"Eva-Maria Houben (born 1955) studied Music Education at Folkwang-Musikhochschule Essen and the organ with Gisbert Schneider. Following her exams she taught both German and Music Education at Secondary School. She received her doctorate and postdoctoral lecturing qualification in musicology and was called for lectures at Gerhard-Mercator-Universität Duisburg and Robert-Schumann-Hochschule Düsseldorf. Since 1993 Professor Houben has been lecturing at Dortmund University`s "Institut für Musik und Musikwissenschaft", with both music theory and contemporary music as her focus. Up to now many books were published, concerning contemporary music, contemporary composers and traditional music, listened to with 'new ears'.

Eva-Maria Houben has been performing works for the organ for more than 30 years. As she is related to the "wandelweiser-group" of composers, her compositions are published by "edition wandelweiser", Haan. Her list of compositions up to now includes works for the organ, piano, clarinet, trombone, violoncello and other solo instruments, works for voice and piano, for wind and chamber ensembles, for orchestra and for voice and orchestra, works for choir (www.wandelweiser.de). She publishes on subjects of contemporary music (Steiner, PFAU, Edition Howeg, bis-label Oldenburg)."

"Carson Cooman (b. 1982; Rochester, New York) is an American composer with a catalog of hundreds of works in many forms-from solo instrumental pieces to operas, and from orchestral works to hymn tunes. His music has been performed on all six inhabited continents in venues that range from the stage of Carnegie Hall to the basket of a hot air balloon. Cooman's music appears on over forty recordings, including more than twenty complete CDs on on the Naxos, Albany, Artek, Gothic, Divine Art, Métier, Diversions, Convivium, Altarus, MSR Classics, Raven, and Zimbel labels.

Since 2006, Cooman has held the position of Composer in Residence at The Memorial Church, Harvard University. From 2008-11, he also served as Composer in Residence to the Cathedral Church of St. Paul in Boston, Massachusetts. Since 2015, he has been Organ Editor for Lorenz Publishing Company.

Cooman has collaborated with a number of noted poets, librettists, and authors including Mary Louise Bringle, John Core, Richard Leach, Elizabeth Kirschner, Joyce Carol Oates, Andrew Pratt, Mark Schweizer, Calvin Seerveld, Derek Strahan, John Thornburg, Kathleen Wakefield, Rae E. Whitney, and Brian Wren.

Cooman's musicology studies and writings have focused primarily on contemporary American and Australian composers. He served as editor of Living Music Journal from 2005-09 and is a staff critic for American Recorder and Fanfare magazines. He has edited organ publications for various publishers (including Boosey & Hawkes and Oxford University Press) and was editorial director for over 300 organ, choral, and hymn publications for Zimbel Press.

Cooman's principal composition teachers were Bernard Rands, Judith Weir, Alan Fletcher, and James Willey, and he holds degrees from Harvard University and Carnegie Mellon University. He has also studied with Leonardo Balada, George Tsontakis, Eric Chasalow, Barry Conyngham, and Elliott Gyger.

Cooman is an active organist who specializes in contemporary music. Over 150 new compositions by more than 100 international composers have been written for him. Cooman has made many recordings as organist, including two recordings of the organ music of Lothar Graap (Kunaki), a CD of music by Carlotta Ferrari (Kunaki), A Marvelous Love: New Music for Organ (Albany; featuring works by Van Ness, Dalton, Rozema, Benner, Åberg, Stover, and Machajdík), and Legends in the Garden: Organ Music by Thomas Åberg (Soundspells). His recordings of over 700 additional contemporary organ compositions can be heard freely from his website and YouTube.

Cooman is a member of the American Guild of Organists, the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP), and a Life Member of the Hymn Society in the United States and Canada."