Tempus (Latin - time) - Is an elite vocal ensemble, auditioned among members of the Asheville Choral Society. This group, directed by Dr. Melodie Galloway, performs a diverse repertoire in numerous concerts in the region and seeks to promote choral and vocal artistry at the highest levels.

As a conductor, artistic director and educator, Dr. Melodie Galloway is known as someone who brings people together through music that captures the beauty of the human experience. As Professor of Music and Director of Visual & Performing Arts at UNC Asheville, her choirs have performed for numerous state and local events, and for invited performances as part of the Holiday Open House Events at the White House each fall (2006-2022), including a private audience with President and Mrs. Obama in 2012. In 2025, she was named the Ruth Paddison Distinguished Professor of Music and Drama. Dr. Galloway’s “Exploring Music Migrations as Markers for Cultural Identities” project aims to bridge music and documentary film to explore cultural identities through historical artifacts in the Thistle & Shamrock collection. Hosted by the University of North Carolina Asheville’s Center for Music and Roots, the project investigates music-related migration stories primarily focused on European, Scandinavian, and British Isles immigrant movements to North America while acknowledging the transatlantic slave trade. The project will utilize Fiona Ritchie’s music collection from NPR’s award- winning program, The Thistle & Shamrock, donated to the Center, and emphasize the connection between past and present cultural identities through music. It will involve faculty-student collaborations for research, documentary production, and undergraduate studies.

Dr. Christine Boone received a B.M. in vocal performance at Indiana University and both an M.M. and Ph.D. in music theory at the University of Texas. Christine’s research interests are centered around popular music. She has presented papers on the Beatles in both the United States and the United Kingdom. Her current research focuses on mashups and AI, and her work on these subjects has been published in both books and articles. She is also passionate about music theory pedagogy, and is co-author (with Brad Osborn, University of Kansas) of Music Theory Matters (forthcoming, Oxford University Press), a new textbook that decenters the classical canon in favor of popular music and music of BIPOC and women composers. Throughout her career as a music theorist, Christine, a lyric soprano, has remained active as a professional soloist in major works, such as Haydn’s Creation, Vivaldi’s Gloria, Handel’s Messiah, and as a featured soloist in the Asheville Amadeus Festival. In addition, she has put her musical knowledge to work on NPR’s classical music game show, “Piano Puzzler.” For more on Christine’s work, please see christineboone.wix.com/mashademia.

Dr. Jonathan T. King holds a B.A. from Amherst College, a M.S. in Geology from the University of Montana - Missoula, and an M.A., M. Phil., and Ph.D. in Music from Columbia University.  He wrote his dissertation on improvisatory bluegrass music performance.  Other areas of interest include include American vernacular musics, North American popular music, East and West African musical traditions, music and language, critical genre studies, and creative improvisatory practice.  He has taught classes examining the relationship of music with language, social identity, modernism, cosmopolitanism, orientalism, and political power.  He has directed ensemble classes with Nyoman Saptanyana (Balinese Gamelan), Andy Algire (Afropop), and Famoro Dioubate (Guinean Balafon), among others. NEH Distinguished Professor and Professor of Music 

Carolina Perez is a sound designer, audio engineer, and songwriter with experience in music production, film, theatre, and interactive multimedia. She holds an M.F.A. in Sound Design from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts and a B.M. in Music Technology from Florida International University. Before joining UNCA as a visiting assistant professor, she taught music technology and sound design at the University of Texas at Austin. Carolina’s creative research focuses on interactive and immersive sound design for performance and installation art. Her songs draw from a range of influences that span electronic, pop, rock, classical, and folk music. 

Dr. Casey King teaches geology and environmental science courses. Her current research investigates science-based environmental management, and focuses on the emergence of Ecosystems-Based Fisheries Management for New England’s marine fisheries. She is interested in systems thinking to assess and address issues of uncertainty and complexity in socioecological systems.

