Meet the 2025 Artists
XUAN
Artist in Residence
Xuan is a new media artist, filmmaker, and pianist working at the intersection of music, visual art, and technology. A trained classical pianist with a passion for visual music, she actively develops innovative, cross-disciplinary projects that broaden the scope of music and performance. Driven by themes such as femininity, power, alienation and multicultural identity, her work encompasses abstract scenography, experimental animation, music videos, narrative documentaries, interactive installations, and large scale projection mapping.
Jon Kimura Parker
Pianist
Pianist Jon Kimura Parker is known for his charisma, infectious enthusiasm, and dynamic performances that communicate the joy of musical expression. A veteran of the international concert stage, he has performed in the Berlin Philharmonie, Carnegie Hall, London’s South Bank, the Sydney Opera House, and the Beijing Concert Hall. He is Creative Partner for the Minnesota Orchestra’s Summer at Orchestra Hall, serves as the Artistic Director for the Honens International Piano Competition and Artistic Advisor for the Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival, and chairs the keyboard faculty of the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University.
In recent concert seasons, Jon Kimura Parker has been conducted by Karina Canellakis, Karen Kamensek, Mei-Ann Chen, Stephanie Childress, and Lina Gonzalez-Granados. A collaborator in a wide variety of styles, Jon Kimura Parker has performed with Yo-Yo Ma, Cho-Liang Lin, Frederica von Stade, Susan Graham and Lynn Harrell, and also with Doc Severinsen, Audra McDonald, Bobby McFerrin, Shayne Koyczan, and Dessa. He has toured as a founding member of the Montrose Trio, and in Off the Score with legendary Police drummer Stewart Copeland, featuring his own arrangements of music by Prokofiev, Ravel and Stravinsky.
Chelsea de Souza
Pianist, Co-Founder
Indian pianist Chelsea de Souza is a Steinway Young Artist internationally acclaimed for her dynamic artistry and thought-provoking recital programming. A captivating performer with “an alluring stage presence” (The Hindu), the four-time All-India Piano Competition winner brings together a diverse range of musical influences from Western and Indian classical to jazz in her versatile, genre-defying artistry. Recent highlights include appearances for DACAMERA’s Beethoven for All series at the Menil Collection and Minnesota Orchestra’s summer season; live improvisation recital-experiments with the UH IUCRC BRAIN Center; and an artist residency on the Performance Today Rhone Valley cruise with American Public Media host Fred Child. She is currently Music Scholar-in-Residence at the University of Houston, teaching classes in improvisation and music of the Indian diaspora, and curating interdisciplinary performances.
David Dietz
Cellist, Co-Founder
Cellist David Dietz has performed across three continents and is experienced in a variety of settings as a performer, educator, and administrator. His belief in classical music’s ability to strengthen communities and bring people together has driven his involvement in many creative projects, including the Houston Music Festival, as co-founder, and Monarch Chamber Players, as a core member. David is a founding member of Trio Menil, a piano trio that performs
extensively throughout the United States and was the Grand Prizewinner at the 2023 Plowman Chamber Music Competition. He is looking forward to upcoming performances as soloist with
the Brazos Valley Symphony and a recital tour across the US with pianist Jonathan Mak. David serves on the faculty of Lone Star College as an Adjunct Instructor of Cello and maintains a robust private studio in Houston, Texas.
Nanki Chugh
Violinist, Writer
Nanki Chugh is an Indian-American violinist and multidisciplinary artist based in Houston, Texas. She is passionate about the intersection of music, science, and narrative, and its impact on education, therapy, and society. A versatile violinist, Nanki regularly performs works with Musiqa, a Houston-based arts collective, and is a DACAMERA Young Artist alumna. Nanki holds a Masters degree in Violin Performance from the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University and a Bachelors of Science degree in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry from Yale University. She draws on her dual backgrounds to design interdisciplinary performances and programs for classrooms, concert stages, and community organizations. She recently created and performed “Discovery Series: The Science of Sound” with DACAMERA at the Hobby Center, and presented the musical adaptation of her upcoming children’s book Symba and the Lobster with Harris County Public Libraries and Orcas Island Chamber Music Festival. As Creative Education Director of Musiqa, she designs and runs Musiqa's education programs.
Tian Qin
Composer, "Uphill"
Chinese composer Tian Qin is known for her music’s compelling, humorous, and visually evocative qualities. She enjoys integrating text, craft, film, and choreography into her compositions, often pushing the boundaries of traditional forms while incorporating her cultural heritage, and she focuses on engaging communal experiences. She has worked with many ensembles, such as the Rhythm Method, Duo Impetuoso, Loadbang, Kenetic, Musiqa, Loop 38, and Roomful of Teeth. She works as a teaching artist at American Festival for the Arts and a theory instructor at Opus One Chamber Music School. She is also a member of Gamelan of the New Moon and a raga student of Ragavan Manian.
Tian Qin graduated from the Shanghai Conservatory (grades 7–12), Manhattan School of Music (BM), and Rice University (MM, Brown Fellowship). She studied composition with Ying Din, Marjorie Merryman, Karim Al-Zand, Shi-hui Chen, and Pierre Jalbert, and piano with Xiangjun Yu and Jiayin Li.
Jaylin Vinson
Composer, "Music for Foreign Bodies"
Jaylin Vinson is a composer whose music is described as “an awakening” (Sioux City Journal), marked by “insatiable curiosity” (Heifetz Institute) and “bold and compelling” (DC Theater Arts). His works were performed at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, and across the U.S. by ensembles including the New York Youth Symphony, the U.S. Navy Band, and Apollo Chamber Players. Recent projects include Future of Dreams, a chamber opera commissioned by Washington National Opera (2025), and Dark Matter, an Afrofuturistic flute concerto featuring acclaimed flutist Tyler Martin in collaboration with the KINETIC Ensemble.
