Composer and lyricist Nkeiru Okoye has been hailed as “gripping” and “evocative” by the New York Times. She composes symphonic, vocal, opera and chamber music. Her genre-bending compositions draw from classical, gospel, folk, jazz, R&B, and African diasporic music, often infused with African American improvisatory techniques. Okoye became a Guggenheim Fellow in 2021 and is the inaugural recipient of the International Society for Florence Price’s composition award. She uses her expertise in African American studies, Women’s studies, and historical research to create works that affirms both traditional and new audiences. Her piece, Dancing Barefoot in the Rain, was immortalized by Carnegie Hall’s CH monogram campaign.

Learn more at nkeiruokoye.com

Director of orchestras and professor of conducting at the University of Michigan since 1995, Kenneth Kiesler is a GRAMMY nominee (2014), recipient of the American Prize in Conducting (2011), and Conductor Laureate of the Illinois Symphony Orchestra, where – as its music director from 1980 to 2000 – he led debuts at Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall, founded the Illinois Symphony Chorus and Illinois Chamber Orchestra, and won several state and national awards. He was also the orchestra’s music advisor for the 2010-11 and 2011-12 seasons.

Learn more at kennethkiesler.com

A two-time Michigan Emmy Award winner, a 2017 Sphinx Medal of Excellence recipient, and a 2015 GRAMMY® Award nominee, Eugene Rogers is recognized as a leading conductor and pedagogue throughout the United States and abroad. In addition to being the founding director of EXIGENCE, Dr. Rogers is the director of choirs and an associate professor of conducting at the University of Michigan. Recently, he was named as the fifth Artistic Director of the two-time GRAMMY® Award-Winning Ensemble, The Washington Chorus (Washington, D.C.).

Learn more at eugenerogers.com

Janet Hubert is an acclaimed singer, dancer, and actress best known for creating the role of Vivian Banks on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. She is an alumni of the Juilliard School and a recipient of the prestigious I Will Tell International Film Festival award for Best Supporting Actress. She can currently be seen in Netflix’s The Perfect Find and Sweet Magnolias.

Her film credits include, Single Black Female, Christmas Belles, No Letting Go, the independent film King Ester, for which she received a daytime Emmy nomination, Fever, and Remember Me: The Mahalia Jackson Story now on Hulu. She also has many television credits including The Last O.G., Love Life (season 2), Pose, New Amsterdam, The Ms. Pat Show, General Hospital, One Life to Live, Friends, The Jamie Foxx Show, The Bernie Mac Show, and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air Reunion.

Hubert’s Broadway credits include the original American cast of Cats, where she originated the role of Tantomile and understudied Grizabella, singing the hit song Memory. She toured in the United States and internationally with Duke Ellington’s Sophisticated Ladies, Bob Fosse’s Dancin’, headlined in Monaco at the Sporting Club for the anniversary celebration of Josephine Baker, and headlined in her own production. Hubert has done voice campaigns for Bayer and Doritos, and has appeared in numerous on-camera commercials. She appears in Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto V and has appeared in regional theaters across the United States. Hubert’s voice work includes multiple characters for her animated series JG and the BC Kids, which she produced, wrote, and cast. She can now be heard in season 2 of Netflix’s Dad the Bounty Hunter where she plays Empress Gurira.

Angela Brown personifies the ideal soprano: sheer vocal power; luxurious finesse; and shimmering, high pianissimos. With captivating star power, she unites opera, pop, and gospel in one sensational voice. She has graced the leading opera and symphonic stages on six continents. She is a featured artist on the two-time Grammy Award® winning recording Ask Your Mama and the voice of contemporary African American opera roles of Addie Parker (Daniel Schnyder’s Charlie Parker’s Yardbird) and Cilla (Richard Danielpour’s Margaret Garner) as well as the time-honored roles of Tosca, Aïda, Amelia (Giuseppe Verdi’s Un Ballo in Maschera), Elisabetta (Verdi’s Don Carlo), and Leonora (Verdi’s Il Trovatore).

While opera is the main catalyst for her career, Angela’s performance experience includes everything from star emcee to producer, recording artist, educator, and podcast host. Angela is the founder of Morning Brown, Inc., a nonprofit dedicated to bringing cultural experiences and awareness to historically excluded communities and audiences. The success of her signature show, Opera…from a Sistah’s Point of View provided the momentum and cornerstone for an array of outreach and educational programs that have been presented in 20 USA states.

Born in Washington, DC, and raised in Greenville, NC, vocalist and composer Christie Dashiell is a graduate of Howard University and the Manhattan School of Music. At Howard she was a member of Afro-Blue, the university’s premier vocal jazz ensemble and appeared as a member of the group on season 3 of NBC’s The Sing Off.

She is the recipient of DownBeat magazine’s Best College Graduate Jazz Vocalist and Outstanding Soloist awards. Dashiell tours with her own quartet, and has performed with Nancy Wilson, Geri Allen, Allan Harris, Smokey Robinson, Esperanza Spalding and Fred Hammond. She releases her long-awaited second album, Journey in Black in September 2023.

American tenor Issachah Savage’s profile was dramatically raised when he swept the boards at Seattle’s International Wagner Competition in 2014, taking the First Prize, Audience Prize and Orchestra Favorite awards. His performance of the last act of Verdi’s Otello, inspired the San Francisco Chronicle to write, “From his opening notes — impeccably shaded and coiled with repressed fury — to the opera’s final explosion of grief and shame, Savage sang with a combination of power and finesse that is rare to observe.”

Equally at home on the concert platform, Issachah Savage has a wide repertoire that includes mainstay works such as Beethoven’s Symphony No.9, Verdi’s Requiem, Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde, and Schoenberg’s Gurre-Lieder alongside less-frequently performed pieces like Stravinsky’s Pulcinella, Weill’s Lost in the Stars, and Gershwin’s Blue Monday.

Issachah Savage has received a number of prestigious awards, recognition, and career grants from institutions including the Wagner Societies of New York, Washington DC, and Northern California; the Licia Albanese International Puccini Foundation; and the Olga Forrai and Gerda Lissner Foundations. He was honored in the early stages of his career development as the first ever “Scholar Artist” of the Marian Anderson Society of Philadelphia.

Perhaps no vocalist of our time possesses a more exquisitely versatile instrument than the American baritone Jubilant Sykes. Known for bringing a unique dimension to the traditional career of a classically trained vocalist, Sykes draws on gospel, jazz, and folk influences to deliver performances across multiple musical genres. His unique gifts have taken him to hundreds of stages around the world, performing with a number of the world’s finest orchestras and conductors.

The Grammy nominated baritone was named “Editor’s Choice” by Gramophone for his recording of Leonard Bernstein‘s Mass. He made his film debut in the movie Freedom playing the African slave Ozias. He later played the lead in Breath and Imagination by Daniel Beaty, a play about the life of Roland Hayes produced at Hartford Stage. At New York City Center, he portrayed Pompey in the musical Bloomer Girl and Henry Richard Lee in the musical 1776. In late 2023, he will appear in the suspense/thriller Fin. Jubilant resides in southern California with his wife Cecelia and their three sons.