Highly acclaimed by the musical press for his exceptional performances of unusual material such as the music of Phillip Glass and David Ott, Paul Barnes has performed throughout the United States, Europe and the Asian countries. As a student of the famed pianist Menahem Pressler, he is Associate Professor and Co-Chair of Piano at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln School of Music as well as a teacher at the Bosendorfer International Piano Academy in Vienna.

He now continues an ongoing series of American works for piano and orchestra, including two bona-fide classics, Gershwin's I Got Rhythm Variations and Rhapsody in Blue.

Victoria Bond was a composition student of Roger Sessions and a conducting student of Sixten Ehrling at Juilliard (where she was the first woman to earn a doctorate degree in conducting in 1977). Her Ancient Keys is inspired by Barnes himself. His fascination with Byzantine Chant, leading to his role as Head Chanter at Lincoln's Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church, inspired Bond to write a concerto that expanded upon a melody known as Potirion Sotiriu ('Cup of Salvation').

Jeffrey Hass, associated with Indiana University, was commissioned by the University to write the Concerto for Amplified Piano, a work which allows the piano to be on a more equal footing with the powerful timbres of the wind ensemble.