Robin Hackett (Voice, Piano, Guitar) is a recent transport to New York City. She is a singer, songwriter and actress. Her song Hard Left appeared on the CBS Hit Comedy How I Met Your Mother. Her song More received a first round Grammy nomination in the Best Jazz Vocal Album category. Robin performed in the infamous JVC Jazz Festival and was written up in Acoustic Guitar Magazine. Robin has recorded six albums of original music as well as covers.
 
She has created and facilitated workshops in voice as well as audition technique for musical theater students and drama students. She has also facilitated workshops for adults, Sing your Heart Out – Recovering the Wounded Singer and Out of the Box – Discovering your Creativity. She has studied piano, voice and guitar throughout her career.
 
Robin thoroughly enjoys teaching, uplifting and inspiring all towards discovering and experiencing their own creativity. She has a knack for creating a safe space to all of her learners regardless of age and background.
 
Robin has been teaching voice, piano and guitar for twenty years. She enjoys teaching beginners to intermediate in voice and piano, and beginners level on guitar.
 
Her book The Creative YOU
is available on Amazon.

www.robinhackettmusic.com

Trombonist Malec Heermans is a busy freelancer in New York City. He is a founding member of the Juan Andrés Ospina Big Band and timba band People of Earth. With People of Earth Malec has been a featured soloist with the LA Philharmonic, Louisville Orchestra, Britt Festival Orchestra, and New World Symphony. Malec contributed to the 2016 GRAMMY award winning album, Home.

Majid Khaliq is a violinist and composer cut from a different cloth. He has been described by legendary musician Wynton Marsalis as having “a unique blend of improvisation, groove and technical sophistication.”
 
In 2002, Majid graduated from the Juilliard School with a Bachelor of Music and in 2010 with a Master of Arts in Jazz Performance from Queens College’s Aaron Copland School of Music.
 
Majid has played with such artist as Wynton Marsalis, Mr. Cheeks, Antonio Hart, Craig G, John Blake Jr., Dyme-a-Duzin, Itzhak Perlman, Keith David, Isaac Stern and Regina Carter.
 
In 2008, he was the recipient of the prestigious, Edward and Sally Van Lier Fellowship Award for composition. In 2011 he released, The Basilisk, his successful debut Jazz recording and has since released two mixtape albums with his hip-hop band Ma*Jid, entitled Sfumato Symphony Volume 1 & 2 on Soundcloud. Majid has been on Downbeat Magazine’s Rising Violinist list for the since 2015.
 
Majid’s music is an eclectic blend of styles and influences which pull from European classical, jazz & hip-hop. In 2018, he released his greatly anticipated 2nd studio album entitled “SOUND OF A FLOWER “ at National Sawdust to a SOLD OUT crowd and has since seen great radio success. Also, 2018 found Majid alongside Harlem rapper A$AP Ferg in a YouTube RED series entitled, SUGAR. Majid released a collaboration recording with Brooklyn MC, Dyme-a-Duzin in the spring of 2019 named HIPHOP, as well as, Majid’s anticipated 3rd studio album release, NO LOOKING BACK in 2022.

Brian McQueen is an operatic bass and voice instructor residing in New York City. They have appeared with the
Lyric Opera Theatre of Arizona State University, Miami University Opera, Janiec Opera, Trilogy Opera, and recently made their New York operatic debut as both Spinelloccio & Amantio in On Site Opera’s production of Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi. As a recitalist, Brian toured as Artist in Residence with the Tohno International Arts Association (Japan), Manchester Literary Festival, Poetry International (London), ChaShaMa (NYC), The Metropolitan Opera Guild, and recently in the A Train Festival (NYC). Recently, they were seen in the new opera Exagoge (Avner Finberg) presented at the New York Opera Festival. As a voice instructor, Brian maintains a vibrant private voice studio. They are a Teaching Artist with the Bronx Arts Ensemble and the Harlem School of the Arts. Brian is a 2017 fellow with Emerging Leaders in New York Arts, a finalist in Opera Ebony’s 2021 Benjamin Matthews Voice Competition, and currently serves as Artistic Liaison for ChaShaMa. Brian holds a BA in Music from the University of South Carolina, an MM in Voice Performance from Miami University of Ohio, and an alumnus of the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University.