Grammy Nominated and McKnight Fellow, José A. Zayas Cabán has presented performances and taught master classes throughout Europe, the Caribbean, and North America. A native Puerto Rican (born and raised in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico) and musician activist, José now resides in Minneapolis, MN and is building an artistic career focused on developing projects, albums, and collaborations that address, respond, and raise awareness about current events and social issues.
Winner of the 2019 New Music USA Project Grant, José has finished a collaboration with multiple Grammy Winning Artist and Guggenheim and MacArthur Fellow Miguel Zenón on a work titled El País Invisible (The Invisible Nation, 2019). The composition reflects on the relationship between Puerto Rico and the United States Empire.
That album’s commissioned piece El País Invisible, by Miguel Zenón, received a 2022 Grammy nomination for Best Instrumental Composition. Most recently, he and his trio {Trés} produced Romance al Campesino Porteño (2023) and received a 2023 Latin Grammy Best Instrumental Album nomination nomination.
In addition, José is developing a project with Angélica Negrón as the recipient of the McKnight Visiting Composer Fellowship that will result in a new composition titled Pedacito de Tierra (Little Piece of Land) Influenced by the work of Rafael Tufiño, and photographer Erika Rodriguez. Pedacito de Tierra will celebrate Puerto Rico’s stories and struggles. The collaboration with Angélica Negrón and Miguel Zenón is part of a larger, long term, project called Puerto Rico se Re-Inventa.
His debut album, Centennial, commemorates the women’s suffrage movement and the ratification of the 19th amendment in August 1920. It includes music by Kinds of Kingscomposers Gemma Peacocke (Skin, 2016) and Shelley Washington (Big Talk, 2016), as well as trios by Amanda Feery (Gone to Earth, 2018) and Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel (Trio, Op. 11, 1846).
José is the co-founder of the Chamber Music Trio {Trés}, which was started as a collaborative project by José and Colin Young with the purpose of creating transcriptions and commissioning new works for a two saxophone and piano ensemble to perform. The trio has since performed chamber music by a wide range of composers in Central America, the Caribbean, and throughout the United States. In the wake of Hurricanes Irma and María, {Trés} finished a national tour (2018) titled A Tribute to Puerto Rico to help raise funds and awareness about Puerto Rico and the island’s efforts to recover from the hurricanes. In November 2019, the trio completed its first residency in Puerto Rico.
José is a D’Addario, LefreQue and Yamaha Artist.
As a concert saxophonist and pedagogue, José A. Zayas Cabán has presented performances and taught master classes throughout Europe, the Caribbean and North America. These appearances include, among others, Trinity College and the Guildhall School of Music (England), the Scottish Saxophone Academy (Scotland), and the Conservatorio Real de Música de Madrid (Spain).
As a member of the trio {Trés}, José has cultivated, advocated for, and developed his interest in the transcription and arrangements of chamber music by a wide range of composers, namely Villa Lobos, Fanny Mendelssohn, Poulenc, J.S. Bach, and Glinka. The original members of {tres}, Colin Young, Leah Siltberg, and José, as well as its newest member, Casey Rafn, have performed these transcription projects in Central America, the Caribbean, and throughout the United States. Some of these performances include a guest recital at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (México), the Puerto Rico Conservatory (Puerto Rico), as well as the Alianza Latinoamericana de Saxofonistas (Costa Rica).
José’s interest in chamber music extends into his participation with several saxophone quartets and duos. Most recently, José has begun to collaborate with Joel Gordon and Shelley Washington, artists with whom he has performed duos by Mozart and Beethoven, as well as contemporary works like Shelley Washington’s baritone saxophone duo Big Talk.
José’s involvement with saxophone quartets started at the University of Minnesota (2005-2007), where he played baritone saxophone with the Four Corners Saxophone quartet. This group was a finalist in the Coleman Chamber music competition and semi-finalist in the Fischoff Chamber Music Competition. Later on, while at Indiana University (2008-2009), José played baritone saxophone with the Panoptic Saxophone quartet, which was a semi-finalist at the MTNA chamber music competition. In addition, José played alto saxophone with the Missouri Saxophone Quartet (2009-2010) and played tenor saxophone while touring with Kenneth Tse’s saxophone quartet (2013).
José has also been part of several large ensembles, including the University of Iowa Saxophone Ensemble (directed by Kenneth Tse) and the World of Winds Orchestra (directed by Christian Lindbergh). As principal saxophonist, José toured parts of Norway and Germany with this ensemble.
As a Music Theorist, José’s research focuses on the use of mathematics and data visualization to analyze symmetry in the music of 20th century composers. José also researches the cognitive perception of music, and how music theory can be used to create treatment options for individuals with communication disorders.
