Tatsu AOKI (bass, shamisen) is a prolific artist, composer, musician, and educator. Based in Chicago, Aoki works in a wide range of musical genres, ranging from traditional Japanese music, jazz, to experimental and creative music. Aoki studied experimental filmmaking at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago where he is currently an adjunct Associate Professor at the Film, Video and New Media Department, and teaches film production and history courses.
For Aoki, one of the most important goals is to preserve an original essence of fluidity and flexibility and perform with the rawness of REAL sound.
Donna Lee KWON (percussion, voice) earned a double-degree (B.A./B.M.) in piano performance and women's studies from Oberlin College and Conservatory, a M.A. in world music/ethnomusicology from Wesleyan University and a Ph.D. in music/ethnomusicology from the University of California, Berkeley. She is now an Assistant Professor of Ethnomusicology at UK where she leads a Korean percussion ensemble. Dedicated to service and community engagement, Ms. Kwon is an elected member of the Society for Ethnomusicology Council and also serves as Member-at-Large for the Association for Korean Music Research.
Jeff CHAN (tenor saxophone) was born and raised in Concord, CA and currently lives in San Francisco, where he strives to express his unique voice in the Bay Area creative music scene. Chan is particularly inspired by the work of African American creative musicians and is drawn to the spirit of dedication, individuality, expressiveness, and freedom that the foremost practitioners of the art exemplify. Chan's goal is to perform music that reflects the inspiration that the masters of the art instill within their listeners while creating something personal, original, and relevant in the process.

HUANG Xiang was born in Hunan Province, China, in 1941. Huang began writing poems in the 1950s and was been imprisoned repeatedly for his work. His inspiring story has been the subject of an award winning PBS documentary, Well-Founded Fear, and his heroic pursuit for freedom and democracy in China has been documented in the book, Coming Alive; China After Mao.
Huang's mission today is to use art to build a bridge between East and West and to promote a universal humanity.
William ROCK is both a citizen of Ireland and the U.S.  He studied drawing at The California Art Institute and taught himself to paint and sculpt by travelling to museums around the world. He has been immersed in Eastern thought and practice for fifteen years, studying and teaching with Tibetan and Chinese monks. William Rock has been instrumental in producing several cultural events that promote and embrace art as a connective dialogue for humanity.

Michael SULLIVAN (keynote speaker) is Fellow Emeritus at St. Catherine's College, Oxford University. His many books include the The Arts of China, the most comprehensive and widely read introduction to the history of Chinese art, The Meeting of Eastern and Western Art, and Art and Artists of Twentieth Century China. Maxwell K. Hearn of the Metropolitan Museum of Art says, "Michael Sullivan is the acknowledged dean of modern Chinese art studies."

Chi Cheung LEUNG received his tertiary education in USA, Hong Kong and Australia, majoring in music composition and music education. He graduated from the University of North Texas, Chinese University of Hong Kong, and Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT University) obtaining BMus, MMus, PGDE and PhD degrees respectively. Leung's first original composition Hope was awarded First Prize in the Hong Kong Young Musician Award in 1985. His music has been widely performed in USA, China, Singapore, Germany and Austria.
Currently Leung is the Acting Associate Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Senior Research Fellow of the Centre for Assessment Research and Development, and Associate Professor of the Cultural and Creative Arts Department at the Hong Kong Institute of Education.
ShaoLIN was born in a family of enthusiasts of the music of Xinjiang. She began studying Erhu at the age of six and became one of the youngest debutants on the stage at age nine. After graduating Cum Laude from the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, she served as an instrumentalist at the Shanghai National Music Orchestra. She has given recitals successfully in both Hong Kong and China and was an Erhu soloist of the Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra in 2003 and 2005. Shaolin has been the winner of many music prizes and has been invited to perform in many countries all over the world.
Bryan LAI was born in Hong Kong, China to a family of scholars. He was inspired by Chinese traditional music at the young age of six and studied the art of Yangqin and the traditional Chinese music scale of Gongche under the veteran artist Luo Xingnan. Bryan studied at the renowned Diocesan Boys' School in Hong Kong and became a member and ultimately concertmaster of the school's Chinese orchestra.
Under his teachers' superb guidance and his exposure to the colorful artistic theories and long years of on-stage performance, Bryan's style is steady yet relaxed and free. His great achievement in traditional Chinese music has indeed earned him recognition worldwide.

Kelly Natasha FOREMAN was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and a received a B.A. in composition/theory in 1991 from St. Olaf College. She completed graduate studies at Kent State University, where she received a Ph.D. in ethnomusicology in 2002. She did field research in Japan from 1997-2000 and again in 2001 researching the relationships between geisha and art. She specializes in the music of Japan, with a focus on the shamisen, geisha, and Japanese musical aesthetics. She is author of The Gei of Geisha, Music, Identity, and Meaning (Ashgate Press, 2008), and has contributed chapters in both Bad Girls of Japan (Palgrave, 2005) and Bowing to Etiquette, Manners and Mischief in Japan (forthcoming). Foreman currently teaches ethnomusicology and musicology at Wayne State University.

Keiko THAYER is a master teacher of the Ohara School of Ikebana (flower arrangement). She serves on the Executive Committee of the Boston chapter of Ikebana International. A Boston area resident for the past thirty years, Ms. Thayer has played an important role in increasing the awareness of Japan in the Boston area and beyond. In 1994 she established the John E. Thayer III Award in memory of her late husband, Jack, to honor individuals and organizations that have made significant contributions to the understanding of Japan in Massachusetts.

Viswanath KALADHARAN has led an active career in preserving the traditional art of Kathakali. Educated at Kerala University, he joined the publicity wing of the Kerala Kalamandalam, the premier institution of traditional arts in India's southern state of Kerala, in March 1982 and has been the publicity and research officer from 1996. Mr. Kaladharan has wide experience preparing brochures and handbooks in Malayalam and English on Kalamandalam and classical arts, and is currently editor of Kerala Kalamandalam News Bulletin and the scholarly research journal titled Mukharagam.

Kalamandalam SHANMUGHAN is perhaps the best among the younger generation of Kathakali actors. He received intensive training in Kathakali at Kerala Kalamandalam for nearly eight years. Endowed with a graceful figure and expressive face, Shanmughan is adept at handling both the male and female characters in Kathakali. He is recipient of several honors in recognition of his talents, such as the 2007 "Ustad Bismillah Khan Puraskar," a national award given to artists below the age of 35 to identify and encourage outstanding young talent.

K.H. HAN (concert organizer) Ph.D., Northwestern University, and Distinguished Teaching Professor Emeritus, Northern Illinois University recently completed a four year visiting teaching fellowship with the UK Asia Center and UK School of Music where he helped establish the UK World Music Program. He has been teaching world music, ethnomusicology, and Chinese and Southeast Asian instruments for many years. He has also conducted many workshops throughout the country and in Asia. As an author he has published 12 books in Chinese and many articles in Chinese and English.
Santina Sheng-Ting LIN (dizi) is a senior at the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy (IMSA) in Aurora, Illinois. She has played the dizi (Chinese flute) for six years. The Chinese orchestra and the traditional Silk and Bamboo Ensemble in which she played during her elementary school in Taiwan has been highly recognized regionally and nationally.
Jui-Ching WANG (piano) is an Assistant Professor of Music Education at Northern Illinois University where she teaches music education and world music and directs the Indonesian gamelan ensemble. She received her doctorate in music education from Arizona State University. Dr. Wang has presented papers at state, national, and international conferences and given music workshops for children and adults in the U.S. and Taiwan.
Jing WANG (erhu), a composer and virtuoso erhu artist, was born in China. Ms. Wang received her B.M degree from the Central Conservatory of Music (Beijing) and M.M. degree from Northern Illinois University. Ms. Wang has participated in numerous musical events, as a composer and a performer of diverse styles of music. Her compositions have been selected and presented in China, Spain, France, Italy, and throughout the United States. She was the winner of 2006 Pauline Oliveros Prize given by the International Alliance for Women in Music.
Claire Yu Qi DENG (zheng or guzheng), virtuoso guzheng (Chinese zither) performer, was born in Xi'an, China. She graduated from the Traditional Chinese Music Department of the Central Conservatory of Music (Beijing). She was one of the winners of the 1995 National GuZheng Competition sponsored by the China Culture Bureau. She is a member of the Chinese Musician Association, the Chinese Guzheng Society, and the Ethnomusicology Society of China.
After graduation from the Conservatory of Music, Claire worked at the China Opera & Dance Drama Company as a GuZheng soloist. In 1998, she performed for the reception of former US President Bill Clinton's visit to China. She frequently recorded GuZheng music for record companies, CCTV, and a large number of TV series and programs.
Tomoko YONENAGA (koto). Coming from a musical family in which both her grandmother and mother were koto musicians, Tomoko began studying the koto at the age of five and was conferred full mastership at the age of 16. She has studied with some of Japan's greatest koto artists, including Yoriko Saito of the Ikuta School. In 2005 she moved to New York and studied contemporary koto music with the great modern koto master, Masay Ishigure there. She has given koto concerts in New York, Connecticut, and Kentucky where she resides with her husband and two children now. The 100-year old instrument she is using was her grandmother's.

The Cincinnati-Dayton Taiko Group was formed in 1999 through the support of the Japanese-Americans Citizens League (JACL) of Cincinnati and Dayton Ohio. The group is a non-profit arts organization dedicated to promoting Japanese-style taiko drumming through performance and education.
The group's first teacher was Joe Kimura of the St. Louis Osuwa Taiko Group, whose sensei was Grandmaster Daihachi Oguchi, the head of the Osuwa School in Japan. Oguchi-sensei is internationally recognized and respected as a leader in traditional Japanese taiko. The Cincinnati-Dayton Taiko Group's style of drumming has a traditional foundation but they emphasize the fun and community spirit of taiko.