ASL 2014: Tanille Geib

Tanille Geib is a lover of humans. She is a writer, cyclist, doula, producer, yogi, director, tea sommelier, entrepreneur, fundraiser, artist and passionate cook. Her first book Love & Cooking, The Erotic Cookbook was published in April 2013 and she is a writer for Corset Magazine and Elephant Journal. Tanille has produced over 290 artists in the past decade under all art disciplines.
Any project that she pursues comes from her underlying curiosity to understand our intricate human condition. This passion pushes her to delve into herself, so that she can connect deeper with others.

ASL 2014: Kelsey Blair

Kelsey Blair is a writer, producer, and director. Her plays have been produced in Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver, she is the co-lead artist of Vancouver's Queer Imaging and Riting Kollective for Elders, and her book Pick and Roll is being published by Lorimer in Spring 2014. She had the chance to participate in ASL 2012 and savoured the opportunity to collaborate and learn. She also holds an BA in Film Studies from the University of British Columbia, an MA in Cinema Studies from the University of Toronto and is currently pursuing an MA in Theatre Studies from the University of British Columbia.

ASL 2014: Kevin Morse

Kevin Morse is a composer of opera and chamber music based in New Brunswick. His diverse portfolio includes a one-act opera adapted from Jonathan Swift’s “A Modest Proposal” and two short operas for Toronto’s Tapestry New Opera Works. His music has been performed by New Brunswick’s Motion Ensemble, early music ensemble ¡Sacabuche!, and the Prince Edward Island Symphony Orchestra.

ASL 2014: Meharoona Ghani

At eight years old Meharoona Ghani wrote her first poem and wanted to write books. Since then she’s been writing. Inspired by music, art, spirituality, myths and poets  like Rumi; she re-claims, re-occupies the space in-between marginalized and hybrid  identities, the hyphen in Canadian-South Asian. A graduate of SFU’s The Writer’s Studio, Meharoona is featured in six anthologies. Her poems won competitions with the Surrey International Writers’ Conference and the Poetry Institute of Canada. Meharoona is working on her book and pursuing multi-disciplinary approaches with musicians, dancers, visual artists and poets; including Oriana White (Pianist) and Clara Shandler (Sidewalk Cellist), see: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tb2O1VMDOyw.

ASL 2014: Bekah Simms

Bekah Simms is a composer, flutist, poet, and educator from St. John's, Newfoundland. Her music has been performed across Canada, in the United States, and in Italy. Her poetry has been performed by the Ora Ensemble and distributed by the Eastern Edge Gallery. Recent engagements include the HighSCORE Music Festival in Pavia, Italy, and the Tuckamore Festival in St. John's, Newfoundland. She will be featured in the 2013-2014 concert series of the New Music Conflagration, based in Florida. She is currently pursuing a M.Mus in Composition, studying with Dr. Norbert Palej at the University of Toronto.

ASL 2014: Sheila Bristow

Sheila Bristow is a church musician, accompanist, and composer living in Tacoma, WA. She holds degrees in composition and organ performance from Cornish College of the Arts and the University of Washington. Ms. Bristow is an Affiliate Artist at Pacific Lutheran University, where she works with young singers in recital and on the opera stage. She also serves as Organist/Choirmaster at the Episcopal Church of the Redeemer, Kenmore, and sings with Choral Arts. She has an anthem published by GIA Publications, and her choral works have been performed by PLU’s Choral Union, the Medieval Women’s Choir, Seattle Pro Musica, and Pacifica Choirs.

ASL 2014: Stefan Hintersteininger

Stefan Hintersteininger is a Vancouver-based cellist, composer and arranger, equally at home in many different styles of music including classical repertoire, new music, improvisation, and much more. Stefan is a founding member of Vancouver-based improvising and new music sextet, Ethos Collective. He has also been a regular member of Erato Ensemble since 2007, and has composed and arranged many works for the group. Most recently, this included a new set of songs, 'Love Cycle', premiered to great acclaim by soprano Catherine Laub and pianist Rita Attrot, as well as two other new works, 'The Death Of Queen Jane' and 'I Adore You.' Stefan participated in the VSO’s Jean Coulthard Readings in April, 2014, with an orchestral transcription of his piece 'Bunny’s Day Off' (originally premiered by the Colin MacDonald Pocket Orchestra).

