Rod & Tricia Biensen
Mimi Blais
Susan Cordell
Neville Dickie
Richard Dowling
Phillip Dyson
Bill Edwards
Brian Holland
Ivory & Gold

Jeff Barnhart is a highly regarded pianist, vocalist, arranger, bandleader, recording artist, composer, pedagogue and entertainer who began a professional career at age 14 entertaining in a restaurant in his home state of Connecticut. Here he began to learn the classic swing, jazz and ragtime repertoire of the early 20^th century.  Jeff put himself through college playing throughout New England including stints with one of his childhood influences, the Galvanized Jazz Band.  In the 1990’s he toured the US and Canada, playing most of the major festivals on the circuit with either the Hot Cat Jazz band or the Draga-Vax Connection.

The 21^st century has seen Jeff in demand as a soloist and band pianist at parties, festivals, clubs and cruises in all corners of the globe.  He currently manages the Titan Hot 7, one of the most acclaimed bands in the country.  In addition, he leads two bands in the UK:  the Fryer-Barnhart International Jazz Band, which concentrates on hot music of the 1920’s, and Jeff Barnhart’s British Band, which performs small group swing of the 30’s.  Jeff is enjoying great success performing with smaller groups, most notably the trio We Three with clarinetist Bob Draga and drummer Danny Coots and also Ivory and Gold, a duo with his talented wife, flutist Anne Barnhart. 

Jeff enjoys playing dual piano and has done so with such jazz luminaries as Ralph Sutton, Neville Dickie, Louis Mazetier and John Sheridan.  He also performs ragtime with Mimi Blais and Brian Holland.  In addition to his own label, Jazz Alive Records, Jeff plays piano and sings on the international labels GHB, Summit-World Jazz Records, Music Minus One, and the two largest jazz labels in the UK, Lake Records and P.E.K. Sound.  He has recently been signed on to the Arbors Records label.  His forthcoming premier Arbors CD is entitled “In My Solitude.”  Jeff has been featured as both pianist and vocalist on over 50 full-length recordings.

Rich Berry is a Software Technical Fellow at Visteon Corporation with an engineering degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His interest in ragtime began in 1973 after hearing Scott Joplin’s “The Entertainer” on the radio. His passion for the music grew rapidly and the subsequent ragtime resurgence inspired him to learn the piano without formal training. He began performing in 1982 and since then has been a frequent participant at festivals and events in the U.S. and Canada. He is also an avid photographer and for many years has been creating a photographic record of this and other festivals.

Rod & Tricia Biensen - You have never have danced in your life? This is no problem according to Rod. He assures everyone who comes to his dance classes that they will have a great time and will learn enough to enjoy themselves on the dance floor. People with dance experience are also encouraged to participate as there will probably be at least one or more dance steps per class that you haven’t done before.

Rod has been active in ballroom dancing since his grade school days. There was an emphasis in his school system for ballroom dance. There was also instruction given by the parents who were from the generation who all danced. He has loved ballroom dancing ever since.

When Rod became aware of ragtime dancing, he started taking a lot of instruction in the dances of the era. Ragtime dancing is ballroom dancing but features the dance steps from the ragtime era. Rod plans to keep the instruction easy to understand so the enjoyment of dancing will be kept high. Rod has actively taught ballroom dancing for the last 21 years to both adults and children.

Rod is also an active participant in ragtime piano performance as well as an accomplished cornet and tuba player.

Joining Rod for this very fun activity is his wife Tricia who will assist in the dance instruction. Be sure to attend Rod and Tricia’s dance classes and have fun!

"Ragtime is FREEDOM! ... Ragtime music helped me to discover my own freedom as an artist!"

For Mimi Blais, ragtime music became a way to discover her many talents as an entertainer, story-teller, communicator, educator, actress, singer and composer. Classically trained (started piano at age 7, then entered the Quebec City Conservatory of Music, L.Mus, B.Mus in performance & Concert Diploma at McGill University in Montreal, where she now lives).

Mimi is one of the most popular ragtime performers on the circuit. She is also the comedy star of the "genre". Nicknamed the New Queen of Ragtime, at her first visit to the Scott Joplin Festival in June 1990, by musicologist and historian Ed. Berlin, Mimi is in high demand because of her charming personality, her "deep" musicality and her flawless and precise technique at the piano.
Mimi received several other nicknames: the Celine Dion of the Keyboard, The French Female Victor Borge and the Quebec Liberacette...

In february & march 2008, she completed a successful concert tour in California, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, Mississippi and Hungary (her sixth visit: 1993, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008… in August 2006 she was invited to play in Hungary for the Sziget Festival in Budapest and a week after she played at the Oslo, Norway Jazz festival as a special guest with the Ophelia Ragtime orchestra).

Mimi has recorded several CDs since 1992: Ragtime (1992), Geraldine (1993), Taxi (1998), Old Rags - New Rags (2000), Made in Quebec (2002), Sunday Morning (2004), Mimi Blais plays André Gagnon (ADISQ-2004), Once Upon a Rag Time (ADISQ-2005), Life is a dream (2006, this one features a lot of Mimi's compositions non-ragtime and classical music). She just recorded a bran new CD last April.

Mimi has a new show this year called: SILENCE! That include playing ragtime music along silent film, comedy and Mimi’s own compositions. ...come and hear The Queen of "Right"-Time! ... Mimi Blais, a Music to be seen!

Nan Bostick

An avid scholar, educator and writer, Nan always adds a bit of history to the toe-tapping music she plays. She is the acknowledged “expert” on the ragtime era of Detroit and the “Indian Intermezzo” craze inadvertently initiated by her great uncle’s 1901 hit Hiawatha. She continues tracking down details about ragtime’s women composers, having co-authored the Lexicon of Ragtime’s Women Composers with Dr. Nora Hulse.

