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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.

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 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.

Jazz trumpeter and composer Tim Hagans is considered by many to be one of the most unique and influential modern voices on trumpet. His distinct tone was described by the Village Voice as “powerfully expressive.” His discography includes several recordings of his original compositions on the Blue Note label, as well as with many jazz luminaries like Joe Lovano and Marc Copland, with whom he tours extensively. He has played with Stan Kenton, Thad Jones and Bob Belden, among others. He has been the Artistic Director of the Norrbotten Big Band located in Luleå, Sweden since 1999. Mr. Hagans travel throughout the United States and abroad performing and teaching.

Film Maker Yunuen Perez Vertti collaborated with the Michele Brangwen Dance Ensemble on their most recent dance on camera short Confusion ofAngels, made at the Rothko Chapel in Houston, Texas. She has also created video projections of dance on camera designed to overlap with sections of live dance in the MB Dance Ensemble’s 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 toViolence. 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.

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.