Melissa Manchester needs no introduction. Her tremendously successful solo career brought her critical and commercial acclaim. The “Midnight Blue” singer received her first Grammy nomination for Best Pop Female Vocal Performance in 1979 for the Peter Allen/Carole Bayer Sager-penned “Don’t Cry Out Loud,” winning the Grammy in that category four years later for “You Should Hear How She Talks About You.”

In 1980, Melissa became the first recording artist in the history of the Academy Awards to have two nominated movie themes in a single year, “Through The Eyes Of Love” from Ice Castles and “I’ll Never Say Goodbye” from The Promise, and to perform them both on the Oscar telecast.

Melissa has also had her songs recorded by Barbra Streisand, Roberta Flack, Dusty Springfield, Alison Krauss, Kenny Loggins, and many others. She has written tunes for several other films including The Great Mouse Detective, Lady and the Tramp II, Dirty Girl, and Tyler Perry’s For Colored Girls.

In 2024, she released her 25th album, RE:VIEW, featuring previously unreleased songs as well as fresh takes on several of Melissa’s enduring classic hits.

On July 19, 2025 she premiered a 5-movement concerto called AWAKE.

Find more on her website: https://melissamanchester.com/

Composing passionately about the human experience, composer Christina Rusnak works at the intersection of place, nature, culture, history and art to integrate context into her music from the world around her. A storyteller, she seeks to convey something meaningful about the human experience to both the audience and performers. An award-winning freelance composer living in the Pacific Northwest, Ms. Rusnak composes for diverse instrumentations with lyrical lines and organic rhythms and textures.

Her pieces address social and environmental justice, houselessness, immigration from 19th to 21st century perspectives, and more. Her choral work, Liberty’s Light, examines immigration from Ellis Island to the Texas border. “Water and Stone” explores climate, and the impact of water, heat and cold in sculpting Death Valley National Park. “From the Sidewalk”, addresses the invisibility of a homeless woman in New York City. In 2020, Rusnak was commissioned Fanfare for Justice (also Call for Justice) to commemorate the Black Lives Matter movement. In 2025, she is composing a multi-movement work for women’s choir, Women’s Rights are Human Rights addressing degrading rights of women globally.

Recent awards and honors include a 2022 Residency at the Visby International Centre for Composers; 2023 Bronze Global Music Award for Voices of the Land; 2024 American Prize 2nd Place Orchestra for The South Pass, a finalist for FREE LAND, and a 2025 finalist for the American Prize for Orchestra for Time After All. In 2019, she led the renowned Composing in the Wilderness Seminar in Denali for the Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival. An advocate for New Music, Rusnak currently serves as president of the International Alliance for Women in Music. Her essays on music and advocacy can be found on LandscapeMusic.org and New Music Box and more. Her works are available from Amazon, Naxos and Parma Recordings. Scores are available through her website http://christinarusnak.com and various distributors, and can be viewed via ISSUU.

Andrew Violette (1953-2021) studied at the High School of Music and Art in New York City from 1968 to 1971. He studied composition with Elliott Carter and Roger Sessions and counterpoint with Otto Luening at the Juilliard School of Music in New York from 1971 to 1975, where he earned his B.Mus. and M.Mus., as well as the Lado Prize in Composition. He has composed music for orchestra – including Dawn (1988), Fanfare (1992), and Music In 6 Parts (2000) – as well as chamber music, vocal music, piano solos, and organ solos.

His works have been performed throughout the U.S. Among his honors are seven grants from Meet the Composer (1977, 1982-1987), three fellowships at MacDowell (1983-1985), and fellowships at Yaddo and the Virginia Center for the Arts (both 1999). He composed over 90 works leaving a legacy of wonderful music. Bruce Posner, friend of the composer for 46 years, witnessed the creation of many of Violette’s works. Bruce is preparing an archive of Violette’s writings and performances for posterity.

One of UK's most sought-after and versatile composers, pianist Will Todd is well known for his beautiful and exciting music.

His anthem, The Call of Wisdom, was performed at the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations with a TV audience of 45 million people.

His breakthrough work, Mass in Blue (originally titled Jazz Mass), has been performed hundreds of times all over the world.

His arrangement of Amazing Grace was performed at President Obama’s Inauguration Day prayer service in 2013 and as part of the BBC’s Nelson Mandela Thanksgiving Service.

His music is regularly broadcast on Classic FM, and on BBC Radio 3.

Will Todd’s music is valued for its melodic intensity and harmonic skill, often incorporating jazz colors, and his choral music is much in demand from amateur as well as professional performers.

