Phillip Ducreay is a violinist, musicologist, recording artist, and arts leader. Based in Nashville’s vibrant recording scene, he has worked on high-profile soundtracks for films like “Paw Patrol: The Mighty Movie” (2023) and “The Six Triple Eight” (2024). A former fellow of the prestigious SphinxLEAD program, he is committed to empowering cultural leaders in the arts.

As Program Manager at The Nashville Symphony, Phillip oversees the Pathways program, Accelerando. This initiative, part of the Symphony’s Education and Community Engagement department, provides intensive training, opportunities, and financial support to students from underrepresented backgrounds in classical music. Drawing on his deep expertise in chamber music, he has managed and curated projects for the Symphony’s chamber music series.

Phillip holds a Doctor of Musical Arts in Violin Performance from the University of Maryland, a Master of Music in Violin Performance and a Master of Arts in Musicology from West Virginia University, and a Bachelor of Music from the Crane School of Music at SUNY Potsdam. His doctoral research focuses on innovative approaches to programming classical music. He has also published on Music of West Africa and Romantic performance practices.

Clara Mojica-Díaz is a Colombian linguist and researcher with expertise in language acquisition and Latin American culture. Now retired from her position as a professor at Tennessee State University, she continues to pursue her interests in travel, music, and the arts.

Dr. Nancy Riley is an Assistant Professor of Music History at Belmont University in Nashville, TN, where she teaches courses in musicology, ethnomusicology, and the general education curriculum. Her research examines country, alt.country, and indie musics, and the scholarship of teaching and learning. She maintains a small private piano studio and is learning to play the carillon.

Preston Wilson, Jr., PhD, is the Director of the Fisk Jubilee Singers® and Assistant Professor of Music at the historic Fisk University in Nashville, TN. He received his Bachelor of Science in Music Education from Fisk University and sang in the Fisk Jubilee Singers® under the direction of the late Dr. Paul T. Kwami. Dr. Wilson earned a Masters of Music in Choral Music Education from Bowling Green State University, being named the Presidential Graduate Scholar and awarded the Winifred O. Stone Graduate Fellowship. Dr. Wilson graduated from the University of Missouri (Columbia), obtaining a PhD in Music Education where is dissertation focused on the lived experiences of urban music teachers in elementary schools. His research agenda includes urban music educational experiences, race relations in music, and practical applications of diversity, equity, and inclusion. Dr. Wilson is a proud member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., Phi Mu Alpha Music Fraternity, Inc., American Choral Directors’ Association, National Association for Music Education and College Music Society.

Dr. Terry Klefstad is Professor of Music in the Belmont University School of Music and serves as Coordinator of Music History. She received her Ph.D. in Musicology from University of Texas at Austin, and her Master of Music (Music History and Literature) from Southern Methodist University. She received both a Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance and Bachelor of Arts in English with Writing Emphasis from Millikin University. An active lecturer and musicologist, her specialties are in the area of twentieth century music through WWII, Dmitri Shostakovich, and American music. Her book, Crooked River City: The Musical Life of Nashville’s William Pursell (Mississippi, 2018) discusses William Pursell, a mainstay of the Nashville music scene who has played jazz in Nashville’s Printer’s Alley with Chet Atkins and Harold Bradley, recorded with Johnny Cash and Patsy Cline, performed with the Nashville Symphony, and composed and arranged popular and classical music.

Bethany Taylor Morgan earned a Bachelors in English Literature at the Belmont Abbey College in Belmont, North Carolina, and conducted extensive graduate work with Liberty University. She is a published poet, critic and author of fiction. Her main critical interests are the visual arts, cinema, game studies and literature.

Ljerka Rasmussen is an Associate Professor of Music at Tennessee State University. Her research focuses on the musical traditions of East/Central Europe and the Balkans, addressing issues of identity, political transitions, and emergent transnational forms of popular music. She is the author of Newly Composed Folk Music of Yugoslavia (Routledge, 2002), and co-editor of Made in Yugoslavia (Routledge, 2020).  Her journalistic work includes interviews with Louie Bellson, Guy Clark, La Monte Young, and John Cage’s associates. Rasmussen has held the position of Musicologist for the Naxos label (2003-2005), and helped develop its pioneering digital music service, Naxos Music Library. She holds a Ph.D. and an M.A. in Ethnomusicology from Wesleyan University, Connecticut.

Joseph E. Morgan is a father of two, husband, teacher and recovering guitarist who lives in Nashville (Antioch!). He holds a Ph.D. from Brandeis University (2009) when they still liked music; an MA in Musicology from the University of Maryland (2002); as well as a Bachelor of Arts in Music (classical guitar) and a Certificate in medieval and renaissance studies from the University of Pittsburgh (2000).  Author of two books on Carl Maria von Weber, and editor of Tyranny and Music (2016) his primary research focuses on the dramatic music, theory and aesthetics of Germany in the early 19^th century.  His secondary area of interest is in American Popular music and really any other music you can think of.