Robert Chumbley performed with PWS in 2002, conducting Winds of Nagual composed by Michael Colgrass at the November Fall Concert. He received his high school diploma from the North Carolina School of the Arts in 1971 and his Master of Music from the Juilliard School in 1977. While at Juilliard, he was a piano pupil of Adele Marcus, and also studied with Malcolm Frager and Horacio Gutierrex. His compositional studies were under the world-renowned composers Roger Sessions and Michael Colgrass.

From 1996 until coming to The Arts Council of Winston-Salem in the fall of 2001, Chumbley was the Executive and Music Director for the Atlanta Ballet. Prior to his tenure with the Atlanta Ballet, he was the Executive Officer and Artistic Director for the complex of theaters, galleries and academic spaces at the State University of New York at Buffalo's Center for the Arts. As the Artistic Director of the renowned North American New Music Festival, he created two festivals that included performances of works by such composers as Maw, Colgrass and Frazelle given by the Buffalo Philharmonic, Diamanda Galas, Rackham String Quartet, Rinde Eckert and members of the Boston Conservatory Chamber Players. At SUNY Buffalo, he also served as an Associate Professor with the Faculty of Arts and Letters.

In 1989, Chumbley became an Associate Professor of Music teaching composition at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln. There until 1994, he also served as the Executive and Artistic Director of the Lied Center for Performing Arts. Appalachian State University engaged Chumbley as the Director of Cultural Affairs, the Sharpe Chair in the Arts and as a Visiting Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies from 1984 until 1989. He was Appalachian's first Director of Cultural Affairs and was the Founding Artistic Director of the prestigious summer multi-arts festival, An Appalachian Summer.

Chumbley enjoys an award-winning career as a pianist, composer and conductor. He received the Composer Fellow Prize from the Nebraska Arts Council and the North Carolina Arts Council, competitive cash awards. In both 1990 and 1992, he received competitive grant awards from Opera America for the development of his opera Ordinary People, commissioned by the Piedmont Opera Theatre. At the William Kapell International Piano Competition, Chumbley received the Irwin Fruendlich Prize, and in 1980, a Rockefeller Foundation Competitive Grant Award supported his critically acclaimed New York r4ecital debut at the 92^nd Street Y.

Chumbley's compositions are published in New York City by Carl Fisher, Inc. His works have been performed throughout the United States, Canada and Europe, and commissioned by such organizations as the North Carolina and Omaha Symphonies, the Gulbenkian Foundation, and the Atlanta Ballet.

As a pianist, Chumbley has appeared with major orchestras across the US, Europe, Af4rica and Japan. In 1993, he performed at the inauguration of President Bill Clinton by the invitation of the United States Congress and the Ford Foundation. In 1986, 1988 and 1989, Carnegie Hall Corporation, invited him to perform in Carnegie Hall. He performed the world premiere of Michael Colgrass' Memento for two pianos and orchestra with the Minnesota Orchestra, Leonard Slatkin, conductor, in 1982.

In 2000, Chumbley made his European debut as a conductor with the Royal Ballet Orchestra in Royal Festival Hall in London, and conducted the National Ballet of Norway in Oslo in September 2002.

James Ketch enjoys a varied career as both professional trumpeter and university educator.  Active as both a classical and jazz musician, Mr. Ketch is in demand as a soloist with concert and jazz bands, orchestras, and chamber ensembles. He serves as a Bach trumpet clinician for the Selmer Corporation and is active as a freelance artist performing with numerous touring Broadway shows and backing up touring stars such as the Manhattan Transfer, Natalie Cole, The Temptations, The Four Tops, and numerous others.

As an educator, Mr. Ketch is Professor of Music (trumpet, Director of Jazz Studies) and Chair of the department at the University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill. He is also a regular faculty member of the famed Jamey Aebersold Summer Jazz Workshops. In addition to teaching trumpet, Mr. Ketch teaches courses in jazz improvisation and history and conducts both big bands and combos. Under his leadership, the Jazz Studies program at Carolina features two big bands, five combos, seven classroom courses in jazz, the Carolina Jazz Festival (annual week-long event featuring guests artists, artists-in-residence, and a jazz symposium), the Jamey Aebersold Visiting Jazz Artists Series, and the Fred and Gail Fearing Jazz for a Friday Afternoon Combo Series. The jazz ensembles at Carolina have recorded three compact discs and appeared in three famed European Jazz Festivals (Jazz A Vienne, Montreux, and North Seas). Mr. Ketch is President of the North Carolina Chapter of the International Association of Jazz Educators and President of the Jazz Foundation of North Carolina, Inc. a 501C3 non-profit organization that supports the work of the North Carolina Jazz Repertory Orchestra.

Mr. Ketch has enjoyed an active career as a classical musician and soloist.  He has performed numerous trumpet and organ recitals across the country and has been featured soloist on many of the most significant works for trumpet including Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 2, and the concertos of Haydn, Hummel, Tartini, and Neruda. He has performed in over a dozen conferences of the International Trumpet Guild and has chaired several events at those conferences. He has been the recipient of the Outstanding Soloists Award from the North American British Brass Bands Association Competition and was a finalist for the St. Louis Symphony's Young Artists Competition. He has performed with the North Carolina Symphony Orchestra, the Crown Chamber Brass Quintet, the Triangle Brass Band, the Mallarme Chamber Players, and the Triangle Chamber Orchestra. He has recorded for the Crystal, Metro, and Albany labels.

As a jazz trumpeter, Mr. Ketch serves as jazz soloist and music director for the North Carolina Jazz Repertory Orchestra (NCJRO).  The NCJRO has recorded three compact discs and created two statewide television broadcasts for North Carolina PBS.  The orchestra has received considerable praise from nationally known figures Wynton Marsalis, David Baker, John Edward Hasse, and the late Mark Tucker.  Mr. Ketch is a frequent guest clinician, soloist and adjudicator in the jazz education field.  Recent appearances have included the Nebraska All-State Jazz Orchestra, the Clark Terry Jazz Festival at the University of New Hampshire, the University of Louisville, and the Discovery Jazz Festival in South Carolina.

As both artist and teacher, James Ketch's career reveals a deep commitment and passion for both the performance and teaching of music.