DMA Student Biographies

Liam Battle is a cellist in search of spirituality and liberation through performance and ritual. The music he specializes in concerns a wide range of American and Western styles from the mid-century Avant-Garde to new experimental music and free improvisation. He regularly performs in settings that straddle the improvisation, classical, and experimental worlds and he hopes to blur the lines that create such distinctions. Liam’s academic work is largely concerned with revitalizing and reclaiming modernism from its reified position in the 20th Century. He regularly lectures and writes about new music and researches overlooked composers of the past century. Liam is also the founder and currently serves as a director of the Antigone Music Collective, a Cleveland-based new music ensemble with the mission of bringing new music to new audiences. www.liambattle.com

Jared Beu is a lifelong musician, multi-instrumentalist, and composer from Austin, Texas. His works have been performed by professional, collegiate, military, community, and student ensembles worldwide. He has been commissioned by the Austin Symphony Orchestra, McNeil Wind Ensemble, Meadows Wind Ensemble, and Meadows Chamber Orchestra, amongst others. Jared is an active conductor of orchestral, wind ensemble, and chamber repertoire, having served as the Assistant Conductor of the Meadows Wind Ensemble in Dallas from 2020 to 2023. An advocate of modern music and living composers, he has commissioned and premiered numerous pieces, emphasizing a diversity of 20th- and 21st-century works in his programming. Jared earned M.M. degrees in Instrumental Conducting and Composition from the Meadows School at Southern Methodist University, and a B.M. in Composition from the Butler School of Music in Austin.

Stephen Eckert is a pianist and new music advocate from Newfoundland, Canada, now based in Bowling Green, Ohio. Appearing in festivals like the Darmstädter Ferienkurse (Germany), Pique (Ontario), NUNC! (Illinois), MACCM (Ohio), FoCAM (Washington), Sound Symposium and Camber Arts Summer Music (Newfoundland), Mx. Eckert has established themself as an emerging voice in contemporary music. Stephen has premiered dozens of new and original works in VERSFest, the Orford Contemporary Workshop, soundSCAPE Festival, and with Ensemble Allure, which released its debut album Dual in 2024. Stephen was named on CBC’s “Hot 30-under-30 classical musicians” in 2022 and the following year performed Lutosławski’s Piano Concerto with the BGSU Philharmonia as the winner of the concerto competition. Career honours include grants from the Canada Council for the Arts, ArtsNL, the City of Ottawa, and the Nicole Senécal Emerging Artist Prize. Learn more at their website, www.stepheneckertpianist.com. 

Francisca de Castanheiro de Freitas, a Brazilian pianist based in Bowling Green, is currently pursuing a DMA in Contemporary Music (Performance—piano) at Bowling Green State University. She earned her MMus in Piano Performance under the mentorship of acclaimed pianist Solungga Liu. Notable achievements include 2nd prize at the 2022 Marjorie Conrad Art Song Competition, where she collaborated with singer Keri Lee Pierson, and 2nd prize at the 23rd Piano Competition in Ituiutaba, MG, Brazil. She has also appeared in music festivals in both Brazil and the US, such as the Brazil-Germany Festival, the 56th Indiana State University Contemporary Music Festival and the 42nd MAACM New Music Festival.

Chris Harris is a percussionist, educator, and composer from Fairfield, California pursuing a DMA in Contemporary Music at Bowling Green State University. He holds three degrees from California State University, Sacramento. Some of his teachers include Dan Piccolo (BGSU), Jordan Shippy (CSUS), and Shuying Li (CSUS). As a soloist Chris has premiered works by composers such as Sarah Lianne Lewis, Conor Shafran and Emily Joy Sullivan. He has won PAS competitions from 2022–2024 and performed at the National Conference on Percussion Pedagogy. As an educator Chris has taught in the percussion discipline for 8 years (classical, marching arts, and private studio). At BGSU he teaches private lessons, percussion methods, and helps coach the percussion ensemble. Compositionally, he has won multiple calls for scores and the FENAM composition competition in 2021. His works have been premiered by musicians such as the Metaphor Duo, Virid Duo and Kaitlin Miller. charrispercussion.wixsite.com/chris-harris

Clarinetist Haley Harrison is a dedicated performer and music educator from the Metro-East, STL area. Currently pursuing a DMA in Contemporary Clarinet under the instruction of Kevin Schempf and Georg Klaas, she previously earned her MM from Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music and her BM from Eastern Illinois University. Haley has garnered recognition through numerous competitions and notable performances, including the International Clarinet Association’s ClarinetFest, the National Level of the NAACP Act-So competition, and First Prize at the 2023 Charleston International Romantic Music Competition. She has been a featured soloist with both the EIU Wind Symphony and Eastern Symphony Orchestra, and has performed with ensembles such as the Toledo and Perrysburg Symphony Orchestras and the nationally accredited Indiana University Wind Ensemble. Additionally, she shares her passion for music as a clarinet instructor and clinician throughout the Midwest.

