A native of St. Louis, Wayne J. du Maine currently performs with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Brooklyn and Long Island Philharmonics, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, American Composers Orchestra, New York City Opera, New York Big Brass, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and with contemporary music ensembles such as Speculum Musicae, Sospeso, and ST-X Xenakis. Mr. du Maine is a member of the Manhattan Brass and with Mercury, Pennsylvania Academy of the Arts, and the Brooklyn Philharmonic Brass Quintets, he is dedicated to performing and introducing live music to thousands of school children in the NYC area, NJ and PA. Wayne has worked with a broad spectrum of artists ranging from Leonard Bernstein and Leonard Slatkin to Hank Jones, Wynton and Branford Marsalis, Patti Lupone and Audra MacDonald. He can be heard on recordings with the New York Philharmonic, Met Opera Orchestra, numerous commercials, motion pictures and with Prince on his New Power Soul recording.

Mr. du Maine is on the faculty of Columbia and Princeton Universities. At the Juilliard School, Wayne teaches trumpet in the Music Advancement Program, serves as a teaching assistant in the Instrumental Music Program and the Academy, a joint program including Carnegie Hall, The Weill Music Institute and Juilliard. He is also on the conducting faculty of the Elisabeth Murrow String Camp.

Mr. du Maine has performed at music festivals in Aspen, Spoleto, Tanglewood, Vermont Mozart, Bowdoin, Marlboro, Berkshire Choral, and the Manchester (VT) Music Festival. He has been a member of the pit orchestras for Titanic, Music Man and Man of La Mancha. Wayne just completed a two year run of Fiddler on the Roof where he was associate conductor. He is currently a member of the new show How The Grinch Stole Christmas. Highlights of recent performances include the Boys Choir of Harlem, Take 6, Martha’s Vineyard Chamber Music Society, the Pittsburgh Collective, American Ballet Theater, Bernadette Peters, soloist with the Cincinnati Symphony and the rock band, "Jesus H. Christ", where he plays keyboards. A member of two softball leagues in Central Park, Wayne resides in Manhattan with his wife, Sharon.

A consummate fixture on the New York jazz scene, Lew Soloff's career is filled with a rich history of renowned sessions and world-class collaborations. As a leader, Soloff puts his energy into some special projects including The Lew Soloff Quartet and Quintet. Soloff is a regular in Carla Bley's 4X4 group and her big band, and remains a founding member of The Manhattan Jazz Quintet with 28 recordings to their credit. Alumni of the quintet reads likes a who's who of New York's jazz elite; Steve Gadd, George Young, Charnett Moffett, Eddie Gomez, John Pattitucci, Dave Weckl, Peter Erskine, Danny Gottlieb, Bill Evans and Victor Lewis. Soloff is also a constant in trombonist Ray Anderson's colorful ensemble Pocket Brass Band. As of late, Soloff finds himself exposed to the "downtown scene" working with Bobby Previte and his adventurous musical tribute to Joan Miro, which features Charlie Hunter, DJ Logic and harpist Zena Parkins. Soloff also records and tours with The Absolute Ensemble, the 19-piece chamber music group that interprets everything from Stravinsky and Bach to Zappa and Hendrix.

Born in Brooklyn, on February 20, 1944, Soloff was raised in Lakewood, New Jersey and started studying piano at an early age. He took up the trumpet when he was 10 and his interest in the instrument surged, thanks to the record collections of his grandfather and uncle. Soloff spent several years at Juilliard Preparatory until he entered the Eastman School of Music in 1961. Already a professional musician, he had spent his summers as a teenager playing hotels and country clubs in the Borscht Belt (the Catskill Mountains of New York). After graduating from Eastman (where he found himself in practice bands with fellow students such as Chuck Mangione), he spent a year in graduate school at Julliard. "When I first settled in the city I had the opportunity to play with Machito, which made my reputation in the Latin jazz community. About the same time, I started playing in rehearsal bands that brought me in contact with players like Phil Woods, Eddie Gomez, Pepper Adams, Duke Pearson and Frank Foster,". Jam sessions with the likes of Philly Joe Jones, Paul Chambers, and Elvin Jones solidified Soloff's bebop skills. By 1966, he was performing with Maynard Ferguson and soon became a regular in the Joe Henderson / Kenny Dorham Big Band. That year he also joined the Gil Evans Group, an affiliation he considers his most influential. It was a creative relationship that lasted until Evans death in 1988.

Defying strict classification, Lew can also be heard on recordings by Phillip Glass and Kip Hanrahan as well as Blues legends John Mayall and Charlie Musselwhite. A brief listing of the film soundtracks that have Soloff in the mix include; The Big Lebowski, Lethal Weapon 3, Billy Bathgate, Brighton Beach Memoirs, Carlito's Way, The Color of Money, Coming To America, The Mambo Kings, Meet Joe Black, National Lampoons Vacation, Tender Mercies, The Untouchables and Maid In Manhattan. A respected educator as well, he continues to appear as guest soloist at universities around the country where he utilizes the Gil Evans arrangements that have been an essential element of his repertoire through the years. He has been on the faculty of the Manhattan School of Music for nearly 20 years and has been an adjunct faculty member at Julliard and New School.

Ann Ellsworth is the solo horn player with Kristjan Järvi's Absolute Ensemble, Manhattan Brass, Graham Ashton Brass Ensemble and the alternative horn group Confluence. The New York Times has called her playing, "...outrageous...splendidly projected." She performs with such pop artists as Aretha Franklin, Diana Ross, Shakira, Tony Bennett, and can be heard on Chaka Khan's album, "Classikhan" among others.

