Ksenija Komljenović, a Serbian percussionist, educator, and composer, earned acclaim as a prizewinner of the International Percussion Competition Luxembourg. She is the first Serbian woman with a Doctor of Musical Arts in Percussion Degree. Ksenija serves as a faculty member at the renowned University of North Carolina School of the Arts, following four years of teaching at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi.

Ksenija's dedication to contemporary and chamber music, alongside intercultural collaborations, is evident in her ensembles Vesna Duo and PNEUMA, bringing together exceptional performers from five countries. Her bold arrangements of classical, contemporary, jazz, and folk music enrich the repertoire and bring a unique flair to their performances. Especially noteworthy is Ksenija's marimba and piano arrangement of Igor Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring, featured on Vesna Duo's debut album, receiving accolades from renowned figures like Pulitzer Prize winner Tim Page (The Wall Street Journal) and Norman Lebrecht (Slipped Disc).

Ksenija initiated cultural-exchange projects between the U.S. and Serbia, including the first drumline camp and contemporary percussion workshop in her home country. Her international presence includes hundreds of performances and over 50 masterclasses in Hong Kong, England, Spain, Portugal, Russia, Poland, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the United States, and Serbia. As a composer, she draws inspiration from her Slavic and Balkan roots, as seen in her works Slavdom for Wind Band and Epilog [Epilogue].

Ksenija holds degrees from the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami, Illinois State University, and the Faculty of Music in Belgrade. She is a Marimba One Artist.

To learn more, visit www.ksenijakomljenovic.com or connect via Instagram, Facebook, or YouTube.

Percussionist, conductor, and author Steven Schick was born in Iowa and raised in a farming family. Hailed by Alex Ross in the New Yorker as, “one of our supreme living virtuosos, not just of percussion but of any instrument,” he has championed contemporary percussion music for nearly 50 years, and in 2014 was inducted into the Percussive Arts Society Hall of Fame.

Steven Schick is Music Director Emeritus of the La Jolla Symphony and Chorus, serving as its Music Director from 2006-2022, and the Artistic Director Breckenridge Music Festival. He has guest conducted the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Milwaukee Symphony, Ensemble Modern, the International Contemporary Ensemble, and the Asko/Schönberg Ensemble. He was Artistic Director of the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players (2010-2018) and directed programs at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity from 2009-2019, the last three of which as Co-artistic Director, with Claire Chase, of the Summer Classical Music program.

In 2020, Steven Schick won the Ditson Conductor’s Award, given by Columbia University for commitment to the performance of American music.

Schick’s publications include a book, “The Percussionist’s Art: Same Bed, Different Dreams,” and numerous recordings including the 2010 “Percussion Works of Iannis Xenakis,” and its companion, “The Complete Early Percussion Works of Karlheinz Stockhausen” in 2014 (Mode). The latter received the Deutscheschallplattenkritikpreis for the best new music release of 2015.

Steven Schick is Distinguished Professor of Music and the inaugural holder of the Reed Family Presidential Chair at the University of California, San Diego.

As a percussionist and composer, Eugene Novotney has performed and presented lectures in North America, South America, the Caribbean, Europe, Africa, and Asia. He is recognized internationally as a composer of contemporary percussion music, and his compositions are widely performed as standards of the literature. His snare drum composition, A Minute of News, has been used as the test piece for numerous international percussion competitions, and stands as one of the most well-known compositions in the repertoire.

A life-long advocate of world musics, Novotney has conducted residencies at the National Theatre of Ghana, the Instituto de Investigacio Musico in Salvador, Brazil, and the Centro Nacional de Escuelas de Arte in Havana, Cuba. He has also conducted research trips to India, Indonesia, China, and Trinidad & Tobago, resulting in numerous transcriptions, arrangements, and analytical studies.

He has engaged in extensive professional service for the Percussive Arts Society, having served on the Board of Advisors, the Board of Directors, the World Percussion Committee, and as the Chair of the New Music/Research Committee. He is currently the Editor of The Steel Times, the professional journal of the National Society of Steelband Educators. His recordings have been released on the Bembe, Delos, SANCH, Pogo, Rituals and Earthbeat (Rhino) labels, and his compositions and arrangements are available through Smith Publications of Sharon, Vermont and Mau Mau Music of Cleveland, Ohio.

Eugene Novotney is Distinguished Professor of Music at Cal Poly Humboldt and is a recipient of the California State University's Wang Family Excellence Award for his legacy of service to the profession.