Nan served on the board of the West Coast Ragtime Society and continues to coordinate the seminars at November’s West Coast Ragtime Festival in Sacramento. Her own multi-media seminars and concerts are warmly received at festivals throughout the country. Cuts from her first CD were used by Ken Burns in his PBS documentary about prizefighter Jack Johnson." Nan’s own ragtime compositions are featured on her subsequent CDs.

Susan E. Spracklen Cordell has been playing ragtime for 41 years. In her teens, she played locally at school and civic events. In college she played in concerts and on radio and TV both in Southwest Missouri, where she lives, and in Europe, where she has ragtime friends. When she married and had children she limited her playing to nursing homes and all the elementary schools in the area.

From 1995 till 2005, she was the coordinator of the Carthage Ragtime Festival in her adopted town of Carthage Missouri. When her son and daughter were in high school, she started playing in festivals outside Carthage again, and now that her children are grown and married, they like to travel with her to the concerts.

Susan probably would not have begun playing ragtime if it had not been for her brother, Steven E. Spracklen. He is a ragtime pianist too, and he provided sheet music and encouragement. He introduced her to a musical form so attractive that she was happy to put Bach and Beethoven on the back burner and concentrate on Joplin, Scott, and Blake. The brother – sister duo has played in concerts together and recorded a CD together. Susan recorded a solo CD in 1990’s and another one in 2005.

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Hailed by The New York Times as “an especially impressive fine young pianist,” classical pianist Richard Dowling appears regularly across the United States in solo recitals and concerts with orchestras. He has performed in the Far East, Australia, Africa, and Europe. Career highlights include a sold-out New York orchestral debut at Lincoln Center and a solo recital at Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall. Works of Chopin, Ravel, Gershwin, and American ragtime figure prominently in his repertoire.

In 2001 Mr. Dowling recorded Sweet and Low Down, a CD containing virtually all of the piano works by Gershwin. American Record Guide wrote of the recording, “Dowling dances through 29 Gershwin numbers with exuberance and a natural feel for rubato…if you love Gershwin, don’t miss this!” In a review of his 2004 World’s Greatest Piano Rags album another ARG critic said that “Dowling plays with tremendous zip and zest…I am sure he is the best ragtime pianist I have ever heard.” He has also recorded two classical CDs of Chopin, three CDs of cello and piano works with cellist Evan Drachman, and a three-CD set of pop songs called A Perfect Moment. His newest CD is Rhapsody in Ragtime––a compilation of ragtime, novelty, stride, and jazz piano solos.

Dowling has received glowing reviews of his concerts that praise him as “a master of creating beautiful sounds with impeccable control of colors and textures,” as “a musician with something to say, the skill to say it and the magnetic power to make you want to listen” and for giving “a superb recital that left the audience craving for more at the end.”

At Yale University Dowling received the Lockwood Award for performing the best recital and the Simonds Award for outstanding solo and ensemble playing. He earned a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from The University of Texas. His principal teacher was Abbey Simon, a member of the Juilliard School faculty.  Mr. Dowling is a Steinway Artist and is represented by Parker Artists.  Visit his official website at www.richard-dowling.com.            

Bill Edwards discovered ragtime when he was 6-years-old, and hasn't been able to leave it alone since. Learning initially from records by Paul Lingle, Frankie Carle and Lou Busch, he later discovered it was available in print form also, and started accumulating ragtime scores in his teens.

Bill started his professional career in California in the late 1970s, residing in Durango, CO. through the first half of the 1980s where he took up residence at the Diamond Belle Saloon at the Strater Hotel. He has lived in Virginia since 1986. For many years Bill was a featured entertainer at the Fish Market in Alexandria. Since 1996, Bill has been applying his passion for the music on his website, www.perfessorbill.com, and has been an active researcher of selected composers and specific ragtime sub-genres. This spring Bill performed a solo concert on the Millennium Stage at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington DC. A video of this performance may be viewed on the Kennedy Center site.

One of Bill's more fulfilling projects of the past two years has been acquiring rights to and restoring to CD some of the very records that inspired him to begin with. He also enjoys attending ragtime festivals and competitions, particularly the World Championship of Old-Time Piano in Illinois, where he holds the 1991 title and has consistently finished in the top five since 1987. Bill has 26 different CD titles available for your enjoyment. Most are themed to a genre such as classic ragtime, popular ragtime, topical rags, stride and stomps, old-time songs and blues.

Pamela Edwards, the good natured and wonderfully supportive wife of "Perfessor" Bill Edwards (in spite of himself), has long been involved in music. Growing up mostly overseas, largely in Pacific locations from Vietnam and the Philippines to Indonesia, she has played the clarinet since she was in school. She has been involved in choirs since college, singing for churches or other organizations through most of her adult life. Pamela works as Federal auditor for the Defense Contract Audit Agency, and as a civilian DoD employee served our country for half of 2006 while stationed in Kuwait, helping to keep war costs and potential fraud within control. An avid Disney fan, as is Bill, she completely enjoys the magical and musical experiences to be had at all the Disney parks. Pam is usually seen wherever Bill is, and is thrilled to join him on stage for the 2008 Scott Joplin Ragtime Festival as a vocalist.

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William Harvill is currently working for the Sherrod Library at East Tennessee State University in Johnson City, TN, while he continues to work on his Ph.D. in Musicology from the University of Kansas. During his time in Lawrence, KS, William Harvill performed regularly on piano and saxophones with the Junkyard Jazz Band and the Osawatomie Outpatients Ragtime Quartet. This is his third year performing in Sedalia, and he is looking forward to playing ragtime duets with his friend Ed Judd on tuba again, and hopefully some other friends from Lawrence will join them. William is also a member of Kansas City Ragtime Revelry, (occasionally) editing their newsletter - The Revelry Rag.