ASL 2014: Sue Hughson

I am a veterinarian, poet/writer, mother. I hail from the Maritimes originally.
My work is inspired by the hard scrabble life and art of my parents and ancestors, my own experiences, and the political world we inhabit.
My community work has involved various feminist and human rights initiatives. I currently sit on the board of the BC Humanist Association, and I am a member of Dying With Dignity.
I am awestruck daily by the magic of reality in our natural world,science and art, where humans shine best, O!, and cats on the internet, what's that all about?

ASL 2014: Maria Reva

Maria Reva’s work explores inner worlds and movements of the mind. Written as an undergraduate writing assignment, her story, “The Methodology of Grace”, was shortlisted for the Writers’ Union of Canada 2012 Short Prose Competition. She completed the Southbank Writers’ Program at Simon Fraser University under the mentorship of Renée Sarojini Saklikar. Maria also enjoys experimenting in radio drama and opera libretti.

ASL 2014: Alexandre David

Alexandre David, composer, pianist improviser and percussionist from Québec, has recently completed a master degree in composition at the University of Montréal with François-Hugues Leclair. His music has been performed notably by the Orchestre de l'Université de Montréal, String Ensemble Arkea, Ensemble Transmission and Israelian Ensemble Meitar. He also collaborated with the vocal Ensemble Kô and was for two years composer in residence with the Nouvel Ensemble Moderne, directed by Lorraine Vaillancourt. Alexandre regularly performs as a solo pianist improviser and as a percussionist in the balinese gamelan ensemble Giri Kedaton. He is also part of Code d'Accès's artistic committee, an organism that promotes new music in Québec. He also has been collaborating with writers and writing music with words for more than five years and also work as an advertising/movie music composer.

ASL 2014: Shelley Marwood

Shelley Marwood has had works performed by ensembles across Canada and in the U.S.A., including the Vancouver, Winnipeg, and Windsor Symphony Orchestras, Ensemble Contemporain de Montréal, and Rubbing Stone Ensemble. Recent commissions include works for Jubilate Singers, University of Windsor Chamber Choir, the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, and the Windsor Symphony Orchestra. Shelley received first prize in the 2008 CMC Prairie Region Emerging Composers' Competition, and was one of the featured composers of the 2009 Windsor Canadian Music Festival. She is currently pursuing her DMA in composition at the University of Toronto, and is an Associate of the Canadian Music Centre.

ASL 2014: Benjamin Pesetsky

Benjamin Pesetsky is an American composer of dramatic instrumental and vocal music. His work has been performed by the Albany Symphony Orchestra, the American Symphony Orchestra, NEC's Jordan Winds, and NOW Magazine recently described his opera scene Love Redux as "one of the best episodes" on a program of new scenes staged by Tapestry New Opera in Toronto. He studied composition with Joan Tower and George Tsontakis at Bard College Conservatory and with Howard Frazin in Boston. He has recently been in residence at the Banff Centre and the Hambidge Center.

ASL 2014: Roydon Tse

Hailed as a composer “glittering with professionalism” (Vancouver Sun), Roydon Tse is an award-winning Canadian composer, pianist, and educator. He has collaborated with ensembles such as the Toronto, Vancouver, Victoria, Winnipeg and Edmonton Symphony Orchestras and worked with student ensembles such as the Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra and the Nova Scotia Youth Orchestra. Born in Hong Kong and educated in Canada and the UK, he began his studies at a very young age in piano and violin. Roydon recently received his Bachelors in Composition from UBC and is currently pursuing his Masters in Composition at the University of Toronto.