José has presented his research at the World Saxophone Congress, the North American Saxophone Alliance Biennial Conference and the Navy Saxophone Symposium.
His article, Symmetrical Processes and Pitch Design in Jindřich Feld’s use of Form in the Sonata for Alto Saxophone, will be featured in the Saxophone Symposium’s 2017-2018 issue.
This article stems from the research he began during his dissertation, Dodecaphonic and Symmetrical Processes in the First Movement of Jindřich Feld’s Sonata for Alto Saxophone.
José has served as Instructor of Music Theory and Aural Skills at Columbia College in Columbia, MO (Fall 2018). In addition, from 2011 through 2015, José served as Teaching Assistant at the University of Iowa for both the Saxophone and Music Theory areas.
As Teaching Assistant for the Saxophone area, José taught Saxophone, Woodwind Pedagogy and Literature, and Instrumental Techniques. For the Music Theory area, he taught Musicianship.
From 2012 through 2013, José served as Assistant Professor of Music at Truman State University in Kirksville, MO, where he taught Saxophone, Music Theory, and Aural Skills.
José’s students have gone into music teaching positions in Missouri and Iowa schools or to pursue graduate degrees in music in programs such as New York University, Indiana University, and Ohio State University.
José has a DMA in Saxophone from the University of Iowa (2016).
He is the recipient of a Performer’s Diploma from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music (May 2009), and holds a Master of Music degree from the University of Minnesota (2007), as well as a Bachelor in Music and Bachelor of Arts from Truman State University (2005).
His primary teachers include Randall Smith, Eugene Rousseau, Otis Murphy and Kenneth Tse.
He has also taken part in the European University for Saxophone in Gap, France, where he studied with Claude Delangle, Vincent David, Arno Bornkamp, Christian Wirth, Jean-Denis Michat and Julien Petit.
Aaron Barnard is an instrument repair technician from Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He studied instrument repair at Redwing Technical Institute and worked for a local music chain for 7 years before breaking off to start his own business in his hometown of Cedar Rapids.
Aaron has been specializing in vintage saxophone restoration for more than 22 years. Aaron takes pride in making modifications to horns to accommodate players comfort and preferences while maintaining the integrity of the sound.
José was a doctoral student at the University of Iowa and was recommended to check out Aaron’s work. The rest is history. From simple repair to specific key modifications that enhance José’s ability to play, Aaron is the one Jose relies on to work on his saxophones.
Those who are interested in checking out more of Aaron’s work, please visite his social networks.
Irish composer Amanda Feery works with acoustic, electronic, and improvised music, and has written for chamber and vocal ensembles, film, theatre, installation, and multimedia.
Her work has been described as “captivating” (I Care If You Listen) and as having an “appetite for risk” (Journal of Music).
Much of her inspiration comes from literature, cultural criticism, folk music, and the natural world, and many of her recent works have had a charged socio-political focus.
Angélica Negrón is a Puerto Rican-born composer and multi-instrumentalist. She writes music for voices, orchestras, ensembles and film as well as robots, toys, and plants. Angélica is known for playing with the unexpected intersection of classical and electronic music, unusual instruments, and found sounds.
Upcoming premieres include a cello concerto performed by Yo-Yo Ma and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, conducted by Gustavo Dudamel and a requiem for Dallas Symphony Orchestra. Recent commissions include works for Opera Philadelphia (a drag opera film in collaboration with Mathew Placek and Sasha Velour), New York Philharmonic, Seattle Symphony, Danish National Symphony Orchestra, the NY Botanical Garden, Kronos Quartet, Roomful of Teeth, and her Carnegie Hall debut, commissioned and performed by Sō Percussion. As a guest curator for Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Green Umbrella series (2025), under the creative direction of John Adams, Angélica brings together collaborators Lido Pimienta, Darian Donovan Thomas and Raquel Acevedo Klein; and continues to develop a multi-disciplinary work as a Lincoln Center Collider Fellow. As the recipient of the 2022 Hermitage Greenfield Prize, Angélica composed a new work synchronized to the setting sun for EnsembleNewSRQ.
Angélica’s original scores include the HBO docu series Menudo: Forever Young and You Were My First Boyfriend directed by Cecilia Aldarondo. She regularly performs a solo show and is a founding member of the tropical electronic band Balún. As an educator, Angélica has been a teaching artist with NY Philharmonic’s Very Young Composers program and with Lincoln Center Education.
Angélica lives in Brooklyn, where she’s always looking for ways to incorporate her love of drag, comedy, and the natural world into her work.
Justin Hartmann is a native St. Louisan, a lover of all animals (but most importantly the ones who share his home), a band nerd, a shutterbug, and a passionate video professional.