Having performed ragtime, jazz and stride piano for over 20 years,

Beginning his musical existence at the age of three, Brian grew up living a "Ragtime Life." His grandparents raised him to love all kinds of music, but particularly styles from the early 20th century. He quickly learned his way around an organ keyboard and had a repertoire of old standards that would shock most professionals - all before the age of six. It was then that he turned his attention to the piano. However, during twelve years of intense classical studies, Brian decided that it wasn’t a concert stage he wanted to perform on, but the ragtime stage. Since then he has performed all across the US, first on majestic pipe organs in pizza parlors, and then on the uprights and concert grands at ragtime concerts and festivals.

In 2007, Brian earned a Grammy Nomination for his work with Bud Dresser as B-Square (Ragtime – GOODTIME – Jazz CD and other recordings available at www.hollandentertainment.com. Brian also took his love of music globally to the International Stride Summit in Zurich, Switzerland last fall.

"Brian Holland[‘s] lightning-fast left hand bangs out a clean, steady rhythm while his right hand skitters up and down the keyboard rendering the melody in thick chords ... watching the energy and dexterity is narcotic." -The New York Sun

Dr. Nora Hulse, retired professor of keyboard studies at Central Methodist College, Fayette, MO, was introduced to Ragtime in Cripple Creek, Colorado, later performing in Shakey’s Pizza Parlor in Columbia, MO with her husband, Mark on banjo. In more recent years she performed ragtime regularly on the live KOMU-TV talk show, “Pepper and Friends.” Other groups include her Roundhouse Rascals Dixieland Band, The TurpinTyme Ragsters, and Ragtime Razzmatazz Duo with her husband, Mark. Ragtime performances include the Scott Joplin Ragtime Festival in Sedalia, MO; James Scott Ragtime Festival, Carthage, MO; West Coast Ragtime Festival, Sacramento; Ragtime in Randall (Iowa); Ragtime for Tulsa Foundation; Classic Ragtime Society of Indianapolis, Indiana; the Scott Joplin House State Historic Site, St. Louis; Boone County Historical Society, Columbia, MO. Nora co-authored with Nan Bostick, an annotated lexicon, “Ragtime’s Women Composers,” which appeared in the Ragtime Ephemeralist 2002. In June 2004, at Sedalia, MO, Nora received the prestigious Scott Joplin International Ragtime Foundation Award for Outstanding Achievement in Ragtime. She has produced six recordings and four music folios of ragtime composed by women.

Mark Hulse's early musical experience was that of a trombonist in school bands through high school in Philadelphia, PA and Long Island, NY. In the mid 1960's he took up 4-string tenor banjo, taking lessons from a folk banjo teacher in Columbia, Mo and at Mel Bay Studios in Kirkwood, Mo. Soon, he was playing banjo and trombone at Shakey's and Village Inn Pizza Parlors in Columbia, Mo. Over the next 40 years Mark performed with numerous Dixieland and small "combo" bands on banjo or trombone.

Mark is retired from the University of Missouri-Columbia where he managed a research instrumentation laboratory and participated in the design and development of university research instrumentation for 40 years.

During their pizza parlor years, Mark and Nora met, married and have performed together since as a banjo/piano duo. In recent years they often appear at Jazz Banjo and Ragtime festivals as the "Ragtime Razzmatazz" Duo, perform with their Roundhouse Rascals Dixieland Band in central Missouri and, lately, with The Junkyard Jazz Band in Lawrence, Ks.

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Charles Edward (Ed) Judd as a teenager studied tuba with Arnold Jacobs of the Chicago Symphony but later Ed entered the science teaching profession. After retiring he visited the Scott Joplin Festival and was inspired by it. The experience rekindled his music interests Ed is now playing in seven music groups including a symphony orchestra and two ragtime ensembles.

Ruth Juntunen lives on Chub Lake by Carlton, MN, and was a teacher. She is a violinist who has played in the Des Moines and Duluth Symphonies, several orchestras, small groups and solos. She presently is playing at ragtime music gatherings, with the Harmony Trio, soloing, and in a praise group.

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Sue Keller began her ragtime obsession in 1974, after graduating from DePauw University with a degree in Music and Theater. Since then, Sue has treated audiences to her piano and vocal performances throughout the world.

Appearances have included the prestigious Scott Joplin Festival in Sedalia, Missouri, the Alexandria Bay Ragtime-Jasstime Fest, Lake Superior Festival, the Indianapolis Classic Ragtime Festival, and Zehnder's in Frankenmuth. Sue is a member of the board of directors for the Old-Time Piano Championship in Peoria, Illinois and also judged for several years. Most recently she has been chosen as artistic director for the Scott Joplin festival for 2007-2009, having also performed that function from 2004 through 2006 with John Petley and Bill Long.

The latest additions to Sue’s recorded works are two Christmas CDs: “She Loved Christmas”, dedicated to her mom, Betty Keller, and “My Reindeer Don’t Like to Fly”, as well as two new ragtime CDs: “AKA Charles Johnson”, containing works by her favorite ragtime composer, and “Ragtime Reflections”, dedicated to friends past and present.

In pursuit of her endeavor to bring to light the work of original ragtime composers, Sue has established the Ragtime Press, whose sheet music offerings include two folios: “The Music of Robert Russell Darch”, 28 pieces by “Ragtime Bob” Darch, and “A Little Lost Lamb”, a volume of eighteen previously unpublished Joseph Lamb pieces. A companion CD is available.

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Lou LeBrun began studying accordion at age of 7. She was performing in USO shows at 12 years old and studied with Galla-Rini, the foremost accordion player of the world. As an adult, Lou taught accordion and performed professionally for 15 years. She then worked as a computer programmer, rarely having time to play, but resumed her musical career at the age of 72.

She has appeared at the National Accordion Convention in Texas for the last three years, and those who hear her say that she is “awesome”, almost becoming part of the accordion.

Although Lou’s favorite is Ragtime, a typical set includes Ragtime, Gershwin, Duke Ellington, Polkas, Dixieland, Boogie-Woogie, and sing-alongs. All of those who have heard her enjoy her bubbling personality, career anecdotes, and unique musical styling.

She comes from Springfield, Missouri and this is her 3rd year with the Ragtime Festival.

