Mahari Freeman received her Master’s of Music in Voice Performance from the University of Michigan, under the direction of Dr. Louise Toppin. A native of Charlotte, NC, Mahari is frequently sought after to perform at events across the Carolinas. Her “pure and effortless singing” has been positively received by journals such as Classical Voice of North Carolina. Performance engagements have included the Aspen Opera Center, Texas Music Festival, Opera Carolina, and the UNC Charlotte Orchestra. She is an avid soloist, having recently been the featured soloist during the Charlotte Pride Symphonic Band’s concert, as well as numerous oratorio engagements. Mahari was a finalist in the Audrey Rooney Vocal Competition, the Metropolitan Opera Council Auditions, and has won various NATS competitions. She is working towards her Doctorate of Musical Arts at the University of South Carolina School of Music
Adam Har-zvi is a composer and double bassist whose music focuses on rich counterpoint and the intersection between patient lyricism and rhythmic drive. His pieces have been performed by groups such as The Toledo Symphony, The Lansing Symphony, The 21st Century Consort, the Mivos Quartet, and The Wind Ensemble Society of New York City. His music has received awards from the National Federation of Music Clubs, The Ohio Federation of Music Clubs, the International Horn Society and the NJ Arts Collective. He holds degrees from Bowling Green State University, The Cleveland Institute of Music, and UMass Amherst. His compositional catalog includes works for orchestra, wind ensemble, vocal, chamber, solo, and electroacoustic works. At CPCC, Har-zvi teaches the jazz ensemble, applied bass lessons, and theory/aural skills courses, among others. He additionally serves as Adjunct Professor of Bass at West Liberty University (virtually).
As a bassist, Har-zvi is a member of the chamber quintet, Newphonia, which commissions several pieces annually and gives numerous performances throughout the United States. He has additionally worked as a recording engineer, photographer, videographer, and soccer referee.
He has studied composition under Jeremy Allen, Christopher Dietz, Mikel Kuehn, Elainie Lillios, Salvatore Macchia, Marilyn Shrude and Kate Soper, and double bass under Salvatore Macchia, Bob Rohwer, and Derek Zadinsky
Nathan Hudson is a composer and educator currently living in Charlotte. His music has been called “…simple, yet cinematic” (Sybaritic Singer) and “Tonal-lyrical-primal-old/new-
His music has been recorded by Unheard-Of//Ensemble, Duo Cylindre, the Grand Valley State University New Music Ensemble and the Off-Broadway Trio.
In 2020 Nathan began the Next Generation Trumpet Competition. NGTC (now in its fourth year) is a new music contest for trumpet featuring new works by established composers. NGTC has commissioned over 30 works for solo trumpet (and trumpet ensemble), and has featured many of today’s leading composers and trumpet artists.
He holds a BM in Trumpet Performance from the Schwob School of Music at Columbus State University, and an MA and PhD from Stony Brook University. He was recently on the faculty at San José State University as a Lecturer of Music, and is now a member of the Full-time music faculty of Central Piedmont Community College (Charlotte, NC) where he teaches Music Theory, Aural Skills, Music History and Composition. https://www.
Christine Leimer received her classical harp training and degrees in music from Queens College, Winthrop University and the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, where she was awarded a full graduate scholarship. She has traveled the globe studying fascinating aspects of the harp world, such as the cross-strung Spanish harp, the Scottish clarseach, and the Breton, wire-strung harp.
Her orchestral career has included many years as Principal Harp for orchestras in the two Carolinas and Tennessee as well as a tenure as Solo Harpist of the Orquesta del Principado de Asturias in Oviedo, Spain. She is a member of the Charlotte Symphony and is also a teacher of the Suzuki Method for Harp
Pianist Zaiba Sheikh has served on the collaborative piano staff of the Cleveland Institute of Music, ARIA International Summer Music Academy, and LMFL programs in Bristol, U.K. and Llandovery, Wales and Le Chambon-sur-Lignon, France. Before moving to Charlotte, she also served as Choir Accompanist, Assistant Music Director for Musicals, and French teacher at University School, a private boy’s preparatory high school in Hunting Valley, Ohio. In the Charlotte region she has served as pianist for faculty and students at the UNC Charlotte as well as at Winthrop University. She has been the recipient of two grants, selected from artists statewide, through the Arts and Science Council of North Carolina.
As a student of Menahem Pressler and Leonard Hokanson at Indiana University, she earned a Bachelor of Music Degree, and added a Master’s Degree in Collaborative Piano from The Cleveland Institute of Music under Anne Epperson and Russell Miller. Zaiba has widely collaborated with her husband violinist David Russell, Anne R. Belk Distinguished Professor of Music at UNC Charlotte, in recitals in the U.S., Canada, China, Spain and the U.K. She has recorded with Mr. Russell for the Albany Records label. Her faculty role at CPCC includes teaching Applied Piano, developing a Piano Pedagogy course and acting as collaborative pianist for the vocal and instrumental music majors as well as the Choir. In addition to her primary work at Central Piedmont, she continues to act as Music Director/ Pianist Mentor for Opera Carolina’s Opera Xpress as well as pianist for Bethel Presbyterian Church.
A Charlotte native, Nia Williams is the Applied Instructor Coordinator, Music Appreciation Coordinator and Curriculum at Central Piedmont Community College, Collaborative Pianist at Opera Carolina for their Musical Storytimes as well as the Collaborative Pianist for the Melody, Harmony, Lyric, and Concert Choirs.
She received her Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance from Salem College in 2014 with Dr. Barbara Lister-Sink as her Piano Professor, received a Master of Music in Collaborative Performance from Houghton University in May 2016 with Dr. Sharon Johnson as her Collaborative Piano Professor, and received a Professional Artist Certificate (PAC) in Collaborative Piano from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA) with Dr. Allison Gagnon as her Collaborative Piano Professor. Nia is pursuing a Doctor of Music Education at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia.
During her time at Houghton University, Nia was the assistant coach for the Houghton Lyric Theater’s production of Bastien and Bastienna; accompanist for the Women’s Ensemble and Combined Choirs; the head coach of the Phantom of the Opera; and performed in many recitals, master classes, and concerts.
After completing her master’s degree, accompanied the Charlotte Contemporary Ensemble, Winthrop University, Wingate University, the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and worked at the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra as the Choral/Musicianship Instructor and Site Coordinator at Winterfield Elementary School.