Matthew Richmond is a percussionist, composer, recording artist, and educator who can’t stick to one genre. He appears most frequently with Like Mind Trio and the Asheville Symphony Orchestra and has extensive experience in classical music, rock, funk, jazz, Latin music, and marching percussion. He contributed vibraphone and percussion to Infinity Plus One by Secret Agent 23 Skidoo, which won the 2017 Grammy Award for Best Children’s Album. He has also performed and/or recorded with Jonathan Scales, Steve Reich, Gordon Stout, Lizz Wright, Jeff Sipe, Billy Jonas, Kevin Spears, Kat Williams, and many others. 

Dr. Andy Jurik has spent much of his academic and performing careers exploring the intersection of classical and popular music. His arrangements for the guitar in both solo and chamber settings range from Scottish lute songs and Brazilian choro to the Beatles and Radiohead. In 2016 Andy completed his doctorate at the University of South Carolina where he won the Creative Graduate Performance Award twice (2015 and 2013), performed on the ASCAP-award winning Southern Exposure Concert series, and completed his dissertation which focused on the guitar’s role in the classical/jazz hybrid of third stream music. He has collaborated with the Cica and ebb:flow collectives in multi-disciplinary performances that blended film, lighting design, and collaborative visual art with electro-acoustic and new music premieres. Andy completed his masters studies Austin Peay State University; prior to this he worked as a musician on Holland America cruise lines where he traveled and performed throughout Alaska, Mexico, the Caribbean, and the Mediterranean. Andy’s recent performances include the JASPER Artist of the Year awards ceremony (Columbia, SC), the U.U. Candlelight concert series (Charelston, SC), the Wired Music series, the Southern Guitar Festival, and the North American Saxophone Alliance Region 7 Conference. An enthusiastic chamber musician, Andy also performs with Demeler (w/Rachel Hansbury, voice) and Duo Cortado (w/Devin Sherman, guitar). He currently serves as co-director of the Asheville Classical Guitar Society.

Rachel Hansbury is a vocal artist and educator based in Asheville, NC. She has performed as a soloist with chamber music groups including the Asheville Choral Society, Gateway Chamber Orchestra, and Music City Baroque, with whom Nashville Arts Now described her performance as "The highlight of the night…angelic, yet full of human emotion." Always curious about the human voice, Rachel has completed studies and masterclasses with artists such as Judy Collins, the King's Singers, and Meredith Monk, and educators such as Clifton Ware, Jeannie LoVetri, and Sharon Mabry. Currently she performs as half of the guitar and voice ensemble Demeler as they perform their blend of French café music and global art song throughout the Southeast.

Dr. Brian Felix is widely recognized as an accomplished and versatile jazz keyboardist. He was co-leader of OM Trio, an acclaimed San Francisco-based jazz-rock group that toured internationally between 1999-2004. Felix has performed at notable venues and festivals, including the Fillmore Auditorium and Great American Music Hall in San Francisco, the Bowery Ballroom and Mercury Lounge in NYC, and the Aberdeen Jazz Festival in Aberdeen, Scotland. He has shared the stage with well-known musicians such as Joshua Redman, Charlie Hunter, Umphrey’s McGee, Sara Caswell, Billy Hart, Joe Russo, Kelly Sill, and Dave Fiuczynski. Felix is a Professor of Music at UNC Asheville, where he teaches classes on jazz theory and improvisation, music business, jazz ensembles, keyboard skills, the Beatles, and the Grateful Dead. www.brianfelix.com

NEH Distinguished Professor and Professor of Music Dr. William Bares received his Ph.D in ethnomusicology from Harvard University and taught at Harvard, Brown, Berklee College of Music and the New England Conservatory before moving to UNC Asheville in 2011. Bares's musical and academic interests lie in the fields of jazz studies, experimental music, and ecomusicology. He has published articles in American Music, Jazz Research Journal, and the Grove Dictionary of American Music, and his book, Jazz and the European Dream, is forthcoming on Routledge Press. An active pianist and music promoter in Asheville’s musical community, Bares has released several albums, leads acclaimed local groups, and hosted several series, including the weekly Sunday Jazz Showcase at Asheville’s Isis Music Hall, and “Ecomusicologies 2014: Dialogues”—a conference/festival that took place in Asheville in October 2014.