Dave Majchrzak - Dave Majchrzak is a regular performer at the Scott Joplin House in St. Louis, Missouri and on the St. Louis Riverfront. He is making his 7th appearance at the Scott Joplin Festival in 2008. Dr. Dave is a small animal veterinarian by day, but only as a way to support his ragtime habit. He also performs with the nationally known St. Louis Stompers Classic Jazz Band and does most of the arrangements for them as well. Dave regularly substitutes with the St. Louis Ragtimers. Dave got his start in ragtime when he was 12 years old, at Shakey’s Pizza Parlor, playing with his then teacher, Steve "Stubby" Heist.

Although Dave has been performing Ragtime for almost 35 years now, he still plays ragtime because it’s fun. Playing Ragtime has opened many exciting doors for Dave, such as getting to perform for the Emperor of Japan and his wife on their United States visit in the early 1990's.

During his recent years on the Ragtime scene, Dave has already performed at some the most popular Festivals in the country, including Scott Joplin Festival in Sedalia, MO, Blind Boone Festival in Columbia, MO, Grand International Festival in Alexandria Bay, New York, and the Chippewa Valley Festival in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, and has no plans to stop with those. Dr. Dave also had the honor of being the 2008 Artist in Residence for the Scott Joplin Foundation. His performances include a mix of Ragtime, Stride, and Novelty vocals.

He has recorded 3 CD’s ("Burning Rags," "Dizzy Fingers," and "Animal Crackers"). Currently, with the help of his recording engineer son, Ben, he has begun work on his fourth. So much music, so little time.

Haven’t had your Caffeine, yet? Don’t worry, Dr. Dave’s energetic style and pianistic fireworks will put that ‘pep back in your step.’ www.ragtimerdrdave.com.

Larisa Migachyov is a law student at the University of Pennsylvania who is (shh!) sneaking away from her law firm summer internship to be at this festival. She has played the piano for most of her conscious existence and began composing music at the age of 5. Larisa's interest in ragtime began in 2005, when she joined the San Antonio Ragtime Society; her first appearance at the Scott Joplin Festival was in 2006, at which time she premiered her first ragtime composition, the Purple Chicken Rag. That rag, along with Larisa's other compositions and recordings, can be found at www.larisamigachyov.com.

Gerry Mohr- I have lived in St. Louis all my life. By profession, I am an accountant. I took piano lessons in grade school, in the 1950’s. I started re-taking piano lessons in the early 1990’s. Before long I started getting hooked on ragtime. I started with easy play arrangements in the min-1990’s, eventually moving to the regular compositions.

I first attended the Sedalia Festival in 1996, and returned vowing to play there some day, which I first did in 2005. While I have a current mix of six songs now, I may evolve into a ragtime waltz performer, with my strong interest in Joplin’s Bethena.

In addition to ragtime, I have sung barbershop since 1970 and also play a church band as a keyboardist. Having sung barbershop for so long, it was probably inevitable that I would move into ragtime, with both types of music being heavy on chords.    

Judy Ashwander Moore, Donald Ashwander’s younger sister, is caretaker of Ashwander’s original manuscripts, recordings and mementos. She was actively involved in the creation and publication of two comprehensive Ashwander music folios, The Music of Donald Ashwander, Volume I and Volume II. She is the mother of our festival performer, vocalist Sharon Moore, and will be a co-presenter for the Ashwander seminar with Sharon Moore and Sue Keller.

Sharon Moore is the niece of composer Donald Ashwander. Ms. Moore has been a professional singer most of her life, and recorded Particular People with Ashwander in 1981, while in her early ‘20s. Several of those “story songs” were included in the Premier Recordings compilation, Traditional Patterns, The Music of Donald Ashwander. Ms. Moore has been a jazz vocalist and festival performer in Dallas, Nashville and her current home near Mobile, Alabama. Her CD, A Moment More, was nominated for a Nashville Music Award for best jazz album of the year in 2000. That album features two Ashwander compositions, Chili Billie, and Daybreak in Alabama, set to the revered Langston Hughes poem. Ms. Moore will be co-presenter for the Ashwander seminar with Sue Keller and Judy Ashwander Moore.

Donald Ashwander grew up in rural Alabama during the ‘30’s and ‘40’s. Following high school, Ashwander enrolled in the Manhattan School of Music and immersed himself in New York concerts, plays and jazz cafes. His diverse musical interests led him to discover his inspiration through ragtime, American folk and cabaret. In the emerging world of contemporary ragtime, Ashwander gained critical acclaim, when in 1966, his rags Friday Night and Business in Town were featured in Rudi Blesh’s authoritative volume, They All Played Ragtime. A prolific composer and lyricist, Ashwander’s work was honored by The Guide Foundation, ASCAP, and is in the repertoires of The Canadian National Ballet and The Royal Ballet of London. For nearly three decades Ashwander was musical director/composer/performer for The Paper Bag Players, New York’s acclaimed children’s theatre company, who continue to perform his signature music for thousands of children worldwide.

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Beverly Opelka makes her first appearance at The 2008 Scott Joplin Ragtime Festival. Classically trained in piano and voice, her varied vocal repertoire - from classics to jazz - and language versatility initiated a number of engagements. She has appeared at The Chicago Cultural Center, Davenport’s Jazz Club, in numerous theatrical productions, with The Palos Symphony, and as a member of several choruses. Ms. Opelka has given recitals and is a cantor and soloist in her Church. She particularly enjoys her musical collaboration with ragtime artist, Sue Keller. Together, as Two for You, they present programs for civic, corporate and social functions. Bev and her husband, Bill, grew up in Chicago and presently live in Palos Park, Illinois.

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With the exception of four years of military duty, Galen Parker has spent his entire life in Rochester, NY. He started his ragtime career at the tender age of 10 trying to learn “The Crazy Otto Rag” by ear. Then for a number of years other realities took over his life, but eventually Galen came back to the piano.

