Lina Andonovska
flutes
“Curiosity, fearlessness and versatility carry Lina Andonovska’s artistry around the globe. Andonovska is a rare breed in the flute world; a name that you’ll discover on both the pages of Rolling Stone and the Australian Chamber Orchestra roster, she has not only cultivated partnerships with leading composers including Louis Andriessen, Donnacha Dennehy and flautist Claire Chase, but also deep community ties from Timor Leste to Tokyo’s incubator Wonder Site.”
Lina is flautist of 4-time Grammy Award-winning ensemble Eighth Blackbird. Throughout her career, she has collaborated with ensembles including Ensemble Modern, Ensemble Recherche, Crash Ensemble, Deutsches Kammerorchester, stargaze and Southern Cross Soloists. She is critically acclaimed for her interpretation of new music; Rolling Stone Magazine hailed her performance at Bang On A Can Summer Festival as “superbly played, (ranging) from sustained ‘somebody-please-get-that-tea-kettle’ squeaks to the flit and flutter of its beautifully lilting trills...”
As an orchestral and session player Lina has performed with BBC Symphony Orchestra, BBC Concert Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, Irish Studio Orchestra, Southbank Sinfonia and most of Australia’s symphony orchestras, as well as Guest Principal Flute with Ulster Orchestra, Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra, RTÉ Concert Orchestra and Orchestra Victoria, and Guest Principal Piccolo with Australian Chamber Orchestra. She currently performs as Principal Flute with Irish National Opera. As concerto soloist she has performed with Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, US Navy Band, Dallas Winds, Civic Orchestra of Chicago, Deutsches Kammerorchester, Orchestra Victoria, Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra and Southbank Sinfonia.
Performance credits include a solo performance at the Melbourne International Arts Festival that was noted as “re-defining the act of going solo “ (The Age), Brett Dean’s flute concerto ‘Siduri Dances’ with Deutsches Kammerorchester, ‘smonize’ by composer Lucia Kilger for Donaueschinger Musiktage 2024, Tokyo Experimental Festival Grand Prize Winner, Edinburgh International Festival concerts with Crash Ensemble and stargaze, solo and ensemble appearances at Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, Ultima Festival Olso, Berlin’s acclaimed Unerhörte Musik series and a solo recital at Musica Nova Helsinki. Lina released her debut solo album with Diatribe Records label in early 2020, which was described as “brimming with energy and bold textures, though marked throughout by nuance. A name to watch out for.” (All About Jazz). As an improviser, she regularly performs with pianist Izumi Kimura, as well as having collaborated with artists such as John Butcher, Stéphane Payen, Florian Weber and Dominique Pifarély.
In 2023, she was Artist-in-Residence at the prestigious Australian National Academy of Music of where she is an alumna. Passionate about mentorship and coaching, she has given master classes internationally, appearing as Guest Teaching Artist at institutions including Yale University, Valdosta State University, University of Michigan, Brigham Young University, University of Texas, Louisiana State University, Ohio State University, University of Alabama, Rowan University, De Pauw University, University of Arkansas, Clemson University, University of Queensland and has been Artist-in-Residence at the University of Western Australia. In 2025, she joined the faculty at Emory University (USA) as Assistant Professor of Music where she directs their new music ensemble, the Emory Sound Collective.
Lina is a Powell Flutes Artist.
Maiani da Silva
violin
Praised for the sensitivity and refinement of her playing, and performances that unfold “almost as if in a dream” (Fanfare Magazine, 2024), violinist Maiani da Silva has emerged as a distinctive voice in contemporary and classical music in the United States and beyond. She is a member of the “imperious” (The Guardian, 2024), four-time GRAMMY® Award–winning sextet Eighth Blackbird (8BB), and the founder of Brouhaha, a solo project exploring the Anthropocene through music and science (forthcoming album release in 2026, Sono Luminus). With 8BB, she premiered and recorded David Lang’s composition as explanation (Cedille Records), nominated for a Grammy Award in 2025, and has appeared as soloist for world premieres of concerti grossi with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and the United States Navy Band, among others.
As a sought-after interpreter of contemporary repertoire, Maiani has also premiered works by Joan Tower, Du Yun, Viet Cuong, and Raven Chacon, and has collaborated closely with composers including Jonathan Bailey Holland, Louis Andriessen, and George Lewis. Recent highlights include the U.S. premiere of Sophia Jani’s Six Pieces for Solo Violin at Bang on a Can’s Long Play Festival (2025) and recordings with the Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP).
