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A native of Sao Paulo, Brazil, Flavio Chamis began his formal training in conducting and composition at the Rubin Academy of Music (Tel Aviv University) under S. Ronli Riklis and Zubin Mehta of the Israel Philharmonic. He continued his studies with Martin Stephani in Detmold, Germany, graduating from the Nordwestdeutsche Musikakademie.

Shortly thereafter, Mr. Chamis moved to Vienna, where he was appointed Music Director of the Villa Lobos Ensemble. While in Europe, Chamis made recordings for RIAS with the Radio Sinfonie Orchester Berlin and the Nouvelle Philharmonique de Radio France – his conducting of the world premiere of Michel Philippot’s Concerto for Violin and/or Viola has been released by the label Solstice. His European engagements have included, among many others, performances at the Musikverein (Vienna), the Wiener Festwochen and the Royal Festival Hall in London.

In 1985, Chamis was named conducting assistant to Leonard Bernstein. In this capacity, he led the Israel Philharmonic in preparation for tours of Europe, Japan and the United States, featuring performances of Mahler’s 9th Symphony. The following year, he conducted in New York the rehearsals for the world premiere of Bernstein’s Jubilee Games, later renamed Concerto for Orchestra. In 1989, he again assisted Maestro Bernstein, this time on the European tour of the London Symphony Orchestra.

Mr. Chamis returned to Brazil as Music Director of the Porto Alegre Symphony Orchestra. There he won enthusiastic critical acclaim for his performances and appearances on Brazilian radio and television. As well as having conducted all of the major orchestras in Brazil, Mr. Chamis enjoys engagements as guest conductor throughout Europe and Latin America.

Chamis has collaborated with such highly acclaimed international soloists as Mischa Maisky, Paul Badura Skoda, Ileana Cotrubas, Bruno Leonardo Gelber, Dang Thai-Son, Ransom Wilson, Antonio Meneses, Jean Louis Steuerman and Arnaldo Cohen, among others. He has also participated in numerous international music festivals, including the Tanglewood Music Festival, Bayreuther Festspiel, and Schleswig Holstein Music Festival.

As a composer, his works embrace a wide range of styles, from solo, chamber, and symphonic pieces, to jazz and Brazilian music. This versatile musician has also written the text for many of his vocal compositions. “Especiaria”, a Latin Grammy nominated CD exclusively with Mr. Chamis Brazilian Jazz compositions was released by the Brazilian label Biscoito Fino.

Flavio Chamis received the International Press Award as Outstanding Brazilian Musician based in the U.S. A frequent guest lecturer, his presentations on both Brazilian and classical music have been heard in Universities, as well as several cultural and educational organizations across the country. Mr. Chamis has been a member of the Screening Committee of the Latin Grammy.

Since 2017 Chamis has been working in conjunction with the UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital in Pittsburgh, leading a bold new approach to the intersection between music and mental health while initiating “Infinity”, a musical group of patients who performed for larger audiences during the 2018/19/20 Pittsburgh Annual Schizophrenia Conferences, and also producing “Infinity - The Role of Music in the Road to Recovery in Schizophrenia”, a short documentary about the concept.

Flavio resides in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He speaks fluent English, Spanish, Portuguese, and German, with conversational abilities in French and Italian.

Brazilian-American multi-instrumentalist and composer Lucas Ashby’s musical resume stretches back to his early childhood. Born into a family of internationally touring musicians, Ashby brings to his projects a background in rhythms and melodies from South America, West Africa, India, Eastern Europe, American Jazz, & Hip Hop. For the last 15 years, the resulting mosaic of sounds and textures has served as the bedrock of the career Ashby has built as a sideman, performing for 9 years as percussionist with nationally-touring afrobeat-funk powerhouse Big Mean Sound Machine, as well as such internationally-renowned artists as Brazilian national treasure Ivan Lins, 14-time GRAMMY winner Paquito D’Rivera, and world-renowned vocal jazz quartet New York Voices (including appearing on their 2007 GRAMMY award-winning album A Day Like This ), Brazilian guitar virtuosos Chico Pinheiro, Diego Figueiredo, and Rogério Souza (Duo Violão Brasil), and Ghanaian highlife master Osei Korankye. Lucas has also performed all over the US and around the world with his parents, Brazilian jazz vocalist Kenia and acclaimed trombonist and producer Jay Ashby (Paul Simon, Astrud Gilberto, Dizzy Gillespie, Nancy Wilson, & others). Lucas Ashby's Brain Trust serves as a heavy-hitter packed vehicle for a psychedelic blend of jazz and world music that is equally at home in intimate clubs as it is on giant festival stages. Ashby also works as one of the composers and organizers behind genre-bending 21st-century chamber ensemble Arco Belo, led by accordionist, pianist, and composer Simone Baron. Since moving to the Washington, DC region in 2014, Lucas frequently performs locally with a number of regional acts including Seán Heely Celtic Band, Taisha Estrada, Project Locrea, Rose Moraes, Veronneau, Pablo Regis de Oliveira among many others. Ashby is also a Strathmore 2020 Artist-in-Residence. 

Principal Violist of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra for the 2018-2024 seasons, Tatjana Mead Chamis has led a distinguished career as an orchestral violist, chamber musician, soloist, Latin Grammy-nominated recording artist, teacher and lecturer, and is an advocate for underheard, suppressed, and new music. Mead Chamis joined the Pittsburgh Symphony in 1993 under Lorin Maazel at age 22 and has been Associate Principal Viola since 2003. She teaches orchestral repertoire at Carnegie Mellon University.

