William Ashworth
William Ashworth holds a bachelor’s degree in music theory from Whitman College (Walla Walla, Washington, 1965) and an MA in theory and composition from Washington State University (Pullman, 1967). His teachers included William H. Bailey (a pupil of Arnold Schoenberg), William Brandt (a pupil of Howard Hanson), and Loran Olsen (a pupil of Nadia Boulanger); he also took master classes with Jean Berger and Alan Hovhaness, and studied for a year
with the composer Robert Soderberg at the University of Washington (Seattle).
His piece for recorder consort, “Papillon,” took second place in the American Recorder Society’s 2007 international competition; his meditation for cello choir, “The Island of Woods,” has been set as a dance by choreographer Vicki
Lloid. He is a four-time finalist for the American Prize in chamber music composition, an Honorable Mention honoree for the American Prize Charles Ives Award, and the immediate past president of the Southern Oregon Chapter of the National Association of Composers-USA.
I’lana Cotton
I’lana Cotton holds a Master of Arts degree in composition from the UCLA. Since moving to southern Oregon in 2003, she has written over 35 works for Rogue Valley musicians and ensembles, including four commissions for the Siskiyou Singers, a large community choir. The Rogue Valley Symphony commissioned Cantus, in honor of its 50th anniversary season in 2017. Active in NACUSAsf for over 10 years, she later helped form the Southern Oregon NACUSA chapter in 2006, and joined Cascadia Composers in 2012. Contact at icotton@notimemusic.com
Website: www.notimemusic.com
Ken Deveney
Ken Deveney studied music and mathematics at Rutgers University, then worked as a computer programmer and a math teacher. He has been a choir director and a member of the Canby Singers in New York. After moving from New Jersey to the Rogue Valley in 1991, he studied composition with Dr. Michael Turner at Southern Oregon University and with composer P. Peter Sacco. He has written over 100 works, including choral pieces, songs, a symphony, and thirteen string quartets.
Ethan Gans-Morse
Ethan Gans-Morse is the composer of operatic, symphonic, chamber, and choral works that have been called “A huge achievement… generous, carefully crafted and supremely compassionate” by The Oregonian, “One of the most exciting developments of the arts season” by Oregon ArtsWatch, and “A masterwork [that] reaches into your solar plexus and doesn’t let go,” by Ashland.news.
He focuses on collaborative, socially relevant projects that foster greater human connection, including projects based on real-life Oregonians’ stories, such as the chamber opera Dreams Have No Borders, the oratorio Six Feet Apart: Stories of Resilience and Transformation, and the program symphony How Can You Own The Sky?
His works have been performed around the US and abroad—including at the Seattle Opera Center, the Walla Walla Symphony, the Siletz Bay Festival Orchestra, the Rogue Valley Symphony, and the highSCORE Festival in Pavia, Italy.
As an arts curator and educator, he’s the co-founder of Ashland-based nonprofit Anima Mundi Productions—along with his wife and creative partner Tiziana DellaRovere—and has helped develop teen composer programs for the Rogue Valley Symphony and the Composers’ Symposium of the Oregon Coast Youth Symphony Festival.
More at ethangm.com
Bruce Harrell
Bruce Harrell. Blind, partly deaf, born 1954, retired Oregon and California lawyer, former judge pro tem, deft at flute and recorder improvisation, hobbyist recording studio engineer, enthusiastic music composer, in love with wife Barb.
Drowned at 3. Told at 8 I was going blind. Legally blind at 16. Bought a backpack at 19 and stuck out my thumb. Hitchhiked 2 years alone. Halfway, went totally blind while wintering in an African island mountain cave.
Later, double majored in college (flute and ancient history). UCLA School of Law, top quarter of my class while working 3 law jobs and while heavily engaged in political action. Helped draft and successfully lobbied 3 California bills into law. Moved to Ashland in 1986, wrote 4 novels, did a lot of sailing, and, well, now, here I am!
Motto: “While I live, I will live.”
Mark Eliot Jacobs
Mark Eliot Jacobs earned his Doctor of Music degree in composition at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois in 1986. He has taught low brass, composition and music theory at Southern Oregon University since 2012. Mark is the principal trombone in the Rogue Valley Symphony. He is also a member of the Rogue Valley Brass Quintet, the Rogue Valley Symphonic Band, and the Ashland City Band, and plays sackbut, serpent, ophicleide and saxhorn in various early music ensembles, including the Jefferson Baroque Orchestra and the 7th Illinois Volunteer Infantry Regimental Band. He teaches low brass privately in the Rogue Valley. Visit markjacobsmusic.com for more information.
Beth B. Martin
Beth B. Martin is a long-time resident of Ashland, OR, a violinist for many musical organizations and theaters in the Rogue Valley, and a retired public school string teacher and private instructor. She holds a BA in Music from Lewis and Clark College, Portland, and a B. Ed Music from SOU.
