Daniel Barrett enjoys a three tiered career in music and music education. His band of almost a decade, Porterdavis, got its start busking in the hallowed halls of the Porter and Davis Square subway stations in Boston. In 2009, Porterdavis won the Austin Music Award for Best Roots Rock Band. They enjoyed 8 weeks in the top 40 of the Americana Chart, with airplay all over the United States and abroad. The band tours regularly across the US and Canada. Behind the scenes, Barrett produced Nate Borofsky's Boston Music Award winning album, "Never Enough Time," as well as BMA nominated efforts from Brian Webb and Kristin Cifelli. After moving to Austin, TX in 2004, he co-founded the Red Leaf School of Music. In 2005, Porter davis studied music in Ghana, West Africa. He graduated cum laude from UMassBoston. He has shared the stage with Melissa Etheridge, The Neville Brothers, Brad Delp of the band Boston, the Subdudes and more.

Eric Conn has devoted over sixteen years to music production, working in genres from folk to hard rock, gospel, R&B, rap, and bluegrass for such artists as Joan Osborne, Skid Row, The Imperials, Young Buck, Janis Ian, John Prine, and many others. He worked for three years at Doug Sax’s Sheffield Lab Recording and four years at Georgetown Masters, opening Independent Mastering in 2001. Eric holds a degree in music, plays a variety of instruments, and spends his spare time in a hammock on his porch in Nashville.

Dick Connette has been composing, performing, and recording music since 1970. Since 1987 he’s devoted himself to based on American folk and popular traditions, and two CDs of theses efforts have been released on Nonesuch Records: Last Forever and Trainfare Home. In addition he wrote and helped record arrangements for songs on Loudon Wainwright III’s CD, Last Man On Earth and Suzzie and Maggie Roche’s CD, Zero Church, produced Geoff Muldaur’s CD, Private Astronomy, and was the co-executive producer of Erik Friedlander’s Block Ice & Propane. Most recently, Dick was the producer of and wrote, and arranged songs for Loudon Wainwright III’s 2 CD set, High Wide & Handsome: The Charlie Poole Project.

Alexandra du Bois music has been commissioned by ensembles such as the Kronos Quartet, Bargemusic, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, The Beaux Arts Trio, Merkin Concert Hall, The Anchorage Symphony Orchestra, Present Music with the Milwaukee Choral Artists and the Milwaukee Children’s Choir, The Piano Project at the Kaufman Center in New York, The Savannah Music Festival, Bang on a Can Festival, Azure Ensemble, The University Chorus and Chamber Singers at the University of Massachusetts-Boston, Her music has been performed on four continents at venues including Carnegie Hall, Merkin Hall.

Robert Kraft has worked extensively in the recording industry, producing or co-producing such artists as Linda Ronstadt, Dr. John, Bette Midler, Celia Cruz, Tito Puente, Johnny Mathis, Bruce Willis, Jimmy Buffett, Don Henley, George Benson, Ozzy Osbourne, Southside Johnny, Albert Collins, Vonda Shepard, and Melissa Manchester. His songs have been recorded by The Manhattan Transfer, Bette Midler, Roberta Flack, Los Lobos, Diane Schuur, Bruce Willis, Joy Enriquez, Dr. John, and Kermit the Frog. As a solo artist and with his band, Robert Kraft and The Ivory Coast, he has released four albums on RCA, RSO, and Sonic Edge Records. Kraft supervises the music for all Fox Filmed Entertainment motion pictures.

William McClelland is a composer and pianist whose music has been performed by many groups in the US and Canada. His recording of choral works on Albany Records, The Revenge of Hamish, has received international acclaim, and he has collaborated on a variety of original works with artists Komar & Melamid and author Ian Frazier. He has produced recordings by William Appling Singers & Orchestra of music by William Billings and a collection of American hymns and spirituals. He leads and composes for The Feetwarmers, an 8-piece swing band, and presents concerts of American theater songs and classical works with his wife, soprano Jean McClelland. He is also president of Bag Snaggers, Inc.

Matt Morin holds a B.A. in music with a minor in anthropology from the University of Massachusetts, Boston, and a M.A. in ethnomusicology from Tufts University. He is currently completing his Ph.D. in ethnomusicology at Florida State University where he teaches undergraduate courses on world music, modern popular music, and American roots music. His research interests include applied and medical ethnomusicology, globalization, politics, human rights, and music education. Matthew has conducted fieldwork in Ghana on music as social work, in El Salvador on political history and immigration, as well as in Boston on urban youth music-cultures. He has also collected oral histories exploring Nadia Boulanger’s teaching pedagogy with several of her former students, including Dr. David Patterson. His dissertation investigates international aid organizations partnering with musicians in Africa to achieve humanitarian and development initiatives.

Miguel Picker Director, composer, and award winning editor Miguel Picker is the founder of ArtMedia. His projects have been showcased in dances, concerts, multimedia productions, films, documentaries and several PBS programs. His credits among others include Frontline, La Plaza, Greater Boston Arts as well as a 52 part educational series entitled Destinos broadcast nationally. He has composed the music for Español en Vivo, a bilingual children’s project published by Simon and Shuster and Lenguaje and Alfamigos published by Houghton Mifflin. He has worked with a wide range of art institutions and public foundations including The Boston Ballet, The New England Conservatory and The Boston Children’s Museum. Most recently he has produced, directed and edited Mickey Mouse Monopoly: Disney, Childhood and Corporate Power and Beyond Good & Evil: Children, Media and Violent Times both distributed by Media Education Foundation.

Alicia Witt was born in Worcester, Massachusetts. Witt was discovered by David Lynch who cast her in the movie Dune (1984). She won several national and international classical piano competitions, including the Bartok-Kabalevsky International Piano Competition. Witt supported herself by playing piano at the Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel. Witt landed her first lead role in the film Fun. Witt was introduced to a larger audience playing the role of Zoey Woodbine in Cybill Shepherd's sitcom Cybill from 1995 to 1998. Between seasons she starred in films: Mr. Holland's Opus. In September 2006 she returned to the London stage, portraying the piano-playing Abigail in Piano/Forte at the Royal Court Theatre. Witt joined the cast of Law & Order: Criminal Intent for the 2007-08 season. Her EP with 4 songs was released on iTunes in July 2009.

Brendon Wood performs with the "Devil Music Ensemble", an internationally recognized group who accompanies silent film. The group founded in 2000 has scored 7 silent films, and has toured extensively throughout the United States and Europe. Brendon is also an educator currently leading the Music curricula at the Meridian Academy in Brookline, Massachusetts and instructing a small body of private students in guitar and theory.