Composer and conductor Will Hermanowski's music captures vivid images and colors from his personal life and other art forms. Will has collaborated with ensembles, performers, and composers at the Divergent Music Studio, the Atlantic Music Festival, the Emerging Composers Intensive, and the Saint Mary’s Composition Intensive. His piece Dance Adjacent was presented on Fred Child’s national radio broadcast, Performance Today. It also went on to win first prize in the 2024 Ohio Federation of Music Clubs, was the winner of the Bowling Green Concerto Competition, and was a finalist in the 2024 ASCAP Foundation Morton Gould Young Composer Awards Competition. Will was chosen for the KEAR Residency at Bowling Green State University and composed Distance for Quince Ensemble. Distance went on to win Gold Prize in the 2025 European Classical Music Awards and was recognized as a finalist in the 2025 ASCAP Awards. www.willhermanowski.com/

Martha Hudson is an oboist based in Bowling Green, Ohio, currently pursuing a DMA in Contemporary Music at Bowling Green State University under the guidance of Professor Dwight Parry. She has performed with the Zacatecas State Chamber Orchestra and the Zacatecas Philharmonic in Mexico, as well as the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, the Louisville Orchestra, and the Lima Symphony Orchestra in the United States. Her international appearances include performances in Belgium, Slovakia, Ecuador, and Spain, and she has been featured as a soloist with the Zacatecas Youth Symphony Orchestra and the Matanzas Symphony Orchestra in Cuba. Recent highlights include her participation in BGSU’s 45th Annual New Music Festival and the Third International Oboe Festival in Xalapa, Mexico (2024). A two-time prizewinner at Mexico’s National Oboe Competition, Martha is also a recipient of the National Council of Arts and Sciences grant CONACYT (2021–2023) and the Sphinx Fellowship (2024, 2025). She holds an MM from BGSU and a BM from the Autonomous University of Zacatecas.

Niayesh Javaheri is a pianist and educator based in Bowling Green, OH, currently pursuing her DMA in contemporary music with Dr. Solungga Liu. She has performed as a soloist and chamber musician across Iran, Europe, and the US, and has premiered and recorded numerous works, including a piece featured on the album Contemporary Music in Iran. Her performances include the MACCM New Music Festival, NUNC! 6, Splice Institute, Tehran Museum of Contemporary Arts, Kunstkreis C Festival, and Fajr International Festival. She received an honorable mention in the Donna Turner Smith Piano Competition in Oklahoma, second prize at the solo section of the Third Biennial of Piano in Tehran, and an honorable mention in its chamber music section. Niayesh earned her MM in Piano Performance and Pedagogy from the University of Oklahoma and her BM from the Conservatory of Music and Dramatic Arts in Vienna, Austria.

Jacob Koch is a percussionist with a passion for sharing musical experiences through performance, education, and collaboration. Jacob is currently studying for his DMA in Contemporary Music at Bowling Green State University where he mainly teaches applied percussion and coaches the percussion ensemble. He has performed with the Firelands Symphony Orchestra, the Mansfield Symphony Orchestra, the Cleveland Chamber Choir, and the Toledo Choral Society. Jacob has shared the stage with members of Bang on a Can All-Stars, Heartland Marimba Quartet, and Third Coast Percussion and has performed throughout the eastern United States and abroad in places like the Center for Mallet Percussion Research in Kutztown, PA, The University of Tennessee-Knoxville, the Conservatorio Superior de Música in Valencia, Spain, and the Plaça Mayor in Lliria, Spain. Jacob serves as percussion director at Rhythm in Blue, a DCI Soundsport ensemble under the Bluecoats Drum and Bugle Corps.

Jacob Loitz is a saxophonist from Geneseo, Illinois. As a first-year DMA student studying contemporary music at Bowling Green State University, Jacob is deeply interested in the performance of new music. He has premiered many works for solo saxophone, saxophone quartet, and chamber ensemble. As a soloist, Jacob has the privilege of performing Walter Mays’s Saxophone Concerto with the BGSU Philharmonia as winner of the BGSU Concerto Competition. As a chamber musician, Jacob is a member of the Big Su, a high-level saxophone quartet. Some of Big Su’s accomplishments include second place at the Coltman National Chamber Music Competition, first place at the Douglas Wayland Chamber Music Competition, semi-finalist at the Plowman Chamber Music Competition, and a consortium with the Colere Quartet with composer Kian Ravaei. Jacob received his undergraduate degree in music education from Augustana College, and his master’s degree in saxophone performance from Bowling Green State University.

