Nanette McGuinness
Artistic Executive Director, soprano
Soprano and E4TT co-founder and Artistic Executive Director NANETTE MCGUINNESS has performed in 12 languages on two continents in over 25 roles with the Silesian State (Czech Republic),
Opera San Jose (Opera in the Schools), and West Bay, Pacific Repertory, Trinity Lyric, and Livermore Valley Operas, among others. Solo concert engagements include Mahler’s Fourth Symphony, Nuits d’étés (Berlioz), Stabat Mater (Rossini), Requiem (Fauré), Lord Nelson Mass (Haydn), Vesperae Solennes (Mozart), and Handel’s Messiah.
Chamber Music Magazine called "Fabulous Femmes," her debut CD of music by women composers "perfect for the song recital lover."
Anne Lerner
Cellist
Cellist ANNE LERNER completed her B.A. in Music at Northwestern University as a Cello Performance major after three years as a Spanish Literature major at Bryn Mawr College,
then attending the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where she earned a Master of Music in Cello Performance. She has performed with numerous Bay Area orchestras and is a much sought-after chamber musician
and performer of contemporary music. A dedicated educator, Lerner conducts two youth orchestras in the Marin Symphony Youth Program, is on the faculties of Dominican University and San Rafael High School,
and maintains a large private studio.
Margaret Halbig
Season Guest Pianist
Season guest pianist MARGARET HALBIG is in high demand as both an instrumental and vocal collaborative artist. On staff at the SF Conservatory of Music since 2011, she regularly performs recitals and masterclasses and has collaborated with many esteemed Bay Area musicians
including mezzo-soprano Frederica Von Stade, SF Symphony Principal Trombonist Timothy Higgins and Principal Tubist Jeffrey Anderson. An advocate of new music, Halbig is the pianist for Ninth Planet,
an SF new music collective and a member of the wind-and-piano sextet Frequency 49. Halbig was a Collaborative Teaching fellow at Interlochen Arts in 2017 and
2018 in collaborative and solo piano and has been the pianist for Young Women’s Chorus of San Francisco since 2014.
Stephanie Neumann
Special Projects
On staff member since 2018, STEPHANIE NEUMANN is thrilled to work for such a phenomenal and exciting ensemble! A composer, saxophonist/vocalist, conductor, and educator, she earned an MA in
Music Composition from Mills College, BA in Music from Miami University, and a certificate for Audio Engineering from The Recording Workshop, and worked with groups that include Voci, Portato Portato, Mills Performing Group,
and Risa Juraslow & Dancers. A member of both the Oak Wind Saxophone Quartet and Sl(e)ight Ensemble, she is also a singer-songwriter, audio/video editor and sound designer, and a music teacher.
Brennan Stokes
Publicity & Design
Emerging composer, pianist, tenor, and teacher BRENNAN STOKES earned a Bachelor’s of Music in Piano Performance from Pacific Union College and has been active in playing and singing in school
ensembles and church choirs throughout his education. He earned his Master’s Degree in Music Composition at the SF Conservatory of Music in the studio of David Garner.
He has had masterclasses in piano with Leon Bates and Sonstraud Speidel and in composition with Jack Perla and David Conte.
Esther Kim
Intern
A native of the Bay Area, ESTHER KIM is an emerging violinist recognized as an artist with passion, musical versatility and a warm sound. Esther has been selected to perform in prestigious venues across the United States,
including Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, Kennedy Center, Herbst Theatre and California Theatre. She currently holds her Bachelor of Music and Master of Music from the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University, and
has been selected to receive the J.C. Van Hulsteyn Award and Artistic Excellence.
