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Composer Thomas Helton has received five commissions from the Michele Brangwen Dance Ensemble. One of tangos from Desesperados (Commissioned by the Michele Brangwen Dance Ensemble in 2005) is featured on Houston Public Radio’s CD The Best of the FrontRow, a compilation of the best on-air live music previews of 2005. Black Rain (Commissioned by the Michele Brangwen Dance Ensemble in 2005), a work for saxophone, guitar, string bass and percussion, was chosen to be performed as part of FotoFest’s first ever evening of performing arts presented at Zilkha Hall in the Hobby Center as part of their 2006 Biennial.

Mr. Helton was awarded a Houston Arts Alliance Individual Artist Fellowship Grant in 2007 for the commission and premiere of a new music for work for fifteen piece ensemble. He received an artist residency for the commission and premiere of Pride from DiverseWorks ArtSpace in October 2004, a work for ten piece ensemble and video projection created in collaboration with video artist Maria del Carmen Montoya.

As a bassist, Thomas Helton has performed with some of Houston's finest jazz artists including Carol Morgan, Larry Slezak, Gary Norian, Woody Witt, and Joe LoCascio. He has performed with such jazz greats as Tim Hagans, Milt Jackson, Monty Alexander, Mark Elf and Ernie Watts. His has released two CD’s: Doublebass and Experimentations in Minimalism; both have received positive reviews in the press in both in the U.S. and Europe.

Composer and Trumpeter Tim Hagans is one of the most unique and influential modern voices on trumpet. His distinct tone was described by the Village Voice as “powerfully expressive” and Gary Giddins professed him to be a “swarming, spirited tour de force.” Mr. Hagans performs and records with his own ensembles as well as with Joe Lovano, Blue Note All-Stars, Gary Peacock, Yellowjackets, Bob Mintzer, Marc Copland, Bob Belden and Maria Schneider. He was nominated for Grammy awards for Best Contemporary Jazz CD for his Animation*Imagination (1999 Blue Note) and Re: Animation (2000 Blue Note). He has performed with Thad Jones, Ernie Wilkins, Dexter Gordon, Ed Thigpen, Kenny Drew, Danish Radio Big Band, and Swedish Radio Jazz Group. For three years he was a member of the Stan Kenton Orchestra. He is the featured soloist on the soundtrack by Howard Shore for the movie The Score, starring Robert DeNiro and Marlon Brando.

In 2001 he was the subject of an hour-long documentary made for Swedish television entitled Boogaloo Road. He recently won the Best Trumpet category in Brazil’s 30th Annual Jazz Station poll published in Tribuna da Imprensa; Alone Together, his recent release on Pirouet, was also named as one of the top ten jazz recordings in 2008. He began collaborating with the Michele Brangwen Dance Ensemble as a composer and performer in 2007.

Saxophonist and Composer Seth Paynter was commissioned by the Michele Brangwen Dance Ensemble in 2008 to create Sanctuary Moon, a multiple movement work for saxophone, trumpet, contrabass and percussion that included more than 20 gongs of varying sizes and countries of origin, Burma bells, chimes, snaps, and wood blocks. Sanctuary Moon featuring choreography by Michele Brangwen and video by Yunuen Perez Vertti premiered at Barnevelder Theater and the Performing Arts Center, and excerpts from the score were performed on KUHF Houston Public Radio. Mr. Paynter has also performed with the Michele Brangwen Dance Ensemble in the premieres of A Note From Guantánamo, Confusion of Angels and Black Rain at Zilkha Hall in the Hobby Center, Barnevelder Theater, and the Performing Arts Center. He can be heard performing in various venues throughout Houston. He has been a featured composer on DiverseWorks Sunday’s Sonorities series. He studied classical and jazz music at the University of Houston from 1992 to 1995. Mr. Paynter has also studied tae p'yung so, a Korean shawm-like traditional instrument in Cunju, South Korea.Composer

Brian Nelson collaborated with the Michele Brangwen Dance Ensemble on “A Note From Guantánamo,” a work for dancers, electronic wind instrument, string bass, and electro-acoustic sound environment which premiered in July 2007. Mr. Nelson has been commissioned by the San Antonio Symphony, the Trinity University Theatre Department, and the American Guild of Organists. He has represented the Alamo Chapter of the American Guild of Organists at the 1999 Regional AGO Young Organist Undergraduate Competition in Forth Worth, Texas. He earned his undergraduate degree in Music Composition and Computer Science from Trinity University. Mr. Nelson graduated from the University of Michigan in 2003 with a Masters in Music Composition, studying composition with Bright Sheng, Michael Daugherty, and Erik Santos, and organ with James Kibbie. He is currently working on a doctorate in Music Composition and a masters in Organ at Rice University.