Zack Page has been performing as a professional bassist since the early '90s.  His work with various jazz ensembles, theater companies, and the cruise industry has taken him to all 50 U.S. States, the Caribbean islands, Australia, South America, Europe and the Far East. While in college, Zack had the chance to play at the prestigious Montreaux Jazz Festival in Switzerland. In a jazz setting, Zack has had the good fortune to play and/or record with Billy Higgins, Delfeayo Marsalis, Cyrus Chestnut, Marvin Stamm, Eddie Daniels and Babik Reinhardt, the son of gypsy jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt.  Following time spent in Los Angeles and New York City, Zack and his family relocated to Asheville, NC where he enjoys a busy freelance schedule with many of North Carolina's finest musicians.

Tim Fischer is a guitarist, composer, educator, and author based in Asheville, North Carolina. He has performed and toured extensively across the United States and internationally, participating in numerous festivals and concert series Tim FischerCoastal Carolina University. Originally from Los Angeles—where he grew up and studied—Fischer moved to St. Louis in his mid‑20s and has lived in the Carolinas since 2016 Tim FischerCoastal Carolina University. His musical palette is richly diverse, spanning jazz, classical, rock, and experimental electronic music Tim Fischerjazzguitartoday.com. Fischer holds a doctorate in studio/jazz guitar from the University of Southern California and previously earned both bachelor's and master’s degrees there InstagramCoastal Carolina University. He has worn many hats—performing as a solo artist, bandleader, sideman, and concert organizer across different musical communities Tim Fischerjazzguitartoday.com. As a recording artist, he has released four albums of original compositions and arrangements, including his most recent work, The Holy City Sessions, released on Slimtrim Records in 2023 Tim Fischerjazzguitartoday.com. In addition to performing, Fischer is committed to jazz education: he’s presented research on the Miles Davis first quintet at institutions such as Northwestern University, USC, CalArts, Eastern Washington University, Pasadena City College, and the Seattle Jazz Guitar Society Coastal Carolina UniversityRiverBender.com.

Wayne Erbsen is a multifaceted musician rooted deeply in the traditions of old‑time, bluegrass, Appalachian, folk, cowboy, pioneer, railroad, gospel, and Civil War music. Residing in Asheville, North Carolina, he brings to life over a thousand songs through masterful performances on clawhammer and bluegrass banjo, fiddle, mandolin, guitar, and more—often combined with storytelling, history, and humor Native Ground+1. Originally from California, he relocated to the Southern Appalachians in the early 1970s to immerse himself in traditional Southern music, aligning with masters in the genre Blue Ridge HeritageBlue Ridge Music Trails. Over a career spanning more than four decades, Erbsen has released eighteen solo recordings and authored twenty‑nine instructional and song books, while his work has featured in a range of educational products including Sesame Street episodes, NPR’s Wireless Catalog, American Heritage’s Civil War CD compilation, and Microsoft’s Encarta 2004 Native Ground. Beyond performance and publication, Erbsen is a dedicated educator and broadcaster. He founded Native Ground Books & Music and teaches Appalachian music, including serving as Director of Appalachian Music at Warren Wilson College ScoreMel Bay. For more than thirty years, he’s hosted Country Roots, Blue Ridge Public Radio’s longest‑running show, celebrating bluegrass and old‑time country music every Sunday night Native Ground. Moreover, he regularly contributes to the documentation and celebration of mountain music through his writing—his latest collection, Southern Mountain Music, compiles decades of essays, songbooks, and historical reflections Bluegrass UnlimitedBluegrass Jam AlongBluegrass Today.