She has composed and been musical director and piano accompanist for several musicals for young people performed in Ashland Schools, written numerous string arrangements and compositions for private and Public School ensembles, and composed and directed music for both Viva Convivia and Ashland Contemporary Theatre. She has also composed and performed many songs in the popular genres. A condensed version of one of her musicals was performed by students at San Dominico, Marin County, CA. Recently a composition of hers was performed by the Montana Woodwind Quintet, and several of her pieces have been heard on radio.
Aletha Nowitzky
Composer and arranger Aletha Nowitzky writes in many styles, including jazz, classical and experimental. She has presented her work on the street, in concert halls, and over the radio waves throughout southern Oregon and northern California. While she is most experienced in writing for voice and piano, Aletha’s life goal as a creator and performer of mind-opening works of
musical and other art is currently being expanded by the opportunities that
NACUSA gives her to learn about the ins and outs of less familiar
instrumentation.
Vanessa Nowitzky
Vanessa Nowitzky‘s work is about freeing the feral human. She grew up singing at the Renaissance Faire with her musician parents, composed several duets to sing with her mother and began writing her first musical at the age of 19. She went on to earn her BFA in music at the California Institute of the Arts, where she studied composition and Icelandic folk song with Lucky Mosko. Vanessa has written three musicals which are also screenplays: Werewolf Blues, The Rainforest Musical, and Son of Cheeble, about what happens when the heir to a deli conglomerate goes vegan. She also composed a chamber opera of The Golden Key, wrote a novel about deer, and is working on an AI thriller screenplay with songs, Heart in a Body. Vanessa is disabled with a liver disorder and has selective mutism. She would like to thank Melissa Orr, Chase Morgan, and Aletha Nowitzky for supporting her on her creative path. To learn about Vanessa’s performance art technique and works integrating dance and voice, see www.singdancing.com.
Melissa Orr
Melissa Orr has been an active violin performer in Southern Oregon since 2000. She has been passionate about the violin since she began playing at the age of five. She wrote a violin cadenza for herself in high school and has spent many hours learning how to improvise in the gypsy jazz style. She is honored to be a member of the NACUSA Southern Oregon Chapter and finds the support and comradery of the group inspirational, sharing musical ideas and collaborating to bring those ideas to life.
Melissa holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in Chemical Engineering and currently works as a forensic scientist. In addition to pursuing music and science, she loves to spend time hiking, gardening, dancing, doing artwork and inventing/creating things.
Greg A Steinke
Dr. Greg A Steinke is retired, former Joseph Naumes Endowed Chair of Music/ Art and Associate Dean of Undergraduate Studies, Marylhurst University, Marylhurst, Oregon; Associate Director, Ernest Bloch Music Festival (’93-97) and Director, Composers Symposium (’90-97) (Newport, OR); served as the National Chairman of the Society of Composers, Inc. (1988-97). Composer of chamber and symphonic music and author with published/recorded works and performances across the U. S. and internationally; speaker on interdisciplinary arts, and oboist specializing in contemporary music. Dr. Steinke is a past national president of NACUSA and also currently serves on the NACUSA Cascadia Chapter Board.
Contact at: tdmmusic8@gmail.com
Website: gregasteinke.com
Stephen Truelove
Stephen Truelove taught piano and composition at Southern Oregon University (1988-2007). Author of Unitary Transformative Music Composition: Confrontation with Infinity and Piano Prelude Portraits: A Musical Journey Through Time Into Space; Adjudicator for The Stockhausen Composition Contest 2003, Kürten, Germany; SOU Drama Department: Music for the 2002 production of the Oresteia Trilogy by Aeschylus; Southern Oregon Youth Symphony Commission 1999 (Soundvision); First Prize: New Music Forum of Houston Composition Competition 1986 (Mosaic Constellations for 2 Pianos, Flute, Clarinet & Cello); Silver Medal 1983 International Piano Recording Competition; Patrick Nagel Commission 1982 (Song Cycle III: November Days) for soprano and piano; First Prize: Tulsa University Composition Contest 1970 (Transition for solo piano); First Prize: Oklahoma Junior Symphony Concerto Auditions 1964 (Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 1). Compositions: solo and duo piano; orchestra; songs and song cycles; choral music; chamber music for various ensembles with 1 and 2 pianos, for strings, for brass quintet, for speaker and piano; solo music for flute, clarinet, cello, violin, viola, horn, saxophone, guitar, banjo, harpsichord, and vibraphone; electronic media for synthesizer, computer, software; improvisational scores for various solos and ensembles; music for ballet, film, theater, and a mixed media chamber opera, Flowers and Butterflies (1993).
His most recent event was a lecture recital “A Presentation on the Music Legacy of Bela Rozsa” in the Roxana Rozsa Lorton Performance Center at Tulsa University, 1-25-2025. During this event a new work Two Bagatelles in Memory of Bela Rozsa for Piano and Flute and Piano were premiered.