Filmmaker Yunuen Perez Vertti collaborated with the Michele Brangwen Dance Ensemble on their short films: Get Outside, filmed on location in Sweden with the Norrbotten Big Band; Confusion of Angels, filmed at the Rothko Chapel in Houston; and Sanctuary Moon. She has created video projections of dance on camera designed to overlap with sections of live dance in the Michele Brangwen Dance Ensemble’s A Note from Guantánamo and Sweet Land. Her video created to accompany composer Arthur Gottschalk’s work for percussion and electro-acoustic sound environment, Voices in My Head, was described by Linda Phenix in her review for Dance Source Houston as: “an elegant pairing of music with visual art.” This collaboration was featured as part of FotoFest’s 2006 Biennial dedicated to the themes of The Earth & Artists Responding to Violence. Originally from Mexico City, Ms. Vertti moved to Houston and completed an associate’s degree in video production at the Art Institute of Houston, graduating with honors in December 2000. She has worked with many Houston-based companies and non-profit organizations including the University of Houston, XL films, the Editing Company, AV1 Productions, Nilam Video, Azteca Video, Society of Iranian American Women for Education, and Voices Breaking Boundaries.

Jeremy Choate is a Lighting Designer, Photographer, and Filmmaker. He has designed lights for the Michele Brangwen Dance Ensemble’s films Confusion of Angels and Sanctuary Moon, as well as their live suites of dances of the same titles. He has also designed lights for the Michele Brangwen Dance Ensemble’s Petrified and A Note From Guantanamo. For his most recent collaboration with the Michele Brangwen Dance Ensemble he designed lights and also worked second camera for Get Outside, their short film featuring the Norrbotten Big Band and filmed on location Sweden. He returns to Sweden with the company to design lights for their upcoming tour in December 2009. As a Lighting Designer he has worked with many performing arts companies throughout Houston including Suchu Dance, Musiqua, Big Range Dance Festival and the Weekend of Texas Contemporary Dance. Recent projects include collaboration with composer Stephen Vitiello on Four Color Sound, a sound and light installation in DiverseWorks Artspace in Houston Texas and the Project Gallery in New York City.

Dancer Brooke Barnes joined the Michele Brangwen Dance Ensemble in January 2006. She has performed in the premieres of Sanctuary Moon, Sweet Land, Confusion of Angels, A Note From Guantanamo, Petrified and Checkpoint. She has also performed in Black Rain. She has danced with the Michele Brangwen Dance Ensemble in venues throughout Houston including Zilkha Hall at the Hobby Center, Barnevelder Theater, and the Performing Arts Center, and in Chicago at Lutkin Hall. Ms. Barnes was the solo dancer in the Michele Brangwen Dance Ensemble's film Labyrinth, and featured in their dance film Confusion of Angels.

She has also danced with Houston Ballet, Houston Grand Opera, Sandra Organ Dance Company, Second Generation Dance Company and Kumba House Dance Theater. She is a graduate of Houston’s High School for the Performing and Visual Arts.

Dancer Lindsey McGill has been performing with the Michele Brangwen Dance Ensemble since 2003. She has danced in the premieres of Sanctuary Moon, Checkpoint, Petrified, A Note From Guantanamo, Confusion of Angels, Sweet Land, and Talk to Me. She has performed with the ensemble in works such as Madrid and Desesperados in venues throughout Houston including the Cullen Theater, Wortham Center; Stude Concert Hall, Barnevelder Theater, and Miller Outdoor Theatre; and in Chicago in Lutkin Hall. She has performed in the Michele Brangwen Dance Ensemble's films Confusion of Angels, Sanctuary Moon, and Get Outside.

Ms. McGill won the 2007 Buffy award for Houston’s Best Contemporary Dance Artist. She is a performer with Hope Stone and a former member of Dominic Walsh Dance Theater. Her choreography has been performed by Dominic Walsh Dance Theater at Zilkha Hall in the Hobby Center and at Miller Outdoor Theater.

Dancer Scarlett Barnes joined the Michele Brangwen Dance Ensemble in June 2008. In her first season with the company she has danced in the premiere of Sanctuary Moon and Covering Guernica, and in A Note From Guantanamo at Barnevelder Theater and the Performing Arts Center. She also traveled Sweden to dance in the Michele Brangwen Dance Ensemble's film project with the Norrbotten Big Band.

Ms. Barnes has danced in Univision Television’s “Selena Vive!” and at the Apollo Theater with musical guest Berthel Young. Ms. Barnes has also performed with the Ensemble Theater, Met Too Dance Company, and City Dance Company. She trained at the Margo Marshall School of Ballet, City Dance Studio, Houston Metropolitan Dance Center, and the High School for Performing & Visual Arts where she received the Most Outstanding Dance Major Award upon graduation.