Ten years ago he retired from a 35 year engineering career with Eastman Kodak Company, and has since been focusing with a vengeance on learning ragtime and stride piano literature. Galen performs at ragtime festivals, private parties, and nursing homes.

William Perkins is a 15-year-old pianist from a small town in the Central Valley of California called Riverbank. At eleven, Will began taking piano lessons. While he quickly started down the path of classical piano, his mother suggested learning “The Entertainer.” His piano teacher got a book with several ragtime pieces in it and soon Will was learning the Maple Leaf Rag. Full of ambition, he went to a local music store and picked up a book with several Scott Joplin pieces and quickly learned the original version of Maple Leaf Rag. And as they say, the rest is history…

Will also enjoys baseball, football, and is an avid Boy Scout. Will has played just about every instrument in the brass section, but has recently decided to focus solely on the piano. His love of all types of piano music can be seen by the venues at which he chooses to share his talent; whether it be at church or as the pianist for a recent High School Drama production of “Alice in Wonderland.” In November of 2007, he placed first in the West Coast Ragtime Festival Youth Competition for his division.

John Petley was born in London, England and has resided in the Washington DC area for the last 25 years. His first exposure to ragtime music began very early in life, down at a local pub, where his parents used to park his crib next to a jangling upright piano all evening while they socialized, sang and enjoyed some malt refreshment! After a few years of formal piano lessons from an eccentric Italian lady who lived nearby, he decided to teach himself to play ragtime by spending numerous hours listening to and transcribing the recordings of the ragtime piano masters, immersing himself in these addictive rhythms and wonderful melodies. His performing career began as a teenager when, not surprisingly, he was offered a job as a pianist in an 11th century stone tavern with a thatched roof, oak beams, outside toilets, and a singing clientele which he still fondly remembers with a lot of nostalgia.

John landed in America in the late 1970's after working as a pianist on several cruise ships touring the Caribbean and playing a variety of popular musical styles. He established a small piano tuning and repair business which he still operates, and continued his research and performance of the music from the ragtime era. John has attended and performed at the Scott Joplin festival in Sedalia for the last fifteen years and was the music co-director of the festival from 2004-2006. He also toured and recorded with ragtime pianist Mimi Blais. John currently performs at many ragtime concerts and festivals throughout the United States and can be heard on his CD "Rollicking Ragtime" playing some of his favorite pieces. A new CD is planned for later in 2008.

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Jim ‘Ragtime’ Radloff began ‘playing piano’ at the age of 3 by mimicking old radio commercials, and plays primarily by ear. During college and graduate school he played in saloons, supper clubs and piano bars. Since 1989 He has concentrated on tunes of the Ragtime, Classic Jazz, Vaudeville, WWI, Prohibition and Great Depression eras (1890’s-1930’s). His ‘Take Me Out To The Ball Game’ CD captures the spirit of the music of these times. His passion for this historical American music led to him to found the Eau Claire Ragtime Festival www.ecragtime.org and Chippewa Valley Ragtime Society cvragtime@charter.net. He is Music Director of the non-profit, tax-exempt Eau Claire Ragtime Festival celebrating its 10th Annual Ragtime Festival January 9 – 11, 2009. Unique among such festivals, to date over $70,000 has been donated to local non-profits.

Born and raised in Wausau, WI, Jim is a WI Licensed Clinical Social Worker who served in the Peace Corps in the Dominican Republic (’63-’65). He performs interactive concerts or background music for any special occasion. His goal: perform publicly in every state and province. Contact at above addresses or E1924 Kirk Court, Eau Claire, WI 54701 (715-834-6897).

John Remmers has been playing classical piano from early childhood and ragtime since the early 1970s, when he became entranced by the musical form upon hearing Joshua Rifkin's recordings of Scott Joplin's piano rags. After a swing into harpsichord playing and early music in the 1980s, John's musical focus returned to ragtime in the 1990s, and he became a frequent after-hours performer at ragtime festivals around the country.

Since retiring from his day job teaching computer science, John's involvement with ragtime has intensified. He has been featured on the programs of the Scott Joplin Festival, the West Coast Ragtime Festival, the Sutter Creek Ragtime Festival, the Lake Superior Ragtime Festival, the Blind Boone Festival, and the Ragtime-Jasstime Festival. He has appeared as guest soloist for the Classic Ragtime Society of Indiana and has competed in the Old-Time Piano Playing Contest in Peoria, Illinois. His CD "Hand-Played Rags" is available for purchase at the Ragtime Store or cdbaby.com.

Wesley Reznicek, a fifteen year old from Dixon, Missouri, is the 2007 Junior Division Old Time Piano Playing World Champion. Wesley has played at past Scott Joplin Festivals, at the Scott Joplin House in St. Louis, the Eau Claire Ragtime Festival in Wisconsin and in concerts and contests for The Ragtime for Tulsa Foundation. Last summer, Wesley traveled with his church youth band to Russia where he opened each concert with ragtime. The Russian people loved this exciting music! In addition to piano, Wesley plays euphonium in his school band.

Jack Rummel was born in Tacoma, Washington. He took his early lessons from a neighborhood children’s piano teacher and later studied the rudiments of popular musical stylings from a local Tacoma bandleader. He became aware of ragtime in the 1950s due to some recordings by Joe “Fingers” Carr and Crazy Otto, but did not pursue its serious study until the 1970s when he was awakened to the classic rags of Scott Joplin and others through the recordings of Joshua Rifkin and Max Morath.

Since then, Jack has embraced ragtime as an avocation, starting with folio and record collecting, beginning composition in 1979, hosting a weekly radio program on a Denver area public radio station since 1980, writing articles and reviews for ragtime publications, and performing at various festivals in Missouri, California and Colorado. He was a co-founder of the Rocky Mountain Ragtime Festival in Boulder, CO and served as its president from 1992-2005. His four recordings and three published folios or original compositions have put him in the forefront of ragtime composers now living. He plays five-string banjo in a bluegrass band and practiced dentistry for 37 years before retiring in 2002. Jack received the 2005 Scott Joplin Award from the Scott Joplin Foundation in Sedalia, MO for his achievements in the field of ragtime. He currently reviews ragtime recordings monthly at www.ragtimers.org/reviews.

