Participants Bios

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Sophie Dunér is a singer-composer and visual artist from Sweden. For detailed info, visit www.sophieduner.com and www.sophiedunerart.com

Kino Jin is an animator who was born and raised in China. She received her BFA in Animation at Maryland Institute College of Art, and graduated from Pratt Institute with an MFA in Digital Arts.

Lara St. John is a Canadian-born violinist and videographer, who is living in New York with her adorable Iguana. She has made award winning music videos, as well as documentary shorts and features.

Find out more at www.larastjohn.com

Brian DuFord began his career as a classical guitarist, earning degrees from Mannes School of Music and Yale School of Music. In 2002, he embarked upon a new course as a composer in the entertainment industry. In 2009, after scoring numerous independent films, he returned to his roots. Within a short period of time, his compositions - described by critics as "innovative and creative", "brilliant", and "very appealing" - have been performed worldwide by acclaimed ensembles, garnering much attention, enthusiasm and praise. In 2020, with composer Milica Paranosic, he co-founded Take A Pick (TAP). Their debut performance was on February 13, 2021 - premiering their composition American Fever - Song Cycle. 

  Nika Leoni is a composer and a classical singer. Her compositions have been featured on radio broadcasts in Maryland, Nevada, and New York; and on concert stages in New York City, St. Louis, Boston, and Kansas City. Nika's album of her own arrangements of Russian Romances, titled Dark Eyes and released on Larion Records™, received high critical acclaim and is sold in music stores worldwide. Currently, Nika is composing a new opera, “Flame and Shadow: The Passion and Pain of Sara Teasdale”, in partnership with librettist Kathryn Favazza. More information, music, and reviews can be found at www.NikaLeoni.com and www.FlameAndShadowOpera.com.  

  Srđan Hofman (4 Oct 1944, Glina - 26 Sep 2021, Belgrade) was active as a composer, professor of composition, the founder and the chief of the Sound Studio of the Faculty of Music. He was engaged in theoretical work related to the issues of contemporary music.  

He received numerous awards – among others, the first prizes of the Composers Review for the works Concerted Music (1994) and Signs (1995), the award from the Serbian Composers Association, and the Plaque of the Belgrade Art University.

Dejan Kovačević is a filmmaker, writer, translator, carpenter, cultural critic and overall Renaissance man from Harlem, USA.

Joseph Martin Waters (born 1952) is an American classical composer known for writing experimental chamber ensemble and orchestral music, in which electronic sounds are integrated with traditional musical instruments. His style of composition fuses many genres, drawing from classical, rock, jazz etc . He also mounts experimental electronic music festivals designed to bridge the gap between contemporary popular genres and the western classical tradition. 

He plays laptop in the Swarmius Ensemble.

Aaron Diamond, composer

Born in California, retired from the automotive industry in 2009.

Has been composing film scores since 2012.  Studied composition and music theory at the Juilliard evening division in New York, and film scoring at Paracademia, Harlem.

Lauren Lucente is a New York based film composer and professional musician known for her contemporary cinematic themes. She has notably scored the short film, “Ruben’s Choice,” which was written, produced and directed by Hanspeter Ammann. Lauren’s concert works have been performed locally by some of New York’s best colleges and universities, as well as several public concerts on Long Island. Recently, her works have been performed and recorded by the Budapest Scoring Company. Lauren holds a M.F.A. in composition from Five Towns College and is currently pursuing a Masters of Music in film scoring at Berklee College of Music. 

Haengelik Deville/Alice Elizabeth Chiarelli
MUSIC COMPOSER/ MUSICIAN KEYBOARDS PLAYER 

the founder of band Alice in Darkland

Dedicated to the music of now, QUARTET METADATA is a string quartet based in NYC. Comprised of four talented and diverse string players who have performed together in various groups since 2010, Quartet Metadata had their first performance in 2016. and since then, they have performed on the Concrete Timbre Series, as well as at Fordham University, SUNY/Fashion Institute of Technology, The Whitney Museum, and Yale University. In addition, they have worked with composers and choreographers in Milica Paranosic’s class, in a workshop at The Juilliard School.

     Peter Dressel has been a New York photographer for the past twenty years focusing on architecture and travel. He’s shot projects in Uganda, Vietnam, Ecuador and India. After two decades telling other people’s stories, he got to a point where he wanted to tell his own stories for a change. So he began to write and use the skills he learned as a photographer into making films. He currently lives in the Bushwick section of Brooklyn.
North of Boston is his first film. 

  SUZANA PERIĆ, born in Zagreb, Croatia, is amongst the most esteemed echelon of Film Music Editors in the industry. Her work has been celebrated by such honors as The Golden Reel Award and an Emmy. Credits include Casualties of War,  Naked Lunch, Philadelphia, Kundun, The Human Stain, The Pianist , Angels In America, All Is Lost, Little Women, Never Rarely Sometimes Always, and the forthcoming documentary, In Balanchine’s Classroom (2021). 

Perić holds a degree in English and Italian Literature and Language from the University of Zagreb, and a BA in Film Studies from Columbia College, Chicago. She has lectured and given master classes throughout the world — at the Film University of Stockholm, Sweden; Cinematographer Film Festival, Sao Paulo, Brazil; University of Rome, Cinecittá, Italy; ongoing lectures at Columbia University, NY; and the Berklee School of Music in Boston. She has served as an Artist Faculty at the Film Academy Zagreb, Croatia; and currently, in New York University’s Screen Scoring program in its Steinhardt School.

Born in Belgrade, Serbia, Milica Paranosic is a composer, multimedia artist, educator and an arts administrator, living in NYC.

Milica is the founder of Paracademia Center, Inc and AddAMovie Film Festival.

More at:  www.milicaparanosic.com

Kelsey Sullivan - Off-Off Broadway: My Love Was Stolen By a Con Man. Workshops: Il Disagio, This Play Does Not Pass the Bechtel Test, The Death of the Last and Final Pat Benetar.

A playwright/librettist/producer, Kelsey's love for the weird and unexplainable has driven her to develop a distinctively disgusting voice. As a female absurdist, she uses her work to discuss the undiscussable, hoping not only to make people laugh (and groan), but also to start a dialogue about the weird shit that we all experience but pretend not to.