Before his appointment as vice president, Murray Horwitz was Director of Jazz, Classical Music, and Entertainment Programming. He was also co-writer with Wynton Marsalis of a 26-part radio series, "Wynton Marsalis: Making The Music," winner of a 1996 Peabody Award. 

His accomplishments in the performing arts include originating and co-writing Ain't Misbehavin', the hit Broadway musical based on the music of Fats Waller, which won Tony, Obie, Emmy, Grammy, and New York Drama Critics' Circle awards. In 1998, he was stage director of the first annual Mark Twain Prize ceremonies, honoring Richard Pryor and starring Whoopi Goldberg, Richard Belzer, and Robin Williams. His other theatrical credits include roles as co-author and director of Haarlem Nocturne and Sole Sisters. 

In 1997 he staged the opening and closing ceremonies of the Presidents’ Summit for the Future of America, in Philadelphia (with Presidents Clinton, Ford, and Bush, Gen. Colin Powell, and Oprah Winfrey). Also in 1997, he received a Governor’s Arts Award in playwriting from the State of Maryland.

Horwitz is a board member of Young Playwrights Inc., and the Advisory Board of the International Association of Jazz Educators. In addition, he has been a board member for Washington Area Lawyers for the Arts, an officer of Project Return (a drug rehabilitation and human services agency), a member of the National Jazz Service Organization's National Jazz Task Force, and an adviser to the Knight Foundation’s symphony orchestra project, The Magic of Music. 

Horwitz is a native of Dayton, Ohio, and lives near Washington, DC, with his wife, mezzo-soprano Lisa Miller, and their three children, Charles Wolf, Ann Minna, and Alexander Thomas (the "Thomas" is for Fats Waller). A graduate of Ohio's Kenyon College with a bachelor of arts degree in English and drama, Horwitz received an honorary doctorate of fine arts from his alma mater in 1992. 

Marilyn Pittman's broadcasting career spans over twenty years. She has been a talk show host, reporter, news anchor, narrator, and writer. She continues her performing work as a stand-up comic and voice-over actor. She can be seen in Ron Howard's 1999 film, "EdTV", and heard on NPR station KQED in San Francisco as a commentator. Since 1990, she has been the leading voice coach for National Public Radio stations. 

Since 1994, Marilyn Pittman has been working with executives in Silicon Valley on their media and speaking skills. With her background in theatre and experience in the news media, she is an expert at coaching corporate leaders in presenting themselves and their companies to the media, business, and investment communities.

Her style reflects her own performance career; she is dynamic, focused, and fun to work with. A typical session may include a critique of the executive on videotape, if available; a short, intensive course in performance technique relevant to the individual's needs; and a videotaped rehearsal of an upcoming appearance, whether it's an industry speech, a television interview, or a conference call with analysts. 

She is also adept at helping each executive create stimulating and effective language to communicate the company's message. In coaching executives for industry speeches, she ensures that the presentation is concise, persuasive, and informative. In working on television appearances for CNBC, CNN, and other financial channels, she shows her clients how to use the medium to their best advantage. For analyst calls, the focus is on how to communicate the company's strengths in a confident manner. 

Ellen Kushner unites her talents as writer, producer, and storyteller in her role as host of WGBH Radio's “Sound & Spirit.”

Kushner grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, and studied anthropology and the arts at Bryn Mawr College and Barnard College. On graduation, she worked as a fiction editor for New York publishing houses. When she quit her publishing job to write her own novels, she supported herself in New York City freelancing as a book reviewer, copywriter, literary scout and artist's representative. She also wrote five titles in Bantam's "Choose-Your-Own-Adventure" series for children. In her spare time she sang in choirs and folk coffeehouses.

Kushner debuted on national radio when she was cast as the irreverent writer and host of the Nakamichi International Music Series of classical concert music distributed by PRI. She also has been featured on “A Note to You,” “Performance Today,” and the Radio Nederland World Service.

In 1992, Kushner created three award-winning Jewish radio specials for PRI: “Festival of Liberation: The Passover Story in World Music”; “The Door is Opened: A  Jewish High Holidays Meditation”; and “Beyond 1492: 500 Years of Jewish Song and Legend, a Family Radio Saga for Hanukkah.” These programs, which quickly became listener favorites, are rebroadcast annually. Other national radio projects also bear Kushner's distinctive signature, most notably the multiple award-winning “Which Way's Witch: A June Foray Halloween Special.”

In April 1996 Kushner and her team first launched “Sound & Spirit” on the national airwaves. Produced at WGBH in Boston and distributed by PRI, “Sound & Spirit” airs on over 100 stations and has won awards for its excellence in writing, content, and production.

Kushner is also a highly praised fiction writer whose first novel, Swordspoint: A Melodrama of Manners, has been hailed as the progenitor of the "Mannerpunk" school of fantasy. Her second novel, Thomas the Rhymer, won both the 1991 World Fantasy Award and the Mythopoeic Award. Her short fiction appears in various anthologies, including The World's Best Fantasy and Horror (ed. Datlow & Windling). Her work has been translated into Japanese, Spanish, German, French, Russian, Catalan, and Latvian.

A popular speaker, Kushner lectures and gives readings around the country at a variety of venues, from synagogue pulpits to fantasy and science fiction conventions. She has taught writing at the prestigious Clarion Writers' Workshop in Michigan and the Odyssey Workshop in New Hampshire.

"Classical Kids" originator and producer Susan Hammond has created a whole new generation of classical music fans through her innovative and award-winning "Classical Kids" recordings.

Hammond, a mother of two, an accomplished concert pianist, and former music teacher, noticed long ago how youngsters responded to classical music. She saw how it touched their hearts, their imaginations, and their spirits, yet at that time she recognized a void of recordings presenting a wide range of classics for children. By adding the magical effects of literature she found a common meeting ground between children’s entertainment and traditional classical music. 

The "Classical Kids" recordings invite children to experience a range of historic eras including Medieval times ("Song of the Unicorn") complete with Merlin, King Arthur and the mystical Unicorn, 17th century Venice ("Vivaldi’s Ring of Mystery") with its canals and poling gondolas, 18th century London ("Hallelujah Handel") with its Gin Lane and Bedlam hospital, turn of the century Vienna ("Beethoven Lives Upstairs"), 19th century America ("Tchaikovsky Discovers America") when electric lights and ten storey buildings were technological wonders, even a little time traveling to the 20th century when Mr. Bach visits a modern day girl.

From its modest beginnings at Susan Hammond’s dining room table, "Classical Kids" has now grown to include nine award-winning audio recordings, five nationally touring and critically acclaimed Symphony Concerts, an Emmy Award-winning video, two beautifully illustrated hard-cover books, an interactive CD-ROM, teacher resources, and foreign language translations.

The "Classical Kids" series has earned a host of prestigious awards and recognitions over its eleven year history, including an unprecedented five Juno Awards for Best Children’s Recording and an Emmy Award for the "Beethoven Lives Upstairs" video. Susan Hammond has been honored with the Order of Canada for her contribution to the Arts.

Hammond lives in Toronto, Canada, with her husband and two daughters.

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