FOUNDER

Mikayla Frank-Martin is a Boston based trombonist, composer, and educator, who specializes in contemporary, pop, chamber, classical, klezmer, and electronic music. Mikayla aims to use her music, performance, and educational practice to promote social justice and confidence among fellow musicians and audiences. Mikayla has performed across the US as well as Japan, Netherlands, and the Czech Republic. Additionally, she is passionate about commissioning, premiering, and highlighting the works of upcoming composers and interdisciplinary artists. She is the co-founder of MINK duo, a trumpet and trombone project dedicated to commissioning and expanding the trumpet/trombone repertoire. In addition to performing, Mikayla teaches both private and group lessons across Massachusetts. As a composer, Mikayla specializes in the creation of both live and fixed media electronics that focus on story-telling and encourages improvisation. Outside of music, Mikayla loves hanging out and going on adventures around Boston with her cat, Percy. 

OUTREACH MANAGER

Laura Caridad Avila (they/she) is a multi-instrumentalist, poet, composer, and multimedia artist from Albany, New York, currently based in Boston, Massachusetts. They have a bachelor’s degree in Viola Performance with a minor in Art History and Creative Writing from Ithaca College, where she was known for curating recitals incorporating visual art and original text. Compositionally, their work finds itself bringing to the forefront the mundane and core memories we covet, yet may assume lack value in noticing. In getting their master’s degree from Longy School of Music of Bard College, Laura has created concert experiences that highlight underrepresented experiences within society like the femme, immigrant, queer, gender expansive, and people of color, respectively. Laura and their work can be found at their website here:

lauracaridadavila.carrd.co

PERSONNEL COORDINATOR

Keaton is an active performer of contemporary and traditional repertoire, placing a particular emphasis on amplifying the music of twenty-first century composers. Since completing a Master’s of Music at the Boston Conservatory, she has remained a proponent of contemporary music, regularly performing as a saxophonist in the concerts of orchestras and chamber ensembles in Boston. She also performs as a member of Vision Quartet, a NYC-based saxophone quartet that regularly commissions composers across the east coast. Throughout her career, Keaton has earned multiple awards for outstanding musicianship and academic excellence. She also fosters a passion for artistic administration, serving as the booking manager for Transient Canvas adn a previous staff coordinator of Western Carolina University’s 500-piece “Pride of the Mountains” marching band. Day by day, Keaton works as the Woodwind Consultant for Virtuosity Musical Instruments, Boston’s premier pro-winds atelier.

MARKETING AND DESIGN

Veronica “Vonnie” Kao is a composer and music educator from Massachusetts. Her works have been performed by Talujon, the International Contemporary Ensemble, Horizon Ensemble, The Rhythm Method Quartet, the Boston Conservatory Sinfonietta, and more. She holds a B.A. from Williams College and an M.M. from the Boston Conservatory. Notable teachers include Victoria Cheah, Mischa Salkind-Pearl, Zachary Wadsworth, and Gabriele Proy. Veronica also remains an avid performer on flute and piccolo in various ensembles. She teaches private instrumental and composition lessons and teaches composition and musicianship at The Walden School.

Boston Conservatory M.M. 2026 | Williams College B.A. 2023

Find more on her website: veronicakao.com

STAGE MANAGEMENT, OUTREACH, AND ADVISING

Hannah Elizabeth Tobias is an artist who encourages dialogue across distinct communities by validating human experiences through music and collaborative art forms. She is a freelance flutist who regularly performs in chamber groups and with the Boston-based Horizon Ensemble, where she serves as Operations Manager. Additionally, Hannah Elizabeth is the Professor of Flute at University of Massachusetts, Boston and Coordinator at the Community Music Center of Boston.

Her ongoing music series, “For Her,” now in its third year, activates community spaces to explore intersections of femme experience while fostering conversation, connection, and collective reflection.

