The Songwriters Orchestra on Facebook

Magnus Ferguson is the frontman of the neo-folk band, Morningsiders, which tours nationwide and released their debut EP “unfocus” earlier this year. The band’s single, Empress, recently toped Spotify’s “Viral 50” Playlist. Magnus writes on guitar and piano. His music is inspired by the songwriting of Jim Croce, Cat Stevens, and Nick Drake.
 
He hails from Houston, Texas, and moved to New York City in high school and stayed to attend Columbia University, where he studied religion and graduated in 2014. He currently resides in New York where he plays with Morningsiders and teaches piano and guitar.

Eisa Davis is a multi-talented performer and writer recognized for her work in the Broadway musical Passing Strange, her stage memoir Angela’s Mixtape, and screen roles in Free Angela, Welcome To The Rileys (opposite James Gandolfini), The Wire, Smash, Hart of Dixie, and House of Cards. Her original music was featured regularly on the Showtime series Soul Food.She sings at venues including Joe’s Pub, Apollo Music Café, Symphony Space, BAMCafe, and many more. A Pulitzer Prize finalist for her play Bulrusher, an Obie winner for Sustained Excellence in Performance, and a Herb Alpert Award winner for her body of written work in theatre, Eisa continues to experiment at the nexus of drama and popular music in recordings, live performances and full length music-theatre pieces. Something Else and Tinctures are albums of her original music.
 
Eisa Davis official site

Britton Smith was most recently seen in Andrew Lippa’s The Wild Party at City Center Encores! Composer of The Lost by Keelay Gipson. PaceMT12. He’s currently preparing to return to the stage in George C. Wolfe’s new musical Shuffle Along! He previously appeared in After Midnight on Broadway and the Off-Broadway productions of For The Last Time and The Fortress of Solitude.

Kathryn Gallagher is currently playing Voice of Martha/Guitar in the Broadway revival of Spring Awakening. As a singer-songwriter, her music has been featured in the feature film Thanks for Sharing, USA’s “Covert Affairs” and more. Performance highlights include opening for Ray & Robby of The Doors, Little Feat, The Bacon Brothers and Deaf West’s Spring Awakening (Wallis Annenberg). Her debut EP produced by Mikal Blue (Colbie Caillat, OneRepublic) was released in 2014 & an upcoming EP will be released this fall.
 
Kathryn Gallagher official site
Kathryn Gallagher on twitter
Kathryn Gallagher on facebook

Olivia Harris is a prolific songwriter who uses her Caribbean, funk and R&B roots to create soul fusion, a unique, funky, uplifting sound that will keep your toes tapping. She grew up in Brooklyn singing every Sunday in her church choir, while dancing to Michael Jackson, as well as the reggae and bachata outside her window. She began playing piano at four years old, then moved onto arranging and composing in her high school a cappella group, which influenced her to pursue a degree in music at Columbia University. There, jazz empowered her to use the variety of music she had grown up with to create her own take on R&B. As Olivia K, she has played such venues as The Bitter End and the Highline Ballroom. Most recently, she played Times Square’s EcoFest with her band Olivia K and the Parkers. She has performed with The Songwriter’s Orchestra at 54 Below and The Laurie Beechman Theatre.

Jess Best is a NY native and released her debut album Gone Baby last year, which is a landscape of modern soul, twisting jazz into blues and r&b, creating songs that will stir you up. This collection of songs gives you a taste of her songwriting that is grounded in colorful progressions, deep grooves, rich harmonies and nuanced lyrics combined together to create a raw and intimate conversation. In addition to performing, she runs a music series at 61 Local in Brooklyn called Sunday Sounds.
 
Jess Best official site

Solomon Hoffman (arranger/conductor) is a NYC based composer, orchestrator and arranger. His orchestrations have been featured in concerts and productions at 54 Below, Ars Nova, Dixon Place, Don’t Tell Mama, FringeNYC,  Juilliard Drama, (le) poisson rouge, Lincoln Center and SubCulture. He is the founder and conductor of The Songwriter’s Orchestra, an innovative 12-piece chamber orchestra that collaborates with singer/songwriters from a variety of backgrounds to present new arrangements of their music. The ensemble recently presented a concert in support of criminal justice reform that wove together narratives of previously incarcerated people with original songs inspired by their stories. Solomon has also been involved in the creation of works to advance social justice causes through collaborations with the Broadway Advocacy Coalition. Solomon graduated from Columbia University, where he composed the student-written Varsity Show twice and conducted and orchestrated the show for four years. For the past three years he has been an educator and artist-in-residence at the Reconstructionist Synagogue of the North Shore.