Max Hammond is a solo and collaborative pianist whose passion lies in putting canonical works in conversation with new voices. An avid performer of contemporary music, Max has had the honor to premiere works by composers like Carlos Simon, Harold Meltzer, Francine Trester, and Joan Tower. As a chamber musician, Max has performed around the globe, with appearances across North America, Scotland, and France, alongside groups like Mirror Visions Ensemble, eighth blackbird, and the Akropolis Reed Quintet. Max graduated from Yale College, where he studied with Wei-Yi Yang, and currently studies at the Juilliard School with Julian Martin and Soyeon Kate Lee. Nikki Pet is a clarinetist and artist specializing in multimedia performance, whose work seeks to engage unfamiliar audiences with a wide variety of classical repertoire. After studying the history and structure of musical works, Nikki creates animation to visually amplify musical nuance. In collaboration with her sister, data scientist and music technologist Kaitlin Pet, Nikki has presented her work at multiple conferences, including AlgoRhythms 2023 (Bloomington, IN) and A.I.M.C. (Oxford, England). Nikki is a doctoral student at the Yale School of Music, where she studies clarinet performance with David Shifrin. In addition to holding a Masters of Music from Yale, Nikki also has a B.A. in computer science from Columbia University, where she participated in the Juilliard Exchange Program. Festivals Nikki has attended include the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, and Kneisel Hall. Recent awards Nikki has received include first place in the 2023 Cheng Wu Innovation Challenge, the Philip Francis Nelson Prize, Horatio Parker Memorial Prize, Yale CCAM Studio Fellowship, and runner-up in the 2023 Coltman Chamber Music Competition. Multimedia productions Nikki has created include Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf, Joan Tower’s Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman No. 5 (at the request of the composer), and Carlo Gesualdo’s Moro lasso al mio duolo. These performances, and more, can be found on Nikki’s website: claripet.com Praised by the Greek National Herald as having a “powerful and clear voice that dazzles audiences,” young Greek-American soprano Juliet Ariadne Papadopoulos has performed solo in many of the major halls in New York City including Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, David Geffen Hall, and Symphony Space. Her “jewel-toned” voice (operatoday.com) and “compelling stage presence” (nick-Holmes-music.com) have led her to several international engagements; this year, Juliet enjoyed performing in Austria, Scotland, and England. She is a passionate interpreter of concert repertoire, opera, oratorio, new music, and chamber music. Juliet graduated this past May with her Masters in Music from the Yale School of Music and Yale Institute of Sacred Music and she holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Purchase Conservatory (State University of New York.) This year, she won the Grand Prize in the CSU Bakersfield Music Performance Award for her recording of Doug Davis’ song cycle Family Portraits, and she also was named as finalist in the Lyndon-Woodside Oratorio Solo Competition.