Composer/Trumpeter Carol Morgan collaborated with the MB Dance Ensemble on Sweet Land, a work for five musicians and four dancers that premiered at Barnevelder Theater in July 2006. The score to Sweet Land includes existing tumes along with new music for jazz quartet entitled Landing that was commissioned by the MB Dance Ensemble. Ms. Morgan holds music performance degrees from the University of Texas at Austin and The Juilliard School. Immediately out of college, Ms. Morgan worked as a free-lance musician in New York City as well as teaching at Western Connecticut State University. Recent performances include appearances at The Blue Note and at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City, and the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. Locally, Ms. Morgan performs regularly at many of Houston’s jazz venues, as a leader of her own trio and quintet, and with various ensembles. Ms. Morgan has recently released two CD’s: Passing Time with the Carol Morgan Quintet, comprised entirely of her own compositions, and Classic Morgana, her original trio performing jazz standards.

Lighting Designer Kris Phelps has designed lights for the Michele Brangwen Dance Ensemble's Black Rain, Desesperados, Sweet Land, Talk to Me, Madrid, Louie's, Key West, Cello Fishing at Antibes, and American Night among others. Ms. Phelps has designed lights for the Dance Salad Festival and the Annual Weekend of Texas Contemporary Dance, as well as for many dance companies in Houston, including the Sandra Organ Dance Company, The Met, and Ad Deum. She has designed for Several Dancers Core in Atlanta, Mexico and Houston, and Fly Dance Company's performance at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC. Also a designer for theater, Ms. Phelps has won two awards for best lighting design from the Ensemble Theater Company of Houston. She has also worked with the Houston Ballet and many independent choreographers including Becky Valls, Priscilla Nathan-Murphy and Leslie Skates.

Composer Reynaldo Ochoa has received two commissions from The Michele Brangwen Dance Ensemble. His Pensamientos Perfumados was performed by the Ensemble in Stude Concert Hall, Miller Outdoor Theatre and Moores Opera House, and excerpts broadcast on KUHF and KRTS radio stations. His Louie’s, Key West was performed by the Ensemble at the Performing Arts Center at Houston Community College Northwest and Stude Concert Hall, and excerpts were broadcast on KHUF radio.

In addition to the above mentioned commissioned works, the MB Dance Ensemble has set their playful and energetic Talk to Me to Ochoa's senusous Latin-jazz influenced score for saxophone and string bass entitled Que? Talk to Me has been performed at Stude Concert Hall and the Performing Arts Center. Celebrated Houston saxophonists Warren Sneed and Woody Witt have performed the work, along with bassist/composer Thomas Helton.

Dr. Ochoa's works have been performed by the Paragon Brass Ensemble, the Houston Composers Alliance, the University of Houston Saxophone Quartet, and by cellist David Garret. Notable commissions include an orchestral composition for the Houston Symphony's "Sounds Like Fun" concerts for young audiences that received sixteen performances and was broadcast on KUHF radio, and a trumpet sonata commissioned by David Bilger, principal trumpet with the Philadelphia Orchestra.

As a trumpeter, he has performed with the Houston Symphony, Houston Grand Opera, the Mexico City Symphony Orchestra, and OrchestraX. He has also performed with The Michele Brangwen Dance Ensemble in the premiere of The Fountain at David Adickes' Sculpture Works, and subsequent performances in Stude Concert Hall and the Moores Opera House. He is a member of Airmail Special, an ensemble of Houston Symphony musicians that perform for young audiences. Dr. Ochoa holds Bachelors and Masters degrees from the University of Houston, and a Doctorate degree in music composition from Rice University. He has worked as a session player, composer, and producer for various commercials, jingles, recordings and motion pictures. He is currently music director/conductor for Symphony North, and an affiliate artist in electronic music at The University of Houston.

Talk to Me is a work by choreographer Michele Brangwen set to a score for alto saxophone and string bass by composer Reynaldo Ochoa entitled ¿Que? Click here to listen to the first movement!

Composer Arthur Gottschalk has created six works for the Michele Brangwen Dance Ensemble since 1996. He attended the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, where he received his Bachelor of Music, Master of Arts in Music Composition and English Literature, and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees, studying with Ross Lee Finney, Leslie Bassett, George Balch Wilson, and William Bolcom. He is currently a Professor and Chair of Music Theory and Composition at Rice University's Shepherd School of Music. Gottschalk's teaching specialties include music composition, music theory, counterpoint, acoustics, music for media, and music business and law. Among other awards he is a recipient of the Charles Ives Prize of the National Academy of Arts and Letters, and most recently was Composer-in-Residence at the 2002 Piccolo Spoleto Festival. His music is performed regularly in Europe, South America, Taiwan, and Australia, is recorded on Crystal, Summit, Golden Crest, Crest, and Orion, and is published by Seesaw Music, Shawnee Press, and Ballerbach Music (ASCAP). His book, Functional Hearing, was released in the Fall of 1997 and is published by Scarecrow Press, a division of Rowan and Littlefield.