ASL 2014: Arturo Fernandez

A native of Miami, Florida, Arturo Fernandez (b. June 23, 1990) began composing in junior year of high school. He has had his compositions performed by groups such as the Ludovico Ensemble and the Boston Conservatory orchestra under the direction of Yoichi Udagawa. He has also had compositions premiered at various summer music festivals, including the New York Summer Music Festival, the Atlantic Music Festival, and Sienna Summer Music in Italy. He is a graduate of the Boston Conservatory, and graduated with his Master in Music from Cleveland Institute of Music.

ASL 2014: Sandra Pujols

Sandra Pujols is a composer, singer and dancer from Barcelona based in Amsterdam (NL). She's co-founder of the cooperative Steunbeer. Composing for dance, text and voice is her specialty. Her pieces have been performed by, among others, Orkest de Ereprijs, Modelo62 and Lux Ensemble, in venues such as the Bimhuis, Korzo and De Doelen. She is frequently engaged in interdisciplinary projects where she not only contributes with her composing and singing, but occasionally performs as a dancer as well, such as Waiting for… GO!, Yoko Ana and Tierkreis. In 2012 she graduated from her bachelor in composition at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague where she studied with Martijn Padding, Calliope Tsoupaki and Gilius van Bergeijk.

ASL 2014: Tina Biello

Tina Biello is an actor and a writer. She studied Theatre at UBC. Her poetry has appeared in chapbook anthologies edited by Patrick Lane, since 2008. Her chapbook, ‘Momenti’, was shortlisted for the Bressani Prize in Vancouver, and was part of a multi-disciplinary art exhibition of poetry and watercolour in Montreal and Vancouver. These poems have also been composed into a CD of music called ‘Dolci Momenti’. Leaf Press has published her first full length collection, Spring 2014, 'In the Bone Cracks of the Walls'. Her second book of poetry will be published in Fall 2015, by Guernica Press,‘ A Housecoat Remains’. She has written and toured a children’s play about Autism, ‘The Indigo Kids’, and when she’s not writing, she teaches performance mask work and Commedia dell'Arte at various institutions and schools.

ASL 2014: Maurice-Gaston Du Berger

Maurice-Gaston Du Berger was admitted in 2004 to The Collège Lionel-Groulx in classical piano where he studied with Dominique Morel. This is when he discovers folk music of the Balkans. From this revelation was born a passion for composition that will lead to his thesis titled as "Balkans and Carpathians, or, The influence on my language" under Ana Sokolović's direction. This master degree was concluded by the premiere of the Cantate de l'Éther, works featuring a poem by Claude Gauvreau.
He now actively continues to compose, participating in numerous projects and collaborations in the music scene.

ASL 2014: Tyler Versluis

A native of St. Catharines Ontario, Tyler Versluis  first took music lessons from his grandfather and later studied oboe, piano, organ and composition at Brock University. Recently, Tyler was guest composer for Toronto's Toy Piano Composers and composer-in-residence for gamUT new music ensemble.  As a pianist, he performs regularly with gamUT  and freelances as an organist in the Toronto and Niagara region. Tyler is an alumnus of the Array Young Composer's Workshop, the Vancouver International Song Institute's Art Song Lab, the Canadian Contemporary Music Workshop, the Atlantic Music Festival, and the Niagara Youth Orchestra. Tyler recently completed graduate studies at the University of Toronto, where he studied composition with Norbert Palej. 

ASL 2013: Angelique Po (Chan & Po)

Angelique Po began composing at the age of 14 because she thought it was the natural thing to do after one has played the piano for long enough. Since then she has composed for various small ensembles and soloists, including a small but growing collection of art songs. She is currently completing her Bachelor of Music degree in Piano Performance at the University of British Columbia, studying under Dr. Sara Buechner. She has also studied composition with Dr. Dorothy Chang, Dr. Bob Pritchard, Dr. Stephen Chatman, and Bradshaw Pack.