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Featuring violinist and Avery Fisher Career Grant–winner Tai Murray, described by The Philadelphia Inquirer as a musician of “exceptional assurance and style,” the all-star ensemble includes Monica Ellis (bassoon) of the Imani Winds, Weston Sprott (trombone) and Billy Hunter (trumpet) of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Wesley Sumpter (percussion) formerly Los Angeles Philharmonic Fellow, Patricia Weitzel (double bass) of the Columbus Symphony Orchestra, and Alexander Laing (clarinet) of The Phoenix Symphony.  

Gateways Music Festival is a multi-faceted organization that supports and connects professional classical musicians of African descent, enlightens and inspires communities through the power of performance, and showcases the talents of Black classical artists. In addition to Gateways Chamber Players, Gateways hosts an annual orchestra festival in the spring and chamber music festival in the fall. Other programs include Gateways Daily Showcase, a social media campaign that highlights a Black classical composer or performer every day on Facebook and Instagram; Gateways Brass Collective, the only all-Black professional brass quintet in the country; Gateways Artist Residencies, multi-day engagements presenting renowned Gateways artists in recital, master classes, and community-based activities; Gateways Young Musicians Institute, a multi-faceted initiative for developing musicians from beginner through pre-professional that emphasizes learning, representation and mentoring; and Gateways Radio, a one-hour syndicated radio program hosted by Garrett McQueen that features Black classical artists on public radio stations across the United States.

Founded in Winston-Salem, North Carolina in 1993 by noted concert pianist Armenta Hummings Dumisani, Gateways Music Festival moved to Rochester, New York in 1997 when Hummings Dumisani joined the faculty at the Eastman School of Music. In 2016, while remaining an independent non-profit organization, Gateways formalized its long-standing relationship with the Eastman School of Music and the University of Rochester, which provided many of the resources and infrastructure necessary for Gateways to increase its programming capacity, appoint its first paid staff position, and broaden the festival's impact in and beyond Rochester.

As the daughter of a jazz saxophonist father and fashionista mother, Ellis was raised in a house full of go-getters. A natural organizer, Ellis is the co-artistic and executive director for Imani Winds and their annual chamber music festival and treasurer for their non-profit foundation.

Influential teachers include Mark Pancerev of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, where she was raised, George Sakakeeny at Oberlin Conservatory of Music (bachelor of music), and Frank Morelli at The Juilliard School (master of music) and Manhattan School of Music (professional studies).

She has performed and recorded with dozens of world-renowned artists and organizations spanning genres and styles from the likes of Wayne Shorter to the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. A celebrated educator, Ellis has given masterclasses and solo performances across the country and is on the faculties at Manhattan School of Music and Curtis Institute of Music.

Ellis is a sought-after commentator on important discussions regarding race, gender, and entrepreneurship in classical music. She is on the Orchestra of St. Luke’s Educational Advisory Committee and is a board member for Concert Artists Guild and the International Double Reed Society (IDRS).

Ellis religiously watches Jeopardy!, loves home decorating, and resides in the historic village of Harlem in New York City with the greatest joy of her life, her nine-year-old son, Oden.

Ellis is a Fox Bassoon Artist and plays exclusively on a Model 201.

Previously, he was principal trumpet with the New World Symphony and Spoleto Festival Italy orchestras and has performed as guest principal with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony in Germany, Malaysian Philharmonic in Kuala Lumpur, and the Charleston Symphony Orchestra. Other orchestras he has performed with are the New York Philharmonic, Boston, Baltimore, and Dallas symphonies.

As a chamber musician and soloist, Hunter has performed with several ensembles and music festivals including Grant Park Orchestra, New World Symphony, University of Texas Symphony and Wind Ensemble, Prometheus Chamber Orchestra, Eastern Music Festival Orchestra, American Brass Quintet, the Martha’s Vineyard Chamber Music Festival, and the MET Chamber Ensemble.

His honors and awards include first prize in the Kingsville International Solo Competition Brass and Non-string divisions, second prize in the National Trumpet Competition, recipient of the Roger Voisin Trumpet award as a fellow of the prestigious Tanglewood Music Center in the Berkshires and, most recently, the University of Texas at Austin Outstanding Young Alumnus Award.

A graduate of the University of Texas at Austin and The Juilliard School, his teachers have included Mark Gould (former principal trumpet of the Met), Raymond Mase (principal trumpet of the NYC Ballet and ABQ), Raymond Crisara (former trumpet of the Met and NBC Symphony), and Harry Shapiro (former horn player of the Boston Symphony).

His artistic output (Gateways Music Festival; principal clarinet of The Phoenix Symphony; various collaborations) and his contributions to music making (faculty for Juilliard Extension; The League of American Orchestras; co-founder Black Orchestral Network) have been recognized by Musical America and with a Sphinx Medal of Excellence. 

A graduate of Northwestern University, he received his master's degree in orchestral performance from the Manhattan School of Music, an artist's diploma from the Sweelinck Conservatorium Amsterdam, and a certificate in nonprofit management from Arizona State University's Lodestar Center for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Innovation.

A winner of the 2004 Avery Fisher Career Grant, Murray has appeared in recital and with major ensembles around the world including the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and Los Angeles Philharmonic.

She has been named a BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist and has been a member of Chamber Music Society II at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. In addition to touring with Musicians from Marlboro, Murray has performed at the BBC Proms, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival, IMS Prussia Cove, John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, and West Cork Chamber Music Festival.

A 2012 recipient of the Sphinx Organization’s Sphinx Medal of Excellence, Murray is dedicated to championing music by living composers. “Celebrating the music of today is hugely important, and making heard contemporary composers of every visual color and every invisible one, on every concert program, I consider a responsibility towards the future.” she wrote in The Strad.

