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Born and raised in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, Jason realized that he wanted to play the violin at age 3 after seeing Itzhak Perlman play for Oscar the Grouch on “Sesame Street;" at age 5, he started in the local Suzuki program. Although officially he only ever studied classical music, Jason got into alternative violin in his high school’s Strolling Strings group and in his jobs as a bluegrass fiddler at both Knoebels Amusement Resort and HersheyPark, and continued pushing the violin’s limits throughout college. Jason earned his degree in Music Education from the University of Miami where he was Homecoming King and President of the Beta Tau chapter of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia.

Following graduation, Jason landed his dream job as a member of the cast of Barrage, the international high-octane touring alternative violin show. During his four years with Barrage, Jason was elected to the position of Performers' Representative, and, in this capacity, was responsible for all of the communication and contract negotiation between the cast, management, and the American Federation of Musicians.

Over the summer of 2010, Jason worked in Atlantic City, New Jersey, as the onstage electric violinist in the Cirque Productions show "Cirque Dreams Jungle Fantasy."

From September 2010 until August 2012, Jason was the Cultural Programs Coordinator at the University of Cincinnati Blue Ash College, where he managed two concert series -- a diverse performing arts series for kids and an adult music series.

During the summer of 2011, Jason interned at the Overture Center for the Arts (Madison, WI), primarily assisting the Transition Coordinator as the Center transitioned from being a public entity to a private not-for-profit. His responsibilities also involved projects in the finance, programming, and administrative departments. He has now returned to Overture as the Programming and Community Engagement Coordinator, a full-time position responsible for a variety of tasks within the Programming Department.

Jason earned his MBA from the University of Cincinnati's Lindner College of Business in June 2012, and has nearly completed his Master of Arts in Arts Administration (there's just a thesis standing between him and completion).

Steve Danyew is a composer, saxophonist, teacher, and arts administrator based in Rochester, NY. Danyew composes works for chamber ensembles, large instrumental ensembles, choirs and more, and currently serves as Managing Editor of Polyphonic.org. His music has been hailed as “startlingly beautiful” and “undeniably well crafted and communicative” by the Miami Herald, and has been praised as possessing “sensitivity, skill and tremendous sophistication” by the Kansas City Independent. Steve received a B.M. cum laude, Pi Kappa Lambda from the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami and holds an M.M. in Composition and Certificate in Arts Leadership from the Eastman School of Music.

Making her solo debut with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at the age of 11, cellist Susie Yang has established herself as an avid soloist, orchestral musician, and chamber musician. In May 2004, Susie graduated with her Bachelors degree in cello performance at The Juilliard School, where she studied with Andre Emelianoff. Susie then went on to receive her Masters degree in 2006, at the New England Conservatory of Music under the tutelage of president emeritus, Laurence Lesser. She has received numerous scholarships from both The Juilliard School and New England Conservatory, including the Elaine Lambert Yearly Prize, Felix Salmond Scholarship, and the Marion Sunshine Scholarship. At the New England Conservatory, Ms. Yang was the recipient of the Beneficent Society Scholarship of $5000. Susie has won top prizes in numerous solo competitions including the New World Symphony Concerto Competition, the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, Skokie Valley National Young Artists Competition, and the ASTA National Competition. She has also been featured on PBS and 98.7 FM classical radio station in Chicago .
Ms Yang was a fellow at the New World Symphony and was a rotating principal under music director, Michael Tilson Thomas. In January 2009, Susie was invited to play with the Kansas City Symphony. She is now living in San Diego, playing with the San Diego Symphony and California Chamber Orchestra. She is also working on a project of forming a new chamber group that will put on concerts and outreach concerts in various kinds of venues in the Southern California area. In January 2010, she will be perform Schubert's Cello Quintet at the Wintermezzo Series for Festival Mozaic in San Luis Obispo, CA.
Ms. Yang has worked with and played for many of the top musicians of the world, including Donald and Vivian Weilerstein, Paul Katz, Roger Tapping, The Peabody Trio, and The Borromeo Quartet. She has spent her summers at the Sarasota Music Festival, Music Academy of the West, Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, The Festival of Two Worlds in Spoleto , ITALY , Taos School of Music, Yellow Barn Summer Festival, and Festival Mozaic.

Winner of first prize in the prestigious Georg Solti International Conductors’ Competition in Germany,
Shizuo Z Kuwahara is the music director of Symphony Orchestra Augusta (SOA), formally known as
The Augusta Symphony. Prior to SOA, Mr. Kuwahara’s was associated as a conducting staff with
Philadelphia Orchestra, Virginia Symphony, Pacific Music Festival, Saito Kinen Festival,
IPPO Philharmoniker, College of William & Mary and American University.

In Philadelphia, he was an apprentice to the Music Director Christoph Eschenbach and lead the family and student concerts and covered additional performances. In summer of 2008, he was an assistant conductor at
Saito Kinen Festival, where he was an assistant to Seiji Ozawa and conducted Ozawa Jyuku Orchestra.
He spent his summer of 2006 in Sapporo, Japan where he was an assistant conductor of Valery Gergiev at
Pacific Music Festival.

Frequent guest conductor of the Japan Philharmonic, the Nagoya Philharmonic and the Orchestra Ensemble Kanazawa, Mr. Kuwahara will make a debut with Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra and Frankfurt Museum Orchestra this season. His past guest conducting appearances includes Tokyo Symphony, Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra, Century Orchestra Osaka, Omaha Symphony, Baton Rouge Symphony, Polish Chamber Philharmonic, Philharmonia Slaska, Sinfonieorchester den Nationalen Philharmonischen Gesellshaft der Uklaine Kiew, German Radio Symphony Orchestra, Buffalo Philharmonic, Chattanooga Symphony and Baltimore Symphony.

In addition to winning the first prize at Solti Competition, he received second prize in the previous Solti Competition, third prize at Malko International Conducting Competition, an honorable mentions in Tokyo International Music Competition for Conducting, Prokofiev International Conducting Competition in St. Petersburg, Russia and Fitelberg International Competition in Katowice, Poland with numerous additional prizes. He is also a recipient of Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans.

Born in Tokyo, Mr. Kuwahara studied conducting at Yale University, where he was awarded Charles Ives Scholarship and won Eleozar de Carvalho Prize, and at Eastman School of Music, where he was awarded George Eastman Scholarship, Performer's Certificate and Arts Leadership Program Certificate. His primary conducting teachers include David Effron and Lawrence Leighton Smith. Mr. Kuwahara has also studied with Leonard Slatkin, David Zinman, Timothy Muffitt and Michael Jinbo at various conducting institutions, including Aspen Festival, National Conducting Institute, Pierre Monteux School, and Chautauqua Music Institute.

Aimee Morris has performed French horn in solo, orchestral, and chamber music concerts in many venues across the United States and abroad. These opportunities include an extended tour of Malaysia, performing and teaching with the Perak Society for Performing Arts in August 2008. She has given both solo and chamber music master classes and greatly enjoys teaching and music outreach opportunities. Since 2007, Aimee has offered multiple clinics on section playing, professionalism, and orchestral etiquette at music schools in New York State. Her teachers have included Patrice Malatestinic, Julie Schleif, and W. Peter Kurau. Aimee is currently in her fourth year of study in horn performance at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY.