With a style described as hard-bop-meets-new-grooves, jazz trumpet wunderkind Maurice Brown pays homage to the past with pieces of the future. Jazz great Wynton Marsalis recruited Brown, a Chicago native, to New Orleans and the city promptly fell in love with him and his music. We think you will too.

"Brown is one of the most exciting young trumpeters in jazz--be it New Orleans or New York.” –Jason Koransky, DownBeat Magazine

Technically impeccable, emotionally rich, with a sound as fine as polished wood is how some reviewers describe the Avalon Quartet. Audiences are carried away by the fire and freshness of their performances. This is classical at it’s very best from one of the country’s leading chamber ensembles. Avalon is the String Quartet in Residence at Northern Illinois University.

“The sound they make is big, strongly projected, with inner parts that speak, or rather sing.” –The New York Times

The one-of-a-kind Cavatina Duo composed of Bosnian Guitarist Denis Azabagic and Spanish flutist Eugenia Moliner, a husband-wife team, deliver baroque, classical, and contemporary music, as well as selections from Spain and the Balkans that will melt in your ear.

“The best Flute and Guitar duo in the world today.” –Sergio Assad

Artists in Residence at Chicago’s Center for the Performing Arts at Roosevelt University, the 5 member, all female Orion Ensemble is one Chicago’s premier chamber groups. With unfailing interpretations, they are at once deliciously lively and stylish. If you love great chamber music – and we think you will – this group is worth every minute.

“Plays with seamless elegance, telling nuances and spacious tonal resources… keenly alert to one another’s every rhythmic and textural turn.” –Donald Rosenberg, Gramophone

Hailing from Mobile, Alabama, Mithril delivers Celtic music that pushes into American folk, classical and Middle Eastern territory with a free and fun spirit. These four musicians toss Irish flute, whistle, fife, Celtic harp. fiddle, bouzouki, guitar, and even harmonium into the mix and bring it all to life with classically trained skill.

“A Celtic band that will move you and set your feet tapping with heartfelt airs, high-energy jigs and reels that rock the house.” –cdbaby.com

O’Connor is a vocal superwoman, covering honky-tonk originals, Blue Ridge mountain harmonies, country flavors, and citified soul in a melt-your-heart-with-fire style. She has class and she has grit, and can be at once salty and emotional, combinations that are a real treat. O’Connor’s sweet sound is part of the Bloodshot Records music family.

"Her emotional voice is light and airy but reveals a dusky jazzy undertone similar to a combination of Norah Jones, Rickie Lee Jones, and Lori Carson... a subtly sparking gem." –All Music Guide