Born in Baltimore, Maryland, double bassist Andrea Beyer is a performer and advocate for using music as a tool for social growth. Aiming to build young people’s interest in music, Andrea has performed recitals and taught masterclasses in Mexico, El Salvador and Bolivia. She has worked with numerous New Haven public school music programs and been a faculty member of Peabody Bass Works. An active performer, Andrea has played at Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, has performed with artists such as Yo-Yo Ma, John Adams, and Sarah Chang, and has toured in Central and South America with the Youth Orchestra of the Americas. Inspired by a love of chamber music, she is also an arranger, working to increase the repertoire for the double bass. Andrea holds a Masters Degree from Yale University where she studied with Donald Palma and a Bachelors Degree from Oberlin Conservatory where she studied with Thomas Sperl.

A graduate of The Juilliard School and Oberlin Conservatory, American cellist Avery Waite is an active performer, composer and international music education advocate based in India. Fascinated by the possibilities of cross-cultural musical dialogues, he is a recipient of a 2016-2017 Fulbright Grant to study Hindustani music in Delhi. Avery has performed and taught at music programs around the world, including in Afghanistan, Lebanon, Iraq, Turkmenistan, Jamaica, El Salvador and many other countries. Avery is on faculty with American Voices, a US state department organization at the forefront of cultural diplomacy through its work in cross-cultural engagement. Avery is an active composer and arranger. Inspired by his experiences teaching and performing abroad, he has done extensive arranging of traditional Indo-Afghan, Central Asian and Kurdish folk music. Avery performs this music with his ensemble Drifting East and the group recently released its debut album entitled Songs and Melodies of Afghanistan.

Kevin Schaffter was born in Thailand and has spent the majority of his life overseas in Vietnam, Laos, India, Kyrgyzstan and Romania. The impetus to found MusAid came from witnessing the hardships many musicians face in developing countries with obtaining quality music education and instruments. Kevin holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Indiana University and a Master of Music degree from The Yale School of Music where he studied with Clarinet Professor David Shifrin. Kevin has had extensive teaching experience in Belize, El Salvador, Laos, Kyrgyzstan and in Palestine where he was on faculty at the Edward Said National Conservatory of Music.  In 2011 he won The Yamaha Young Performing Artist competition for clarinet. Kevin has given recitals in Romania, India, Italy, Switzerland, El Salvador, Belize, Bolivia, Canada, Laos and has performed as a soloist in Kyrgyzstan with the Bishkek Philharmonic Orchestra. In his free time Kevin enjoys traveling and brewing coffee from around the world. kevinschaffter.com

Originally from France, Kim Mai Nguyen is a violist, music educator and community arts leader based in the San Francisco Bay Area. An enthusiastic advocate for music education, she is involved in several community programs and has taught and mentored with El Sistema-inspired programs both in the United States and abroad. Most recently, Kim Mai lived in Kingston, Jamaica, where she worked with the National Youth Orchestra of Jamaica. Other projects abroad include workshops and cultural diplomacy visits to Guatemala, Belize, Mexico and Afghanistan. Equally passionate about performance from the baroque to the contemporary, Kim Mai is active as a soloist, chamber musician and orchestral player. She is also a member of the world music ensemble Drifing East. Kim Mai holds B.M. and M.M. degrees from The Juilliard School. For more information, please visit her website: kimmainguyen.com