Donald Ryan has been called "a musical kaleidoscope, sparkling at everything he plays." Not only is he masterful in “playing from the book” but as an improviser he has few peers. His consummate command at the piano has triggered enthusiastic responses across the U. S. A. (Carnegie Hall, New York and the Wayne Newton Theater in Las Vegas included), England, France, Germany, Austria, Poland, Spain, Switzerland and the Caribbean.

A favorite with ragtime audiences, he has been a repeat featured performer at the Scott Joplin International Ragtime Festival in Sedalia, MO. One reviewer appraised him as “probably the premier performer of ragtime in the formal classical style active on the festival circuit today.” In the fall of 2005 Mr. Ryan was the Scott Joplin International Ragtime Foundation Artist-In-Residence to schools in and around Sedalia.

Donald Ryan was only three years old when he began playing the piano in his native Trinidad, West Indies. Before reaching his teens he was his church's organist. By the age of fourteen he had won trophies for performance in national competitions, and was the pianist for a weekly live radio program that reached the entire eastern Caribbean. In the 1975 Chopin Competition in Warsaw, Ryan was the recipient of the Madeyska award.

A recent inductee into the Oklahoma Jazz Hall Of Fame, Donald Ryan continues an active career in music as a concert and recording artist, composer, arranger, and teacher. He also serves as music advisor to the Ragtime For Tulsa Foundation (Oklahoma) and frequently performs in schools under its auspices. He is, in addition, widely regarded as a premier special event pianist and has played for heads of state and other American and foreign dignitaries.

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For 50 years, Mike Schwimmer has passionately promoted ragtime and traditional jazz as a performer, presenter, and historian. From the 1950’s thru the 90’s he played in jazz and ragtime bands, hosted radio shows, and produced new ragtime player piano rolls.

More recently, Mike has been percussionist and emcee of the ragtime quartet, The Elite Syncopators. He currently accompanies many fine solo performers such as Jeff Barnhart, Brian Holland, Sue Keller, and others at festivals and concerts. He can be heard as a percussionist and vocalist on a number of CD recordings available at festival venues. His latest is a mixture of ragtime and jazz with the Holland Rhythm Company where he performs vocals and plays both his Rhythmboard and drums.

Mike has been an emcee/presenter at the Scott Joplin Festival in Sedalia MO, the Classic Ragtime Festival in Indianapolis, the Tom Turpin Ragtime Festival in Savannah, and the West coast Ragtime Festival in Sacramento. In 2003, he received the prestigious Scott Joplin Award for Achievement in the Field of Ragtime bestowed by the Scott Joplin Ragtime Foundation in Sedalia, MO. He currently lives in Brewster, MA with his wife Kit.

Morgan Siever is eleven years old and lives in Carlyle, Illinois. This is Morgan’s third year performing at the Scott Joplin Festival here in Sedalia. Morgan will be making her concert debut while at the 2008 festival. She performed for the Classic Ragtime Society of Indianapolis in April, and the Scott Joplin House in St. Louis is a regular performing spot for Morgan. At The Friends of Scott Joplin Competition in St. Louis, Missouri, Morgan received an Honorable Mention in 2005 and 2nd place in both 2006 and 2007. At the World Championship Old-Time Piano Playing Contest in Peoria, Illinois, Morgan participated with the juniors (8-18) in 2005, placed 4th in 2006, and came in 7th place in 2007. She has taken Master Classes from Tony Caramia, Glenn Jenks, Don Ryan, and Sue Keller. Morgan was a guest soloist with the Alton Symphony Orchestra in April, 2006. Morgan has also performed at the Missouri Historical Society and performs regularly at the Ragtime Rendezvous at Dressel's in St. Louis, as well.

Martin Spitznagel, 25, is delighted to be returning to Sedalia. Introduced to ragtime by a grade-school classmate, he immediately went out after school and bought the first book of music he saw with the word "ragtime" in the title, a collection of the piano rags of Scott Joplin.

Two years later, at 14, he won Calliope Media's nationwide "Crazy for Ragtime" competition, where he was awarded a Yamaha Disklavier piano for his arrangement of "Slap-Happy Rag."

Never one for the discipline of lessons, Martin was largely self-taught until he came to Sedalia in 1998, where he had the good fortune of meeting noted pianist and Professor Tony Caramia, with whom he continues to study.

Martin was a featured youth performer at the Scott Joplin International Ragtime Festival in 1999, and returned to the festival in 2006 and 2007. He competed in the World Old Time Piano Playing Championship in 2007, winning the "Best New Rag" competition with the "Red Elephant Rag," and placing fourth in the player's division. In the past year he has performed at the Grand International Ragtime-Jasstime Festival in Alexandria Bay, NY, the Northern Virginia Ragtime Society, and the San Antonio Ragtime Festival.

In October 2007, in association with Rivermont Records, he released his debut CD, "Tricky Fingers." In addition to playing the piano, he is also an aspiring filmmaker, writer, and composer.

Martin currently lives in Alexandria, VA, and is getting married to his high-school sweetheart, Jessica, on June 28, 2008!

A native and resident of Nashville, TN, Michael Stalcup started playing piano at the age of four and began his studies of the classics at age ten. By the time he started high school, his studies had included, among many classical masters, works by Scott Joplin, Zez Confrey and George Gershwin.

He earned his Bachelor of Music in Composition from Belmont University in Nashville, After college, Michael really developed his immersion into the ragtime genre and soon released his first album, Great Scott!, which Dick Zimmerman called “an impressive debut recording.”

In the year 2000, Michael won first place in the New Rag composition contest at the World Championship Old-Time Piano Playing Contest in Decatur, IL

Michael was a featured performer at the 2001 James Scott Festival in Carthage, MO with Bob Darch and Sue Keller. He was also a featured performer at the 2001 Scott Joplin Birthday Celebration in St. Louis.