While meeting the expressive and innovative demands of contemporary music with magnetic presence, Maiani is equally sought-after in the performance of traditional repertoire, for which she has been commended for her stylistic sophistication. Beyond the classical stage, she has appeared with artists such as Julianna Barwick, Childish Gambino and Peter Gabriel.
Maiani joined the faculty of Yale University’s Department of Music in 2021, where she lectures on the performance of contemporary chamber music. She also serves on the faculty of the Blackbird Creative Lab, has been a guest artist at Apple Hill Center for Chamber Music, and is Artist in Residence and Fellow at Yale’s Morse College.
Maiani studied under the tutelage of Irina Muresanu at The Boston Conservatory at Berklee and the legendary Mela Tenenbaum in New York. Other important mentors include Lenny Matczynski and Andrew Mark.
Matthew Duvall
percussion
Read more about Matthew here.
Zachary Good
clarinets
Zachary Good is a Chicago-based instrumentalist (clarinets and Baroque recorders), improviser, and performer. He approaches music making with a variety of perspectives, ranging from historically-informed to experimental practices, while working across a spectrum of genres and techniques.
Zachary is clarinetist of Eighth Blackbird, a founding Co-Artistic Director of the performance collective Mocrep, and one-third of the clarinet/percussion/cello trio ZRL. He has frequently performed with International Contemporary Ensemble, Music of the Baroque Chicago, Manual Cinema, and Ensemble Dal Niente. He has been a featured
soloist with International Contemporary Ensemble, DePaul University’s Ensemble 20+, and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s All Access Chamber Series. His discography includes releases on No Index, Homeroom, Parlour Tapes+, ears&eyes, and more.
He is a middle school band director at the Chicago Waldorf School. Alongside the musicians of Eighth Blackbird, he was Visiting Instructor at the University of Richmond during the 2019–20 academic year. In 2018, Zachary worked closely with cellist YoYo Ma to mentor young musicians at the second annual Youth Music Culture Guangdong Festival in Guangzhou, China. As a Fellow and clarinetist in the Civic Orchestra of Chicago from 2014–2016, he helped conceive and establish the Orchestra’s New Music Workshop.
Born in Pittsburgh, Zachary is currently a doctoral candidate at Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music. He holds degrees from Oberlin Conservatory of Music and DePaul University’s School of Music. His body of research is looking into the phenomena and functionality of dyad multiphonics on the soprano clarinet.
Lisa Kaplan
piano
Read more about Lisa here.
Aaron Wolff
cello
Described by the Chicago Tribune as “a musician of quicksilver brilliance,” Aaron Wolff is a New York City-based cellist active in solo, collaborative, and cross-disciplinary capacities. Aaron gave his Carnegie Hall debut in Weill Recital Hall as the winner of the 2023 Leo B. Ruiz Memorial recital. Other recent performances include Debussy’s Cello Sonata on CNN’s Quest Means Business, Marc Migo’s La Dona d’Aigua with the Juilliard Orchestra, as well as collaboration with eighth blackbird, the Argus Quartet, and composer Anna Heflin, whose forthcoming monodrama The Incomplete Cosmicomics will feature Aaron as the lone performer.
Aaron has spent summers at Yellow Barn, the Perlman Music Program, Lucerne Festival Academy and Bang on a Can. In 2017, he was a fellow at the inaugural eighth blackbird creative lab. Aaron has appeared at the Metropolitan Museum, the Guggenheim Museum, Bargemusic, The City Reliquary, MASS MoCA, Nasher Sculpture Center and The Cleveland Art Museum as well as traditional venues like Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, Alice Tully Hall and Symphony Center Chicago.
He has also found creative outlets in acting – most notably in a lead role in the Coen brothers’ film A Serious Man – and in arranging and writing about music: he has provided string arrangements for Comedy Central’s Broad City and covered New York’s new music scene for the online journal I Care If You Listen. Aaron holds a BA in comparative literature from Oberlin College, and an MM & Artist Diploma from Juilliard, where his primary mentors were Joel Krosnick, Tim Eddy and Fred Sherry. He is now pursuing a DMA at CUNY’s Graduate Center with violinist Mark Steinberg.