Arroyo is a renowned American opera singer who has left a lasting impact on the world of classical music. Born in 1936 in New York City, to a father from Puerto Rico and a mother from South Carolina, Arroyo and her family settled in Harlem.

Born in Detroit, Hugh Wiley Hitchcock is regarded as a leading scholar of American music and the founding director of the Institute for Studies in American Music at Brooklyn College.

An accomplished jazz trumpeter, band leader, composer, arranger, and educator, Wilbur “Buck” Clayton started teaching at Hunter College in 1975.

His career as a professional musician began as a member of Duke Ellington’s Orchestra, then Clayton joined Count Basie’s band in Kansas City in 1936, playing his first prominent solo on the iconic “Fiesta in Blue.”

A graduate of the Macaulay Honors College at Hunter, Victoria Cheah is an accomplished composer who has created her own unique works of contemporary music for audiences all over the world.

Leonardo Freire is a Brazilian-born and New York City-based international touring musician, music director, and educator. As a drummer he has toured around the world for multi-platinum selling artists, and played some of the industry’s most famous and largest stages.

Renowned artist and piano virtuoso Mariel Mayz graduated from Hunter College with a dual Master’s degree in piano performance and composition in 2018. A New York native, Mayz debuted as a pianist with the Rockland Symphony Orchestra when she was only 16 years old.

Alyssa Regent began her undergraduate studies at Hunter College pursuing a degree in the sciences before discovering that composing was her true calling. Earning a Bachelor of Arts magna cum laude, Regent went on to obtain her Master of Arts in composition in 2022.