Steve Standiford has been playing piano darned near forever (it seems), finding ragtime thirty-five years ago. He has previously performed at the Scott Joplin Festival, the John William Boone Ragtime Festival in Columbia, the Great River Jazz Festival in La Crosse, Wisconsin, the Eau Claire Ragtime Festival, the Lake Superior Ragtime Festival, the West Coast Ragtime Festival, with Sue Keller at her annual Ragtime at the Viking concerts, and in solo concerts wherever folks will listen. He also plays tuba and string bass with The Ragtime Ramblers, and with anyone else who will let him join in.

His daytime job as a cancer surgeon in Philadelphia supports his ragtime habit. He is always looking for opportunities in ragtime along the East Coast. He can be reached at georgiagrind@yahoo.com.

Monty Suffern began piano lessons at age seven with his Aunt in Melbourne Australia. As soon as he could reach octaves she insisted on a thorough grounding in chords. By age ten he had developed his own stride style, although he was unaware of the term for decades. At ten the family moved and his piano lessons essentially ceased. He has mainly played by ear ever since, developing various genres, although today he concentrates mainly on stride and ragtime. His piano playing philosophy is simple: use as much of the piano as you can reach (sometimes including the wood at either end) and grab as many notes as you can fit into two hands. More elusive refinements involve striving for the best possible clarity, and playing with feeling and passion. Simply getting all the right notes (he wishes) is never enough.

Monty came to USA in late 1999 to teach Aviation Sciences at Baylor University in Waco, Texas. He attends many ragtime festivals (sometimes taking lessons from the stars), interspersed by his “retirement” jobs of building a Velocity airplane and practicing piano like crazy. Recent appearances include the Lake Superior and Eau Claire festivals.

Adam Swanson is a sixteen-year-old pianist originally from Michigan, but now living in a little town in southwest Iowa called Shenandoah. He discovered ragtime on his grandparents’ “Web-TV,” and has played the piano for about five years. Adam is an accomplished performer, ragtime pianist, and historian/author. He is a three-time junior champion of the World Championship Old-Time Piano Playing Contest, held in Peoria, Illinois, and recently placed in the top five of the adult division.

Adam has played at popular ragtime and jazz festivals everywhere from Missouri, Wisconsin, and California, to the Republic of Hungary. He has played for/with several noted ragtime artists, including the great Johnny Maddox and the late John Arpin. Adam has studied piano with Waleed Howrani of Ann Arbor, Michigan and plays the trumpet in school. He is also an avid rail-fan, collects antique sheet music and records. Adam’s recent CD is entitled “Chestnut Street In The 90s.”

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Dave Tucker is an internationally-known performer of early jazz styles. Dave specialized in performing ragtime, novelty, blues and Harlem stride piano music, but has expanded in recent years to performance with dance orchestras and several small combos. The early jazz standards of the great American songbook has also become an important part of Dave’s constantly expanding repertoire.

In 2001 Dave issued his first recording “Tickled Ragtime & Novelties” featuring the music of Scott Joplin, Joseph Lamb, Zez Confrey and others. A second CD “Meadow Lark”, issued in April 2005, includes more ragtime and expands into the Harlem stride of Fats Waller, James P Johnson and Willie “The Lion” Smith, along with other examples of early jazz piano music.

Now a regular performer at music festivals nationwide, Dave has performed at the International Scott Joplin Ragtime Festival, the Blind Boone Ragtime Festival, the West Coast Ragtime Festival, the Lake Superior Ragtime Festival, the Eau Claire Ragtime Festival, the Alexandria Bay Ragtime/Jasstime Festival, the Northern Virginia Ragtime Society, among other numerous appearances. Dave has also conducted several ragtime presentations for school children.

Dave now performs regularly in the Washington D.C. region. In 2005, Dave joined the New Hots Dance Orchestra as their pianist. The Hots is a dance orchestra specializing in presenting the music of the 1920s and 1930s while occasionally expanding to include the classic swing era (1940s).

In addition, Dave is involved with several small combo groups. Reverie is a five-person group specializing in presenting early vocal jazz standards (www.reveriejazz.com). In 2007 Dave joined the Jefferson Street Strutters, a tradition-jazz band based in Northern Virginia (www.jsstrutters.com). Dave also works with other musicians and vocalists for various projects in the D.C. area.

Dave maintains a website covering his activities at www.dave-tucker.com.

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“Terry Waldo, ragtime pianist nonpareil and eminent scholar of the form, is musical director and arranger at the piano. Mr. Waldo is worth the price of a ticket.” THE NEW YORK TIMES

Terry Waldo, the protégé of the late Eubie Blake, is a virtuoso ragtime, stride, and blues pianist. He is also a vocalist and performer—famous for his dry wit. Terry has produced and arranged over 50 albums including a ragtime orchestra album for BMG. He has performed and composed for many TV programs and films including The Naked Dance: The Music of Storyville for PBS. Terry’s music can also be heard on the soundtrack of the recent PBS documentary, Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson. His This Is Ragtime, currently being republished by Jazz at Lincoln Center, is the definitive book on the subject and his 26-part series, of the same title, produced for National Public Radio, fueled the 1970s ragtime revival.

Terry’s numerous theatrical credits include his one-man shows, The Naked Dance: The Music of Storyville and Eubie and Me. This season he has been the music director for the new André De Shields musical about Louis Armstrong, Ambassador Satch, which opened in London’s West End in 2002. Last year he composed the music for a Chekhov short story adaptation called Trophy Wife for La Mama Theater. Terry has appeared in concerts worldwide, including several shows for George Wein’s JVC Jazz Festival at Carnegie Hall and Jazz at Lincoln Center. Recently, he appeared with the New York Pops at Carnegie Hall where he presented the world premiere of a Eubie Blake concerto.