In 2015, Mead Chamis formed the Clarion Quartet with fellow Pittsburgh Symphony members as an ensemble dedicated to the many works of suppressed and forgotten composers. The Clarion Quartet’s debut album, Breaking the Silence, was released in February of 2018 on the TYE/Naxos label. The quartet has played at the site of the Theresienstadt concentration camp in the Czech Republic, at the Berlin American Academy, on tour in Canada, joined the great baritone Matthias Goerne in concert, and appeared on the Chamber Music Pittsburgh Series with pianist Roman Rabinovich.

After a year-long sabbatical in 2012, living and performing in Brazil, Mead Chamis returned to the US with Brazilian works for viola, which became the focus of a solo recording project, including a new viola sonata written for her by the pianist/composer André Mehmari, which garnered a 2017 Latin Grammy nomination. The album, Viola Brasil, was released in 2022. In July 2024, Mead Chamis was featured as recitalist at the International Viola Congress in Campinas, Brazil.

André Mehmari is considered one of the leading musicians of his generation in Brazil. His activities as pianist, composer, producer and arranger are highly regarded in both popular and classical music. As his compositions have been performed by leading orchestras such as Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo and Orquestra Filarmônica de Minas Gerais and chamber ensembles such as the São Paulo String Quartet, his career in jazz and Brazilian popular music has attained wide attention with performances in all of Brazil’s major jazz festivals and abroad.

Born in 1977 in Niteroi (RJ), he began to study music with his mother at the age of five and completed an organ course in the Conservatory of Ribeirao Preto (SP). At age ten, having taught himself jazz improvisation, he wrote his first compositions; and, at 15, while teaching organ in the Conservatory, he was invited to compose a method for keyboard beginners. He began study at São Paulo State University in 1995 and, in the same year, won the University’s competition for original Brazilian popular music (MPB). Two years later, the same honor was awarded to him for classical music. In 1998, he won the first national Prêmio VISA de MPB competition, the most important award for popular music in Brazil. The competition’s prize included the recording of a new CD, which became Mehmari’s first release. More than fifty albums have followed, including a duo album with cellist Antônio Meneses in 2017 which launched his Brazilian Suite for cello and piano. Música para Cordas (2019) presents Mehmari’s works for strings directed by violinist Emmanuele Baldini with whom he also created Conversas com Bach (2020) inspired by Mehmari’s treatment of Bach’s Chaconne from the Partita in D Minor. In 2024 he released Nonada, composed for his duo piano tours with Makoto Ozone. For the Opera Academy of Theatro São Pedro he created O Machete (2023), based on a short story by Machado de Assis and set during the turn of the 19 th and 20 th centuries. In recognition of the year 2023’s extraordinary creativity,

Concerto magazine awarded the twelfth edition of its annual Grand Prize to Mehmari.

Elin is a multicultural singer and award-winning songwriter, born and raised in Sweden, who eventually relocated to the USA, earning a Bachelor’s degree in Jazz & Studio music from the University of Miami. After deciding New York City was the place to pursue her career as a jazz singer, she spent 11 years performing at top jazz venues like the Blue Note and Jazz at Lincoln Center, and releasing her debut album Lazy Afternoon -- a mix of jazz, Brazilian, and original music -- to critical acclaim. Based in the DC area for the past thirteen years, she’s collaborated on three albums with EDM giants, Thievery Corporation, performing with them at the Kennedy Center. She also fronted Brazilian psychedelic band Alma Tropicalia, and now performs regularly at Blues Alley jazz club in Georgetown. Her next album, recorded in NYC, is a tribute to legendary Brazilian singer, Elis Regina, and features a group of Grammy-award-winning musicians, including 8-time Grammy-winner, bassist Christian McBride. Elin is also a recipient of the Artist Fellowship Grant from the DC Commision on the Arts and Humanities in 2023 and 2024.

Angel Gil-Ordóñez is Music Director of PostClassical Ensemble, Principal Guest Conductor of New York’s Perspectives Ensemble, and Music Director of the Georgetown University Orchestra. He also serves as lead advisor for Trinitate Philharmonia, a program in León, Mexico modeled on Venezuela’s El Sistema. He has appeared as guest conductor with the American Composers Orchestra, Opera Colorado, Pacific Symphony, Hartford Symphony, Brooklyn Philharmonic, and the Orchestra of St. Luke's. An unwavering advocate for Spanish and Latin American repertoire, Gil-Ordóñez received the Royal Order of Queen Isabella, Spain’s highest civilian decoration, for his devotion to sharing Spanish culture with the world. He has recorded nine albums for the label Naxos, including PostClassical Ensemble’s Virgil Thomson, Copland, and Revueltas CD/DVDs.

PostClassical Ensemble takes the listener on a musical journey for the heart and mind. Through depth of interpretation and skillful execution, and with an ensemble of the most distinguished musicians in the area, the music comes alive with vibrancy and richness of expression. Founded in 2003, PCE has been a pioneer in transforming the concert experience through innovative, multi-disciplinary programming built around original narratives and with collaborations across artistic mediums. Core programmatic areas showcase how Film, American Roots, Cultural Diplomacy, and Encounters enhance and inspire the musical repertoire. For more, visit www.postclassical.com