A native of Taiwan, pianist Chih-Long Hu‘s performance career was launched after receiving honors including the Taipei National Concert Hall Arising Star, the Chi-Mei Artist Award, and prizes from the Mauro Monopoli International Piano Competition in Italy, the Concurs International De Piano D'Escaldes-Engordany in Andorra, the Takamatsu International Piano Competition in Japan, and San Jose International Piano Competition in California. 

An active performer, Hu performs extensively in Asia, Europe, and America appearing as a concerto soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician. His recent performance highlights include concerto performances of Rachmaninov’s Paganini Rhapsody, Mozart Concerto No.9, Schumann’s Concerto in A, Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, solo and chamber recitals in China, Taiwan, Korea, Indonesia, Ireland, Canada, and throughout the U.S. Hu’s performances have been broadcast in "Performance Today" through NPR stations across the U.S. as well as in Taiwan, China and Japan. His CD albums "Formosa Caprices", “Complete Rachmaninov Etudes-Tableaux”, and “Goldberg Variations” have received critical acclaims.

Recipient of the UT Chancellor’s Excellence in Teaching Award and named “Teacher of the Year” by Tennessee Music Teachers Association, Knoxville Music Teachers Associations, and Appalachian Music Teachers Association, Hu is a committed and passionate teacher. He strives to cultivate and inspire curiosity in human expressions and to help his students discover their individuality through the music.  His students have won numerous prizes from international and national competitions, and have been accepted to prestigious universities and conservatories after studying with him. 

Hu involves with the community and has served in various professional organizations and committees. He is frequently invited to give lectures and masterclasses in various venues, as well as to judge international and national competitions. Hu has served as the Artistic Director of St. Andrews Piano Academy and Festival International in New Brunswick, Canada. 

Hu holds a Doctorate of Musical Arts in piano performance from the University of Michigan, a Master's degree from Taipei National University of the Arts, and a Bachelor's degree in civil engineering from National Taiwan University. His piano teachers include Arthur Greene, Hung-Kuan Chen, and Tai-Cheng Chen. Hu is currently the Sandra G. Powell Endowed Professor of Piano and the keyboard area coordinator at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.

Khyle Wooten, a native of Philadelphia, PA, is Assistant Professor of Music Education and Associate Director of Choral Studies at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. He leads a unique life in music as an educator, conductor, researcher, and composer. He previously maintained posts with National Heritage Academies, Clayton County Public Schools, and the Walter D. Palmer School District where he has led middle and high school choral ensembles.

An active musician, he is the conductor and co-founder of the Sankofa Concert Series in Atlanta, GA, a vocal artist collective dedicated to the preservation and performance of works by composers of African descent. Previously, he served as a music director in the Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church and several regions of The Fellowship of Affirming Ministries. Among his recent accomplishments, Wooten is an inaugural fellow with the Cleveland Institute of Music’s Future of Music Faculty Fellowship. At present, he commits to leading ongoing research on the lives and choral music of Black women composers. More, as composer, he has completed commissions for vocal works by the Cincinnati Song Initiative and the Kairos Concert Opera. His recent works include Thy Gracious Balm (SATB) and Sancta Maria (TTBB), and Image of Joy (baritone and piano).

Wooten holds the Bachelor of Science in music education from Lincoln University (PA), the Master of Music in choral conducting from Georgia State University, and the Doctor of Philosophy degree in music education, with an emphasis in choral conducting, from Florida State University.

Victor Yampolsky is professor emeritus at Northwestern University, having completed a 38-year tenure as director of orchestras, holding the Carol F. and Arthur L. Rice Jr. University Professorship in Music Performance.  In addition to his Northwestern duties, Victor Yampolsky also served as music director of the Peninsula Music Festival in Door County, Wisconsin; honorary director of the Scotia Festival of Music in Halifax, Nova Scotia; and music director emeritus of the Omaha Symphony Orchestra.

Professor Yampolsky studied violin with David Oistrakh at the Moscow Conservatory, and conducting with Maestro Nicolai Rabinovich at the Leningrad Conservatory. He was a member of the Moscow Philharmonic as both assistant concertmaster and assistant conductor, under the direction of Maestro Kyrill Kondrashin. He emigrated from the Soviet Union to the United States in 1973, where a recommendation from conductor Zubin Mehta led to an audition for Leonard Bernstein, who offered Yampolsky a scholarship at the Berkshire Music Center in Tanglewood, Massachusetts. Professor Yampolsky soon accepted a position in the violin section of the Boston Symphony and was later appointed the orchestra’s principal second violinist.

He served as conductor of the Young Artists Orchestra at Tanglewood and principal conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra in Johannesburg, South Africa. He has conducted over 80 professional and student orchestras throughout the world, including repeat engagements with orchestras in the United States, Canada, Spain, Portugal, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, South Korea, Taiwan, the Czech Republic, Israel and Chile.

A dedicated educator, Yampolsky has given conducting master classes throughout the world. He has served as adjunct professor of violin and director of orchestras at the Boston University School of Music. He has taught at the State Conservatory of St. Petersburg Russia; Stellenbosch Conservatory in South Africa; the Cape Philharmonic Youth Orchestra in Cape Town, South Africa; Emory University; and the Universities of Akron, Victoria, and Nevada. Other activities include serving as a panel member of the American Symphony Orchestra League (now the League of American Orchestras) Conductors’ Continuum Committee. He has been a juror for the Prokofiev International Conducting Competition in St. Petersburg, Russia; the Len van Zyl conducting competition in Cape Town, South Africa; and the Conductors Guild and CODA associations.

Professor Yampolsky has recorded for Pyramid and Kiwi-Pacific Records. He led the Omaha Symphony in its debut recording, Take Flight (2002) and the world premiere of Philip Glass’ second piano concerto, which received an award from the Nebraska Arts Council.