"In the United States there is more space where nobody is than where anybody is. That is what makes America what it is.”
Jeff Van Nostrand, composer. After graduation from Eastman School of Music 1973, Jeff’s free-lance career began. He appeared with The Rochester Philharmonic (on banjo, no less), Broadway touring companies, and the Paul Winter Consort. His studio career began 1982, when he became a music producer at Ted Bates Advertising. In 1986 Jeff left Bates to concentrate on composition. He has written extensively for As the World Turns, Another World, and Guiding Light. His work has also been heard on NBC’s Friends. More recently he has completed scores for original audio dramas on www.SciFi.com. For First Light Films, Jeff scored "Taller Than Everest" and "Wild For Good."
...more about James’ music career
In thirty years as a professional musician, Bill Parish has collected a who's who of credits from Bob Hope, Bernadette Peters, Diahann Carroll and Liberace. On the contemporay side, he has recorded or performed with Ramsey Lewis, Freddie Hubbard, Dave Grusin, the Supremes Gladys Knight and the Pips, Martha and the Vandellas, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, the Temptations, the Coasters, and on Marvin Gaye's Grammy-nominated album “What’s Goin’ On”. The album placed 4th in VH-1’s recent poll of the “100 Greatest Rock and Roll Albums of All Time” and 6th in Rolling Stone’s “The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time”, just behind the Beatles’ Rubber Soul and ahead of the White Album, Abbey Road, and Let It Be.
Twirp Anderson, an ex-rodeo cowboy, is originally from Idaho and came to Aspen, Colorado in 1966 as a member of the legendary “Hustlers”. Long regarded as one of the most popular performers in the Roaring Fork Valley, he captivates audiences with his warm, smooth vocals and humorous onstage antics. As well as being a longtime announcer for the Snowmass Rodeo, Twirp is also a farrier and auctioneer and has appeared in John Denver's TV movie "The Christmas Gift". He makes his home in Glenwood Springs, Colorado.
Katie Hone Wiltgen, mezzo-soprano, is the Director of Bands and Choirs at Basalt High School and Middle School in Basalt, Colorado. Originally from Celina, Ohio, Katie holds a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance and Music Education from Miami University (Oxford, OH) and a Master of Music Education in Conducting from Colorado State University. A highly sought-after vocalist and teacher, Katie performs frequently in the Aspen area and maintains a private voice and piano studio.
Matthew Loden has led a varied career within the classical music industry as both an accomplished musician and an arts administrator. As a violinist, Mr. Loden performed with the Kennedy Center Opera and Ballet orchestras, the National Symphony Orchestra, the Houston Grand Opera and Ballet orchestras, the Brooklyn Philharmonic, and the American Composers Orchestra, and he has been a principal player in the American Symphony Orchestra at Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall. Matthew has also performed with the Broadway productions of "Cabaret," "Once Upon a Mattress," "High Society," and "The Lion King." In 2008, Mr. Loden became the General Manager at the Aspen Music Festival and School where he directs all operations, musician and staff contracts, media rights, box office ticket sales and house management.
Mo Mo Ya. At age 11, Mo was smuggled out of his native North Korea in his cello case. He made a momentous debut at Carnegie Hall at age 16. A few months later, a back-stage fall at Lincoln Center left his left arm paralyzed, and he disappeared from public view. After ten years of meditation and therapy in a remote Himalayan monastery, he has regained the fine motor skills in his hand. Forever Wild is his first recording since returning to America.
The Musicians