CARYL CONGER

Pianist, Caryl Worthington Conger, continues her passion of musical collaboration. She performs regularly with wind and brass artists in recitals and conferences throughout the U. S. and abroad. Her special niche of interest has been her collaboration with tuba and euphonium artists including tubists, Daniel Perantoni, Patrick Sheridan, Roger Bobo, and Harvey Phillips, and euphoniumists, Steve Mead, Roger Behrend, and
Brian Bowman. As a gift to the low brass repertoire she commissioned "Fantasy" by Daniel Crozier for tuba and piano and recorded it with Daniel Perantoni. Caryl attended the University of Kentucky, where she studied piano with Nathaniel Patch, and also the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. Now she is on the music faculty of Radford University as irector
of Accompanying where she coaches and performs with students, peers and guest artists and directs the Bartok-Kabalevsky-Prokofiev International Piano Competition & Festival. Caryl's other musical interests include 4-hand piano and 2 piano repertoire, the art song repertoire, and promoting, performing and recording new solo and chamber music.

REBECCA WILT

Rebecca Wilt is rapidly receiving national and international recognition as a virtuoso collaborative pianist. In addition to performing with vocalists and instrumentalists on the concert stage, Ms. Wilt frequently gives workshops and master classes on topics involving coaching and accompanying and works as a vocal coach in both the opera and musical theatre idioms.
Rebecca has performed in collaboration with vocalists and instrumentalists in many of the world's greatest venues including: Alice Tully Hall, Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, Interlochen Center for the Arts, Banff Center for the Arts, Orchestra Hall (Chicago), St. Finbarr's Cathedral (Ireland), the Beijing Theatre, and the Muziekcentrum (the Netherlands).
Ms. Wilt has collaborated with brass players Stephen Burns, Edward Carroll, Gabriele Cassone, Jeffrey Curnow, Vince DiMartino, Mark Gould, Jens Lindemann, Tim Morrison, Thomas Stevens, Markus Stockhausen, James Thompson and John Wallace - trumpet; Eric Ruske, Rick Seraphinoff, and Froydis Ree Wekre - horn; Jeannie Little and Julia McIntyre - trombone; Velvet Brown and Fritz Kaenzig - tuba; as well as with many members of regional symphonies across the United States. Wind players Ms. Wilt has collaborated with include Larry Combs, Eddie Daniels and Richard Hawkins - clarinet; Julius Baker, Jeanne Baxtresser, Leone Buyse, Linda Chesis, Timothy Hutchins, Jeffrey Kahner, Walfrid Kujala, Michael Parloff, Jimmy Walker and Carol Wincenc - flute; and Joseph Lulloff and Taimur Sullivan - saxophone. Vocalists Rebecca has performed with include Scott Bearden, Phyllis Bryn-Julson, Jennifer Lane, Eleni Matos, Stuart Neill, Ian Partridge, Nicole Philibosian, Dorothy Stone and Mark Wildman.
Recently, Ms. Wilt finished recording a compact disc, An American Portrait, with James Thompson at Kilbourn Hall at the Eastman School of Music. Her second disc, Something Old, Something New, will be recorded in the spring of 2004 and will consist of works written for brass quintet and piano. Rebecca is also a member of the duo, EQUINOX, which tours the United States several times a year. The duo has commissioned numerous works for trumpet and piano and is dedicated to promoting music by composers of our time. The duo's first disc is scheduled to be released in 2004.
Formerly the head of accompanying at the Interlochen Arts Academy, and the director of the collaborative piano and vocal coaching program at Central Michigan University, Rebecca has recently accepted a new position as professor of piano and collaborative piano at Messiah College in Grantham, PA. She has accompanied for the Ellsworth Smith International Trumpet Competition, the International Trumpet Guild Conference, the National Trumpet Competition, the ARTS competition, the International Trombone Association, the International Horn Society, the North American Saxophone Alliance, the Falcone International Tuba and Euphonium Competition, the Tromp Muziek Biennale, the International Women's Brass Conference and the American Choral Director's National Convention.
Rebecca is currently on the summer faculty as the coordinator of accompanying for the Lake Placid International Summer Music Seminars in Lake Placid, NY and resides in Pennsylvania.

GLORIA CARDONI

Gloria Cardoni is on staff as accompanist at Illinois Wesleyan University in the musical theatre department and an organist at Holy Trinity Catholic Church, both in Bloomington, Illinois. She has been the accompanist for choral groups on tours to Poland, Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Italy. Gloria has performed as an accompanist for Hermann Bauman while he visited Illinois State University. She has also performed as an accompanist for trumpeter Jeff Holbrook for his performance at the Chicago Symphony Hall. Gloria is a graduate of the University of Illinois in music education. She is married and has three sons, all residing in Normal, Illinois.

ELAINE MOSS

Elaine Moss is Instructor in Music and Staff Accompanist at St. Norbert College, where she teaches piano, class piano, and accompanies in all areas of the department. She received her piano performance degree from St. Norbert College where she studied with Tom Hurley and Sadie Jerry and received a master's degree in music education from Silver Lake College. Further studies have been with Jeanne Kirstein at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, Paul Reed at Wichita State University, Judith Jaimes, Jeffry Peterson, and Katja Phillabaum at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and a summer abroad at the Universite de Louis Pasteur in Strasbourg, France. Other collaborative efforts have included working with the Green Bay Symphony Orchestra, Pamiro Opera, Green Bay Civic Symphony and the Green Bay Chamber Choir.

