Our Musicians

​Praised as “a real talent here waiting to emerge” (Seattle Times), Shuying Li is an award-winning composer whose compositions have been performed by Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Seattle Symphony Orchestra, New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, American Lyric Theater, Argus Quartet, Hartford Opera Theater, Donald Sinta Quartet, Orkest de ereprijs (Netherlands), Norfolk Contemporary Ensemble, Avanti! Chamber Orchestra (Finland), ICon Arts Ensemble (Romania), Cecilia Quartet (Canada), Ascanio Quartet (Italy), Atlas Ensemble (Netherlands), among others. Originally from China, Shuying holds degrees from the University of Michigan and the Hartt School at the University of Hartford. She serves as the Assistant Professor of Composition and Music Theory at the Gonzaga University. Upcoming projects include performances by Moscow Contemporary Ensemble, Alarm Will Sound, Boston Modern Orchestra Project; an opera commissioned by the Shanghai Conservatory of Music with librettist Julian Crouch; as well as a band consortium commission by 20 universities including the Hartt School, New England Conservatory, University of Michigan, Cornell University, and University of Illinois, etc. Visit http://shuyingli.com for more information.

Flutist and pedagogue, Erika Boysen, is a leading innovator within interdisciplinary performance. Particularly known for her uniquely evocative collaborations including movement, singing and acting, Boysen uses these forms of creative expression both in performance and as a method for teaching artistic concepts. For her demonstrative expertise and virtuosic performance, she has been invited to Asia, Australia, Central American, Europe, and across the U.S.A. to perform in recitals, teach master classes, and lead creative workshops.

Active on all fronts, recent highlights include: solo and chamber performances in Shanghai, China, guest artist appearances at the University of Panama, Flutes by the Sea Workshop in California, and Anatomy of Sound Workshop in Michigan.  Additionally, Boysen recently released the video mobile app, Moving Sound, that features newly commissioned solo works for the singing, speaking, moving flutist by composers: David Biedenbender, Mark Engebretson, and Jane Rigler.  The app, available for download on apple and android devices, includes a moving score, interviews with composers and behind-the-scenes footage from the recording process

A native of Iowa, Erika Boysen is based in North Carolina where she serves as the Associate Professor of Flute at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro. She received her Doctorate of Musical Arts from the University of Michigan, where her dissertation recitals featured collaborations with spoken word, dance, and visual art. Further education comes from the New England Conservatory and University of North Carolina School of the Arts. She is grateful to her former teachers, who include Amy Porter, Paula Robison, Dr. Tadeu Coelho, Dr. Kimberly Helton, and Mark Sparks.

Joshua Anderson is an active orchestral and chamber musician. He holds the position of Principal Clarinet with the Reno Philharmonic and has played under the baton of such conductors as Valery Gergiev and Peter Oundjian. As a chamber musician, Joshua is a member of the Four Corners Ensemble, which has premiered over 50 works by living composers. His recently published book, The Clarinet Studio Companion (co-authored with Ellen Breakfield-Glick) has been called “an important addition to the bookshelves of clarinet teachers and students alike.” (The Clarinet Journal). 

Joshua has worked as a teaching artist for Yale's Music in Schools Initiative, the MPulse Clarinet Institute, and the Lake Tahoe Music Camp. He currently serves on the faculty of the University of Nevada, Reno as Assistant Professor of Clarinet.

Joshua holds degrees from the Peabody Conservatory, the Yale University School of Music, and the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

​Dr. Christina Adams is a faculty member of the University of South Florida, and appears frequently as a solo, chamber, and orchestral musician. She has collaborated with leading artists from around the country, including New York Philharmonic principals Frank Huang, Michelle Kim, Cynthia Phelps, and Carter Brey, and has performed throughout the U.S., Europe, and Asia. Adams currently holds the Froehlich Family Violin Chair in the Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra, and is the artistic director of "If Music Be the Food...Lansing," a concert series that benefits the Greater Lansing Food Bank (www.ifmusicbethefood.com). She also maintains a private studio of violin and viola students, and serves as the Assistant Director of Strings and Chamber Music at the Brancaleoni International Music Festival in Italy. Adams holds degrees from the University of South Florida (Dr. Carolyn Stuart), Boston University (Bayla Keyes), and a DMA from the University of Michigan (Aaron Berofsky). For more information, visit cmadamsvlnvla.com.

​Venezuelan cellist Horacio Contreras is a faculty member of Lawrence University in Wisconsin and the Music Institute of Chicago. He is an active concert cellist, recitalist, and chamber musician, and has performed as a soloist with several of Venezuela’s top orchestras, as well as with orchestral ensembles in Colombia, France, and the US. He has been invited to teach master classes at schools of music including Michigan, Juilliard, Oberlin, Indiana University at Bloomington, and renown programs in Latin America. He is the author of the cello adaptation of Ronald Vamos’ Exercises in Various Combinations of Double-Stops, published by Carl Fischer, as well as other pedagogic works and scholarly articles.

Horacio is a member of the Reverón Piano Trio, an all-Venezuelan ensemble devoted to the divulgation of Latin American repertoire for piano trio. He started his cello studies at El Sistema in Venezuela, and made further studies in France and Spain. He holds a Masters and a Doctorate degrees from the University of Michigan. For more information, please visit horaciocontreras.com