Shannon Lotti is a Miyazawa Emerging Artist and fourth-year DMA student studying Contemporary Music at Bowling Green State University. Shannon performs as a member of Duo Aequalis with pianist Stephen Eckert, and Spectra Trio, with cellist Anthony Marchese and pianist Stephen Eckert. She made her concerto debut in 2024 performing Joan Tower’s Flute Concerto with the BGSU Philharmonia as a winner of the BGSU Competitions in Music Performance. Shannon’s accolades include 1st prize in the Atlanta Flute Club Young Artist Competition, Central Ohio Flute Association Young Artist Competition, South Carolina Flute Society Young Artist Competition, and Douglas Wayland Chamber Music Competition; 2nd prize in the Florida Flute Association Nancy Clew Eller Artist Competition; and a quarter finalist in the 2023 and 2025 National Flute Association Young Artist Competition. Shannon received her BM from the University of Texas at Arlington and MM from the University of Nebraska. lottiflute.com

As an active proponent of contemporary music, Anthony Marchese strives to work with living composers. Currently in the final year of his DMA at Bowling Green State University, Anthony has premiered numerous works for solo cello and chamber ensemble. Anthony also performs as a member of Spectra Trio, which won first place in the Wayland Chamber Music Competition and is a two-time finalist in the Glass City Chamber Music Competition. Throughout their professional career, Anthony has taught countless students, and performed in the Jackson Symphony, the Adrian Symphony, the Lakeside Symphony, the MahlerFest Symphony, and more. Anthony also works as a session cellist having been featured on various albums of popular music by his longtime collaborator Joanna Sterling, as well as the Juliets, and Three Body Problem. Recently Anthony recorded for an award-winning independent film soundtrack and performed an original song cycle with New Zeeland-based singer songwriter, Maggie Coco.

Oboist David Munro is a versatile performer who builds upon tradition while embracing contemporary, avant-garde, and electro-acoustic music, engaging audiences through thoughtful and innovative performances. David thrives in collaborative environments, performing regularly with the Diverge Trio (fl, ob, pn) and Newphonia Ensemble. He has been a Performance Fellow at the Bang on a Can, Nief Norf, and Splice Summer Festivals, exploring contemporary chamber performance in works like Ellen Reid’s Push/Pull and George Crumb’s Ancient Voices of Children. David is in the fourth year of his DMA program at BGSU and is studying with Professor Dwight Parry.

Planning interesting and audience involved events, with a lean towards contemporary chamber music, Keri Lee Pierson brings music from the medieval period through today to a variety of venues. She enjoys discovering and performing lesser-known pieces and collaborating on new ones to bring classical music to a wide audience. She recently finished the libretto for a chamber opera that she is creating and premiering with composer ChanJi Kim for International Women's Day, and is working on a project to commission new works for voice & guitar. In 2021, Keri Lee was awarded a grant from the FL Department of State to tour their event, iPlay: An Audience Perspective on New Music, throughout Northeast Florida. She has been teaching and performing since 2012, and has worked in grade school, college and university music departments as a teacher and administrator. Keri Lee is currently the Voice Instructor at Northern Michigan University and is in the 4th year of her doctorate at BGSU. www.kerileesoprano.com

Wesley Nielsen is a trombonist who combines strong technical skills with a curiosity for exploring new sounds on the instrument. Originally from Boise, Idaho, he earned his BM in Music Performance from Boise State University and his MM in Performance from Indiana University, studying with Sarah Paradis, Peter Ellefson, Brittany Lasch, Amanda Stewart, and Jeremy Marks. Wesley enjoys working with extended techniques and music for trombone and loop station, finding creative ways to expand the sonic palette of the trombone. He is also passionate about chamber music, with a particular love for trombone ensemble music, which has led him to perform at the International Trombone Festival, American Trombone Workshop, and DC Trombone Workshop. Recently, he has been involved in commissioning new works for trombone from Josh Gentile and for alto trombone from Ian Schwalbe. Wesley hopes to commission many more works during his DMA studies at BGSU.

Originally from Miami, Florida, Sam Valancy is currently pursuing a Doctor of Musical Arts in Contemporary Music at Bowling Green State University. As a soloist and chamber musician, Valancy has won many accolades, including Outstanding Soloist Award at the Jazz at Lincoln Center Essentially Ellington Competition, a Downbeat Magazine Award, First Prize in the Frost School of Music Concerto Competition, Silver Medal and “The Saxophone Prize” at the Coltman Chamber Music Competition, First Prize at the Wayland Chamber Music Competition, and First Prize in the Charleston International Music Competition. Valancy has performed as a soloist with the Frost Wind Ensemble and Kansas City Wind Symphony. Valancy holds an MM in Saxophone Performance from Northwestern University, an MM in Music Theory and Artist’s Certificate in Saxophone Performance from the University of Missouri-Kansas City, and a BM in Saxophone Performance from the University of Miami.