BRUCE GIBBONS

Dr. Bruce Gibbons performs as a collaborative pianist in approximately thirty student recitals and ten faculty recitals per year at Millikin University, and has played for numerous NATS events throughout Illinois. He regularly assists with graduate recitals at the University of Illinois, Illinois State University, and Western Illinois University, and has toured the southeastern United States and Canada. Adjunct Professor of Piano since 1985, he holds the DMA from Louisiana State University.

KAREN COLLIER

Karen Collier, pianist has been in great demand as an accompanist/coach for almost 20 years. During those years, she has accompanied students and faculty at Illinois State, Wesleyan University, University of Illinois, and Indiana University as well as guest artists.
A very versatile musician, Ms. Collier has both a Bachelor and Master of Music degrees in Violin Performance from Indiana University with a minor in
Piano Performance. Currently, she is Assistant Concertmaster of the Illinois Symphony Orchestra and the Illinois Chamber Orchestra. Ms. Collier is also
active as a freelance violinist having performed as concertmaster with artists such as Johnny Mathis, Tony Bennett, Harry Connick Jr., Shirley Jones, Aretha Franklin and Natalie Cole as well as in the touring productions of Annie, The Rocketts, South Pacific, State Fair and Fiddler on the Roof.
Ms. Collier is Music Director at St. Luke Union Church in Bloomington, Ill., where she is organist/pianist, directs choirs, produces musicals and arranges/composes music for the church. In addition, she is founder and contractor for Rhapsody, a thriving music business in Central Illinois providing elegant classical music for weddings, receptions, corporate
events and private functions. Within Rhapsody, she produces many custom
arrangements for all types of music ensembles. Given her eclectic background of experience in musical style and especially as a seasoned orchestral musician, Karen asserts an understanding of style and musical knowledge as an accompanist that is rare.

SEUNG-HYE LEE

Seung-Hye Lee is currently on the piano faculty at Millikin University, Decatur, IL. Her duties include teaching class piano and individual lessons and accompanying opera production and voice masterclasses and chamber music. She received her Doctor of Musical Arts degree in piano performance from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in August of 2002. She also holds two masters degrees in piano performance and music therapy from Illinois State University and a BM in Musicology from Seoul National University in Korea. She has won several competitions including the UW-Madison Concerto Competition, the ISU Concerto-Aria Competition, the UW-Madison Beethoven Solo Piano Competition, and the Korean National Piano Competition. An active solo and collaborative pianist, she has extensive teaching experience in studio piano, group piano, music theory, and sight reading/ear training. Her teachers include Christopher Taylor, Howard Karp, Tella Marie DeBose, Hye-Ryung Kim, and In-Sook Kim.

MIN-AH HWANG

A South Korean citizen, Min-Ah Hwang is currently a DMA student in piano performance at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She holds a Master of Music degree from Western Illinois University and a BM from Dan Kook University in Seoul, Korea, where she studied with Chi Ho Cho and Joong Won Koh. Her recent teachers have included Dr. Michael Campbell and Dr. William Heiles, with whom she currently studies. In 1995, during her Master's degree, Ms. Hwang performed the Mozart Concerto in B-flat, K. 595 with the Western Illinois Orchestra. In summer 2002, Ms. Hwang attended the music festival Recontres Musicales en Lorraine in Nancy, France. She attended the Dong-Il Han music festival in 1984.
Min-Ah Hwang's awards in competitions include 1st prize in the Incheon City Symphony orchestra competition in 1988, followed by a performance of Beethoven's Concerto No. 3 with the Incheon City symphony orchestra in 1988. Other awards include 2nd prize in the Seoul City University competition and 3rd prize in the Korea Music association competition in 1987.

CASEY ROBARDS

A native of Highland, Illinois, Casey began playing the piano at the age of four and accompanying by the age of eleven. A sensitive pianist, Ms. Robards maintains an active passion for collaborating in many settings whether playing chamber music, accompanying for instrumentalists, coaching singers in art song or opera, or arranging and improvising with a gospel choir. She has performed throughout the United States with string, brass, wind players and vocalists and with ensembles including the University of Illinois Black Chorus, and Y.O.P.E. (Youth Opera Performance Education).
She has accompanied for Illinois Trombone Symposium Faculty Recitals, Illinois Summer Youth Music Trombone Recitals, and numerous graduate and undergraduate brass recitals, juries, and auditions at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. In 2001, Elliot Chasanov, trombone, and Ms. Robards gave the premiere of the Konowalski Quadruple Concerto for trombone, piano, and percussion.
Ms. Robards was asst. musical director/vocal coach and pianist for Bay View Opera's production of Don Giovanni during the summer of 2001, her sixth season at the Bay View Music Festival. During the summer of 2002, she performed at the Plymouth Music Festival was staff accompanist at the Weathersfield Music Festival.
Ms. Robards completed the Bachelor of Music and the Master of Music degrees at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where her primary piano study was with Kenneth Drake. She currently resides in Urbana, Illinois where she is a faculty member at the Conservatory of Central Illinois and a member of Canaan Missionary Baptist Church. In addition to her musical activities, Casey is involved with the TALKS Mentoring Movement, a leadership program for elementary through high school students.