Tonya Taylor-Dorsey is currently the choir director of the Philadelphia Catholic Gospel Mass Choir, Archdiocese of Philadelphia – Office for Black Catholics, and the Minister of Music at St. Martin de Porres Church (Phila.) Her vocal compositions have been performed at various venues around the United States, including Juilliard and she is noted for creating the musical score for the stage play ManShop that debuted on Philadelphia’s Avenue of the Arts. She has held workshops and webinars on such subjects as The Importance of Reading Music, Increasing the Music Ministry, and Music in the Catholic Church from an African American and Hispanic Perspective. Tonya was the first woman to serve as Musical Director of the 12th National Black Catholic Congress. Tonya sits on several philanthropic boards, including the National Black Sisters Conference, and the Women’s Sacred Music Project. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Texas at San Antonio. For more information about Tonya visit her website: www.TonyaDorsey.net

Dr. Julia Alford is a composer whose music spans a range of styles, and has in the past combined strains of texture, serialism and klezmer music with a firm commitment to melodic importance. Her current and ongoing project is to compose a set of hymns for the Episcopal Church calendar year.

Dr. Alford teaches at Temple University, is the Education Manager for North America for Auralia & Musition, hosts a series of aural theory tutorial videos on YouTube, and serves in multiple ways at the Church of St. John the Evangelist in Chews Landing, New Jersey.

Eurydice V. Osterman is a Fulbright scholar, a published author, and composer whose works have been read and performed around the world. A listing of her works is cited in the book, Music by Black Women Composers: A Bibliography of Available Scores by Helen Walker-Hill, CBRM Monographs, No.5, 1995. She is also the featured composer in the dissertation of Angelique Clay, “The Life and Music of Eurydice V. Osterman.” She is the author of the books, What God Says About Music and Worship: From Praise Him to Praise Hymn. She is also an accomplished organist and served two years as the Dean of the Greater Huntsville Chapter of the American Guild of Organists in Huntsville, Alabama.

Dr. Osterman earned both the Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from Andrews University in Berrien Springs, Michigan in Music Education, and the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Composition from The University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, studying with the late Harry Phillips. Prior to retiring from teaching at Oakwood University, she served as chair of the department at one time. She also served as chair of the music department at Northern Caribbean University in Jamaica.

Dr. Osterman has conducted music seminars throughout the United States, Europe, the Caribbean, South America, and Africa. She is the recipient of many awards and holds membership in several professional organizations, including Phi Kappa Lambda (a national honor society) and the College Music Society.

Dr. Osterman is currently involved in composing for other commissions, publishing her works, and tutoring graduate and doctoral students in theory.

A composer, multi-instrumentalist, and prayer leader, Elana Arian is one of the leading voices in contemporary Jewish music. Elana’s music is part of Jewish life across the globe, and her compositions are sung in spiritual communities, summer camps, and synagogues from Chicago to the Czech Republic. Elana has released four albums of original music, and her compositions have been published in countless Transcontinental Music collections. Elana serves proudly on the faculty of Hava Nashira (Oconomowoc, WI), the Wexner Heritage Foundation (Aspen, CO), Shirei Chagiga (London, England), and Hebrew Union College in New York, where she teaches in the Debbie Friedman School of Sacred Music. Elana has performed at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Tanglewood, and perhaps most memorably, in five separate appearances at the (Obama) White House. She lives in the Hudson Valley with her wife, Julia, and their two daughters, Maya and Acadia.