Jaylin has a Bachelor of Music in composition from the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University.
Marco-Adrián Ramos
Composer, "Tú el cempasúchil (You, the marigold)"
Marco-Adrián Ramos is a Mexican-American composer whose eclectic work spans a variety of media including works for voice, instrumental and electroacoustic ensembles, and dance. His work has been sought and performed by a variety of institutions and ensembles including the MATA Festival, the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, 45th Parallel, the Juilliard Orchestra, the Yale Philharmonia, the New York Youth Symphony, the Houston Symphony, the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, and the Aspen Music Festival; recognitions include three ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Awards, an artist grant from the National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures, the Arthur Friedman Prize (Juilliard), the Charles Ives Scholarship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and the William Schuman Prize from the BMI Foundation. He currently is an instructor at the University of Arkansas, teaching classes on music theory and composition. Marco-Adrián holds degrees from The Juilliard School and Yale University’s School of Music.
Shruthi Rajasekar
Composer, "Son of Pandu"
“[Shruthi] Rajasekar has allowed boldness to be her guiding light in the journey through her dense and evocative creativity… Rajasekar will continue to sail forward, into a cartography of her own delineation.”
– The Seattle Times
Composer and performer Shruthi Rajasekar is a McKnight Composer Fellow with the American Composers Forum, Jerome Hill Artist Fellow, Associate of the Royal Northern College of Music (ARNCM), winner of the Global Women in Music Award from the United Nations, and recipient of the Marshall Scholarship from the Government of the United Kingdom. Shruthi’s music draws from her deep roots in the Carnatic (South Indian classical) and Western classical traditions. Her work highlights identity, community, and joy. Globally, Shruthi’s compositions have been featured at the Royal Albert Hall (London, UK), the Cannes Film Festival (France), the National Centre for Performing Arts (Mumbai, India), Victoria Hall (Singapore), and the United Nations’ COP 26 (Glasgow, UK). She has been a performing artist and artist-in-residence at Britten Pears Arts, Tusen Takk Foundation, and Norway’s Kampenjazz. Shruthi lives in Minnesota and serves on the Board of Directors of the Anderson Center and of chamber ensemble Zeitgeist.
Audrianna Hughes
Mezzo-soprano
Audrianna Hughes, mezzo-soprano, is a Paducah, KY native holding a MM in Vocal Performance from the University of Kentucky and a BM in Music Education from Murray State University.
She previously won the Pre-Professional Mezzo-Soprano Prize sponsored by Hilda Harris at the 2025 George Shirley Vocal Competition, an Encouragement Award at the 2025 KY District Metropolitan Laffont Competition, 2nd Place Graduate Division Winner and Reginald Smith, Jr. Scholarship in Opera Award at the 2023 University of Kentucky Alltech Vocal Scholarship Competition.
Previous roles include performing the role of Constanza in University of Kentucky Opera Theatre's A Nation of Others by Paul Moravec, Ellen Craft and Charlotte Giles in Sanctuary Road by Paul Moravec, Marcellina in Le nozze di Figaro, Angelina in La Cenerentola at Bay View Music Festival, and alto soloist in Mozart's Requiem.
Audrianna is currently performing in Houston Grand Opera’s Porgy and Bess chorus, and will soon join The Metropolitan Opera’s production of Porgy and Bess.
Mary Grace Johnson
Violin
Award-winning violinist Mary Grace Johnson has performed as a soloist and chamber musician throughout Europe and North America and is the concertmaster of the West Virginia Symphony. She has been a prize winner and finalist at numerous competitions including the Bartok World String Quartet Competition in Budapest, Hungary and MTNA’s National Young Artist Competition and has been featured on NPR's Performance Today. Co-leader and program curator for Kinetic Ensemble in Houston, Texas, she is an advocate for underrepresented voices in music, especially women, and has premiered works by over a dozen composers. In 2023, she co-commissioned and premiered Nicky Sohn’s first violin concerto, “Home,” with Kinetic, and recently recorded it for an upcoming commercial release. A devoted educator, Johnson is currently the Assistant Professor of Violin at West Virginia University and spends her summers teaching at Interlochen Arts Camp. She completed her studies at Vanderbilt University, the Juilliard School, and Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music. When not performing, she enjoys camping, hiking, and experimenting with new recipes with her husband, clarinetist Keeheon Nam.
Tonya Burton
Viola
Dr. Tonya Burton is a dynamic violist, educator, and chamber musician whose career spans a broad spectrum of performance, teaching, and artistic leadership. Based in Houston, Texas, she is a core member and curator for Kinetic Ensemble and Monarch Chamber Players, and is a Grammy-voting member of the Recording Academy.
As a performer, Burton is celebrated for her expressive artistry and commitment to new music. She frequently performs with cutting edge groups including Caroga Arts Collective, Apollo Chamber Players, Aperio, Musiqa, and her performances have taken her to venues such as Carnegie Hall, Severance Hall, Rothko Chapel, and Miller Outdoor Theatre. She is a featured artist on multiple recordings, including Kinetic, which debuted at #1 on the Billboard Classical Traditional Chart. Internationally, she is a faculty artist-in-residence at the Talis Festival and Academy in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Burton holds a Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of Maryland, a Master of Music from Rice University, and a Bachelor of Music from the Cleveland Institute of Music. She serves as Adjunct Professor of Viola at Sam Houston State University and maintains an active private studio.