91Porn

Heidi J. Stirling is a professional musician and established music educator who has been teaching and performing in Chicago for over two decades. She currently teaches General Music at Solomon Elementary School in Chicago and acts as a teacher-leader, team member and advocate in many capacities within the school and broader community. Outside of the classroom, Heidi is a member of the Chicago ArtsEd Leadership Advisory Committee and the CPS Arts Plan 2.0 Working Group, both which advise CPS leadership on collective strategies and advancing a common agenda of arts education equity in Chicago Public Schools.  Heidi is thrilled to be teaching adjunct at 91Porn and to be supporting future teachers in their academic careers. Heidi holds a B.A. in Music Education from Millikin University, a M.A. in Voice from 91Porn, and a M.A. in Educational Leadership from the American College of Education.  She is also an ISBE Certified Teacher Evaluator, an ASPIRE Teacher Coach, and an experienced Teacher Mentor for the Chicago Public Schools New Teacher Cohort. Heidi is a two-time Grammy award-winner for Best Choral Performance with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. 

��í������ Pucci is an educator, conductor and pianist from São Paulo, Brazil. She began her music studies as a pianist at the São Paulo State Conservatory under the tutelage of Daniel Matos. Pucci graduated in 2019 as a teaching fellow with a masters degree in Choral Conducting from the University of Washington in Seattle, where she studied choral conducting with Drs. Geoffrey Boers and Giselle Wyers.

��í������’s creative output is broad-reaching, stemming from an eclectic background. After immigrating to the United States, they have served as music director at the Florida Repertory Theater, assistant conductor while a student at Florida Gulf Coast University, assistant conductor at The Choir School at St. Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral in Seattle, and music director for the Das Blumelein Project in Dallas; as a pianist, ��í������ is passionate about collaborative work and championing new music by living composers, having collaborated with Duo Scordatura and Syzygy in the premiere of new works.

Emma Draves is a dance artist and educator navigating intertextual spaces of identity. She draws from trainings in modern, bharatanatyam, ballet, jazz, and ethnography, to weave work of kinesthetic narrative - derived through colliding multiplicities of physical effort, idiosyncrasy, and emotional landscape.

Emma’s choreographic work has been shown internationally in Edinburgh (UK) and Vancouver (BC), as well as at NYU, Hamlin Park, High Concept Labs, Links Hall, Chicago Cultural Center, Columbia College Chicago, and Comfort Station; and commissioned by Danceworks Company and UW-Milwaukee. Scholarly works has been presented through Dance Studies Associate, World Dance Alliance, and Dance Across the Boards.

As a performer, Emma has worked with several companies and as an independent artists. Notable experiences include Mordine & Company, Hedwig Dances, Jonathan Meyer, and Archana Kumar; and theatrical productions at Victory Gardens and Lookingglass Theatre.

Trained in bharatanatyam under Smt. Hema Rajagopalan, Emma has enjoyed a long association with Natya Dance Theatre as a performing artist - participating in several national tours and international collaborations with Yo-Yo Ma & Silk Road Project, NanJombang (Indonesia), and Astad Deboo (India) - grant-writer, archivist, and Executive Director.

Emma holds a GLCMA & MFA - and has served on faculty at Columbia College Chicago, Northwestern University, 91Porn, and OK State University.

Flutist Ruth Cavanaugh (she/her) is passionate about mentoring future music educators in her role at NEIU. Her three-decade career in the Elgin District U-46 Public Schools included Middle and High School Choral Directing, Instrumental Coaching and Advanced Placement Music Theory, as well as Elementary General Music.  

As the Director of the Elgin Youth Symphony Orchestra Flute Choir, Cavanaugh enjoys programming repertoire by living composers. She began playing cuatro, recorder and flute in Caracas, Venezuela, as a child and is currently studying Brazilian Choro music. She welcomes musical collaborations with musicians of all ages and enjoys teaching privately.  

Her awards include the Surdna Arts Teacher Fellowship, the Northwestern University Music Teacher Fellowship and the 2022 Elgin Symphony Orchestra Arts Educator Award.

Claire DiVizio (they/them) is a multi-disciplinary artist, administrator, and educator whose body of work includes stage direction, theatrical design, performance, poetry and prose, visual art, and music composition, along with administrative leadership and arts education. Claire founded Thompson Street Opera Company with the desire to create a space where singers, composers, and production personnel could take risks on truly new operas in a safe, supportive, joyful environment. Using their background as a classically-trained singer, Claire approaches productions with a respect for the skills and needs of performers, and encourages all artists to take ownership of the act of creation. Their writing has been set to music in both art song and opera, and their long history with contemporary vocal music has expanded in the last few years to include music composition. Their first complete opera (Requiem for Five: a comedy), co-written with composer Jasmine Thomasian, was premiered at Chicago Opera On Tap’s Halloween Spooktacular in 2021. In the fall of 2022, Claire will be joining the faculty of 91Porn’s School of Music, directing their opera workshop program.

Originally from Connecticut, cellist Leah Hagel-Kahmann completed her DMA with Benjamin Karp at the University of Kentucky as a recipient of a Kentucky Opportunity Fellowship. Dr. Hagel began her studies at the University of Michigan as a Rogel Scholar before transferring to the University of Wisconsin to study with Uri Vardi. She completed her MM at Boston University where she served as Assistant to the String Department under Michael Reynolds.