Hannah Elizabeth holds a B.M. in Flute Performance from Lawrence University, along with degrees in psychology, pedagogy, and education studies. She earned an M.M. in Classical Flute Performance and a P.S.C. in Contemporary Music Performance from Boston Conservatory at Berklee. Outside the practice room and office, she can be found hiking, spending time in nature, or at home with her cat, Hildegard von Boston

TREASURY, FINANCES, AND GRANTS

Nick Hill is a trumpeter, improvisor, and contemporary artist whose work is primarily interested in earnestness and emotional vulnerability. A rare breed of trumpeter specializing in contemporary chamber music, he is the co-founder of MINK Duo, a unique partnership with trombonist Mikayla Frank-Martin dedicated to growing an electro-acoustic repertoire for trumpet and trombone duet through commissioning, composing, and improvising. He was also a featured artist and fellow with the 2025 and 2026 Bang on a Can summer music festivals. He has enjoyed a strong relationship with Sun Salon, a collective fusing live poetry reading with freely improvised music, and champions gems of the 20th and 21st centuries as a solo recitalist. Additionally, Nick is a principal trumpet with the New Philharmonia Orchestra in Newton, Massachusetts and a member of the Boston Modern Big Band, and has worked with the Cambridge Symphony, Bay Colony Brass, Apollo Ensemble, and others as an in-demand freelance musician in the New England scene. In addition to his work as a musician, Nick is a photographer specializing in 35 millimeter film. He holds degrees from the Longy School of Music and the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and has been a fellow with the Bang on a Can, Emmanuel Music Bach Institute, and Divergent Studio festivals.

TREASURY, FINANCES, AND GRANTS

Matt Dearie is a clarinetist based in the Boston area who focuses on introducing communities to new ideas through contemporary sounds and music education. The founder of Boston publication Ossicle, Matt is dedicated to introducing new audiences to the world of classical music in an approachable and intentional way. He is a co-founder of the PHAZE Ensemble, a Southern California-based wind trio that championed working with local composers and facilitated a variety of outreach programs. Matt’s focus on collaboration with living composers has led to work with composers such as Sakari Dixon-Vanderveer, George N. Gianopoulos, and Andres Luz. His previous clarinet teachers include Kathryn Nevin, Jason Shafer, Stefan Neubauer, and Alicia Lee. Matt is currently a student in the Contemporary Classical Music Performance Program at Boston Conservatory at Berklee pursuing a Masters of Music in Contemporary Classical Music Performance under the instruction of Rane Moore.

GRANTS AND RESEARCH

Andrew Gretzinger is a Boston-based violist, composer, educator, and administrator.

Andrew has performed with ensembles such as the Cape Ann Symphony, Melrose Symphony, New Hampshire Philharmonic, South Florida Symphony Orchestra, Beacon Ensemble, South Carolina Philharmonic, and other ensembles in the West Michigan, South Carolina, and the Greater Boston areas. He has worked with members of the Catalyst, Lydian, JACK, Parker, and Bergonzi Quartets and members of the Silk Road Ensemble.

In 2021, Andrew was awarded the David S. Boe Award for Exceptional Creative Work for the composition Suite for Woodwind Quintet (2020). He has written for ensembles such as the Venus Quartet, Bad Time to Scream, Prisma Project Chamber Orchestra, Rebecca Penneys Chamber Collective, nexbloom, Divergent Trio, Duende flute quartet, the Westerlies, Spark Ensemble, and more.

Gretzinger is currently on faculty for violin, viola, and music theory at the Community Music Center of Boston and Making Music Matters. He is Operations Manager at the Boston String Academy and co-director of the Vibrant Matter Collective, a collaborative contemporary music initiative that hosts concerts of living composers and young emerging artists.

Gretzinger holds an M.M. in Viola Performance from the Boston Conservatory at Berklee and a B.M. in Composition and Viola Performance Certificate from the University of South Carolina. His primary teachers include Rictor Noren, Daniel Sweaney, Barbara Corbato, Judith Eissenberg, Man Fang, and John Fitz Rogers.