In addition to recording for film and television, Ann also enjoys performing on early instruments and has performed a lecture recital at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, performing on the original instruments in their collection. She is also interested in interdisciplinary performance and as a visiting artist at the Lang College of the New School, led many ground-breaking events involving improvisation, dance, videography and landscape architecture. Ann is an active soloist and chamber musician, touring regularly in Europe and the United States with broadcasts on NPR and Public Radio International. She has recently recorded Eric Ewazen's Horn Concerto with the Manhattan Chamber Orchestra and is currently working on a recording of all new works for alphorn solo and small ensembles. Ann is a former member of the Phoenix Symphony and Danish Esbjerg Ensemble, studied at the Eastman and Juilliard Schools and is now on faculty at the Juilliard Pre-College, St. Univ. of NY at Purchase, and New York University.

A native of Los Angeles, Michael Seltzer has performed internationally in many of the world's major concert halls and festivals. As a freelancer, Mr. Seltzer enjoys the variety of music he encounters in New York, and has performed with many of that region's finer orchestras and ensembles, often in Carnegie Hall or at Lincoln Center. Ensembles include the Orchestra of St Luke’s, Metropolitan Opera, NY City Opera, American Symphony, and many others. Recent appearances have been accompanying icons such as Joe Zawinul, Marcel Khalifé, Branford Marsalis, members of Frank Zappa’s band and the stars of Monty Python. He has also performed extensively on Broadway; currently on the hit revival of “A Chorus Line”.

Mr. Seltzer is a multiple-time Grammy Award nominee with numerous ensembles in which he has been a performer, including the 2004 winning Broadway Cast Album for Bernadette Peter's revival of 'Gypsy'. Recent tours have included Australia, Europe and Japan. Much of the recent international traveling and recording has been with Absolute Ensemble, the cutting-edge chamber orchestra. Additionally, he has recorded for television and film, and has performed and recorded contemporary music with groups such as Bang-on-a-Can, and the ST-X Ensemble Xenakis. He has performed with the New York Collegium, New York's acclaimed baroque orchestra and also enjoys solo performance; having appeared in Lincoln Center's "Meet-the-Artist" series and the Caramoor Festival's winter 'Artist Spotlight' series.

Mr. Seltzer has been a panelist for Chamber Music America's National Conferences and has been a guest clinician/lecturer at many esteemed institutions including UCLA, Princeton University, The Juilliard School, and Indiana University at Bloomington. He did doctoral work at New York University and received degrees from California State University, Northridge and Manhattan School of Music where he was a member of the inaugural class of their orchestral study and performance program. He has designed educational programs for Midori & Friends, the Fischoff Chamber Music Society, and the Manhattan Brass, of which he is a founding member.

Receiving B.S. and M.S. degrees from the Julliard School of Music, David Taylor started his playing career as a member of Leopold Stowkowski's American Symphony Orchestra, and by appearing with the New York Philharmonic under Pierre Boulez. Almost simultaneously, he was a member of the Thad Jones Mel Lewis jazz band, and recorded with Duke Ellington (The New Orleans Suite), The Rolling Stones, and Blood, Sweat, and Tears. Mr. Taylor has recorded four solo albums (Koch, New World, and DMP) and has presented numerous recitals throughout the world (including Carnegie Recital Hall, Kaufman Auditorium at the Y at 92nd Street, and Merkin Hall).

He has appeared as a soloist with the St. Lukes Chamber Orchestra , Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Caramoor Festival Orchestra, NY Chamber Symphony, Basil Sinfonietta, Adelaide Philharmonic, and The Group for Contemporary Music among others. He has been involved in dozens of commissioning projects for the Bass Trombone in solo and chamber idioms; collaborating with composers including Alan Hovhaness, Charles Wuorinen, George Perle, Frederic Rzewski, Lucia Dlugoszchewski, Eric Ewazen, David Liebman, and Daniel Schnyder. He has appeared and recorded chamber music with Yo Yo Ma, Itzhak Perlman, and Wynton Marsalis. Throughout his career, David Taylor has appeared and recorded with many major jazz and popular artists including Barbara Streisand, Miles Davis, Quincey Jones, Frank Sinatra, and Aretha Franklin. Mr. Taylor has won the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences Most Valuable Player Award for five consecutive years, the most it could be awarded and has been awarded the NARAS Most Valuable Player Virtuoso Award, an honor accorded no other bass trombonist. He has been a member of the Bands of Gil Evans, Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Band, George Russell, Chuck Israel, and the George Gruntz Concert Jazz Band to name a few. Although he has performed on numerous Grammy Award winning recordings, 1998 was special. In 1998 Taylor performed on four Grammy nominated CD's: The J.J. Johnson Big Band, Dave Grusin's West Side Story, the Joe Henderson Big Band, and the Randy Brecker Band. The latter two CD's were chosen for Grammys.

David Taylor currently performs with The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Charles Mingus Big Band, Eos Orchestra, NY Chamber Symphony, Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra, Michelle Camillo Band, Areopagitica (a brass trio in residence at Mannes College), Bob Mintzer Band, and the Daniel Schnyder, David Taylor, and the Kenny Drew Jr Trio. He appears frequently with Orpheus, and the St. Lukes Chamber Orchestra, and he is on the faculties of the Manhattan School of Music and Mannes College.

Some upcoming events include appearances with the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, Chamber Music Northwest, and master classes and recitals in the U.S., Europe, and Japan. David has appeared with the Absolute Ensemble under the direction of Kristian Jarvi (broadcasted on European TV and recorded for Enja Records), The Niederoesterreichische Tonkuenstlerochester, and The Tiroler Symphonie Orchester Innsbruck.