Kjell Waltman started out as a child actor, making his debut at the age of seven as a featured performer at the Gothenburg Opera House. In his teens, having chanced to hear Max Morath playing ragtime on a Voice of America broadcast, Kjell developed a lifelong love for the music. Unable to play the piano – or any other instrument – he was fortunate to have a piano playing friend, Anders Lindberg, who taught him how to pick out the theme of Scott Joplin's "The Entertainer" with one hand, and also gave him the sheet music.

A few years later, Kjell, who by then had taught himself how to play the piano and read music, meet Peter Lundberg, a ragtime pianist of renown, who generously shared his collection of ragtime sheet music and knowledge of the music, He met "Ragtime Bob" Darch 1979 and was encouraged to become a full-time musician and entertainer. Kjell started playing ragtime professionally in 1979, and have over the years performed at many ragtime and jazz festivals on both sides of the Atlantic, appearing with, among others, the late Eubie Blake, "Ragtime Bob" Darch, Johnny Maddox and Max Morath.

In addition to numerous concert and nightclub appearances in Scandinavia, Germany, The Netherlands, The United States, Canada and Mexico, Waltman has toured extensively with his highly praised one-man show "Ragtime", an entertaining exposé of turn of the century American music, and was also a featured performer in The Gothenburg Grand Opera Company's adaptation of Scott Joplin's opera "Treemonisha", a production that ran for over two years (1980-82).

Kjell presently runs his own translation business, limiting his musical activities to composing and occasional concert and festival appearances.

Sandy Williams lives in Duluth, MN and became hooked on Ragtime real fast after brother Tim Sandor, co-founder and President of LSRS encouraged her to get back to the piano and gave her a copy of The Spasm Rag by contemporary composer Tom Shea-that was back in !984, when the Lake Superior Ragtime Society began. “Just practice- make it your New Years Resolution”. So, Sandy went with those words and has been very active as Vice-President of the Lake Superior Ragtime Society, busy planning the community concerts, youth contest, Ragtime festivals and other functions of LSRS. Sandy enjoys performing regularly around the Duluth area nursing homes, assisted living complexes and such, often being the entertainment for different organizations in town, bringing the joy and happiness of Ragtime to her audiences, young and old alike. A retired RN, this” Ragtime Nana” enjoys attending the ragtime festivals and renewing old friendships with her extended family of Ragtimers.

Bryan Wright, of Lynchburg, Virginia, is presently a graduate student pursuing a PhD in historical musicology at the University of Pittsburgh. Classically trained on piano from age 5, Bryan soon began studying the rags of Scott Joplin alongside the works of Beethoven, Schumann, Mozart, and others. As an undergraduate student at the College of William and Mary (Williamsburg, VA), Bryan and fellow ragtime pianist Rob Schwieger presented a popular series of annual ragtime concerts for the Williamsburg community and co-hosted a weekly 2-hour ragtime radio program, Elite Syncopations on WCWM-FM. In 2004, Bryan released his first solo ragtime CD, Syncopated Musings (available in the Ragtime Store).

Apart from playing ragtime, Bryan is an avid collector of vintage 78 rpm records and ragtime recordings in general. He puts these recordings to use on Elite Syncopations Radio, a 24-hour online ragtime radio station that he founded four years ago (www.ragtimeradio.org). Bryan is also host of Soundstage, a radio program featuring a mix of ragtime, traditional jazz, dance bands, and big band swing (available online at www.bostonpete.com).

Adam Yarian is a 22 years old graduate from USC where he majored in piano performance and studied both classical and jazz piano with Dr. Stewart Gordon and Dr. Dennis Thurmond respectively. He has been playing classical piano for 12 years, and ragtime for almost as long. Adam has been lucky enough to study under two remarkable classical teachers -- Dr. Gary Dinn of Fort Washington, Maryland and Professor Reynaldo Reyes at Towson University -- who have both always encouraged and aided Adam in his ragtime studies. Adam has competed in and won numerous classical and ragtime competitions, including the 1998 Maryland State Solo Competition, the 1999 Maryland State Concerto Competition, and was a three time winner of the Junior World Championship Old Time Piano Playing Competition in Decatur, Illinois (1998-2000). At the age of 15 Adam began competing in the senior division of the Old Time Piano Playing Competition, and was a three time winner of the coveted title “World Champion Old Time Piano Player” in 2004-2006. In addition to competitive events, Adam has performed at the Scott Joplin Festival, the Rocky Mountain Ragtime Festival, and the West Coast Ragtime Festival. While most of Adam’s time is spent playing solo piano, he was also a member of the internationally recognized Capital Focus Traditional Jazz Band for six years. During that time he was afforded the opportunity to perform in New Orleans (at the French Quarter Jazz Festival), Newcastle England (at the Whitley Bay Jazz Festival), and The Hague (at the North Sea Jazz Festival).

Brett Youens was born in Weimar, Texas in 1974. He fell in love with Ragtime and the music of early 20th century America at an early age, performing "Basin Street Blues" on the trombone accompanied by his school band at age 12. After completing his studies in Music and German at the University of Texas at Austin, Brett moved to Germany to concentrate on composition and piano performance, where he earned a degree in Piano Pedagogy in 2005. He has written numerous concert and pedagogical works, including the piano method, "Snowman's Dream" which makes use of the latest in brain research to accelerate the piano learning process. His latest CD, "Elite Syncopations: The music and influence of the King of Ragtime, Scott Joplin", includes works by Joplin and those he inspired: from Joseph Lamb to Claude Debussy to Brett himself, who is represented by two of his own published rags. His current projects include, “The Well-Tempered Ragtimer”, a cycle of ragtime works in all of the major keys, and "Fun on the Black Keys", a method book that teaches how easy it can be to play pieces with many sharps and flats. His work, “The Gift of the Magi”, a ragtime musical based on the O’Henry short story, premiered in Texas in August of 2007. Brett currently resides in Tuebingen, Germany where he is active as a teacher, conductor, and ragtime pianist.

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