Flutist, Paula Gudmundson, is Professor of Music at the University of Minnesota Duluth. A Miyazawa Performing Artist and recipient of the 2022-2023 McKnight Fellowship for Performing Musicians.  Her work focuses on centering her work around collaboration, community engagement and bringing voice to the absent narratives in the arts. She has performed at numerous music festivals and events, including regional, national and international conferences of the College Music Society, National Flute Association conventions, Minnesota Public Radio’s Class Notes Artist, International Flute Festival of Costa Rica and La Côte Flûte Festival.  Awarded a Community Partnership and Artist Initiative Grants from the Minnesota State Arts Board to record works by Amancio Alcorta and Alberto Williams for research of flute in Latin American art music, traveling to Buenos Aires, Argentina in search of neglected early 20th century music. Recordings include La Flauta of Buenos Aires (2014), Breaking Waves (2019) and Melodies of the Forest (2022)  She has also been featured on Minnesota Public Radio’s Regional Spotlight.

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A spirited interpreter of chamber music, Egyptian-American violist Laila Zakzook (she/her) is a member of the Grammy Award-nominated Isaura String Quartet and is seen frequently at festivals across North America. Recent appearances include performances at the Rockport Chamber Music, Prototype, Music By The Sea, and West End Micro Music Festivals, where she has worked with artists such as the Grammy Award-winning Attacca Quartet, violist Steven Dann, violinist Barry Shiffman, and cellist Andres Diaz. Zakzook is also a core musician at Samtalä| Musicians in Dialogue in Stoughton, Wisconsin.

As a performer of contemporary music, Laila has presented numerous world and North American premieres, including works by Thomas Adès, Derrick Skye, Nahre Sol, Caroline Shaw, and David T. Little, among others. Zakzook’s performance of Thomas Adès’ Alchymia was featured on a recent broadcast of About Time with Tom Allen on CBC Radio. The 2026/2027 season will include the world premiere of works by Leilehua Lanzilotti & Niall Tarō Ferguson.

A versatile artist, Laila has toured internationally with Lincoln Center Stage, and performed alongside Father John Misty, Thumpasaurus, and members of Chicago and Toto.

Born in Los Angeles, Laila returned to the city after studying at Oberlin Conservatory, Manhattan School of Music, and the Glenn Gould School. Locally, Laila has performed with the Laós Chamber Music Series, and with Bridge to Everywhere for LA Philharmonic’s Noon to Midnight concert series at Walt Disney Hall.

Prize winner of international competitions, Magda performs across Europe, Asia and the Americas, and appeared in renowned concert halls such as Musikverein and Konzerthaus in Vienna, BOZAR in Brussels, Witold Lutoslawski Studio in Warsaw, NCPA in Mumbai. She is a recipient of the prestigious Fulbright Scholarship and Paul Collins Wisconsin Distinguished Fellowship, and a graduate of music conservatories in Poland, Belgium, and Austria. In 2011-12 she was a member of the acclaimed European Chamber Music Academy (ECMA) in Vienna, she is also a recent graduate of the prestigious Global Leaders Program, an Ivy League curated Executive Education program for impact-focused Art Entrepreneurs.

Rolf Erdahl has a varied performing and teaching career. He and his wife Carrie Vecchione concertize widely as the duo OboeBass! "The world's only professional oboe/bass duo." They have basically created the oboe/bass duo genre through over 50 commissions and six recordings. Rolf teaches bass at Gustavus Adolphus College and performs with the Mankato Symphony. Previously Principal Bass of the Winnipeg Symphony and Manitoba Chamber Orchestra, he has also performed with the Honolulu Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, SPCO, Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra, Bergen Philharmonic, and New World Symphony. He is a graduate of St. Olaf College, the University of Minnesota, and received his doctorate from Peabody Conservatory. He studied Grieg’s music in Norway as a Fulbright and Scandinavian-American Foundation Scholar. Rolf is Chair of the Edvard Grieg Society of Minnesota.