Chicago-born flutist Tessa Vermeulen is Associate Principal/Second Flute of the Alabama Symphony and has received national recognition as both an orchestral and solo artist. She has performed with such orchestras as the New York Philharmonic, St. Louis Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, and Milwaukee Symphony. During her summers, she has had fellowships with Music Academy of the West, the National Repertory Orchestra, and the NSO Summer Music Institute. As a solo artist, Tessa performed in the National Flute Association’s 2024 Convention and has won or placed in flute competitions across the U.S., including Kansas, Wisconsin, Philadelphia, South Carolina, and the National Flute Association. She has also appeared as a concerto soloist with the Lakeview, Oak Park River Forest, and Oistrakh Symphony Orchestras. At the age of 17, she was featured on Chicago’s classical radio station, WFMT. Tessa obtained her bachelor ’s degree from Carnegie Mellon University studying with Alberto Almarza and her master ’s from the Juilliard School with Robert Langevin. Alongside her musical career, Tessa is a visual artist specializing in 2D multimedia. She was commissioned by the National Flute Association to create the official artwork for the 2024 convention.

Michael Tan has performed extensively throughout the United States and Asia both as a soloist and a collaborative pianist, and has received enthusiastic critical acclaims from the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, and the San Francisco Chronicles, among others. Tan received his BA from The Juilliard School in composition and piano performance. He has worked as a staff pianist at the Eastman School of Music and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, as well as chamber music coach for the Young Chamber Musicians, an inspiring chamber music program based in the San Francisco Bay Area, and has given masterclasses in many music institutions and festivals, such as the Aspen Music Festival. While residing in Beijing, China (2012-2020), Tan had also devoted himself besides performing and teaching, to create several series of lecture concerts, exploring the cultural, social and spiritual contexts of western classical music. In 2019, Tan’s choral composition “Crying Ospreys” based on the ancient Book of Songs was performed by the Chinese-German Madrigal Choir at the 11th Johannes Brahms International Choral Festival, and won a gold medal. Tan incorporated this piece into a largescale choral composition Book of Songs Cantata, which won the new composition prize at the 2020 11th China International Choral festival. Moving to Chicago in 2022, Tan joined the faculty of Midwest Young Artist Conservatory and started to build his piano studio in Lincolnshire. He looks forward to communicate in a brave new world the profound formal integrity and spiritual message that classical music has to offer for the young.