Renowned flautist, saxophonist, composer and educator Erica von Kleist has been a performing artist and teacher worldwide for over two decades. A native of Connecticut, and Essentially Ellington alumna, Erica moved to New York to hone her skills at the Juilliard School, and in 2004 earned the first Bachelor’s degree in jazz in the school’s history. After graduation she launched her career as a sideman through touring, recording and performing with the Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra, Chris Potter, Wynton Marsalis and the JLCO, Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society, Bebo Valdez, Cachao, Celia Cruz, Kristin Chenoweth and Seth MacFarlane, among many others. She is the recipient of several honors, including the ASCAP Young Jazz Composer’s Award, and the Martin E. Segal Award from Lincoln Center, and has been voted many times as a “Rising Star” and “Critic’s Pick” in Downbeat Magazine.

Born and raised under the Swan Mountains in Montana, Halladay Quist grew up living the life of a traveling musical gypsy and loving the hum of a big bus engine under her feet. “The daughter of a famous Montana musician Rob Quist...harmonies became the background music of her childhood and she began developing an innate passion for music, all music.”