You can find out more on his website

https://willtodd.co.uk/

And find more of his music on YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/@WillToddMusic

I had the pleasure of interviewing Pasquale Zompa. He and Bernard DeCesare were a songwriting team that wrote some great hits for Fats Domino and Tiny Tim. You will also hear some great pieces from their band Our Patch of Blue.

Pasquale shares some great stories of songwriting in the 70’s and how they had the good fortune to cross paths with some of the great record producers of their time. You’ll hear about his trip to Abbey Road and also hear some of his latest creations and songs in the works.

Mark was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. He began composing solo piano music the moment he sat down at the piano at the age of 7. His first piece was called The Cat and the Rain. Mark's music reflects his love for nature, love and relationships, moods, travel and his quest for peace and tranquility.

Mark's music plays around the world on new age radio stations, online internet programs, and satellite programs. His album Feeling Right At Home won the award for Best Original Solo Piano Album at the EPR music awards held in September 2017 at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville. In July 2021 Mark reached #1 on the Canadian National Music Spiritual Chart on Reverbnation.com

And most recently (in August 2024) along with co-producer Luc Gilber, Mark recorded his 19th Album, also a collection of 20 new compositions. To be released this coming autumn. In early October Mark will become a certified Qi Gong instructor/teacher.

You can find out more at https://markpinkus.com/

Dr. Robert Gross received his DMA in music composition at University of Southern California where he also received a graduate certificate in Scoring for Motion Pictures and Television. He also received an MA in Music for Film, Television and Theatre from the University of Bristol in England; an MM in Music Composition from Rice University; and a BM in Music Composition from Oberlin Conservatory. He has taught graduate and undergraduate level music theory at Rice University.

He was half of Blind Labyrinth, with the late Kenneth Downey, an experimental electroacoustic music duo, whose CD Blasted Light was released on the Beauport Classical label in 2014.

Robert has presented papers around the country and at both national and regional chapters of Society of Composers, Inc. His post-tonal analyses have been published in Perspectives of New Music and Journal of Schenkerian Studies.

He is a Board-Certified Music Therapist, with an MA in Music Therapy from Texas Woman’s University. His music therapy articles have been published in Voices: A World Forum for Music Therapy and in Qualitative Inquiries in Music Therapy.

You can find out more at https://www.robertgrosscomposer.com/

Multi-award winning pianist, composer and producer Doug Hammer has been involved with music his whole life, starting piano at age six. He is educated in contemporary, jazz and classical styles of music.

A scholarship graduate of Berklee College of Music in Boston, Doug’s musical world continued to flourish, gaining experience in everything from record production to orchestration and arranging. After Berklee, he opened his own project studio and production company, Dreamworld Productions. His studio and skills have served the needs of many, working on projects for film, web, TV, radio and corporations. He has produced countless artists in a diversity of styles.

After many years of success with his business, Doug started releasing his own music. It has won countless awards and nominations from radio, websites and media. His music is widely popular on streaming, satellite and radio stations all over the world. It has received hundreds of millions of plays on Pandora, Spotify, Music Choice and Whisperings Solo Piano Radio. His album, Solace, is a big hit on Pandora and his double album, Travels, won Album of the Year on Whisperings Solo Piano Radio.

Find more information at https://doughammer.com/

Joseph Blanchard, a self-taught pianist and composer, is inspired by the melodies and harmonies of the Romantic 19th century classical composers. His feelings, conveyed through improvisation, eventually become completed works. He has recorded these original compositions on four albums.

​Overall, Joe’s playing style provides a pleasant background ambiance. He resides in the Greater Boston area and routinely performs at hospitals, country inns, non-profit organizations, private functions, and other local venues. On occasion, he plays at the BSO Cafe in Boston Symphony Hall when the BSO is in town.

Joe has many wonderful music videos online. Explore his music and see clips of his performances at https://www.joeblanchard.com

Greg Maroney is a contemporary pianist and composer whose emotionally rich and accessible music is played and loved around the world. Peaceful and serene or dark and passionate, his compositions reflect a life lived in harmony with nature and a profound love of the beauty surrounding him. Greg lives with his wife Linda on a small farm in south central Pennsylvania.

The message Greg would like to convey with his music is this: Walk gently on this earth, treat others as you would like to be treated. Shape your outlook to respond with love, compassion and presence. Music can open the heart and let in sunlight. If you allow this to happen it will make your day that much brighter!

He has over 20 physical CDs and over 50 Digital albums to his credit !

You can find out more about him at https://gregmaroney.com/