TREY FILES' diverse interests have led him to work with an eclectic array of ensembles and musicians. In addition to his fifteen years with Ethos, he has performed and/or recorded contemporary and world music with the Manhattan Chamber Orchestra, New Music Consort and the Michael Gordon Band. His extensive work in commercial and avant-garde theater includes serving as music supervisor for off-Broadway's De La Guarda and as drummer/associate conductor for Spring Awakening, a Broadway musical that won eight Tony Awards. He recently completed playing drum set for the Broadway run of American Idiot, which featured music from Green Day's multi-platinum album of the same name. His discography includes the Grammy Award-winning cast albums of Spring Awakening and American Idiot, as well as releases on the Decca/ UMG, Reprise, Newport Classics, Koch International, Traditional Crossroads, Resonator and Victory labels. Trey is currently on the faculty of Vassar College; previous faculty appointments include Lehman College and Queens College. Trey earned performance degrees from Stephen F. Austin State University (Texas) and Manhattan School of Music, and he is a doctoral candidate at City University of New York. Contact Trey at trey@ethospercussiongroup.org, or at his personal website: www.treyfiles.com.

MICHAEL LIPSEY has performed at festivals in Bali, London, Lisbon, Madrid, Berlin, Mexico City, Taipei, Macao, Tokyo, La Jolla, New York, Moscow, Bogota and Lille, France. Michael is the founding member of Talujon Percussion and has also performed with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Steve Reich, Bang on a Can, Tan Dun, New York New Music Ensemble and the Riverside Symphony. He has recorded for Sony Records, Red Poppy Records, Nonesuch, Albany, Capstone and Mode. As a soloist, Michael has performed at the Sonic Boom Festival in New York, Festival of the Arts in California and at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention in Nashville. He has given master classes at The Juilliard School, California School of the Arts, Purchase College of Music, the University of Maryland at Baltimore and other universities around the country. Michael is a full-time Associate Professor at the Aaron Copland School of Music at CUNY, Queens College, where he serves as Director of the Percussion Program and the New Music Ensemble and is co-director of the Balinese Gamelan Yowana Sari. Contact Michael at michaell@ethospercussiongroup.org.

ERIC PHINNEY is an accomplished percussionist with performance experience in many diverse musical traditions. His interest in North Indian tabla drumming led to twenty years of dedicated study with two major artists of Hindustani classical music - Pandit Sharda Sahai, the leading exponent of the Benares style, and Pandit Samir Chatterjee, representing the Farrukhabad style. He was initiated as a disciple by both masters, continuing a teacher- student lineage that dates to the 18th century. Eric has also pursued his interest in the music of Ghana, West Africa, studying Ewe drumming at the Dagbe Center in Kopeyia with Emmanuel Agbeli. A member of Ethos since 1994, Eric has performed at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, London's Wigmore Hall and The Kennedy Center. As an orchestral timpanist and percussionist, he has performed with the Berkshire Opera Orchestra at Tanglewood, and has toured with the New World Symphony under conductor Michael Tilson Thomas. He currently teaches at the Bloomingdale School of Music, the Little Orchestra Society in New York and the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Eric holds both Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from the Manhattan School of Music. Contact Eric at eric@ethospercussiongroup.org.

YOUSIF SHERONICK appears internationally as soloist and chamber musician with world- renowned artists including Philip Glass, Glen Velez, Foday Musa Suso, Simon Shaheen, Henry Threadgill, the Lark Quartet, Paul Winter Consort and duoJalal, the most recent collaboration with his wife, violist Kathryn Lockwood. Hailed by The New York Times for his "dazzling improvisations," Yousif credits his ability to work in such diverse genres to having studied contemporary classical, jazz, world and rock music, which he fuses seamlessly into his playing. Yousif's unique style encompasses traditions and instruments from the Middle East, North and West Africa, Brazil, India, and Europe. He has appeared throughout the US, Europe, Middle East, Asia and Australia with appearances at Carnegie Hall, Royal Festival Hall (London) the JVC and Newport Jazz Festivals, Jazztel (Madrid), Renaissance Festival (Rethymno, Greece), Early Music Festival (Regensburg, Germany) and Jerusalem Festival (Palestine). Distinguished collaborators include Yo-Yo Ma, Branford Marsalis, Pandit Samir Chatterjee, Marcel Khalife, Sonny Fortune and Cindy Blackman. Modern Drummer magazine calls Yousif's critically-acclaimed solo CD titled Silk Thread "a testimony to his genius". He holds degrees from Yale University and the University of Iowa. Contact Yousif at yousif@ethospercussiongroup.org, or at his personal website: www.yousifsheronick.com.