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Performer biographies:
Don-Paul Kahl
Renowned as an”artist beyond his time” by distinguished American composer John Corigliano and praised by Brutal New Music Reviews as possessing “the caliber of a soloist with whom composers dream to collaborate,” saxophonist Don-Paul Kahl, PhD has performed throughout Europe, the United States, Australia, Japan, and South-East Asia. His performance record includes invitations to major music festivals such as the Klara Festival(BE), KURAIA Festival (ES), and Arizona Friends of Chamber Music (US), among others. Don-Paul has performed as a soloist with esteemed ensembles, including the Thailand Philharmonic Orchestra, Musa Horti, and the Leuven New Music Ensemble. A passionate advocate for contemporary music, he has commissioned over 100 new works for saxophone, contributing significantly to the evolution of modern musical expression in and through the saxophone. Recent commissions include works by Ramon Lazkano, Stratis Minakakis, María Eugenia Luc, Yotam Haber, Katarina Miljokovic, and Nicholas Tzortzis. Among his competition accolades, Don-Paul was a prizewinner at the prestigious 4th Jean-Marie Londeix International Saxophone Competition in Bangkok, Thailand. As a member of various international chamber ensembles, he won the grand prize at the Saint-Saëns International Music Competition and was a finalist at the Supernova Kamermuziek Wedstrijd (BE) in partnership with the Klara Festival. He also received third prize and a special prize at the International Chamber Music Competition (FR). In 2017, his ensemble was awarded first prize and the special prize at the Concours d’Interprétation de la Ville de Boulogne-Billancourt (FR). As an in-demand chamber musician, Don-Paul is active with the internationally acclaimed saxophone quartet Ensemble du Bout du Monde, the clarinet–saxophone duo Duo Entre-Nous with Jackie Glazier, which has significantly expanded the repertoire through extensive commissioning and advocacy and released two full-length albums, and Woodwork, a dynamic reed quintet based in Belgium. Don-Paul holds a Doctor of Philosophy in the Arts (Ph.D.) in Artistic Research from Universiteit Leiden (NL), completed through the DocARTES Program at the Orpheus Institute (BE). He previously earned a Master-na-masteropleidingen in Solo Performance and Research from LUCA School of Arts – Campus Lemmens (BE). He also completed an Artist’s Diploma in Saxophone Performance at the Conservatoire à Rayonnement Régional, Boulogne-Billancourt (FR), with a concentration in modern, hybrid, and chamber music. He received his graduate and undergraduate degrees in saxophone performance in the United States. Don-Paul has an extensive and growing discography. His debut solo album, Go Within, was released on the Equilibrium Label. Don-Paul Kahl is a Henri Selmer Paris and Conn-Selmer performing artist and proudly performs on Selmer Paris saxophones and mouthpieces exclusively.
More information: donpaulkahl.com
Daniel Linder
Praised as a “pianistic chameleon” (Fanfare), Daniel Linder is a versatile pianist, chamber musician, and teaching artist. He has performed solo and collaborative recitals to high acclaim in venues across the United States and in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Denmark, France, Spain, and the United Kingdom. Recent accolades include the Fresno Musical Club Susan Torres Award, and prizes in the James Ramos International Competition, the Seattle International Piano Competition, and the Los Angeles International Liszt Competition, among others. Recent highlights include concerto performances with the Arizona Symphony Orchestra and the Tucson Repertory Orchestra, solo and chamber music performances for the Ávila International Music Festival (Spain), Arizona Friends of Chamber Music (Tucson, AZ), Festival de Piano Rosita Renard (Santiago, Chile), London Festival for American Music (U.K.), and the Red Rocks Music Festival (Sedona, AZ) and other series, the world premiere of Kay He’s multimedia work Lost in Colors, and collaboration with the Russian String Orchestra in a performance of Alfred Schnittke’s Concerto Grosso No. 1. After his performance of Bell Illuminations by Augusta Read