Horace Alexander Young:  Native Texan and current Washington state resident, Horace Alexander Young is one of a select group of “triple threat” recording and touring artists who is equally gifted as an multi-instrumentalist (woodwinds, keyboards and percussion), vocal musician and composer. His varied experiences in these three disciplines have led to appearances on sixty-four (64) recordings and several international tours and performances with Sam “Lightnin” Hopkins, B.B. King, Bill Withers, McCoy Tyner Big Band, The Manhattans, Regina Belle, Johnny Kemp, Abdullah Ibrahim (a.k.a. Dollar Brand), Bubbha Thomas, Gerald Alston, Toots Thielemans, John Blake, Arnett Cobb, Jonathan Butler, Youssou N’ Dour, Onaje Allan Gumbs, McCoy Tyner, Nancy Wilson, Kenny Barron, George Coleman, Dwight Sills, Milt Hinton, Dave Liebman, Norman Brown, Don Menza, Marvin Stamm, Betty Carter, Mark Ledford, Kim Waters and countless others. Having performed in nineteen (19) countries across five (5) continents his saxophone, flute and vocal skills have thrilled audiences at major Jazz Festivals in Montreaux, Hamburg, Leipzig, London, Paris, The Hague, British Columbia, Berlin, New York, New Orleans, Tokyo, Houston, Seattle, Gent, Laverkusen and Glasgow. While operating primarily as a soloist, musical director and studio musician, his most notable achievements occurred in 1993 when he conducted the National Symphony of South Africa (NSO) in a nationally televised concert honoring South African composer-pianist Abdullah Ibrahim and became one of the first people of native African descent to conduct any orchestra in that country and the first Black American to do so.
 

Mr. Young is in constant demand as an adjudicator and guest performer for numerous jazz festivals, colleges and universities and various schools throughout the USA, Canada and abroad. In addition to maintaining an active performing and recording schedule, he tours and performs as a sideman with noted recording artists and as a leader of his own group. Horace’s current CD release, "Acoustic Contemporary Jazz" (on Pacific Coast Jazz) is available online and at various retail outlets in the USA.

Nan Raphael: A versatile performer with a clear and sumptuous tone, Nan Raphael's playing has been called "an elegant and exceptional treat". She is a frequent soloist at concerts and festivals across the United States having performed at the Kennedy Center, the Chatauqua Institute as well as for the Boca Raton Pops and the National Flute Association Convention. 

Ms. Raphael toured Eastern Europe and China with the American Flute Orchestra in 2004 and 2005. She was a featured soloist on over 22 tours nationwide and abroad with the US Army Field Band, The Official Touring Band for the Department of the Army in Washington, DC. She was a winner of the National Flute Association's Convention Performer's Competition and has been featured on WAMU, WGMS, WETA's Capitol City Concerts.

Nan's world premiers include Dos Danzas Latinas and The Dance of the Southern Lights for Solo Piccolo and Band. Her acclaimed debut solo CD "Short and Sweet" has been called spectacular, emotional and moving.

Marianne Gedigian, Associate Professor of Flute at The University of Texas at Austin, was a regular performer with the Boston Symphony Orchestra for over a decade, including several seasons as Guest Principal Flute under Seiji Ozawa. As Principal Flute with the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra and Guest Principal Flute with the Boston Pops, Ms. Gedigian has been heard on dozens of recordings and Evening at Pops television broadcasts as well as the nationally broadcast Fourth of July specials. She has also been heard on several John Williams’ movie scores, including Saving Private Ryan and Schindler’s List. In the 2000 – 2001 season, Ms. Gedigian was invited by Mariss Jansons to perform as Acting Principal Flute with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. Her solo performances have taken her around the world, including concerts in Japan, Australia, and Armenia and she has appeared as concerto soloist numerous times with the Boston Pops Orchestra and with the Armenian Philharmonic performing her own transcription of the Khachaturian Violin Concerto. She was featured with Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull fame in a performance at the Berklee College of Music in Boston.

Ms. Gedigian has been first prizewinner in the National Flute Association’s Young Artist Competition, and the James Pappoutsakis Memorial Flute Competition. She keeps an active schedule as a chamber musician as a founding member of the Boston-based Walden Chamber Players and was formerly a member of the Dorian Wind Quintet. Her solo recordings include Voice of the Flute and Revolution, both with pianist Rick Rowley.

Ms. Gedigian has served on the faculties of Boston University’s College of Fine Arts, The Boston Conservatory, Boston University’s Tanglewood Institute and the Round Top Institute.

Pethrus Gärdborn is the winner of the 2008 Myrna Brown and Frank Bowen Competitions, 2007 COFA Competition, 2006 NFA Piccolo Artist Competition and 2005 Scandinavian Championship for Wind Instruments.  He is also the third place winner in the 2008 NFA Young Artist Competition.  As a result of his first prize in the Frank Bowen Competition, he performed as a soloist with the New Mexico Symphony in Albuquerque in May of 2008. He has been studying for three years at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) with Dr. Bradley Garner.  

Born in Stockholm, Sweden, Pethrus attended Lilla Akademien (The Junior Academy) where he studied with Jan Bengtson, Associate Principal Flute with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, and his father Stig Bengtson, former Principal Flute with the Royal Court Orchestra. He made his debut as a piccolo soloist in 1998 in the Royal Chapel at the Royal Palace in Stockholm playing Vivaldi’s Concerto in C. Pethrus has performed in the main music halls in Stockholm and in all the major churches as well. In 2001, he was invited to be part of the King and Queen's state visit to St Petersburg at the Russia Hermitage Theater in the Winter Palace where he performed Carmen Fantasy with the Hermitage Orchestra.