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Violinist turned author ERICA MINER has had a multi-faceted career as an award-winning screenwriter, author, lecturer and poet. A native of Detroit, she studied violin at Boston University with Boston Symphony Orchestra concertmaster Joseph Silverstein, where she graduated cum laude; the New England Conservatory of Music, and the Tanglewood Music Center, summer home of the Boston Symphony, where she performed with such celebrated conductors as Leonard Bernstein. She continued her studies with Mr. Silverstein at the New England Conservatory of Music, and went on to perform with the prestigious Metropolitan Opera Orchestra for twenty-one years, where she worked closely with much-respected maestro James Levine and numerous other luminaries of the opera world. After retiring from the Met, Erica drew upon her lifelong love for writing as her creative outlet and studied screenwriting in Los Angeles with screenplay guru Linda Seger. Erica’s screenplays awards include such recognized competitions as Santa Fe and the Writer’s Digest. Her debut novel, TRAVELS WITH MY LOVERS, won the Fiction Prize in the Direct from the Author Book Awards. Subsequent published novels include the first in Erica’s FOUREVER FRIENDS novel series chronicling four teenage girls coming of age in the volatile 60s. ARIA FOR MURDER, a novel of assassination and intrigue at the Metropolitan Opera, the first in her Julia Kogan Opera Mystery series published by Level Best Books, has won rave reviews across the board. The sequel, PRELUDE TO MURDER, received a glowing report ('A skillfully written whodunit of operatic proportions') from the prestigious Kirkus Reviews (https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/erica-miner/prelude-to-murder/). Erica’s lectures, seminars and workshops have received kudos on both coasts and in Australia, and she has won top ratings as a special lecturer for Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines. An active contributor to BroadwayWorld.com, Backtrack.com and LAOpus.com, she also contributed a monthly “Power of Journaling” article series for the National Association of Baby Boomer Women newsletter. Other writings have appeared in Vision Magazine, WORD San Diego, Istanbul Our City, and numerous E-zines. Erica’s lecture topics include “The Art of Self- Re-invention,” “Journaling: the Write Way to Write Fiction,” “Solving the Mystery of Mystery Writing,” and “Opera Meets Hollywood.” Details about Erica’s novels, screenplays and lectures can be found on her website, https://www.ericaminer.com.

A New Jersey native and East Brunswick resident, Joanna holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the Crane School of Music, SUNY College at Potsdam, and a Master of Music degree from Ithaca College. She is a retired vocal, general, and instrumental music teacher, having taught grades K-12 in New York, Massachusetts, and New Jersey. Along with her work on the East Brunswick Arts Commission, Joanna is an energetic member of the New York Philharmonic Volunteer Council. Joanna has taught in the Osher Life Long Learning Institute at Rutgers University. She is an Evaluator of high school musicals for the Paper Mill Playhouse’s Rising Star Award educational program and has adjudicated over 80 shows since 2000. In the past, she was a founding member of the Teacher Liaison Committee of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and was Education Coordinator of the Binghamton Symphony. An active musician, Joanna has performed as a chamber musician, solo pianist, and accompanist throughout the New York metropolitan area and upstate New York, Europe, and Israel. Joanna has served as the Musical Director for the Montclair Operetta Club, All Children’s Theater in Livingston, and Stormy Night Productions at Playhouse 22, as well as many high school and professional musical productions. She is currently working as a freelance pianist , adult music educator, and synagogue/church accompanist. Joanna is a proud member of the Music Critics Association of North America.