Brendan Nguyen is a pianist who displays uncommon versatility as a performer, artist, curator, music director, and thinker. He is Co-Founder and Executive Director of Project [BLANK] in San Diego, California, one of the city’s most innovative young organizations committed to the programming of new and experimental music. As a performer he has appeared at the REDCAT Theater at Disney Hall in Los Angeles, Zipper Hall, the Monday Evening Concert series, Merkin Hall, and The Stone in New York. 

A graduate of the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music (BM, 2005) and UC San Diego (MM, 2010/DMA, 2015), Brendan also studied at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam in the Netherlands with Jan Wijn. In addition to his work with Project [BLANK] and other performance projects, he is an active educator and committed advocate for inclusion, equity, and diversity in the arts.

Leslie Ann Leytham is a San Diego-based mezzo-soprano who focuses much of her attention on contemporary narrative vocal works, not only as a singer and actor, but a costume designer, director, writer, and a composer of performance art pieces. Leslie seeks to consistently extend the theoretical and technical boundaries of the voice and has commissioned and premiered works by Martin Hiendl, Nicholas Deyoe, Clinton McCallum, Carolyn Chen, Marti Epstein, Andy Vores, and is currently preparing a regional premiere of a work by Austrian composer, Beat Furrer. She has performed as a featured artist with CityWater Ensemble at San Francisco’s Center for New Music, The Industry Opera Company in Los Angeles, Ensemble Echoi on the Monday Evening Concert Series in Los Angeles, La Jolla Symphony under the direction of Steven Shick, and as a founding member of Boston’s Guerilla Opera Company.

Dr. Leytham earned her Bachelor of Music degree in Voice Performance from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (2005) and a Master of Music degree in Voice Performance from The Boston Conservatory (2007). Leslie earned her Doctorate of Musical Arts degree in Contemporary Music Performance from the University of California, San Diego where she developed her interdisciplinary work under the guidance of the late violinist János Négyesy and video artist, Tara Knight.

Dr. Jonathan Nussman is a San Diego-based baritone whose varied interests include opera, theater, improvisation, and chamber music, with a special emphasis on works from the 20th and 21st centuries. He is an experienced performer of new and experimental music, and has made featured appearances with San Diego Opera, Opera Boston, Guerilla Opera, Bodhi Tree Concerts, Project [BLANK], the La Jolla Symphony, Cleveland Uncommon Sound Project, and the soundSCAPE New Music Festival. He is originally from Charlotte, North Carolina, and holds a doctoral degree in Contemporary Music Performance from UC San Diego, and a master’s degree from the Boston Conservatory at Berklee.

Adam Birnbaum is a Principal Software Engineer at Illumina, the world's leading manufacturer of DNA sequencing equipment.  His career spans 30 years of software development in a variety of hands-on and leadership roles in academia and in startup companies in the database, education and video game industries.  Adam is an avid amateur viola player, and for many years has been a director and volunteer for the SoCal Chamber Music Workshop, annually presenting a week of intensive training for advanced amateur chamber musicians.  His nonprofit volunteer experience also includes roles as a director at Friends of La Jolla Elementary, and as a board director for a Chicago area synagogue.  Adam lives in La Jolla with his wife, two children, and tiny rescue dog.

Dr. Klueter is a marine biologist and science writer with more than 20 years of experience in scientific research and communication. She received her BSc from the University of Cologne, Germany and her PhD from the University of Queensland, Australia. She brings experience in project planning and execution, a high level of organization and a passion for outreach and communication. Eight years ago, she made San Diego her home and has since rekindled her life-long passion for old and contemporary music. She is a member of the La Jolla Symphony & Chorus and the Parish Choir at St. James by the Sea Episcopal Church. She also volunteers for two non-profit organizations in City Heights (Ocean Discovery Institute, San Diego Refugee Tutoring) that foster the importance of learning and education and help children from underserved communities to achieve their dreams and personal success.

Senior Project Specialist with Orthofix / SeaSpine, Caitlin is a theatre creative and former non-profit arts Telly award-winning and Emmy-nominated marketing professional. Affiliations include 2023/2024 Cleveland Public Theatre Kulas Composer Fellow (previously Nord Family Foundation Playwright Fellow and Joan Yellen Horvitz Director Fellow), and 2019 Finalist for both the National Directors Fellowship and The Mitten Lab. Her musical Everything is Okay (and other helpful lies), with co-creator Melissa Crum, was featured in the 2019 New York Musical Festival. Caitlin previously served on the Board of Northwest Neighborhoods CDC, a nonprofit community development organization.

Diana Benavidez is a Binational artist from the San Diego/Tijuana border region. Her art practice explores piñata-making as a method of expression and storytelling. Diana builds piñatas that reflect upon her experiences growing up along the border, her identity, and culture. Her work is known for introducing materials not commonly found in traditional piñatas including media and technology. Diana received a BA in Visual Arts from UC San Diego and her art has been exhibited in Mexico, Canada, and the US. 

Michelle Lou composes mainly in the realm of electro-acoustic music, both in hardware and in computer based forms. She has also created large scale sound installations which are often performative and collaborative. She performs and improvises on acoustic and electric bass, electric guitar, and on laptop and various electronics. Her work has been presented at Wien Modern, Donaueschinger Musiktage, Darmstadt Ferienkurse, Bludenzer Tage zeitgemäßer Musik, The Festival of New American Music (Sacramento), the MATA Festival (New York City), The 66th American Music Festival at the National Gallery in Washington D.C., The Rainy Days Festival (Luxembourg), Ultima Festival (Oslo), Chance and Circumstance (Brooklyn), Klub Katarakt (Hamburg), Klangwerkstatt and MaerzMusik (both in Berlin), amongst others. She received degrees in double bass performance and music composition from UC San Diego with additional studies at The Conservatorio G. Nicolini in Piacenza, Italy (double bass) and The UDK in Graz, Austria (composition), the latter on a Fulbright Fellowship. Graduate studies culminated in a doctorate in composition from Stanford University. Michelle was a Radcliffe Fellow at Harvard University and an Elliott Carter Rome Prize Fellow at the American Academy in Rome. She has been granted commissions from institutions like the Fromm Music Foundation, the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation, and the Norwegian Arts Council. Michelle has taught at short term courses such as the WasteLAnd Summer Composition Course, Line Upon Line Festival Academy, and the Yarn/Wire Institute at Stony Brook.  She has also taught as visiting faculty at Dartmouth College, the Akademie für Neue Musik in Boswil, Switzerland, and the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Serafina Kernberger has travelled around the globe, from Japan to London, from Micronesia to Ushuaia, and has finally landed in San Diego with her husband and three kids. She attended the University of British Columbia in Vancouver and worked in online video and independent film before earning her Bachelor's degree in Accounting at San Francisco State University. She has since earned her CPA license and now lends her bookkeeping skills to Project [BLANK]. She also spends her time crocheting, going to concerts, and riding motorcycles.