The Divine Dark - Vol. I

Joshua Stamper is a transdisciplinary artist and composer whose work explores hiddenness, revelation, ephemera, and archive.

He has worked as an orchestral arranger, studio conductor, and session musician for Columbia / Sony BMG and Concord Records, Lionsgate Films, Warner Bros. Pictures, and Legendary Entertainment, and for independent labels Domino, Dead Oceans, Important Records, and Smalltown Supersound.

He has received fellowships from MacDowell, the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, the Speranza Foundation, the BAU Institute at the Camargo Foundation. Joshua’s work has been supported by the American Composers Forum, the NewAm Composers Lab, the Lilly Endowment, the Musical Fund Society of Philadelphia, the Eric Stokes Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts.

joshuastamper.com

Sarah Long is a musician, songwriter, and music therapist based in Philadelphia. She serves as Content Coordinator, where she manages digital communications and helps shape the community’s voice. She has released music under her own name and has collaborated with ensembles such as I’mechoes and Vistablue, while continuing work on new projects.

Bethany Danel Brooks is a musician, teacher, and liturgy-crafter living in Prague, Czech Republic. She has performed as a soloist and collaborative pianist throughout North America, the UK, and Europe. With violinist Samuel Nebyu, she recorded Music by Composers of African Descent (BCM&D Records, 2017). She has premiered numerous works by Joshua Stamper, including as a member of the ensemble color as time.

For ten years, Bethany was Director of Musical Worship at City Church, Philadelphia, where she developed a passion for letting the gifts of composers, visual artists, and local musicians enrich congregational worship. In 2012 she released Quarry Street Hymnal, a recording project of sacred music which was shaped by her years in Philadelphia’s roots music scene. Her essay “The Discipline of Delight” was published in the book It Was Good:Making Music to the Glory of God (Square Halo Press, 2013).

bethanydanelbrooks.com

Kate Ambacher is currently an active freelance flutist in the Washington, DC region. Originally from New Jersey, Katie also lived in Philadelphia for many years, performing with Harrisburg and Lancaster Symphonies, various chamber ensembles, and at the Philadelphia Fringe Festival. Since moving to DC, Kate has played flute and piccolo with Apollo Orchestra, Mid-Atlantic Symphony, Opera NOVA, and Signature and Olney Theaters, among others. She still makes time for music (and pizza) in Philly whenever she can.

Clarinetist, multi-reedist and composer Sam Sadigursky has released thirteen acclaimed albums as a leader and appears on over seventy albums. He’s a member of the Philip Glass Ensemble, and has also toured and recorded with Brad Mehldau, David Byrne, Bruce Hornsby, Fred Hersch, Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society, Gabriel Kahane, Tom Jones, Yuka Honda, Edmar Castaneda, the Mingus Orchestra and U.S. Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky. From 2017-2019 he was the onstage clarinetist for the Grammy, Tony and Emmy Award winning Broadway show The Band’s Visit. 

Award-winning saxophonist Mike Cemprola is an in-demand member of the Washington, DC and Philadelphia music scenes. He he has performed/recorded with The Mike Cemprola Quartet, the Jazz Orchestra of Philadelphia, the Fresh-Cut Orchestra, the co-led quartet Gunshow, Norman David and the Eleventet, Color as Time, and a host of other creative ensembles. Since 2016, he’s been the jazz alto saxophonist for the United States Air Force’s Airmen of Note. In addition to being a member of these groups, he has performed with the Pennsylvania Ballet, the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, The National Symphony Orchestra, Christian McBride, Branford Marsalis, Kenny Barron, Larry McKenna, and many other jazz icons.

On any given day, Cole Kamen-Green might be improvising in a Brooklyn club, circuit-bending a Speak & Spell, or arranging horn parts for pop stars. A trumpet and EVI player and composer based in New York City, he’s 1 of 2 in the art pop duo mmeadows, praised for its “lithe and elemental” sound (Under the Radar), and is a founding member of the indie chamber-pop collective Cuddle Magic (The New Yorker). He has arranged and recorded horns for Beyoncé, Lorde, Harry Styles, Kevin Morby, Silver Jews, Kevin Abstract, Joan As Policewoman, and Laurie Anderson.

Thomas Kraines is a versatile cellist, composer, and teacher. He performs with the Network for New Music Ensemble, the experimental ensemble Unseen Rain, the jazz quartet Two Wings Two Biscuits, the ARCX Quartet, and the improvisation collective People’s Music Supply. He is a former member of the Daedalus Quartet and the Peabody Trio.

Thomas teaches cello at the University of Pennsylvania, where he also directs the chamber music program, and at Philadelphia’s Settlement Music School.

Thomas graduated from the Curtis Institute of Music and the Juilliard School, and studied cello with Frederic Raimi, Orlando Cole, and Joel Krosnick, and composition with Tom Benjamin. He has performed at the SLLMF since 2006.

Christopher McDonald is a music creator and a capturer/manipulator of sound and light. He is a founding member of the quiet-core band Cuddle Magic and has collaborated with many artists and organizations in an effort to bring more beauty into the world. Christopher runs a recording studio and production company and serves as the Director of Worship Arts and Technology at Resurrection Philadelphia. He lives with his wife and two daughters in Germantown.

christopherandrew.net

Matt Scarano has performed throughout the world with numerous artists in a wide variety of styles. Notable artists and venues include Amos Lee, Chris Brubeck, Time For Three, Carnegie Hall, Royal Albert Hall, and Red Rocks Ampitheatre. He is an active private teacher and clinician and has taught at University of The Arts, Swarthmore College, and The Boysie Lowery Living Jazz Residency. You can currently find him performing with his bands U.S.E. Trio and Spaga. Matt received his B.M. and M.M. from Temple University. He is currently based in Amsterdam.

www.mattscarano.com

Jeremy is a musician, recording engineer and producer. He previously co-operated Mason Jar Music in Brooklyn before moving to Philadelphia where he currently runs Black Birch Recording with his brother Christopher. He lives in West Philadelphia with his family.

Kory Stamper has been a professional editor for over 25 years and has edited works for small journals and large publishing houses. She is currently a freelance copyeditor and proofreader with Farrar, Straus and Giroux, where she works on nonfiction and fiction in translation. Kory is also the author of Word by Word: The Secret Life of Dictionaries and True Color: The Strange and Spectacular Quest to Define Color—from Azure to Zinc Pink. She roasts her own coffee.

korystamper.com

Isaac Tin Wei Lin explores the realm where representation and buzzing abstraction meet. His surfaces are often densely covered in calligraphic, brushed and handdrawn patterns that express both the logic and complexity of written language. Lin’s dense calligraphy—a kind of graffiti in which comprehensible lettering gives way to pure form—evoke patterns and structures found in nature. His abstraction brings to mind single cell organisms, entangling kudzu vines, DNA helices, and pulsating constellations all rendered in effervescing colors. Working across painting, screenprinting, collage, installation, and mural-making, Lin also collaborates with other artists and photographers in creating hybrid works.