Michael Linton
Michael Linton (b. 1952, Long Beach, CA) teaches undergraduate theory at Middle Tennessee State University’s School of Music. Along with White, Blackstone, Hopper, and Janet Linton (the pianist in the cantata recording) Linton is graduate of Wheaton College (Ill). Linton did graduate work at the University of Cincinnati, Yale, and New York University, studying composition with Krzysztof Penderecki, Lukas Foss, T. Scott Huston, John Gilbert and Bruce MacCombie. Before coming to Tennessee, Linton taught at the University of Bridgeport and Northwestern College (MN). He has written for the Wall Street Journal, First Things, the Weekly Standard and the Groves Dictionary of Art and served as a critic for The Connecticut Post and the St. Paul Pioneer Express. With his wife Janet, he served as a church musician in Baptist, Congregational, and Episcopal churches in Kentucky, Connecticut, Minnesota, and Tennessee.
Janet Gustafson Linton
Pianist Janet Gustafson Linton is a native of Stratford, Connecticut. After studying at the Hartt School of Music, she went on to receive degrees in piano performance from Wheaton College (Illinois) and Northwestern University where she studied with Donald Issac. She and Michael Linton married in 1976 after which time she continued to study in New York with Anne Chamberlain and briefly with Beveridge Webster. Linton is known for her interest in contemporary music and through her career won praises from Lukas Foss, Leonard Bernstein, George Rochberg and Ned Rorem for her performances of their music. Beginning the age of 15, Linton has served as a church organist and pianist in American Baptist, Congregational, independent, and Episcopal churches in Connecticut, Minnesota, and Tennessee. She has been a member of the faculty at The University of Bridgeport, Northwestern College (St. Paul) and Middle Tennessee State University and now teaches music and heads the fine arts program at The Webb School in Bell Buckle, Tennessee. She has premiered all of her husband’s works featuring piano and organ.
Chris McMurtry
Co-founder of refinersfire.us, Chris McMurtry (b. 1979) is a Nashville native who began performing at the age of 15. His first band, Harmonium, produced and released “Waiting for Transmission” while he was still in high school. The band Aireline, of which McMurtry was a founding member, toured across North America and released two albums, “Ocean Songs for the Year of the Horse” and “Winter Song EP.” McMurtry toured Europe with Rick Altizer and his guitar playing is featured on the Backstreet Boys release “Incomplete” from their album “Never Gone.” McMurtry lives in Tennessee with his wife Anna and their daughter. Future releases from refinersfire will feature his psalm settings for soprano and string orchestra.