Asheville Art Trio + 1, featuring Christian Howes Performers

Pianist, composer, scholar and educator William Bares received his Ph.D in ethnomusicology from Harvard in 2009. He taught at Harvard, Brown, Berklee and NEC before taking a job as professor of music and co-director of jazz studies at UNC Asheville. His research interests include transatlantic jazz, jazz-classical crossovers, and environmental music. He currently serves as the NEH Distinguished Professor in the Humanities at UNC Asheville, having published widely, with articles appearing in Jazz Perspectives, Jazz Research Journal, and American Music, among others. His book, “Jazz and the European Dream" is forthcoming on Routledge Press. Bares is also an active performer. After earning his MM from the University of Miami in 1999, he played professionally in New York, Boston and Europe. Since 2011, Bares has been an active member of Asheville's musical community, coordinating the Asheville Jazz Workhshop and the Sunday "Jazz Showcase" at Asheville’s famed Isis Music Hall. He has released four albums as a leader or co-leader, and his modern jazz group, The Core, was voted "Best Jazz Group” in the Mountain XPress Best of Western North Carolina awards. Discover more billbaresmusic on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and billbaresmusic.com.

Violinist, educator and composer, Christian Howes was voted #1 in the Downbeat Critics Poll (“Rising Stars/Violin”), named among the top three jazz violinists in the JazzTimes critics poll, and nominated for Violinist of the Year by the Jazz Journalist Association. He received the Residency Partner Award through Chamber Music America, earned a USArtists grant through the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, and was invited by the U.S. State department to teach and perform as a cultural ambassador twice, in Ukraine and Montenegro. His release on Resonance Records, “Southern Exposure” earned recognition in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Downbeat, Jazz Times, as well as a six-night run at Lincoln Center. His release, “American Spirit” was named among the Best Jazz Albums of the Year″ by the Huffington Post. Howes is the founder of “Creative Strings“, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization with a mission to expand music education through the creation of online curriculum, conferences, and visits to schools teaching improvisation, contemporary styles, and related subjects. He endorses Yamaha violins and D’Addario strings. Connect with Christian on Facebook, YouTube, www.christianhowes.com, or www.creativestrings.org