David Garner
Co-Founder and Senior Artistic Advisor
E4TT composer and co-founder DAVID GARNER won The American Prize in 2015 for his String Quartet No. 2. Garner's music has been reviewed as "alluring" and
"a heady and touching revelation," and his works have been performed nationally and internationally by artists such as Suzanne Mentzner, Catherine Cook, David Krakauer,
and Matt Haimowitz. Garner's opera, "Mary Pleasant at Land's End,” is in the final stages of preproduction. A faculty member in composition, chamber music,
music theory and literature at the SF Conservatory of Music, Garner is a member of BMI, American Composers Forum, and the American Music Center.
Elinor Armer
A native Californian, composer ELINOR ARMER has spent her life on the West Coast, where she has taught piano, theory, composition, and music history at every level, in schools and universities, at her home in Berkeley as well as in master classes in the U.S. and abroad. For the last 50 years she
has been affiliated with the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where she established the composition department (1985) and continues to teach composition. Since 2014, the Conservatory has awarded the Elinor Armer Scholarship in Composition to qualified women applicants.
Kathy Barr
KATHY BARR is a non-profit consultant. She was most recently the Executive and Artistic Director of Old First Concerts. Prior to that position she was the Executive Director of the San Francisco Center for the Book. She holds a B.A. from Bard College and a Masters Degree in the Book Arts from Mills College. She is the proprietress of Small Plot Press.
Jeffrey Hoover
Composer JEFFREY HOOVER’s pieces—ranging from music for soloist to symphonic orchestra—have received recognition via
through the prestigious Trieste prize, the international Luigi Russolo competition, the Lancaster Fine Arts Festival, and awards and grants, including from Mu Phi Epsilon.
Hoover is also the author of The Arts and Society: Making New Worlds (Kendall Hunt Publishing). Also a visual artist, Hoover is known for creating unique interdisciplinary works where he combines his painƟngs with his musical compositions.
Hoover holds a PhD in Fine Arts (Composition and Interdisciplinary Fine Arts) from Texas Tech University, as well as an MM in Composition and Musicology
and an undergraduate degree from Ball State University.
Alden Jenks
Composer ALDEN JENKS has composed both electronic and “acoustic” music in a wide variety of forms — instrumental, vocal, and theatrical.
His website shows the range of his work both within and outside music.
Jenks received his B.A. from Yale University and an M. A. from the University of California, Berkeley.
Recently retired from the SF Conservatory, he was director of electronic music and the recording studio, served as a professor of composition,
and was chair of the composition department.
Kurt Rohde
Violist and composer Kurt Rohde is a recipient of the Rome Prize, the Berlin Prize, a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Studies Fellowship, the Lydian String Quartet Commission Prize,
and an Arts and Letters Award in Music from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
He has received commission awards from New Music USA - Commissioning Music/USA, the NEA,
and the Barlow, Fromm, Hanson, and Koussevitzky Foundations.Kurt is a curator at the Center for New Music and serves as Artistic Advisor for the Left Coast Chamber Ensemble. In the Fall 2019, he was appointed Artistic Director of the Composers Conference.
Frederica von Stade
One of the most beloved musical figures of our time, mezzo-soprano FREDERICA VON STADE has enriched the world of classical music for three decades
with her appearances in opera, concert, and recital. Well known to audiences around the world, she has made over sixty recordings with every major label, including complete operas, aria albums, symphonic works, solo recital programs,
and popular crossover albums. Her recordings have garnered six Grammy nominations, two Grand Prix du Disc awards, the Deutsche Schallplattenpreis,
Italy's Premio della Critica Discografica, and "Best of the Year" citations by Stereo Review and Opera News. She has been appointed an officer of L'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by France.
Cynthia Whitehead
Linguist and lawyear CYNTHIA WHITEHEAD has worked in 35 countries in Europe, the USA, and Asia on the transfer of environmental policy and law between countries and regions.
She edited and produced the first compendium of European Union environmental law (10 languages) and focused in the 1990s on preparation for the accession of central and eastern European countries to the EU.
Since 1999, she has also worked in Asia on the development of policies and law related to environment and development. Whitehead has also been a member of the board of Directors of the the Blosser Center for Dyslexia Resources and of West Edge Opera.
