Caroline Shaw, a 2013 Pulitzer Prize winner, is an accomplished composer, violinist and singer. Her work To the Hands was composed during the time of the Syrian refugee crisis, and reflects on those fleeing warfare and seeking a new home.

Margaret Bonds (b. 1913) is part of both the past and future of American music, as many of her works are now being rediscovered, published and performed. Her work Credo is based on the 1904 poem by W.E.B DuBois proclaiming his philosophy of racial equality.