Growing up you would most likely find Justin in the practice room or marching band field, where he learned hard work and perseverance from some of the top educators in the world. From select ensembles throughout high school and college to lugging a 30 pound tuba all over the field with the top drum corps in the world, music has always been a part of Justin’s identity.
After graduating from Truman State University with a degree in Music – Liberal Arts, Justin took a full-time job directing and technical directing the evening news at KTVO-TV in Kirksville, MO, which led him on an interesting journey across the country and set him down the path to over 15 years of experience in all aspects of video and television production.
Outside the control room, Justin enjoys freelancing at venues across the St. Louis area, and is getting a little too into directing games for the Saint Louis University Billikens basketball teams. He also enjoys cheering on Notre Dame on Saturdays, sitting on the couch watching ghost shows with his wife, Lindsay, and snuggling with his four-legged family (a puggle named Morgan, a chihuahua/pug named Bridget, and two Orange Tabby cats, Jack and Frankie).
Composer Gemma Peacocke grew up in Hamilton, New Zealand, and she moved to the United States in 2014. She writes a broad range of music including art-pop songs, EDM-inspired tracks and orchestral music.
She has a particular love of interdisciplinary work and often collaborates with artists, writers, and theatre designers. Gemma’s first album, Waves & Lines, sets poems by Afghan women from a book by Eliza Griswold called I Am the Beggar of the World. Waves & Lines was released on New Amsterdam in March 2019 and has been performed as an evening-length multimedia song cycle at Roulette Intermedium and National Sawdust in New York, the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., and Australia’s Melbourne Recital Centre.
Gemma’s music has been performed and commissioned by Third Coast Percussion, PUBLIQuartet, Rubiks Collective, ~Nois saxophone quartet, the Furies, cellist Nick Photinos, and Alarm Will Sound.
In January 2020, the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra premiered All on Fire, a piece commissioned by the orchestra in honour of the 200 th anniversary of the birth of Susan B Anthony and the 100 th anniversary of the ratification of the 19 th Amendment.
Gemma is a founding member of the Kinds of Kings composer collective. Described by The New Yorker as “distinguished young creators who work in diverse styles,” the collective focuses on amplifying and advocating for underheard voices and producing immersive and wondrous concerts.
The collective is an Artist-in- Residence with National Sawdust for the 2019-2020 season. So far Gemma has lived in six different countries and she currently lives in BedStuy, Brooklyn, with her husband George and highly-strung rescue poodle Mila.
She is a Ph.D. candidate in both Music and Humanistic Studies at Princeton University.
Mitchell Toebben is a composer, arranger and saxophonist from Columbia, MO. Originally from Jefferson City, he studied music at Truman State University, focusing primarily on composition and theory.
While there, he was also active in its chapter of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia. His musical interests have always been eclectic, with experience writing and performing in the classical tradition, jazz, musical theater and electronic music. For José, he has written sax arrangements of pieces by J.S. Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Dvorák, Poulenc and many others, with aims to continue expanding the saxophone literature to encompass even more great works.
His collaboration with José has also involved the design of various diagrams and other graphical elements, as well as standard forms of music notation, for incorporation into scholarly papers.
For those interested in new projects or purchasing copies of completed works, please contact him.
Shelley Washington (b. 1991) writes music to fulfill one calling- to move. Described as having the ability to “expertly mine the deep wells of private emotion,” (Steven Jude Tietjen, Opera News) she uses driving, rhythmic riffs paired with indelible melodies to create a sound dialogue for the public and personal discourse.
Shelley performs regularly as a vocalist and baritone saxophonist, and loves making sound- anything from Baroque to Screamo.
She is based in the New York City area, and is currently studying at Princeton University in pursuit of the PhD in Music Composition.
She is a founding member of the Kinds of Kings composer collective.
Katheryn Lawson is a PhD candidate in History, currently writing her dissertation on Black Philadelphians, pet keeping, and animal care.
She has previously published on Girl Scout music and bird calls in children’s song collections, while more recent digital essays include “Pet Keeping and Pet Hiding in Black America” and “The Little-Known History of Cat Litter”.
She holds degrees in music performance, historical musicology, English, and Library and Information Science. Katheryn’s research investigates American history through the often intersecting lenses of human-animal relations (particularly birds and birdsong), children and childhood, race, music, and library science.
Past publications and presentations range from the history of cat litter, to Girl Scout music, to birdsongs for children, to music concerts in American libraries. Outside of scholarly pursuits, she has processed archival collections at the University of Iowa Special Collections and the Iowa Women’s Archives and volunteers at a wildlife rescue.
Soprano Saxophone (4.5)
Alto Saxophone (4.5)
Tenor Saxophone (4.5)
Baritone Saxophone (4.5)