Thomas, the composer praised his “vivid, elegant, nuanced, and colorful” pianism. Dr. Linder is an active recording artist, and his newest release on the Navona label (January 2025) includes three piano sonatas by Berg, Beethoven, and Copland. He is also featured on Metropolis: The Piano Music of Joshua Nichols (Summit Records, 2023), and his recordings of solo and duo piano works by Daniel Asia are included on Ivory II (Summit Records, 2021). He appears with bassoonists William Dietz and Scott Pool on A Second Look (Soundset Recordings, 2022) and with oboist Sara Fraker and clarinetist Jackie Glazier on Johanna Beyer: Music for Woodwinds (New World Records, 2022). Dr. Linder is Associate Professor of Practice in Piano at the University of Arizona School of Music in Tucson, Arizona. He has presented lectures on piano pedagogy and music teaching and learning at the National Conference on Keyboard Pedagogy (NCKP), the North Texas International Piano Symposium (NTIPS), and state and national conferences of the Music Teacher’s National Association (MTNA). His article, A Multisensory Approach to Memorization was named ‘Article of the Year’ by CAPMT Connect, the e-Journal of the California Association of Professional Music Teachers. Dr. Linder is in demand as a master class clinician and adjudicator throughout North and South America and in Europe. Daniel was named Outstanding D.M.A. Graduate by the Keyboard Studies Department of USC’s Thornton School of Music. Before moving to Los Angeles to complete his D.M.A. in piano performance, he earned a M.M in piano performance from the University of Arizona, and both a B.M. in piano performance and a B.A. in history from Northwestern University. His principal teachers are Bernadene Blaha, Dr. John Milbauer, Alan Chow, and Dr. Rose Chancler. Daniel grew up in the Adirondacks of northeastern New York.
More information: drlpianist.com
Program Notes and Composer biographies:
Arul: Breeze on Mould
Victor Arul is a Malaysian composer who takes inspiration from posthumanist metaphysics in his creative work. Recent works include pieces for ELISION, oboist Niamh Dell, and the Hydra loudspeaker orchestra. He is currently a PhD candidate at Harvard University studying with Chaya Czernowin and Hans Tutschku. Breeze on Mould is concerned with exploring naïve approaches to interaction, its logic being largely concerned with childlike approaches to gesture and memory. The softness of my temporal bearings as a child is amongst crucial conceptual stimuli for this work.
More information: victorarul.xyz
Lee: Blinding Light
Eunji Lee is a composer and pianist from South Korea. Her works are distinguished by their delicate textures, intricate layering, and vibrant energy. Drawing inspiration from nature and Korean cultural heritage, she seamlessly integrates these elements into contemporary musical languages. Her creative practice spans acoustic music, electronic compositions, lighting, and multimedia, reflecting her continuous exploration of new artistic territories. She holds a B.M. in Piano Performance from Ewha Womans University and a M.M. in Composition from Indiana University, and is currently pursuing her doctoral degree at Boston University. Blinding Light is based on the biblical account of Saul’s encounter with the risen Christ on the road to Damascus (Acts 9). Struck by an overwhelming light, Saul loses his physical sight, yet this blindness marks the beginning of a deeper transformation. The work does not narrate the miracle itself, but instead inhabits the paradox at its core: a light so absolute that it renders vision impossible. Throughout the work, indistinct and partially obscured sounds are used, resisting clear comprehension. These sounds do not function as carriers of explicit meaning but instead create a perceptual uncertainty that mirrors Saul’s condition after the encounter—a state in which ordinary modes of seeing and knowing are suspended. Embedded rhythmically within this sonic field is the phrase “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” translated into Morse code. Reduced to pulses and intervals, the divine address is no longer heard as language but experienced as signal—fragmented, indirect, and hovering at the threshold of recognition.
