Anthony Plog (b. 1947)
     Four Themes on Paintings of Edward Munch
             1. The Sun
             2. The Dance of Life
             3. Woman Embracing Death
             4. Night

Jean-Michel Damase was born in 1928 in Bordeaux into a musical family and began composing at the age of nine. When he was twelve, he became a pupil of Cortot at the École Normale de Musique de Paris, and in the next year he joined Armand Ferté’s piano classes at the Paris Conservatoire. In 1943, he was unanimously awarded the Premier Prix in piano at the Conservatoire. At nineteen, he won the first prize in composition with his Quintet and his cantata Et la Belle se réveilla (And Beauty Awakened) won him the Prix de Rome. In the meantime, his career as a pianist was flourishing; he appeared as soloist in the Colonne and Conservatoire concerts and with the Orchestre National de la Radiodiffusion et Télévision Française (l'ORTF). Damase's youthful compositional maturity helped to foster a considerable technical facility and he has produced music in a style that is attractive and elegant. After touring the world as a piano soloist and winning the Grand Prix du Disque for his recordings, Jean-Michel Damase has devoted his activities to composition and teaching.

Anthony Plog began studying music at the age of 10, and by 19, he was playing extra trumpet with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. In 1976 he began his solo and composition career and, while living in Los Angeles, played Principal Trumpet with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and the Pacific Symphony, as well as occasionally playing in the film studios (Star Trek 1, Gremlins, Rocky 2&3, Altered States, etc.). In 1990 he moved to Europ to play Solo Trumpet with the Malmo Symphony in Sweden, and since 1993 has been a Professor at the Staatliche Hochschule fur Musik in Freiburg, Germany. As a soloist, Plog has toured throughout the U.S., Europe, Australia and Japan and has numerous recordings and solo CDs to his credit. In 2001 he retired from the concert stage to pursue a full time composition career.

Aivars Kalejs is a Latvian organist and composer. He is organist of the New St. Gertrud Church and the Cathedral in Riga, Latvia. An internationally recognized concert organist, he has participated in organ festivals in Belgium, Italy, Germany, Denmark, USA, Estonia and Japan. Has has recorded six solo CDs as well as fifteen recordings with various Latvian choirs.