Richard Brasseale is an acclaimed saxophonist, composer, and educator in the Chicago area. Brasseale has played with numerous ensembles, including the Milwaukee Symphony, Madison Symphony, Fulcrum Point New Music Ensemble, Camerata Chicago, Civic Orchestra of Chicago, and more. Recent solo performances include with the DePaul Symphony Orchestra, North Park Orchestra, and various recitals in Alabama, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Arizona. Brasseale has also performed as a guest artist with the New World Symphony for their Project BLUE series and has also performed in the Spahlinger Festival, EAR TAXI Festival, and for Terry Riley’s 80th Birthday Concert.

Richard currently teaches Classical Saxophone and Chamber Music classes at North Park University in addition to teaching at the Chicago Academy of the Arts, and at the Merit School of Music. He has been invited to lecture at Stanford University in addition to the Elmhurst and DePaul Universities. He is also the Production Manager of Twickenham Fest, a chamber music festival in his hometown of Huntsville, Alabama that brings in top-level classical musicians from around the world.

As a composer, Richard is dedicated to telling stories about queer life. He has scored films that have appeared in the Queer Bits Film Festival, the Cleveland International Film Festival, and the DePaul Premiere Film Festival. He has also written music for various Second City sketch shows. In 2021, he released his album, Boyfriend Songs, reaching over 50,000 listeners in over 140 countries.

Brasseale received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Saxophone Performance from DePaul University, where he won both the Wind Symphony and the Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competitions. He attended the Brevard Music Festival, where he was a fellow of the ITCH New Music Ensemble and performed with their festival orchestras. His primary teachers include Jeremy Ruthrauff, Susan Cook, and Joe Lulloff. In his free time, Richard enjoys hiking, running, coffee, buying way too many houseplants, and being an expert four-leaf clover finder.

Lillia Woolschlager is a pianist and oboist in the local Chicago area. As a freelance musician, she has played with various orchestras in the Midwest region including Northbrook Symphony, Battle Creek Symphony, and Dubuque Symphony. She is an accomplished collaborative pianist, accompanying local university students and professional musicians throughout the city. She has performed with the Classical Music Chicago Foundation as part of the Rush Hour concert series, collaborating with world-renowned oboist Alex Klein, as well as the Dame Myra Hess Concert Series with many outstanding musicians. As a teaching artist and instructor, Lillia teaches group and private piano lessons at the Merit School of Music, she is an instructor of piano and oboe with her own private studio, and at Music House School of Performing Arts.

Lillia attended the Crane School of Music in Potsdam, New York, studying with oboist Dr. Anna Hendrickson and pianist Dr. François Germaine. She obtained a dual Bachelor’s Degree in Oboe Performance and Musical Studies with a piano pedagogy concentration. After graduating from the Crane School, she moved to Chicago to study with Alex Klein at DePaul University. Here she obtained her Master of Music Degree in Oboe Performance, while accompanying her peers on piano in recitals and chamber music performances.