a singular artistic vision, combining a spirit of fearless exploration with a commitment to continually re-imagining the string quartet experience. In the process, Kronos has become one of the most celebrated and influential groups of our time, performing thousands of concerts worldwide, releasing more than 50 recordings of extraordinary breadth and creativity, collaborating with many of the world's most intriguing and accomplished composers and performers, and commissioning more than 800 works and arrangements for string quartet. In 2011, Kronos became the only recipients of both the Polar Music Prize and the Avery Fisher Prize, two of the most prestigious awards given to musicians. The group’s numerous awards also include a Grammy for Best Chamber Music Performance (2004) and "Musicians of the Year" (2003) from Musical America. Official Site 
Rinde Eckert
Actor and singer Rinde Eckert is a 2007 Pulitzer Prize finalist for Drama and the Obie Award-winning creator of And God Created Great Whales. He is renowned as a writer, composer, director and performer whose Opera / New Music Theatre productions have toured extensively. Official Site |
Photo courtesy of Van-Anh Vanessa Vo
Van-Anh Vanessa Vo
Van-Anh Vanessa Vo devotes her life-long passion and mastery of the dan tranh zither to the creation of distinctive music blended with a cultural essence that can only come from this unique Vietnamese instrument. Among her accomplishments are the 2009 Emmy Award-winning soundtrack for the documentary Bolinao 52, which she co-composed and recorded, and the soundtrack for the Sundance best documentary and 2003 Academy Awards nominee Daughter from Danang. Van-Anh also co-composed and recorded for the recent documentary A Village Called Versailles, winner of the New Orleans Film Festival Audience Award. Official Site |