More information: eunjilee.com
Soto Mayorga: Ostrezeżenie
A. Soto Mayorga studied composition in Chile and Germany and is currently a PhD student in Composition at Harvard University. Since 2017, he has developed an international career with more than 60 premieres across the Americas, Europe, and Asia. His work has earned eleven international awards, including the BUSONI Composition Prize of the Berlin Academy of Arts (2024), selection for the Munich Biennale Open Call (2026), and the SWR Symphony Orchestra Workshop Competition in 2021 and 2024. In Chile, he has received the Chilean Academy of Fine Arts Prize (2016) and the Copyright Society Prize for Best Classical Artist (2018). He also leads composition workshops for community and educational programs internationally. In Ostrezeżenie (Warning) I’m trying to find a way to create repeating patterns that happen in such a way that as a listener one feels the iterations but cannot exactly find them. I am only using 13 chords that are looped, or rather braided. I also call it a multiphonics study as I consider it a good piece to start, as a saxophone player, to find your own way with these techniques.
More information: maximiliano-sotomayorga.cl
Czernowin: the last leaf
Chaya Czernowin is an Israeli-American composer whose music is performed worldwide by leading orchestras and contemporary ensembles. Born in Israel, she studied there before continuing her studies in Germany and the United States, and later lived in Tokyo. Czernowin has held professorships at the University of California, San Diego, the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna – where she was the first woman appointed professor of composition – and Harvard University, where she has served since 2009 as the Walter Bigelow Rosen Professor of Music. Her works include solo, chamber, orchestral, and stage pieces such as Pnima…ins Innere, Adama, Infinite Now, and Heart Chamber. She has received numerous international awards and honors. The last leaf was originally written for solo oboe, then reimagined for sopranino saxophone. In this new version, for soprano saxophone, Don-Paul Kahl has reimagined the sound world once more. The title of the piece is taken from the short story “The last leaf” by O. Henry.
More information: chayaczernowin.com
Santore: …and the very dust…
Thomas Santore is a composer of acoustic and electronic music from New Hampshire. Having been drawn to the woods and mountains of New England from an early age, Santore began composing to explore the mysteries held by physical space. Informed by the inquiries and investigations of literature and philosophy, his compositions continue to explore a sense of mystery, creating distinct spaces through subtle textures and shifting intensities. Santore is currently pursuing a Master of Music in Composition at Boston University, where he’s expected to graduate in 2027.
…and the very dust… was written as a rebuttal to Italo Calvino’s lecture on lightness, in which he describes how the “weighty” aspects of reality are composed of “light” elements and implies that one can achieve a type of freedom from the weight of reality by embracing lightness. While it is true that all matter consists of relatively light particles, Calvino’s description of atoms and electrons as “weightless” is incorrect; they possess mass, albeit very little. Even if he were correct in this description, “weightlessness” cannot be the basis for any sort of cosmic freedom, as even truly weightless photons can become trapped by the gravity of a black hole. In…and the very dust…, I seek to draw out a sense of weight from material initially presented as “light.”
Haber: Aliyot | Ascents
Yotam Haber is a composer whose music has beendescribed by critic Alex Ross as “deeply haunting.” Born in the Netherlands and raised in Israel, Nigeria, and the United States, he has received major honors including the 2022 Chamber Music America Commission, the 2021 Benjamin Danks Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and the Rome Prize. His works have been commissioned and performed by ensembles and institutions including the New York Philharmonic, PRISM Quartet, Alarm Will Sound, and the Venice Biennale. Haber is Associate Professor of Music, Composition, and Music Theory at Boston University and Artistic Director Emeritus of MATA. In Hebrew, aliyah means ascent or rising, and for generations it has also referred to immigration to Israel. As a child flying there with his family, Yotam Haber remembers passengers applauding, crying, and even kissing the ground upon arrival. Though he did not fully understand the intensity at the time, those memories remained vivid. Aliyot | Ascents reflects these layered histories andexperiences through a structure of “waves” and “meditations.” While history often speaks of five major waves of aliyah, Haber imagines nine waves in the work, representing the many journeys, attempts, and stories of ascent.Inspired in part by Ravel’s reflections on Le Tombeau de Couperin, Haber chose not to write music of mourning but instead music that preserves vitality and memory. The work draws on joyful elements from the composer’s youth, including dance, popular music, and West African rhythmic influences he encountered while living in Nigeria. Aliyot | Ascents was commissioned by Chamber Music America through the Classical Commissioning Program, with generous support from The Mellon Foundation.
More information: yotamhaber.com