Alexander Eppler occupies an interesting place in the history of Bulgarian music. A student of Nikola Ganchev and Dragan Karapchanski, he was the first (and at that time, the only) kaval player to be accepted into the Bulgarian state conservatory. Following his studies, Mr. Eppler performed as a soloist in Plovdiv with the Thracian Ensemble, Asen Diamandiev's collective. He assisted with the direction of The Pioneer Ensemble in Haskovo and taught kaval and other Bulgarian instruments in Haskovo, Pazardzhik, Plovdiv and Burgas. Alexander is the world's oldest, most experienced maker of Bulgarian kavals, inventing his own "Eppler-system" kaval in 1976. In the late 1970s he took up the cimbalom, studying under the Romanian virtuoso Toni Iordache. As close friends, they performed concerts together in North America and Europe for over five years, producing a recording in 1986. Violinist, Miamon Miller, as benefactor, brought Eppler to play in a variety of ensembles since 1979. He currently appears as a guest conductor for symphony orchestras and choirs in North America and Europe. Besides his musical accomplishments, Mr. Eppler has served as an ordained cleric in the Russian Orthodox Church for the past 25 years and occasionally serves in the Bulgarian and Serbian jurisdictions as well.

Dan Auvil

Ari Langer began studying the classical violin in 1979 at the age of eight and was very active in the music community of Ashland, Oregon throughout his childhood, performing in solo competitions, chamber ensembles and orchestras. From 1989-1993 he attended Evergreen State College, where he studied audio engineering and music composition, and performed in experimental rock bands and electro-acoustic ensembles. In 1993 he toured Scandinavia and Germany with "new traditional" Irish musical group Draiocht. After the tour, Ari moved to San Francisco and composed his own music as well as soundtracks for local independent films and videos. He discovered Balkan music in 1998 and has been performing with Édessa since 1999.