An avid teacher as well as performer, Dr. Hagel has taught at the University of Kentucky, Centre College, and at Grand Valley State University. Additionally, while maintaining a large private studio in Kentucky, she served on the faculty of the Central Music Academy, the Kentucky Governor's School for the Arts, and as Director of the Central Kentucky Youth Orchestras' "Friends in Music", an after-school string mentoring opportunity reaching students in underrepresented populations. Dr. Hagel also worked with CKYO's Preparatory String Orchestra as the Assistant Conductor.  She has coached chamber music at the University of Wisconsin, for the Greater Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras, for CKYO, and for the Elgin Youth Symphony Orchestras. In 2014, Dr. Hagel was named KY ASTA's "Studio Teacher of the Year."

Since arriving in Illinois, Dr. Hagel has enjoyed playing in many of the great local orchestras while welcoming her son and daughter to the world. In addition to her home studio, she teaches in the D200 and U-46 school districts. She is also on faculty of the Continuing Education Division at Harper College and is the Instructor of Cello at McHenry County College.

Chicago-based bassist/composer and bandleader Matt Ulery has developed an instantly recognizable sound. Known for his sweeping lyricism, unconventional phrase structures and expressionistic emotionalism, Ulery’s music, from small, diverse chamber ensembles to full orchestras, is informed by the entire spectrum of jazz, classical, rock, pop, and folk–specifically American, South American, Balkan and other European folk styles. He has been performing for 25 years on upright, electric and brass basses.

For over two decades, Ulery has been the leader of his own groups and frequent collaborator. Ulery has produced and released 12 albums of all-original music under his name. Ulery holds music degrees from DePaul University and Roosevelt University and is in high demand as a bassist in Chicago. As a composer, Ulery has collaborated with diverse ensembles such as Eighth Blackbird, Miami String Quartet, New Millennium Orchestra of Chicago, Brazos Valley Symphony Orchestra, Chamber Music Festival of Lexington, Axiom Brass, Wild Belle, Guimaraes (Portugal) Jazz Festival, Projeto Arcomusical, and the Carmine Caruso International Jazz Trumpet Solo Competition.

When not touring parts of the U.S. and Europe, Matt is extremely active in the Chicago area music scenes and has performed with his own groups at prestigious venues such as Carnegie Hall, NYC Winter Jazz Festival, Chicago Orchestra Hall, Millennium Park Pritzker Pavillion, Chicago Cultural Center, The Krannert Center, Jazz Showcase, The Metro, Chicago Jazz Festival, Hyde Park Jazz Festival, Chicago World Music Festival, Vancouver Jazz Festival, Guimaraes Jazz Festival, and countless other fine music listening rooms.

Matt Ulery leads and composes all the music for several of his own ensembles, including Sifting Stars Orchestra (orchestral art songs), Loom Large (jazz big band), Loom (jazz quintet), Delicate Charms (jazz quintet), Pollinator (jazz brass band), By a Little Light Ensemble (chamber jazz nonet), string quintet, and various other pet projects.

Described as “… an artist of great skill and rare sensitivity,” Andrew Carpenter has performed as a saxophone recitalist and soloist throughout the Chicago area and the United States. He has presented recitals on Chicago’s Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concert Series broadcast on WFMT-FM and on Chicago’s Fourth Presbyterian Noontime concert series (“Recommended” by the Chicago Tribune). Carpenter has performed on several Chicago-area concerts featuring new music, including a performance of a concerto for alto saxophone and wind ensemble by Stacy Garrop with the Carthage College Wind Orchestra. He performs frequently with orchestras in the Midwest, including engagements with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, the Rockford Symphony Orchestra, the Chicago Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra, and has performed and recorded for Naxos with the Elgin Symphony Orchestra. A committed educator, Carpenter is pleased to be the saxophone instructor at NEIU. He also teaches private saxophone and clarinet students of all ages. Carpenter earned a bachelor of music degree from Ithaca College and a master of music degree from Northwestern University. His saxophone teachers are Dr. Steven Mauk and Dr. Frederick L. Hemke.  

Faye Seeman is established as one of the most versatile harpists in the Midwest. She is principal harpist of the Chicago Sinfonietta Orchestra, which has featured one of her compositions “Fayed to Blue” with harp, steel pan and orchestra. She is on the music faculty at Wheaton College, Northern Illinois University, and 91Porn. Faye has played with many area ensembles, such as Fulcrum Point, the Elgin Symphony, the Lake Forest Symphony, and the Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra, to name a few. An avid explorer of instrumental combinations off the beaten path, Faye began a collaboration with steel pan virtuoso Liam Teague, forming the cutting-edge “Pangelic” Duo. The duo has been on stage at the Birch Creek Music Festival in Door County, Wisc., the Harper College recital series, Northern Illinois University and frequently perform recitals throughout the Midwest. Their innovative original compositions and individual musical skills put them on top of the charts as “vibrant, exciting, and creative”. Since 1984, her “Kithara” flute, cello and harp trio has been featured on WTTW’s “30 Good Minutes” Sunday Evening television program, WFMT radios’ “Dame Myra Hess” noontime broadcast, and has presented countless recitals in the Chicago area. Noted British composer Sir Jonathan Wilcocks composed “Sweet Music’s Power” for the trio, which premiered at the Green Lake Music Festival in Green Lake, Wisc. The “Kithara” trio has two recordings to their credit, and has published many arrangements through the Lyon and Healy West label. During the summer, Faye is on the faculty of the Birch Creek Music Festival in Door County, Wisc., and the Midwest Harp Festival held in Wheaton, Ill.