MUSIC LIBRARIAN

Kellen Ko is a freelance flutist, private teacher, and chamber musician based in Boston. Their work as a performer focuses on music as a window into the kaleidoscopic stories found in human experiences. An enthusiastic collaborator, they have premiered, performed, and recorded works for solo flute, flute/electronics, chamber ensembles, and orchestra/wind ensemble, with upcoming commissioning projects for solo/chamber flute championing emerging voices. Kellen is active as a performer with classical and contemporary chamber/orchestral groups around Boston and beyond, including a recent performer/AV fellowship at the 2026 Cortona Sessions for New Music in the Netherlands. As a private teacher, Kellen mentors students of all ages and abilities, helping them find joy and light through playing the flute. Kellen is currently in Boston Conservatory’s MM in Contemporary Classical Music Performance program studying with Sarah Brady.

MUSIC LIBRARIAN AND EQUIPMENT MANAGER

Julie Cho is a percussionist and composer currently attending The Boston Conservatory for a Masters in Contemporary Classical Music Performance. Alongside, studying performance, she also studies composition under Marti Epstein. As a percussionist, Julie focuses mostly on contemporary chamber and solo works and has played with The Boston Conservatory Contemporary Classical program during her undergraduate studies in Percussion Performance. While playing with the program, Julie has worked with composer in residence, Lei Liang to play Inkscapes, written for percussion quartet and piano, as well as Six Seasons in collaboration with Samuel Solomon.

As a composer, Julie has been commissioned by percussionists across the US, with premieres at The Boston Conservatory, Boston University, and New England Conservatory. In June 2025, Julie arranged and performed the percussion score for “Feeling One Stream” which premiered at the Tanglewood Institute in collaboration with The Boston Conservatory Dance department.

MUSIC LIBRARIAN AND GRANT WRITER

Yuseok Seol is a pianist and composer from South Korea. With a passion for contemporary classical music, he has performed widely as both a soloist and chamber musician, often exploring lesser-known repertoire and collaborating with composers on new premieres. As a composer, his music performed in various venues by different ensembles such as Ensemble Dal Niente, VIPA Ensemble, WET INK, and KNUA Orchestra. He holds degrees in Composition at Indiana University and Korea National University of Arts and in Contemporary Classical Music Performance at the Boston Conservatory at Berklee.

SECRETARY

Audrey Puschinsky is a Boston-based classical pianist, educator, and new music specialist. She obtained her master's degree in contemporary classical music performance from Boston Conservatory in 2026, where she studied with Stephen Drury. She is known for her diverse repertoire and her enthusiasm for experimentation. She is passionate about working with living composers and performing underrepresented works and composers, specifically from the 20th century. Audrey is an active collaborative and chamber performer in the greater Boston area. 

AUDIO-VISUAL MANAGER

Luciano Lopez-Parnetti (LLP) is a composer of electronic and instrumental music and proud son of Argentinian immigrants.  Drawing influence from South American music like Argentinian rock as well as alternative rock like shoegaze and math rock, his music features use of repetitions and rhythmic patterns, lush and layered harmonic structures, and gradual changes over time in order to create an ephemeral and otherworldly sonic landscape.

Luciano studied composition at the Boston Conservatory under great composers such as Michael Gilbertson, Dan VanHassel, Bahar Royaee, Marti Epstein, and Timothy McCormack. He’s written for groups such as the Horizon Ensemble, the Hinge Quartet, the Boston Conservatory wind ensemble and percussion ensemble, the Concord Band, and soloist Dan Lippel.

As an electric guitarist, Luciano also performs as a solo act, combining live and fixed electronic elements to create atmospheres similar to his composed works. Furthermore, Luciano is an A/V technician working in the Boston area, specializing in recording instrumental classical music and experimental electronic music.