Michael Horvit is Professor Emeritus of Composition and Theory at the Moores School of Music, University of Houston. His works range from solo instrumental and vocal pieces to large symphonic and choral compositions and operas, all widely performed in the United States, Europe, Japan, and Israel. He has published with C.F. Peters, MorningStar, Recital Publications, Shawnee Press, E.C. Schirmer, Southern, and Transcontinental, and has CDs with the Albany label. Horvit's awards include the Martha Baird Rockefeller Award as well as the National Endowment for the Arts.
Thomas E. Benjamin has recently retired as Chair of the Department of Music Theory at the Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University. A composer, conductor, performer, and music theorist with more than 40 compositions published and recorded, he also holds fellowships and awards from the MacDowell Colony, Yaddo, and the National Endowment for the Arts.