Edward Benyas is Emeritus Professor of Oboe and Conducting at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, Artistic Director of the Southern Illinois Music Festival, Principal Conductor of Winter Opera St. Louis and Musica Le Mans (France), and Executive Director of the Cascade Symphony.  The Illinois Council of Orchestras named him Conductor of the Year, SIU’s College of Liberal Arts named him the Outstanding Scholar, the Southern Illinoisan named him a “Leader Among Us,” and he received SIU’s 2025 Distinguished Service Award. Mr. Benyas holds degrees in Oboe, Conducting, Law and Political Science from Northwestern and Michigan. He has conducted orchestras and opera companies across North America, Europe and China. His conducted repertoire includes over 400 works, including a dozen world premieres and several dozen complete operas and ballets. Mr. Benyas has an international reputation as an oboist, having performed with the Chicago Lyric Opera under Zubin Mehta, with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Daniel Barenboim on its European tour, as Principal Oboe for Andrea Bocelli, and at the Ravinia, Carmel Bach, Spoleto, Banff and Des Moines Opera music festivals.

Susan Telford has been a member of the Tacoma Symphony, Elgin Symphony, Evansville Philharmonic, several chamber groups and many summer festivals, as well as serving as substitute/extra with the Seattle Symphony, Seattle Opera, Pacific Northwest Ballet, and nearly every major ensemble in the Seattle area. As a studio musician, Susan has performed on countless movie and videogame soundtracks as well as many other recording projects. She has premiered numerous compositions by living composers as a solo, chamber, and orchestral musician. In addition to her private students, she has served as artist/faculty and woodwind coach of several institutions, including the University of Evansville, Midsummer Musical Retreat, and Seattle Youth Symphony. Susan is a graduate of the University of Washington and Northwestern University.

Clarinetist Denise Lum joined the Pacific Northwest Ballet Orchestra in 1999. Previously, she was a member of the Savannah Symphony Orchestra and was Principal Clarinet with the South Bend Symphony Orchestra. She has performed with the Seattle Symphony Orchestra, Seattle Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Milwaukee Symphony and Spoleto Festival. Denise’s musical enthusiasm is equally devoted to her clarinet students, young and young in spirit. Music performance happens only in tandem with music appreciation. Denise is grateful to participate in the making of music and the making of music lovers. Denise received a Bachelor of Music with Distinction from Northwestern University where she studied with Robert Marcellus. She was also influenced by Burt Hara, Don Carroll and Frank Kowalsky who taught her at Interlochen Arts Academy. Denise’s other passion is playing soccer. She had been privileged to be part of a strong women’s soccer community for the past two decades, sharing the love of the game, beer, motherhood, life.

Hornist Jill Jaques currently lives in Seattle and plays regularly with the Seattle Symphony, the Pacific Northwest Ballet, and the 5th Avenue Theater. She is co-principal horn, librarian, and an artistic advisor for North Corner Chamber Orchestra (NOCCO), a Seattle-based self-led small orchestra that performs without a conductor. Jill is also a regular member of the Juneau (AK) Symphony and enjoys playing there for the wonderful musical experience, as well as time spent in nature with whales and bears (from a safe distance). Jill can be heard on many film and video game soundtracks, such as the movie The Blind Side and the World of Warcraft video games. She has performed with The Who, Leslie Odom Jr, and Marvin Hamlisch. Jill has a Masters degree from the New England Conservatory and studied with James Sommerville and Danny Katzen. She has also studied with Andrew Bain and the late Dale Clevenger. When not playing the horn, Jill is often bird-watching, traveling, or paddling around the Puget Sound on her stand-up paddleboard.

Steven Morgan is a Washington-based bassoonist known for his strong technique, expressive musicality, and rich, resonant sound. An in-demand freelancer, he performs with nearly every professional orchestra west of the Cascades and is an active presence in the Puget Sound orchestral and chamber music scenes. As a soloist, Steven has performed bassoon concertos by Mozart and Vivaldi with the North Corner Chamber Orchestra and the Everett Philharmonic Orchestra. He currently serves as principal bassoon with both ensembles, as well as the Federal Way Symphony, Bellevue Symphony Orchestra, and Northwest Symphony Orchestra. Steven is a passionate and longtime educator. He has taught bassoon privately and with the Bellevue Youth Symphony Orchestra for almost twenty years and previously served as Professor of Bassoon at California State University, Long Beach. His principal teacher was Charles Coker at the University of Redlands and the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). He also spent six months studying abroad at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria. A longtime Edmonds resident, Steven lives with his wife of nearly twenty years and their twin sons. Outside of music, he enjoys board games with friends and spending warm summer days with his family in Lake Chelan.