Ascher Taylor-Schroeder is a passionate performer and educator with a background in rock & jazz guitar and classical trumpet, in addition to his classical guitar training. In 2020 Ascher graduated Magna Cum Laude from Murray State University with his Bachelors of Music Education where he studied with professor Brent Webster. Upon graduation he also received the Outstanding Senior award from the Department of Music. Ascher also earned a Masters of Music degree with an emphasis in string pedagogy from the University of Louisville in 2022. Here, he was a teaching assistant for Dr. Stephen Mattingly and Xavier Jara.
Ascher has a particular passion for the commission of new music for the guitar and chamber music. This has led to collaborating to premier System Break for guitar duo in 2021 and Same of Different for guitar quartet in 2023, by Isaac R. Smith, 3 am on Bardstown Rd., by Jakob Giles in 2021, and derealization for electric guitar duo and percussion, by Tanner Jones in 2022, as well as performances with guitar quartet, trio, duo, violin duo, voice and string quartet.
In addition to being Guitar Department Director at the Youth Performing Arts School, Ascher has also been conductor and music director of the Louisville Mandolin Orchestra since 2021 and joined the Louisville Guitar Society Board of Directors in 2022 and is a founding member of
Chimera Quartet.
Ascher lives with his wife, Shelby and their two dogs Ella and Dahlia in Louisville, KY. In his free time he enjoys reading, making/eating food & beverages, and being in nature.
Stephen Mattingly has been warmly received by audiences as a soloist and founding member of the Tantalus Quartet. As a recipient of the Theodore Presser Award, he recorded and published critical editions of the complete guitar chamber works by Franz Schubert. His first solo recording, Passages, was released on SoundSet Records in 2016.
Stephen enjoys a vibrant career as Associate Professor of Music at the University of Louisville, where he directs classical guitar studies. His students have won top prizes in international competitions and serve in teaching positions at high schools and colleges. He is a member of the Kentucky Arts Council Performing Arts Directory and has performed at Carnegie Hall, the Silesian Guitar Autumn in Poland, the Panamá Guitar Festival, the Tampere Festival in Finland, the Guitar Foundation of America Convention, and the Iserlohn Guitar Symposium in Germany, among others.
In addition to his performing and teaching engagements, Stephen is the Director of the University of Louisville Guitar Festival and Competition.
He received both his Bachelor’s and Master’s degree from Eastman university, studying under Nicholas Goluses. Stephen also attended the Accademia di Musicale Chigiani in Siena, Italy, studying with Oscar Ghiglia. He would go on to receive his Doctorate of Music from Florida State University in 2007.
Stephen currently plays a guitar by Steven Walter.
Nathan has cultivated a rich and diverse career spanning decades, encompassing experiences across the globe.
Throughout his career journey, Nathan has held faculty positions, contributing his expertise as a Senior Lecturer of Guitar at the University Teknologi MARA in Malaysia, as well as a Visiting Assistant Professor and Post-Doctoral Fellow at the American University in Cairo. He also held a Visiting Professor at the National Conservatory in Cairo, Egypt, and maintained adjunct positions at institutions such as Edith Cowan University in Perth, Australia, the University of Nevada in Las Vegas, and SUNY Fredonia in Upstate New York. In recognition of his outstanding commitment to student development, he received the UiTM Innovation Teaching Award in 2014.
Nathan’s performances have captivated audiences across five continents, both as a soloist and as a chamber musician. He champions the exploration and performance of contemporary works and enjoys collaborating with a host of talented composers from around the world.
As an accomplished researcher, Nathan has secured grants from the Howard Hanson Institute of New Music and the Fromm Foundation at Harvard and was awarded a U.S. Fulbright Scholar grant. Recently, he was co-researcher for the Bestari Perdana grant titled “The Malaysian Art Song as a Unifying and Empowering Cultural Identity.” His scholarly pursuits have taken him to various corners of the world, including immersive studies of Antonio Lauro with Luis Zea in Caracas, Venezuela, presentations on Tazul Tajuddin in Istanbul, Turkey, and on John Duarte at the Western Australia Academy of Performing Arts in Perth. Nathan has published with the Malaysian Music Journal, International Journal of Innovation, Creativity, and Change, Doberman-Y’ppan, Azahar Press, Frameworks Records, and Soundset Records.
In service to the Twisted Spruce Music Foundation, Nathan spearheads the incubation of emerging composers and guitarists, providing them with a platform to thrive and grow.
Nathan’s academic background includes the a DMA and MM from the Eastman School of Music, where he studied under Nicholas Goluses. He further honed his craft at the Accademia di Musicale Chigiani in Siena, Italy, receiving guidance from the renowned Oscar Ghiglia. He earning a BM from George Mason University with Larry Snitzler. This all culminating in the prestigious Andrés Segovia Award for Musical Accomplishment and Human Endeavor upon graduating from Eastman in 2004.
Andrew Chapman began his journey as the UofL Music Therapy Clinic coordinator in June of 2022. He sees the clinic as both a therapeutic and musical resource for individuals who may typically face barriers in accessing such resources.
If music is mankind’s universal language, then Andrew Chapman wants to use it to reach people who don’t always feel they have a way to connect.
In his role as coordinator, Andrew seeks to make people feel comfortable with creating their own music and expressing emotions they might otherwise struggle to communicate. His approach emphasizes music as a therapeutic tool that empowers individuals to express themselves in ways that are often more natural and meaningful than words alone.
Growing up in a musical family within a tradition-rich area, Andrew sang and played piano and then guitar from a young age, often in a worship setting. The son of a music teacher dad and a chaplain mother who worked in locations including nursing homes and special education classrooms, Andrew said he observed early on both the importance of music to people and the inequity that existed for some.
During his internship at UofL MT clinic and in the years following, Andrew led a community-based and process-oriented songwriting group. He also worked with individuals in foster care to create and perform original songs. One of his current projects is “The Grooves, All-Abilities Rock Band”. The band consists of 10-12 musicians with a range of abilities and includes adults who are autistic, with visual or physical disabilities or with Down syndrome. Band members play electric guitar, drums, keyboards or other clinic instruments, some of which are modified in adaptive ways with colored stickers, cue cards, etc., for ease of following along for more useful music-making.
Typically the band will perform for an audience once a semester in a School of Music performance hall, and the clinic also makes some recordings for them to enjoy. Everyone benefits from what Andrew termed “a sense of mutual musical identity.”
“It’s been great to work with these folks to create that authentic band experience that we take for granted and to highlight their abilities,” Andrew Chapman said. “It’s a good time.”
The All Abilities Rock Band will perform at UofL in Bird Hall on April 30th at 7:00pm in Comstock!
In addition to his work at the clinic, Chapman regularly writes and performs music locally, using his background in creative writing to inform his therapeutic practices. You can find his writing published in campus-based journals The White Squirrel and Miracle Monocle.
