ERICA DICKER
Violin
Violinist Erica Dicker works in a wide variety of musical settings, bridging the realms of orchestral performance and experimental improvisation. Erica contributes her talents to various orchestras and contemporary music ensembles across the United States, serving as a substitute for the Grand Rapids Symphony and ICE (International Contemporary Ensemble). Erica is concertmaster of the Tri-Centric Orchestra, an ensemble initially founded to premiere and record the operas of Anthony Braxton.
A proponent of new music, Erica is a founding member of the contemporary chamber music collective Till By Turning as well as Vaster Than Empires, an electro-acoustic collaboration with composer and sound artist Paul Schuette and percussionist Allen Otte. She has premiered works by many composers including pieces for solo violin written for her by Olivia Block, Turkar Gasimzada, Ryan Ingebritsen, and Katherine Young. Erica also writes and performs her own music, exploring the idiomatic modalities and textures of her instrument.
DANIEL ANASTASIO
A soloist and chamber musician based in San Antonio, Texas, pianist Daniel Anastasio combines an intellectual curiosity with “technical prowess and emotional sensitivity” (Rivard Report). He received fellowships to Music Academy of the West, Kneisel Hall, Tanglewood Music Center and Yellow Barn Music Festival. Anastasio is the co-founder of Unheard-of//Ensemble, a group dedicated to commissioning composers and premiering their works.
Recently joining the faculty of San Antonio College as a full-time piano instructor, Anastasio is a member of Agarita, a San Antonio-based chamber ensemble dedicated to making classical music accessible to everyone in San Antonio, and reaching the whole of its community including the most underserved populations. Anastasio received a Bachelor of Arts degree in music and philosophy at Cornell University under Xak Bjerken, and a Master of Music degree at The Juilliard School under Jerome Lowenthal. Last Spring he received his Doctor of Musical Arts at Stony Brook University, under Gilbert Kalish and Christina Dahl.
JOHN GATTIS
Horn
Originally from Tennessee, John Gattis is a horn player and educator based in New York City. Fluent in a variety of musical styles, John is active as a orchestral and chamber musician. He has performed with groups such as Tilt Brass, International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), Argento Chamber Ensemble, Talea Ensemble, and Contemporaneous.
As an advocate of new music he has given dozens of world premieres by composers such as Brian Ferneyhough, John Zorn, and Olga Neuwirth. In 2016 he performed the solo horn movement in the American premiere of Karlheinz Stockhausen's Klang.
John attended the Cleveland Institute of Music (BM) as well as SUNY Stony Brook (MM and DMA).