The Byna Ensemble: Created to premiere/perform BYNA: Life Songs Of A Southern Appalachian Woman of Cherokee Indian Descent by composer, Rudy Davenport/librettist Delilah Elsen.

JULIA BROXHOLM, SOPRANO: Formerly a Professor of Voice at Brevard College in Brevard, North Carolina, Dr. Julia Broxholm is presently on the faculty of the University of Kansas, where she teaches voice, vocal diction and opera repertoire. Julia has a diverse performance background in opera, oratorio, recital and popular literature. Past winner of the Metropolitan Opera Council competition, she is a founding member of SATB, a vocal quartet specializing in 19th and 20th century vocal chamber music. Most recent performances include the role of Alice in Verdi's Falstaff and a recital of twentieth-century American music featuring works by Ned Rorem and Samuel Barber. Recordings include Of Shepherds, Romance and Love with pianist Martin Katz and clarinetist Fred Ormand, and It's a Grand Night . . . Four Singing, a CD of music from the American musical stage with SATB.

JOHN COBB, PIANO: Acclaimed international performer and recording artist, Dr. John Cobb, now resides in Asheville. John earned his master's and doctoral degrees in piano from Northwestern University, then studied privately with one of the century's greatest concert pianists, Claudio Arrau. A Van Cliburn competition winner, John made his New York debut at Carnegie Recital Hall in 1976, and has played solo recitals, chamber music concerts and concerto engagements throughout the United States and Europe. Dr. Cobb has made recordings of 20th Century and early piano music on original instruments at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and received the Distinguished Artists Award from Artists International in 1990. Renowned for his sensitive playing, his broad interpretive range and technical command, the Chicago Daily commented: "the vibrations that filled the hall were less those of the piano than those of an exquisite musical mind."

KELLY McELRATH VANEMAN, OBOE: Dr. Vaneman, currently Assistant Professor of Oboe and Music History and Coordinator of Winds at the Petrie School of Music of Converse College in Spartanburg, South Carolina, is committed to chamber music and the expansion of its repertoire. A native Texan, Dr. Vaneman, studied with Doris DeLoach at Baylor, continuing her studies at Yale University of Music, where she earned masters and doctorate degrees and was the teaching assistant to the late Ronald Roseman. Her studies continued in Belgium where she earned a certificate in performance in modern and Baroque oboe from the Koninklijk Konservatorium Brussel. Her love of chamber music led Dr. Vaneman to found and direct Chamber Music in the Chapel in New York City's St. Patrick's Cathedral. As oboist with Ensemble Radieuse, she has participated in the commissioning of several new works, performed extensively at international conferences, in concerts on three continents, and has participated in the recent recording and release of their first CD, Inbox. Dr. Vaneman spends her summers in residence at the Performing Arts Institute in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.

ANTHONY FANNING, CELLO: Anthony is currently in the graduate program at the Petrie School of Music at Converse College working toward a Master's Degree in Violoncello Performance with an emphasis on chamber music. An avid chamber player, Anthony has engaged in intense study of a wide variety of chamber pieces and has participated in several music festivals including Manchester Music Festival, VT, Madeline Island Music Festival and Chatuaqua Institute, NY, where he studied with Menahem Bruerer, Joel Krosnick, and Michael Rudiakov. As a young participant in the Cavani Quartet master classes and summer festivals, the creative coaching of the Cavani Quartet members played an important role in Anthony's early chamber music development. Anthony is currently in the studio of Dr. Kenneth Law at Converse, as he continues his pursuit of excellence as a chamber music musician.