John C. Savage (flutes and saxophones) has been compared to Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Jean-Pierre Rampal, Herbie Mann, Noah Howard, Ian Anderson, and Colin Stetson. Savage has performed and recorded with, among others, Esperanza Spalding (for Bienestar Oregon), Cartridge (The Black Heron and the Spoonbill), the Andrew Hill Big Band (A Beautiful Day), Billy Fox and Mark Dresser (The Uncle Wiggly Suite) and releases on PJCE Records (Ekta, Demolition Duo, From Maxville to Vanport, Senses Sharpened). Savage frequently performs with poet Claudia Saleeby Savage as Thick In The Throat Honey, the free jazz trio Krüd, and Lie Very Still, which performs Savage’s compositions influenced by classical composition, improvisation, metal, and a dystopian future. He also performs with The Bundy Band, a twelve-piece New Orleans Jazz influenced group with a distinctly Pacific Northwest flavor. His chamber music group, Re:Soundings Trio, collaborated with NEA Jazz Master Roscoe Mitchell and may be heard on his release, Distant Radio Transmission (Wide Hive Records, 2020). Savage holds a Ph.D. from New York University with emphases in flute performance, improvisation, and music theory. He teaches both at Reed College and Mount Hood Community College. www.johncsavage.com

Heather Mastel-Lipson began playing the violin at age seven. Since then she has performed in music festivals in the United States, Europe and South America. She is a regular member of Portland Opera and Oregon Ballet Theatre Orchestras, and has performed as concertmaster of several ensembles including the San Francisco Conservatory Orchestra, Eastman Philharmonia and the Brainerd Chamber Orchestra. Heather has performed with the Reno Philharmonic and the Oregon Symphony Orchestra. She is a member of the Northwest Piano Trio, and is in a violin and guitar duo giving concerts with both ensembles around Portland and the Bay Area. Heather enjoys teaching her private students, coaching chamber music and is a faculty member at Young Musicians and Artists Camp (YMA) at Willamette University. Heather holds a bachelor of music degree from the Eastman School of Music and a master of music degree from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Heather lives in Portland with her husband and their three children.

Cellist Heather Blackburn has been lauded for her “burnished tone” (The Oregonian) and for “her gorgeous tone and playing unerringly in tune” (Seattle Post Intelligencer). Heather was appointed to 4 one-year positions with the Oregon Symphony and has performed as guest principal cello for Portland Opera, Symphony Tacoma and Tulsa Symphony. She has given Oregon premieres of works by Joan Tower and Esa -Pekka Salonen, has been a featured soloist with Portland Symphonic Choir, and has performed and recorded with Pink Martini, Portland Cello Project, soul singer Ron Artis and indie band Other Lives. Heather currently teaches cello and chamber music at George Fox University and University of Portland. Heather was invited to perform a solo recital featuring music by Amy Beach as part of the “Women in Music” series at Chadron State College, NE in March. Upcoming concerts include a livestream with cellist Diane Chaplin of works by Giovanni Sollima, a recital in her home state of New York and a solo performance with the University of Portland Orchestra.

Dr. Stephen Lewis is a composer, pianist, and conductor living in Portland, Oregon, whose music inhabits the terrain between sound as physical sensation and sound as signifier of culture. Hailed as “delectable,” with a “constantly shifting sonic world [that] proved fascinating and effective,” Stephen’s chamber opera, Noon at Dusk, was premiered at UC San Diego in 2016. He has been commissioned by or written works for the Delgani String Quartet, Cascadia Composers, the Wellesley Composers Conference, red fish blue fish, UC San Diego's Palimpsest ensemble, the Diagenesis Duo, Gnarwhallaby, Trio Kobayashi, Aurora Borealis, and a number of individuals. Stephen has performed in solo and ensemble concerts at Miller Theater in New York, Severance Hall in Cleveland, the Walt Disney and Zipper Halls in Los Angeles, and at smaller venues throughout the United States. Stephen maintains a private studio of piano, composition, and music theory students. He completed the PhD in Composition at UC-San Diego in 2015, where he studied with Rand Steiger. Subsequently, he completed the DMA in Contemporary Piano Performance in 2017, where he studied with Aleck Karis. Stephen is a graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, where he majored in piano and composition.

Dr. Joel Bluestone is a Music Professor Emeritus at Portland State University, where he was head of the percussion department until he retired last year. He is the Co-Founder/Percussionist with the Northwest premiere contemporary new music ensemble, Fear No Music. In 2016, after 25 years, he retired from performing with the group, but still remains on the board of directors. However, he continues to perform for YCP which is dear to his heart.

For his work with young composers, pianist and conductor Jeff Payne was awarded the 2022 Musical Hero Award by the Metropolitan Youth Symphony. He founded Fear No Music with percussionist Joel Bluestone in 1992, and has performed hundreds of concerts with the group across the United States. During his tenure as Artistic Director for the group he was responsible for presentation of twenty World Premiere or American Premiere performances of works by Pacific Northwest composers. In 1997 he founded the Young Composers Workshop, and continues as its Director, overseeing the development of aspiring young creative minds around the region. The 25tth anniversary of the Young Composers Project was featured in articles in the Oregonian and Oregon Arts Watch.

Payne’s complete performance of Messiaen’s “Vingt Regards sur l’Enfant Jesus” was named one of the Ten Best Concerts of the year by the Oregonian. Heralded by the Boston Globe as “a pianist of chameleon abilities,” Payne has performed on WGBH National Public Radio in Boston, KING radio in Seattle, All-Classical and KOPB radio in Portland, at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and the Norton Gallery in Palm Beach, at the Seattle Spring Festival, at Eugene's Music Today Festival, the Ernest Bloch Festival, and the Oregon Bach Festival. He has performed as soloist with the Vancouver Symphony, and the Yaquina Chamber Symphony. Payne holds a law degree from Lewis & Clark Law School and is a Senior Assistant Attorney General with the Oregon Department of Justice.