Bryce Dessner

Bryce David Dessner (born April 23, 1976) is a Brooklyn-based composer,guitarist, and curator primarily known as a member of the Grammy Award-nominated band The National. In addition to his work with The National, Dessner has made a name for himself as an acclaimed composer, working with some of the world’s most creative and respected musicians and visual artists, including Alejandro González Iñárritu, Justin Peck, Ragnar Kjartansson, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Marcel Dzama and Matthew Ritchie, among others. Dessner is also the founder of the MusicNOW Festival, a founding member of the improvisatory instrumental group Clogs and co-founder of Brassland Records. He has a master's degree in music from Yale University, and is currently a composer-in-residence at Muziekgebouw Eindhoven.

Composer

Sufjan Stevens

Sufjan Stevens (/ˈsuːfjɑːn/ SOOF-yahn; born July 1, 1975) is an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He first came to wider recognition with the 2000 album, A Sun Came, which was released on the Asthmatic Kitty label he co-founded with his stepfather. He is perhaps best known for his 2005 album, Illinois, which hit number one on the Billboard Top Heatseekers chart, and for the single "Chicago" from that album.

Stevens has released albums of varying styles, from the electronica of Enjoy Your Rabbit and the lo-fi folk of Seven Swans to the symphonic instrumentation of Illinois and Christmas-themed Songs for Christmas. Stevens makes use of a variety of instruments, often playing many of them himself on the same recording, and writes music in various time signatures. Though he has repeatedly stated an intent to separate his beliefs from his music, Stevens also freely draws from the Bible and Christian tradition.

Biography

Early life

Stevens was born in Detroit, Michigan, and lived there until the age of nine, when his family moved to Petoskey, in the northern part of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan. He was raised by his father Rasjid and his stepmother, only occasionally visiting his mother, Carrie, in Oregon after she married her second husband Lowell Brams. (Brams would later become the head of Stevens' record label Asthmatic Kitty). He attended Petoskey High School, Interlochen Arts Academy and graduated from Harbor Light Christian School. He went on to attend Hope College in Holland, Michigan, and earned a Masters in Fine Arts from The New School in New York City.

Nico Muhly

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Nico Muhly (/ˈniːkoʊ ˈmjuːli/; born August 26, 1981) is an American contemporary classical music composer and arranger, who has worked and recorded with classical and pop/rock musicians. He currently lives in the Lower East Side section of Manhattan in New York City. He is a member of the Icelandic music collective/recording label Bedroom Community.

Biography

Early years

Muhly was born in Vermont and raised in Providence, Rhode Island. His mother, Bunny Harvey, is a painter and teacher at Wellesley College, and his father, Frank Muhly, is a documentary filmmaker.

As a child, Muhly sang in the choir at Grace Episcopal Church in Providence, and he started to study piano at 10.

Muhly went on to study at The Wheeler School in Providence. He then attended Columbia University where he received an undergraduate degree in English, and the Juilliard School where he completed a master's degree in music. He also studied composition with John Corigliano and Christopher Rouse.

James McAlister

James Edward McAlister (born September 5, 1951 in Little Rock, Arkansas) is a former American football running back in the National Football League. He was drafted by the Oakland Raiders in the sixth round of the 1974 NFL Draft. He played college football at UCLA, where he was also a star on the track and field team. He had the best long jump in the world in 1973 set at home in Westwood.

In 1974, the World Football League gained a large measure of recognition the day before the NFL draft when its Southern California franchise announced the signing of three potential NFL first-round selections, including McAlister. McAlister was one of a trio whose agent, 22-year-old Michael L Trope, decided not to wait for competitive bidding by the NFL. "Their value was at a peak, 30% to 35% higher than it would have been later, because of the publicity the WFL could get by our signing," said Trope, who approximated the total package at close to $1 million for his three clients.

McAlister also played for the Philadelphia Eagles and New England Patriots. He was on the cover of Sports Illustrated in 1971.

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