Murray’s recordings include an album of Ysaÿe sonatas (Harmonia Mundi, 2014), 20th Century: The American Scene (eaSonus, 2014), and a recording of Bernstein’s Serenade (after Plato’s Symposium), which was released in 2014 on the Mirare label.

Murray is an assistant professor, adjunct, of violin at the Yale School of Music, where she teaches applied violin and coaches chamber music. She earned artist diplomas from Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music and The Juilliard School.

Murray performs on a Tommaso Balestrieri violin, fecit Mantua circa 1760, on loan from a charitable trust.

Film and television credits include: The Beekeeper (2024 release), Jingle Jangle, Pixar’s Soul, Black Box, A Fall From Grace, Creed, Creed II, Creed III, For Colored Girls, This is Us (three Emmy nominations),Diarra From Detroit, Little America, The Crossover, The Good Fight, David Makes Man, and Empire.

Inducted into the Theatre Hall of Fame in 2016, Rashad received Tony^® and Drama Desk awards for her performances as Faye in Skeleton Crew and Lena Younger in A Raisin in the Sun, the Lucille Lortel Award for her performance as Shelah in Head of Passes, and a Tony^® nomination for her portrayal of Aunt Ester in August Wilson’s Gem of the Ocean. Rashad has directed plays by Pearl Cleage (Blues For An Alabama Sky), August Wilson (Gem of the Ocean, Fences, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone), Stephen Adly Guirgis, (Our Lady of 121st Street), and Paul Oakley Stovall (Immediate Family) at prestigious regional and off-Broadway theaters. Rashad, who serves as co-chair of the Advisory Council for the African American Cultural Heritage Fund, is currently Dean of the Chadwick A. Boseman College of Fine Arts at Howard University.

Sneed is the founder and artistic director of Chorale Le Chateau, a vocal ensemble which has gained a global reputation for its vivid interpretations from Renaissance-period pieces to art songs to jazz, spirituals, gospel, and avant-garde contemporary music.

Sneed has performed in Europe, Japan, the U.S. Virgin Islands, South America, Africa, and more than 42 states in the U.S. He has performed with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, the Minneapolis Symphony, Darin Atwater and Soulful Symphony, Opera Ebony, and Opera Noire.

A recipient of a 2014 Sphinx Medal of Excellence and a graduate of John S. Davidson Fine Arts School in his hometown of Augusta, Georgia, Sneed is also a graduate of Howard University (bachelor of music in piano performance); the Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University; New York University (master of music in music technology: scoring for film and multimedia); and the Manhattan School of Music. Sneed continued his doctoral studies at the University of Southern California (orchestral conducting).

Sneed is currently a faculty member of the Manhattan School of Music, where he teaches graduate-level courses in conducting, African American Music History, conducts singer/songwriter and gospel music ensembles, and gives individual lessons in piano, voice, and composition.

Sprott is a champion of diversity and inclusion efforts. His work contributed to the creation of the Black Orchestral Network, the National Alliance for Audition Support, Sphinx Orchestral Partners Auditions Excerpt Competition, and Classical Tahoe Academy, as well as numerous other initiatives that are shifting the classical music landscape. He is a recipient of numerous awards including the Sphinx Medal of Excellence and Atlanta Symphony’s Aspire Award. He is an active speaker, writer, and consultant for various organizations, conferences, universities, and publications.

His performance career includes orchestral, chamber, and solo work. He has performed with several of the world's leading ensembles and has been a soloist throughout the United States, Europe, South Africa, and Asia. Sprott appears frequently with the Philadelphia Orchestra and held positions with the Zurich Opera, Pennsylvania Ballet, and Delaware Symphony. An artist/clinician for the Antoine Courtois Instrument Company, he designed and performs exclusively on their Creation New York trombone.

Sprott holds faculty positions at The Juilliard School, Bard College, Aspen Music Festival and School, and Music Academy of the West.

During his extensive time with the LA Phil, through its Resident Fellows program (2018–2022), he has played in concert halls and music festivals in Japan, South Korea, London, Scotland, Mexico City, New York, and Boston. As a recording musician, he can be heard on a number of the LA Phil’s recently released recordings including their 2021 Grammy Award^®–winning Charles Ives symphony cycle, the BBC Phil’s upcoming recordings of the music of Pierre Sancan, and the original motion picture soundtracks for West Side Story (2021) and Transformers: Rise of the Beasts.

Prior to her appointment as assistant teaching professor of double bass at Pennsylvania State University, Weitzel served as the lecturer of double Bass at Columbus State University. She has held faculty positions at Augustana College, Central College, Grinnell College, St. Ambrose University, and Drake University. She is a former member of the Columbus, Des Moines, and Quad City symphonies.

Weitzel has collaborated and worked with renowned artists such as the Daedalus Quartet, pianist Soyeon Kate Lee, bassist Volkan Orhon, and pop singer Lizzo. She spends her summers performing worldwide, teaching at the Sphinx Performance Academy at The Juilliard School and University of Colorado, and participating in the Wintergreen Music Festival.

In addition to being a performing artist and educator, Weitzel continually receives recognition for her leadership and advocacy of diversity, excellency, and inclusion in the arts. As a member of the 2019 Global Leaders Program Cohort and one of the recipients of a Sphinx Organization’s Mpower Artist Grant, she was involved in the development of initiatives that offer opportunities of music education to underserved youth.

Weitzel is the former membership chair and current marketing chair of the International Society of Bassists, an organization with approximately 3000 members in over 40 countries whose mission is to encourage excellence in bass performance, pedagogy, research, composition, and lutherie.